Bitsy's Bait and BBQ

By Pamela Morsi

While Emma Collins wonders who in their right mind would use her hard-won divorce settlement to purchase a bed-and-breakfast down in the Ozarks, her free-spirited sister Katy fantasizes dreamily about how this move to a small town will be just the thing for her six-year-old son, Josh.

And, as usual, Emma is right. But it is not until they drive to Warbler Lake, Missouri, to take over Bitsy's B&B that they realize just how right she's been. In this part of the country, B&B stands for Bait & BBQ! The girls know little enough about running a bed-and-breakfast, but a bait-and-BBQ?

With their money and futures sunk into a run-down, roadside rattletrap, the girls have no choice but to roll up their sleeves and get to work. But as they settle in and get to know the difference between fatheads, night crawlers, mealworms and shiners, no one is more surprised than they are when they actually get the place up and running.

But trouble is brewing. Katy's ex-husband is having second thoughts about the custody arrangements for Josh, and he fully intends to get him back. With the prospect of losing the little boy, the sisters face another challenger, only this time it's Katy who proves that she, too, can solve a problem.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Harlequin MIRA
• Release date: Aug 15, 2012
• ISBN: 9781459248380

Pamela Morsi

Publishers Weekly calls national bestselling author Pamela Morsi "the Garrison Keillor of romance." Her trademark wit and warmth enliven tightly written tales with down-home charm. Her novels, including Sealed with a Kiss, No Ordinary Princess, The Love Charm, and Courting Miss Hattie, have garnered rave reviews from critics and numerous awards including two RITA Awards, a Waldenbooks Sales Award, Bookstores that Care Favorite Romance Awards and the Maggie Prize for Historical Fiction, and Reviewer's Choice from Romantic Times maga-zine. She lives in Texas with her family.

Reviews for Bitsy's Bait and BBQ

[jbarr5 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Bitsy's Bait and BBQ by Morsi_ Pamela With the divorce settlement she buys off ebay a B+B.Emma and Kate and her 5 yo son Josh were on their way...Humorous and each chapter has tips to help the situation along LOL, It's not a B+B but a bait and BBQ shop...Story also follows the life of Shawn, he helps him mother run the burger joint. He's gone missing and had married the girl, Kate they hired.She's made sure the child has child education fund and trust fund for college. Kate receives a letter stating the father wants to revisit the visitation and sue for custody.. She knows it's not Shawn but his mother that wants the child.Shawn and his mother and the laywer show up and rent a cabin for the summer while trying to get the grandchild away from their mother. Shawn is not for this at all and helps her in other ways to get her business off the ground thus giving them time to talk to one another...Like the ideas of how to make the business a success with help from the townsfolk. Sex scenes also. Bit confusing at times with some of the townsfolk drama.I received this book from National Library Service for my BARD (Braille Audio Reading Device).

[olivermagnus · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Bitsy's Bait and BBQ is an appealing book set in the Ozarks of Missouri. Katy Dodson uses the divorce settlement she receives from her ex-husband, Sean, to buy a B&B on Ebay, thinking that a small rural town will be a great place to raise her son. Her sister Emma comes along to get Katy and Josh settled in. The sisters are astonished when they learn that B&B stands for Bait & BBQ rather than Bed & Breakfast. Although Emma knows the best plan is to return to St. Louis, Katy is determined to stay, so the sisters roll up their sleeves and start cleaning.

If that wasn't bad enough, Katy gets a letter from Sean's divorce attorney informing her he wants to “revisit” the custody settlement. Almost immediately Sean and his controlling mother, Gwen, arrive in Warbler Lake and the town full of likeable characters team up with the sisters to try and make their business a success.

Bitsy's Wisdoms start each of the 31 chapters and give the reader some insight into the decisions the characters make and the consequences that follow. For example, Bitsy's Wisdom 1: You choose your bait for the fish that you want. But once you drop it in the water, you get what you get. The characters were likeable and the small rural town was charming. I don't read many chick lit books but this was a fun and easy read.

[fueledbycoffee · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

First off, this story made me hungry. I even took out my BBQ cookbooks to make some favorite recipes soon. Foodie books are always win.And so are books about second chances, the importance of family, and making something beautiful out of a negative circumstance.This was a light, easy read. Ive always heard good things about Pamela Morsi's writing and I wasn't disappointed.Aside from what we know from the book description, what stood out to me was the author taking a different road than protagonist vs antagonist. There was no cut and dry bad guy. Katy and Sean were married, had a child, and Sean left when the going got tough. They were soon divorced. It was obvious that Sean's mother, Gwen, was a driving wedge in Katy and Sean's relationship, even with a grandson in the picture.I liked that the author didn't make one side the "bad guy" but more "The Selfish One(s) Who Changed As They Learned A Valuable Lesson About Family...Guy". I wanted to dislike Sean and his mother but overall you could see that their bad choices and reactions were wholly driven by good motives. You don't agree with how they go about things, sure. Although, as a reader, you understand the underlying reasons why. The story spoke well to me. How we live our life is a series of learning curves but what we do when those bends and curves turn our life upside down? The important part is how we can still manage to make a positive out of any situation...out of anything, really. To stand up for ourselves. To make our best possible way in life. In marriage. In relationships. And the benefit of getting advice from an expert on how to make killer BBQ. Light, engaging read and yes, a somewhat tidy ending - as what I expected. I will definitely read more of Morsi's stories. (and Ive only had this on my hallway bookshelf for 3 years! Go me!)

