Happy Friday! The book I’m featuring for today’s First Line Friday linkup is the perfect summer read. Bless Your Heart, Rae Sutton by Susannah B. Lewis is a delightful story full of southern charm!

“There was nothing to see but bottomland on the thirty-minute drive from Huntsville to Whitten.”

Bless Your Heart, Rae Sutton by Susannah B. Lewis

The Basics

Title: Bless Your Heart, Rae Sutton

Author: Susannah B. Lewis

Publication Date: May 24, 2022

Genre: Christian Contemporary Women’s Fiction

My Rating: 4 Stars

From the Back Cover:

Sometimes what your life is missing is an eccentric group of older ladies to take you under their wing . . .

When Raeley Ann Sutton’s mama passes away and leaves her the house where she grew up, Rae can’t imagine how the little old place might restore her broken life. Mourning the recent loss of her marriage, she takes the house and settles back in tiny, “one-horse Whitten” with her fourteen-year-old daughter, Molly Margaret, and their overweight dog.

There she’s embraced by her mother’s close-knit circle of friends, the Third Thursday ladies: Mrs. Fannie, Mrs. Dora, and Aunt Maxine. Though almost half their age and far less confident of positive outcomes, Rae joins their ministry-slash-book-club-slash-gossip circle and allows the women to speak wry honesty and witty humor into her tired heart. As a new career and a new romance bring their own complications, Rae relies on the unlikely family she’s found and begins to wonder if her future holds more hope than she ever could have imagined.

My Review

Bless Your Heart, Rae Sutton is the perfect book to enjoy on a summer afternoon, on the front porch with a glass of sweet tea! It’s full of southern charm, humor, and heart. The delightful characters will find their way straight to your heart, from Rae and her daughter to the Third Thursday ladies who become Rae’s stand-in mother figures. They add both lighthearted and heartfelt moments, and give the story richness and depth. I loved the way Rae’s faith grew so authentically – it felt natural and not preachy or cheesy. The themes of restoration and redemption hit just the right notes! I would recommend this book to fans of authors like Lauren K. Denton, and I can’t wait to read what Ms. Lewis writes next!

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I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.