The Way It Used to Was: Memories of a Cape Cod Childhood 1924-1942

By Xlibris US

Barbara Chase Palson spent her childhood summers in West Harwich, Cape Cod, Massachusetts in an 18th century half-house that had been in her fathers family for nearly 200 years. In this collection of memories, she invites the reader to return to the Cape of her childhood, when working farms and scrub woods dominated the landscape, when the daily mail delivery was a social occasion, when it was still possible to live off the land and sea. Through her series of vignettes filled with small-town charm she introduces the reader to a Cape Cod before developers and tourists, the way it used to was.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Aug 5, 2014
• ISBN: 9781499049558

Book preview

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Reviews for The Way It Used to Was

[mamashepp · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I'd give this a 3.5. For the most part well-written but I did question some of the plot lines. I did enjoy Jackson's exploration of identity.

[jmoncton_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This was the perfect summer read. A tough female protagonist with a secret past, a bit of romance, and that Southern touch that Joshilyn Jackson is so well known for. Very fun!

[ceh0017 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This book was better than Between, Ga in my opinion, but I liked all the rest of Joshilyn Jackson's books better than this one. The first chapter of the book had me hooked, but after that it was really hard to get into. I almost didn't finish it because it was so slow at times.

[lallybroch_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

If you enjoy audio books, definitely listen to this one. It is narrated by the author, and like always, she is fabulous. If you've never tried an audio, I would recommend this one as a great place to start.Even though the subject matter in the book is serious there are funny moments. Jackson's characters are always so well developed. Highly recommended

[mawshimp · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I enjoyed this.

[bami210 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Wasn't quite as good as the first of hers I read (Between, Georgia), but still pretty good.

[bookwormteri · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Rose Mae, or Ro, was abandoned by her mother as a child, and left with an abusive, alcoholic father. As an adult, she has just fallen for men of the same type. Upon meeting a gypsy in the airport, she is told to kill her husband or else meet her own death.Ro tackles her issues and faces her demons. I liked the book, it's hard to judge though. I loved gods in Alabama so much, and that it what I compare all her books to. I will say that the character of Mirabelle just aggravated the crap out of me. What a cold woman. I just wanted to slap her.

[askum_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This was a pretty interesting book to read and it kept my attention the whole time. I found this is one of the better books to read about domestic abuse with a pretty good ending. I'll be passing this one on to a friend to read for sure.

[mardel_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

backseat saints is the story of a young woman, raised in a dysfunctional family, with a mother who ran away seemingly abandoning her, who ends up in an abusive relationship.backseat saints is the story of the roll this young woman plays in her abusive marriage and how she finally accepts the fact that if she stays, she's going to end up dead.backseat saints is the story of how she finally changes her life and how family cares for each other, even though it might not be in the best way. It's about forgiveness and hate.It's a very hard hitting book. Very striking. I recommend it, it's very good reading, even though some parts may by hard to read.

[smileydq · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I came into this book with high hopes - I've loved Jackson's previous novels and was looking forward to another gripping story. I was not disappointed. From the start, the plot grabs you, while Jackson's voice sparkles with wit even in the face of some serious subjects. Rose Mae, a good Southern Catholic girl, is the main character, though her alter-egos Mrs. Ro Grandee and Ivy Rose Wheeler play equally into the movement of the plot. Rose Mae was abandoned by her mother and left to her abusive, alcoholic father. Ro is Thom Grandee's beautiful, perfect punching bag of a wife. Ivy Rose has reached the end of her tether, and is running both from her husband and from her past. Rose, like most people, lives as a complex mix of all three and constantly seeks some order in her mind and in her life. I think Jackson has a gift for developing characters in such a way that draws the reader in, post-reading, makes the characters difficult to shake. Often stories of abuse can seem a little tired or predictable - Jackson took a difficult topic and gave it such an appealing, human voice that I was audibly rooting for her as I read. I highly recommend this book, 4 stars!

