Good Christian Bitches

My first review will be Good Christian Bitches (aka GCB or Good Christian Belles) by Kim Gatlin.

Synopsis courtesy of Amazon:

The GCBs of Hillside Park Presbyterian are praying for Amanda Vaughn--or so they claim. Will their evil gossip destroy her reputation, or will she show them exactly how to turn the other cheek

Amanda Vaughn needs some heaven-sent help. She’s divorced her cheating husband and fled, along with her two teenagers, back to her hometown, Hillside Park, a Dallas suburb so upper-class that the question isn’t where to bank, but whose family owns the bank. Amanda is thrilled to be back in Texas—after twelve years in Southern California, she’s ready to leave behind her shallow, Godless life and return to the welcoming Christian world where she grow up. Or at least that’s the plan . . .

But when she arrives, she’s met with some Texas-sized trouble. Her old friends, neighbors, and fellow church members treat Amanda like a long-lost friend . . . until her back is turned. Then the claws come out. Amanda finds herself trapped in a world of salacious rumors, secret affairs, and Bible-study sessions gone terribly wrong. And what’s even more puzzling is that a secret admirer is sending Amanda lavish gifts. Why, she wonders, would anyone send a Mercedes when a simple dinner invitation would do?

My Review:

This book started out pretty strong for me. I liked the character Amanda Vaughn; she seemed sympathetic in terms of her divorce and having to raise two children on her own now. The problems I had with the plot and characters started around page 50. 

Spoilers Ahoy!

Note: I have not watched the television series that was based on this novel, which has now been cancelled by ABC.

Amanda has divorced her philandering husband and moved back from California to Dallas, Texas. She grew up in this exclusive neighbourhood called Hillside Park, full of oil tycoons and trophy wives. Her mother is still alive and living in Hillside Park, but her father has passed. I understand her moving back to live near her mother and get help raising her children. Her daughter is 9 going on 40 and often she is smarter than every adult character in the novel. Her son is resentful about the divorce and moving away from his friends -- all of which I understand, but the kid was so disrespectful to his mother that I wanted to slap him upside the head.

Back to my issues -- Amanda has a 'suitor' immediately after entering town. He sends her an expensive Mercedes SUV as a secret admirer and asks her to dinner. She rejects the SUV and so he sends her $100,000 in clothes from Nieman Marcus, which she also rejects. First off, I don't care what community you come from, but this is so unrealistic. The author is from the Dallas area and I felt like she had no idea what she writing about at times. Sure they have oil tycoons in Dallas and area, but do I believe for a minute that one would send extravagant gifts like this? Not for a second.

I understand that the author is perhaps trying to get a theme across to us of opulence and how it is not as important as what's in your life, but this doesn't come across in the novel. The only themes that come across are that women are trophy wives, gossips, vindictive creatures that only care about money. There is no real feminism in the novel as any strength Amanda had she gives up and lets a man solve her problems.

There are two real villains in the novel and their characterization is so poor that after reading the novel I couldn't distinguish one from the other. Both characters know what they are doing is wrong -- setting up Amanda to fix a troubled ball so she will stay out of the dating pool and leave the men to them -- but they blatantly don't care. I felt some pity for the one villain, but when she reverted back to her ways so quickly after feeling remorse, I was finished.

Overall, this was not a novel I enjoyed reading due to it's unrealistic setting, plot and lack of characterization.

Grade: D