[bookwormteri · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

A really sweet, gentle book about family and love. Katy buys a B & B online with her divorce settlement, only to find that it is a Bait and Barbecue, not a bed and breakfast. Katy, her son, and her mother hen sister try to make a go of it in this small town. Things are going well (except for the barbecue) until Katy's ex-mother in law begins to fight for custody of Katy's son.Just beautiful. A small town filled with characters welcoming newcomers into their community. A love that just needed some maturity. Just really sweet.

[dissed1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Bitsy's Bait & BBQ is the story of two sisters, uprooted from their native St. Louis, MO to a remote, run-down resort in the Ozarks. The two women work together to reopen the town's only restaurant and bait shop, Bitsy's Bait & BBQ. A crew of endearing townspeople are always available to help where they can, expecially when Katy's ex-husband and mother-in-law show up, looking for custody of their son, Josh. The story wobbles along companionably. The characters are unique and the plot doesn't always go exactly where you expect it to, (that's a good thing.) There aren't any deep, thought-provoking revelations, no emotionally wrenching drama. However, something about Pamela Morsi's novel makes you feel good inside. It's a good weekend beach read.

[squeex_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

The beginning of each of the 31 chapters is a bit of wisdom from Bitsy, the woman who died and left her B&B to the town to sell and keep the proceeds to help Warbler Lake's citizens. Bits of wisdom like: "Use unsalted butter. You don't want somebody else deciding how much seasoning is right for you." or "Rub down your clean cooking grate with a smidgeon of oil. It will cut down on cursing when you're taking the meat off." or "Hornyhead minnows are often confused with creek chubs. Maybe you can't tell the difference, but the fish can." I loved reading this book. I didn't expect to enjoy it as much as I did. I can highly recommend this to anyone who likes a well-written, warm, and funny story. It's a soft, mellow book with soft, mellow good people and one or two harsh people who end up being mellower than the run-of-the-mill harsh person in other books. They are just harsh enough for the reader to dislike and hope that they get their come-uppance. The good people are wonderfully funny and sweet and you keep rooting for them.I liked watching Emma and Katy make friends in the town and learn how to sell bait and work the BBQ pit. The town is behind them and the support is heart-warming and funny to see. Five 'I wouldn't mind living in a town like Warbler Lake' beans......

[thedivineoomba · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I'll admit - I cried a bit at the end, even though it was predictable, cliched book with cardboard characters and cardboard motivation. My one big qualm with this book is the preaching - how every woman needs to be married to live a good life, how Christianity is the only way to live (Seriously, a 7 year old boy wanting to be babtised?) and how TV ruins young people.Its a good Sunday afternoon read where you have the entire plot figured out about a third of the way in.

[drsyko_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I really liked this book. It's a bit formulaic, but not so much that it's totally predictable. There are some surprises, and the story is wholesome and heartwarming. Katy and Emma are sisters. Emma has always helped Katy out and now Katy is trying to stand on her own two feet after a devastating divorce. Katy buys a B & B on Ebay, thinking that means Bed and Breakfast. But really it means Bait and BBQ, which they find out only upon arriving in the very small town of Warbler Lake. Just about the time they get settled there, along comes Katy's ex-husband and ex-mother in law, trying to get custody of Katy's son. The book is basically what happens from there, and it really is a lovely depiction of small town life and a sweet romance. I'm not an easy cryer, but I admit that this book brought tears to my eyes. It's a bit like a Hallmark made for TV movie, but it is nicely written, and the character development is well done. The people are interesting and this woman also knows her bait! :o) This is not great literature, but it did make for a very enjoyable Sunday afternoon read.

[buckeyeaholic · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I needed something light & unabsorbing to get back into reading after HP7. This was sort of it. You know those books that you finish just to see if you correctly guessed what would happen? This is one of those. Very predictable, but the characters & locale were easy to love. Great vacation book or airplane/airport book (which is exactly where I was!)

[verbafacio · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This book is not all that well written, and it is mostly very predictable, but neither of these things means it isn't touching. Sisters Katy and Emma, along with Katy's son Josh, come to a small town in Missouri to open what they think is a bed and breakfast. Once they get there, they find that B&B actually stands for "Bait & BBQ." With the cheerful support of the eccentric townspeople, Katy finds a way to be successful. While trying to get the business of the ground, Katy must deal with her ex-husband and his mother, who have reentered her life after several years and are threatening to press for custody of 5-year-old Josh. Not to worry (as if you would) -- it all works out in the end.