[tututhefirst_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Joshilynn Jackson writes so realistically that the reader is instantly in the story. Rose Mae Lolly is a character we first met in Jackson's earlier novel Gods in Alabama. In that work, Rose Mae plays only a small role.Here in Backseat Saints, we fast forward about ten years to find "Ro"(as she now calls herself) married and living in Amarillo Texas. Her husband, Tom Grandee, a big strapping brute who learned his manly behaviour at his father's knee, badly needs some anger management help. Rose has convinced herself that she is able to handle her life as an abused wife. She knows all about how to recognize the signs from watching her parents in their inglorious relationship. That is, until an airport gypsy told her she had to kill her husband. Either she killed him, or he was going to kill her.Rose began her life as a victim when her mother just plain disappears and leaves seven year old Rose to fend with a drunken daddy. At 18, she left her father in a drunken stupor passed out on his favorite couch. She never looked back, and waitressed her way across the south, through abusive relationship after abusive relationship. When she meets Tom, she thinks this may be the path out of this life. She doesn't have to be Rose Mae Lolly anymore. She can be "Ro Grandee" and leave that old life behind. She has a job at her father-in-law's gun shop (so does her husband), she has her own hand-me-down car from her mother in law, she has a sweet little house which she keeps spotlessly clean (as much to avoid any trigger for Tom's anger as her belief in the godliness of cleanliness). She even has a devoted mutt of a dog - Gretel, who will play a prominent role in the story.When she drives her elderly next door neighbor to the airport, she is just recovering from a rather brutal beating and finally beginning to fear for her life. As she helps carry luggage into the airport, she meets the gypsy who insists on 'reading her cards.' For some reason, Rose Mae seems to think the gypsy is her long lost mother and can't decide whether to follow the advice or not.NO SPOILERS, but from there, the story really takes off, pulling the reader relentlessly toward what we think will be the inevitable ending. Other characters from Gods in Alabama appear briefly, but it is not necessary to have read the first book to fully understand and appreciate this one.The ending is a stunner, and like her previous one, it leaves the reader breathless. It's definitely worth the time and trouble to track this one down. The audio was especially well done, read by the author who grew up in the south, and reads with exquisite inflection and accent. It was a joy to listen to.

[missmermaid118 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Listening to BACKSEAT SAINTS was the most perfect audiobook experience. Beautifully read by the author, employing a variety of spot-on accents, the story of Rose Mae Lolley fighting for her survival is riveting. I tried to restrict my listening to my daily commutes, but it was impossible. First, Rose Mae spoiled me for any print book I tried to read. I abandoned book after book because her voice was so strong, so insistent, that she overshadowed any other characters I attempted to befriend. Then I found myself unwilling to leave my car on arrival at either work or home. I just wanted to keep on listening as Rose Mae mined her own past in an attempt to carve out a new present and hopefully, a future. Finally, I just gave up on everything else and listened to the story every chance I could get, bringing discs inside to listen to in the evenings as I lay in bed in the dark and back out to the car for the ride into work in the morning. Lunch breaks were spent eating sandwiches in my passenger seat, listening as Joshilyn Jackson brought Rose Mae to life -- as precarious as that life may be.As the story opens, Rose Mae, deep into her alter ego of Mrs. Ro Grandee, wife of the oldest son of a prominent Amarillo family, is contemplating the murder of her husband, Thom. She's convinced that after 5 years of an abusive marriage, it has come down to either him or her. The narrative meanders back and forth between Rose Mae's childhood, marred by the abandonment of her mother and the abuse of her father, and the years of her marriage, building the tension brick by brick and filling in the gaps with a mortar of enlightening anecdotes. Without ever justifying Thom's abusive behavior, or even Rose Mae's many bad choices, the author illuminates the complexity of violent domestic relationships and how its effects ripple out through generations. Rose Mae begins to question her own complicity as she struggles to understand and exorcise what she considers a bad seed deep within her. It's an absolutely fascinating account of an abused woman grappling with self-awareness and empowerment.In Jackson's earlier novel, GODS IN ALABAMA, Rose Mae Lolley was a minor character. There is some crossover of other characters as well. I hadn't read GODS. . ., and I'm actually glad that I hadn't. I didn't have any preconceived opinions about characters who appear in both novels, and that heightened the experience for me -- I didn't know what to expect; I didn't know if Rose Mae's descriptions of them were accurate or if they were distorted by her romanticism or rage. I do have a copy of GODS. . . on order, and I can't wait to hear it, though I find it hard to believe it will have as powerful an impact as BACKSEAT SAINTS.If you're not a fan of audiobooks, you might want to make an exception for BACKSEAT SAINTS. First of all, Jackson does a stunning job with a variety of accents and personalities -- she is a trained actor. She gives Rose Mae a charming and endearing voice which often belies the horror of the scenes she is describing. It can be difficult to listen to the descriptions of a woman being beaten, and I often found myself gnawing on my own knuckles. Frankly, I don't know if I would have been able to read some of the scenes -- it would have been too easy to just skip over them. However, by listening to this story rather than reading it, I was able to hear what I otherwise may have chosen not to see. I strongly recommend BACKSEAT SAINTS. It's breathtaking and flawless.

