24: Looking for Salvation at the Dairy Queen

Looking for Salvation at the Dairy Queen, by Susan Gregg Gilmore, was an Amazon recommended book after I read Saving CeeCee Honeycutt. I reserved it at the library and when it came in, I could not wait to dive in based off the cover alone!

It was a very sweet book. Catherine Grace has always wanted to escape from her small town, where the only source of entertainment is the Dairy Queen. Her mother mysteriously disappeared long ago, and she has been raised by her Southern Baptist preaching daddy and lives in the family house with her sister. She learns the art of being a woman from her eccentric next door neighbor, Gloria Jean, who has taken over in the mothering department since Catherine Grace’s mother left. She saves up, and at the age of 18, she finally escapes to Atlanta. A terrible family tragedy, and some malicious gossip about her family (which may turn out to be true), bring her back home and to the family she left behind.

I liked this book. I think it could be read as chick-lit, as deep fiction and as such an analogy for what the Dairy Queen represents. I craved a chocolate dipped cone the whole time I was reading it, and the ending did not disappoint.

I give this book an 8/10. There were a few things that made it far-fetched, but I laughed and I cried and I enjoyed meeting Catherine Grace.