The Sweet Potato Queens' Book of Love: A Fallen Southern Belle's Look at Love, Life, Men, Marriage, and Being Prepared

My girlfriends and I don't usually agree on the same books, but there are three we do agree on: FRIED GREEN TOMATOES, BARK OF THE DOGWOOD, and THE SWEET POTATO QUEEN'S BOOK OF LOVE. All three are great fun, great reads, and well worth the money. Also recommended: BARK OF THE DOGWOOD and FRIED GREEN TOMATOES

The Sweet Potato Queens...they're southern, sassy, a bit naughty, opinionated, always prepared and they know everything...just ask them. Jill Connor Browne, first queen and Boss of Everything, is gracious enough to not only let us into their world, but also to offer sage advice to all who want to be worshipped and adored. Where else would you find chapters titled: "The True Magic Words Guaranteed to Get Any Man to Do Your Bidding", "What to Eat When Tragedy Strikes, or Just for Entertainment" or 'Men Who May Need Killing, Quite Frankly?" Her writing is hilarious, witty and irreverent and her scenes vivid and laugh-out-loud funny, as you learn the ins and outs of life, love, men and most importantly always being particular. This is a book full of southern insight, wisdom and humor, to read and share and read again. For all not lucky enough to be born in the south, The Sweet Potato Queens' Book of Love will help get us started down the road to true Queendom. Read, learn and enjoy!

I thought I was the only woman who ever told her spousal unit I only wanted to be put on a pedestal, worshiped and adored, that's all. He thought I was kidding, so I bought a tiara. While he still doesn't get it, I did move up a notch when I whipped up some of Miss Lexie's pineapple casserole. I was thrilled beyond measure when a church friend (or should I say Goddess?) handed me this book and said that I just had to be a Sweet Potato Queen. Well, the cover was amusing, and a few pages into this wonderful book I knew I had received a huge compliment. The naughty but oh so nice Sweet Potato Queens have wisdom and insight for women of a certain age, and deliver it in such a way as to leave the reader laughing out loud (in between rolls on the floor). Not a book to read in public, or possibly to share with your mama. But I've paired it with the latest adventure of the Sweet Potato Queens (God Bless the Sweet Potato Queens!) and found it to be the most marvelous gift to give a friend who already has a twinge of the right attitude. Interestingly enough, it is NOT a regional tome, since Princess Calamity Joan in NEW YAUWK, said "The book almost killed me. I'd get laughing so hard, I'd start wheezing...and then I couldn't breathe at all...and the tears were streaming out my eyes. I'm far too 'edgy' to be a Su'thrun Belle...and at first I thought...Nuts, these gals have a p'tiklar hook on this stuff....and then it dawned on me that the words in the SPQ's tome were words I'd uttered myself years ago, usually to myself, sometimes to other knowing women...and that all these 'insights' are more about the women and less about the geographical location....I'll bet my last dollar that there are SPQ's in Seattle and Sitka!"So - push that button and order at least a couple of these valuable books, `cause you are going to want to own it as a reference/cookbook and you are gonna want to share the fun with your friends. The Princess Lightning Bolt

Gently reared females are taught that less is more. But females also know that rules were made to be broken, and sometimes you've just got to let your hair down, tease it up, buy yourself a tiara, and strut your stuff in sequins because ... more is so much better!The Sweet Potato Queens break all the rules with an earthy joie de vivre that is hysterical to read. Since nobody is going to do it for you, appoint yourself the queen of whatever, stock up on comfort food, and read this book. From majorette boots and white girls and suntans to men who may need killing and zippity-doo-dah, I hooted like a loon. I was raised to be prepared, but I never thought of pocket hams. I loved the possum story and the recipes for Chocolate Stuff and Fat Mama's Knock You Naked Margaritas, but my favorite was the one about the mixing bowl. You may not want your mama, if she's prissy, to be reading about making The Promise in spikes and trashy lingerie, but women of a certain age will bust a gut laughing. This is by far the funniest book I've read this year and, believe me, I'll read it again next time I get the blues.

"The Sweet Potato Queen's Book of Love" will have you calling friends and reading them quotations, which is usually annoying, but in this case will probably make them want to buy their own copy, and I heartily suggest that they do. The Book is at once hilariously funny and utterly sensible. My copy has taken up residence on the shelf along with a few treasured others, to be read and re-read innumerable times in the future.The Sweet Potato Queens take a bit of explaining. A tradition in the Jackson, Mississippi Saint Patrick's Day parade since 1982, they were founded by the Original and Supreme Queen, author Jill Conner Browne. They are all women of a certain age; past the first bloom of youth, one might say, but proof that you can blossom into something better after. The Queens appear in the parade, waving graciously from their float and tossing trinkets to the adoring crowds. They are easy to spot, traditionally garbed in green sequined mini-dresses (with hugely amplified bosoms and busts), flowing red wigs, Revlon Love That Pink lipstick, and majorette boots. It is often said of the Queens that "[they] turn into someone else when they put those outfits on." Queen Jill responds that they in fact are completely themselves only when they put those outfits on, and this is what the book is hilariously, wisely about; living the life you like, giving yourself what you desire, and having a really good time.Queen Jill graces the lucky reader with advice on how to live a Queenly life. I could begin quoting the parts that made me laugh, but that would mean copying out the whole book, so I'll simply tell you that The Book is consistently, screamingly funny without ever being mean. You will laugh through advice on child-rearing, getting a man, getting rid of a man, getting over a man, what to do when there's a possum under your bed, and why you never wear panties to a party. And then there's the chapter on "What to Eat When Tragedy Strikes." This is a collection of recipes for people who absolutely do not care, and which are therefor irresistible. Chocolate Stuff. Armadillo Dip. Fat Mama's Knock You Naked Margaritas. A coconut caramel pie simply called "Oh, God!" And Danger Pudding (Boil an unopened can of sweetened condensed milk for an hour. Bear the name in mind before deciding this is a good idea.).I enjoyed myself so much reading about the Queens, it never dawned on me that I was reading advice until the very end, when Queen Jill tells us that if life seems lifeless, "[you] don't have to move or change jobs or leave your husband or unnaturally alter your state of consciousness. We're not after an altered state; we're after our True State - unbridled joy." Any number of New Agey books have been written on this theme, but none, I think, have succeeded in making it seem as possible as The Book. Browne closes with a quotation from George Eliot: "It is never too late to be what you might have been