[bookczuk · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Joshilyn Jackson took a minor character from another book, and turned her into the main character of this one. At the root of the story is much darkness, but it is told with a deft hand, humor, and a genuine grasp of the human psyche.

[emscape · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Rose Mae Lolley, AKA Ro Grandee and others, is told by a gypsy woman at the airport that she'd better kill her husband before he kills her. The gypsy's not just pulling stuff out of the air. Thom Grandee has put Ro in the hospital on multiple occasions with his savage beatings and one of these days he just might succeed in killing her. Ro tries to off him, but fails, and so tries to run. At first looking for her high school boyfriend Jim Beverly, and then seeking out her mother who left her abusive father, Rose is actually on a journey of self-discovery. Suspenseful and heartbreaking throughout, the reader is given a glimpse into the mind of the kind of woman who stays.

[weeziesbooks · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Backyard Saints was a difficult book to read in that it dealt with a prevalent problem that exists all around us. The problem of abuse and neglect. The main character Rose Mae Lolly is an abused wife and was an abused child. Much of the novel is filled with her constant effort to avoid the frightening and devastating physical and mental abuse by her husband. Unfortunately her father was also terribly abusive and reflections back to her childhood get jumbled with her present day situations. As Rose Mae tries to leave her husband, she has an encounter with a stranger and her Tarot cards at the airport. Is this her long lost mother? The interaction and warnings from this stranger confirms in her mind that she must leave her husband to save herself. The story is a bit difficult to follow at places as it jumps back and forth between her past and present, but it is a book worth reading and would prompt valuable discussions during book club meetings.

[jo3jo_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I loved listening to this story that was read by the author, Joshilyn Jackson, herself! I think I could have listened to her voice all day and found when I popped the first disc in I was so engrossed in her voice that I found myself driving only 45 mph on the way home one evening. Jackson did a great job of delivering such a serious storyline by managing to insert both humor and jaw-dropping fear within the same book. We are introduced to Ro Grandee as an abused housewife whose life takes a drastic change after consulting with a gypsy in an airport one afternoon. Ro realizes that she must kill her husband before he kills her. When all goes wrong with the assassination attempt life at home changes as her husband seems to magically turn into the man that she fell in love with. After being abused for so long, how long can this change of attitude last?Ro finds herself on the road, first to flee from her abusive husband, then to find her mother that abandoned her years ago, but in the end it turns out to be a search for her true self. As she battles demons from her past she learns a lot about herself and can finally reconcile with the cards that have been dealt to her in the game of life. I really enjoyed this audiobook and definitely plan on reading more of Jackson's work in the future. With themes of emotional and physical abuse, forgiveness, and survival this book has a lot to offer and I think it would also make a great book club selection. As you can tell I really enjoyed this book so I definitely recommend it.

[bookaholicmom · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This is the second Joshilyn Jackson book I have read. I must say I like that her characters are well developed and most have a quirkiness about them. This cover caught my attention right off the bat. There had to be a great story as to why this woman would cut off her beautiful hair and hold it in front of herself while looking down. As I read and got acquainted with Rose Mae Lolley, I found myself having a love/hate relationship with her. There were times I wanted hug her and tell her everything was going to be all right. Other times she did things that were absolutely crazy. The story does deal with domestic violence and while it is a heavy subject, there were times I found myself laughing at some of the antics in the book. Rose Mae Lolley was quite the character and needless to say so were the people who were part of her life. This book took me on a roller coaster ride and in the end gave me one final twist which was a doozy! There are some pretty graphic scenes in the book, some sexual and some violent. Just a warning for those who don't wish to read that sort of thing. I hope to read more of Joshilyn Jackson's novels. I have all ready picked up a few more of her books.

[boobalack · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I cannot review this book objectively because it hit close to home. I had a wonderful Daddy, thank goodness, but I am a former abused wife. Suffice it to say that this book is down to earth and gripping, as are Ms. Jackson's three previous books. I loved all of them. I can't tell you what was to me the best part of this book because it involves a spoiler. I will say, however, that I was very, very happy when this event occurred. It took me totally by surprise -- not the what, but the who.

[bookishdame · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Joshilyn Jackson is an author of note in my book. I'm reading everything she's written...just can't get enough of her style and her storytelling. She held me captive in this novel about a young woman who was abandoned by her mother at a very young age, abused by her father, and abused to the point of fearing for her life by her husband. She mysteriously reconnects with her mother through a neighbor, and begins a road of truth-telling that ultimately saves her. It seems such a simple story, but the body of this writing is amazing! Jackson weaves elements of mystery and magic that keep us in a state of suspension and delight.

[brianinbuffalo · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

After delivering a riveting opening and introducing a likable protagonist, "Backseat Saints" just didn't quite deliver for me. While the story provided some intriguing twists, it also seemed to meander in many spots, weakening the overall plot. Still, I enjoyed the "voice" that Jackson managed to skilfully develop. I'll check out her other books.

[twink_2 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I first read Joshilyn Jackson last year with The Girl Who Stopped Swimming. (my review) I found her voice and style intriguing and was eager to read Backseat Saints. But when I discovered that the author was the reader on the audio book, I quickly decided to listen instead.I was hooked from the opening lines. "It was an airport gypsy who told me that I had to kill my husband. She may have been the first to say the words out loud, but she was only giving voice to a thing I'd been trying not to know for a long, long time. When she said that it was him or me, the words rang out like church bells, shuddering through my bones."Rose Mae Lolley from Alabama has reinvented herself as Mrs. Ro Grandee of Texas. She cooks and cleans and keeps to herself. She also wears long sleeves most of the time. She left her daddy's anger and fists behind as a teenager only to marry Thom - a man just as bad or worse. When the gypsy reads her cards and tells her what she already knows, Rose Mae is resurrected. Jackson deftly explores relationships of all manner in Backseat Saints. Abused and abuser, parent and child, man and wife, individual spiritual beliefs (here's where the Saints come in) and more. Her characters are incredibly well drawn. Ro/Rose is strong, fierce and funny, but she's also somewhat unlikeable sometimes. I felt somewhat guilty feeling that as she is an abused woman. Her relationship with her mother is a minefield. Her father, initially portrayed as a hard, unfeeling man in the beginning, comes off as a pitiful wreck later. The same thing with Thom, her husband. He too is an abuser, but when seen in relationship to his father, he steps into the role of abused.It was a treat listening to Jackson read. Being a Southern native herself, she has the accent/drawl to bring Rose Mae/Ro to life. As they are her words, the emphasis and inflections are exactly where she meant them to be.The ending left me a bit conflicted - again a two sided page. But Backseat Saints kept me engrossed from first disc to last. This would be a great book club choice and would engender lots of discussion!

[tammathau · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I almost gave up on this book after a few chapters but was glad I stuck with it. Good story about an abused woman breaking free from her husband. I will be reading the author's "Gods in Alabama" also.

[indygo88 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I like Joshilyn Jackson's writing. It's down-to-earth, yet a little outrageous. It's funny, but with a serious undertone. This fourth novel has the most serious tone yet, dealing with physical abuse, and Jackson manages to pull it off in a realistic but not entirely depressing way. My only complaint with this one is that I felt Jackson spent a little too much time developing the first two portions of the book, & not enough with the last. The last section really started bringing things together, but it was too short & rushed. But other than that, Jackson remains one of my favorite contemporary writers.

[yells-1 · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

I have tried on 3 separate occasions to read this book and I still can't get into the story so I am officially giving up. It really does sound like it should be a good book -- intriguing premise, seemingly likeable protagonist and an interesting setting. But somehow, it falls flat from the first chapter. I just realised that last year I also read The Girl Who Stopped Swimming by Jackson and didn't enjoy it either so I think I am done with this author.

[southerngirlreads · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

BACKSEAT SAINTS, Joshilyn Jackson's latest novel is the story of Rose Mae Lolley. But it's also Ro Grandee's story. The interesting twist is that they are the same person. Ro Grandee is the wife of Thom, son of the successful Grandee family of Amarillo, Texas. His family owns three large gun stores throughout the state and though Thom works side by side with his father, running the family businesses, Thom can't make a move without his father's approval or interference, in most cases. While Ro tries to keep her husband on an even keel so he doesn't take his frustrations out on her, sometimes Rose Mae Lolley has to take over. She's always been stronger than Ro and she knows how to handle Thom Grandee.Here's a bit about the book straight from the author's website:Ro Grandee is the perfect Texas housewife. She's determined to be nothing like her long-missing mother, the one who left her with only a heap of old novels and her father's fists for company, so Ro keeps quiet and takes her husband's punches like a lady. But Ro wasn't always this way. Underneath her pastel skirts and hidden bruises lies Rose Mae Lolley, teenaged spitfire, Alabama heartbreaker, and a crack shot with a pistol. Rose Mae is resurrected when a gypsy's tarot cards foretell doom for dutiful Ro: her handsome husband is going to kill her. Unless she kills him first.Armed with only her wit, her pawpy's ancient .45, and her dog Fat Gretel, Rose Mae hightails it out of Texas. In a journey that is by turns harrowing and exhilarating, she uncovers long buried truths about her family and herself, running from the man who will never let her go, on a mission to find the mother who did.My thoughts on the book:The first thing that I was curious about was the braid on the front cover of the book. In the last week or so, while I've been blogging about this book, other people have questioned the braid as well. Last week, I featured this book in Teaser Tuesdays. Let me share with you the teaser I chose from this book:I picked up the braid and walked back to the bathroom. I think I meant to put it in the trash, but I caught sight of myself in the mirror and stopped. I was ten pounds too thin and two shades paler than paper. My shorn hair hung around my face in a ragged tangle, longer on the right side than the left. I had kaleidoscope eyes, spinning with a hundred different colors of pure, naked crazy. For the first time in years, I was face-to-face with Rose Mae Lolley.The symbolism of that braid speaks volumes. Domestic violence is at the center of this story. But even with such a serious subject, Jackson uses wit and smartly placed humor to talk about this disturbing issue that happens every day in our society. In the beginning, we learn a little about Ro Grandee and where she came from and how she met her handsome husband. Then there's the tarot-reading gypsy Ro meets in the airport at a seemingly chance meeting. Aside from the domestic violence in her life, Ro also had been living with the fact that her mother left her when she was a child. She always wondered why her mother didn't love her enough to take her with her. As you can imagine, Rose Mae never got over her mother leaving and it was interesting following her on her quest to find answers about this painful part of her life.The characters in the book were very believably written. Some were a little scary while others were a little quirky. As the story continues, things turn more serious and the humor lessens as Rose Mae makes a plan and starts to take control of her life.When I first received this book I didn't realize that Ro/Rose Mae had been a supporting character in Jackson't previous novel, GODS IN ALABAMA, which I hadn't yet read. That said, BACKSEAT SAINTS is a stand alone novel. I do plan to read GODS IN ALABAMA to learn about Rose Mae in her high school days and about her first love, Jim Beverly, who does play a part in this book.I truly enjoyed Joshilyn Jackson's writing and I plan to read more of her books. I am a huge fan of Southern Fiction and this ranks right up at the top for me. While telling Rose Mae's story, she took me on an emotional journey from laughter, to heartbreak to joy to fear and I enjoyed it every step of the way. I can't encourage you enough to make the time to read this book. I'd like to thank Library Thing and Hachette Books for providing my review copy.

[dharley_14 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I won this book as an early reviewer, and although I do own two other books by this author, I haven't read them yet. I'm really having a hard time getting through the first half of this book. I just dont' look forward to picking it back up after I put it down. It just doesn't flow easily for me, and I find my mind wondering and pretty soon I realize I don't even know what I just read, so I have to go back and read it again. I'm not giving up yet though, it just may take longer than usual to get through it. I will update my review when I'm finished and hopefully I'll find that I like it in the end.

[silenceiseverything · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I picked up Backseat Saints because I saw an ad about it on Goodreads which had a line that went something like "A gypsy told me I had to kill me husband or he'd kill me." Immediately, I thought "Wow! This seems like it could have a lot of potential..." And I was not mistaken. Backseat Saints was an amazing and gripping novel. It wasn't what I expected in the most wonderful way. I tend to love novels about the South. While most people I know want to live in California or New York or England, etc., etc. I really just want to settle down in some state in the South. So, I guess that I'm just living vicariously through these books (only in terms of destination, though). So, that was a big reason why I was so interested in Backseat Saints. I expected a book that was mildly dark (it is about domestic abuse, after all), but with it's share of lightness (as most novels about the South that I've read tend to be full of light), but it wasn't. Don't get me wrong. There was a bit of humor in this book (one part in particular was when Rose wanted to talk to Arlene and Arlene climbed a tree to avoid her; that part just had me in stitches due to the absurdity of it all), but most of the book was way darker than I expected. But there seemed to be just enough balance to it that I didn't feel utterly depressed, yet I also didn't feel like the author was making light of a terrible situation. Now, the main character, Ro Grandee (or Rose Mae Lolley or Ivy Rose), was written in an utterly amazing way. Right from the beginning, I could sense the distinction between each of these personalities within this one woman. And I was charmed by them all. While Ro is deliciously flawed, Rose Mae was all types of badass, and Ivy Rose had all of these characteristics with a dash of bitterness as well. Yet, every single facet of this woman rang true. I never once thought that one of them was an act. Anyway, I thought Backseat Saints was a tremendous novel. It starts up and it never lets up even when you reach the shocking conclusion. It had a bit of that Southern charm that I love, a sprinkling of that sort of "coming of age" mentality, and it was also a whole lot of thriller. But most of all, it was just plain amazing! I highly recommend it and can't wait to read Gods in Alabama by the same author, especially considering that that one deals with Arlene and she had me intrigued in the cameo she had in Backseat Saints.

[itsjustme_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I received this book from Librarything Early Reviewers, and I was soooo excited! I love Joshilyn Jackson. She is also the Author of "Gods in Alabama" and "Between Georgia" which is one of my favorite books! And "The Girl Who Stopped Swimming" which I own but have not read yet. Joshilyn is a wonderful Author and she certainly did it again! I did not realize until I finished the book that Rose Mae Lolley ( the main character of this book) is taken from "Gods in Alabama" where she is a minor character. So if you haven't already, after you read this you might want to go back and read that.Rose Mae Lolley grew up in a small town in Alabama. Her father abused her mother, until her mother finally left. Leaving Rose to suffer under her father's hand. When Rose turned 18 she hit the road never to be seen in that part of the country again. Now living in TX as Ro Grandee, she is suffering under the abusive hand of her husband, Thom. He almost kills her, several times! She feels doomed and trapped being a battered wife forever. When she meets a gypsy at the airport she learns she has to kill or be killed! So she takes her Pawpy's old gun that she has carried had her whole life and starts to plan her future. Does she have what it takes to actually kill her husband?My Review - There are some books that are just important for women to read, you know what I mean? This is one of those books - it is about family, abuse, survival, and reconnecting with your past. (to tell you truth, I am in tears just writing this review).This is an expertly crafted tale of three generations of abuse. Joshilyn weaves in the past and present into an absolutely riveting story. Half way through the book, I found I could not put it down. Although it grabbed me with the very first sentence - "It was an Airport gypsy who told me that I had to kill my husband." and also a line from one of the last chapters of the book - "No" I tell her. "I think I lived." Nobody is more surprised than me. From beginning to end, this book will have you on the edge of your seat. I could picture Rose as this cute little southern gal with spunk and I rooting for her all the way. Joshilyn does a great job of turning Thom into a creepy villain that you hate right from the start. I seriously wanted the man dead! Then later in the story you meet Parker, Ahhh Parker. How can you not picture him a a hunk? He is the strong silent neighbor of "the gypsy". The whole time I pictured him as Sam Elliott in "Road House". Then there is "the gypsy" I put that in quotes because you do learn later in the story who she really is and she becomes a very significant character. My first line was that this was an expertly crafted tale because this book is "crafted" not merely written.

[sugarcreekranch · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

In the airport, Ro Grandee meets a fortune teller who tells her that it is Ro or her husband Thom -- kill or be killed. Backseat Saints is the story of Ro's effort to be the one left standing. It's an high-emotion, fast-paced story that delves into Ro's past as she hopes to survive the present.Joshilyn Jackson has written a very flawed, but excruiatingly real character. Thom does not take all the blame in this novel; it's very clear that Ro (aka Rose Mae) sparks some of the violence, too. Though I know that many abused women return to their abusers, I've never understood it. Ro made me understand it, at least a little.

[frisbeesage · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Joshilyn Jackson has turned out another gripping, page-turner, stay-up-all-night kind of book. She starts by giving you a character you can love. Rose Mae Lolley aka Ro Grandee, is so flawed and scarred yet tough and sassy that you can't help but cheer her on. Then, she puts them in a scary, impossible situaion. For Rose its when an airport gypsy tells her to kill her abusive husband before he can kill her it seems like a reasonable solution. But things go wrong and soon Ro is running, from her abusive husband, her dark past, and even sometimes from herself. Then, you stay up all night, frantic to find out what will happen to Rose and if she'll be okay in the end.All of Joshilyn Jackson's books have been intense and create a certain amount of anxiety about the future of her characters. Backseat Saints is the most intense yet, never allowing the reader a moment of rest until the end has finally come. If you are looking for a cozy, light read this book isn't for you! Jackson does a great job of developing her characters, giving the reader multi-dimensional, fully believable people. I especially appreciated her hard look at abuse and the part the victim plays in their own abuse. Well worth the read!