Down and Out in Bugtussle: The Mad Fat Road to Happiness by Stephanie McAfee

Down and Out in Bugtussle: The Mad Fat Road to Happiness.  Stephanie McAfee. Penguin Group (USA). July 2013. 368 pp. pbk. ISBN #: 9780451239907.

Graciella “Ace” Jones is back in town, that is Bugtussle, Mississippi.  She’s left the man she thought was her future all-consuming love and now has to work as a substitute teacher.  She’s hoping to be restored to her art teacher status, but Cameron Becker, a first year teacher, has that spot firmly rooted in spite of the fact she’s a disaster as a teacher.  Ace’s friend Chloe is supporting Ace’s desire to work as a full-time art teacher, but the baggage of the past is clogging the plan.  Ace is an off-beat character, at least she thinks so until she meets another new teacher, Stacey Dewberry, who seems certifiably crazy, that is until Ace gets to know her better and a friendship forms.  Crazy and funny galore define these two teachers who manage to survive the sub-teacher-hateful antics of students at Bugtussle High School!

Ace, and her beloved dog, Buster Loo, has moved back into her Gramma Jones’ home where she discovers her grandmother’s flower book with some interesting sticky notes specifically aligned next to certain flowers, a poignant secret leading to one even more shocking and emotional.  But that doesn’t come until much later.  For now, there are plots afoot at the high school to help Ace in her employment quest, but then suddenly the tide has turned as Chloe has her own problems to deal with on the romance side.  Add to that Chloe’s love, Dax, is being called to serve in the military, probably in Afghanistan.  It’s crisis time for Chloe who has a secret she doesn’t want Dax to learn unless he tells her she means more to him than a live-in love machine.

Meanwhile, Ace goes on several disastrous blind date which are absolutely hilarious because of the way she describes them, probably not so in reality.  Yes, her weight is a definite problem but she’s confident enough in herself that it doesn’t overly concern her.  But romance she will find, when least expected, and it is that which changes her dreams, attitude, and future.  It parallels the garden she is planting at home, establishing her own flowers with very specific meanings for the reader to discover.

Stephanie McAfee is a hoot!  She knows exactly how to present very, very funny scenes, crisis-laden scenarios, and tender moments of support and love that constantly and consistently engage the reader on every page.  

Down and Out in Bugtussle… is a great, fun, tender read!  Enjoy!

Happily Ever Madder: Misadventures of a Mad Fat Girl by Stephanie McAfee

Happily Ever Madder: Misadventures of a Mad Fat Girl. Stephanie McAfee. New American Library Trade Paperback Original. November 2012. 352 pp. ISBN #: 9780451238054.

Ace Jones, a Southern artist from Bugtussle, Mississippi.  The name of her hometown matches her funny, feisty nature.  Now she has just opened her first art gallery in Pelican Grove and is so nervous that her first speech on opening night is a disaster, a hodgepodge of embarrassingly inane comments.  What it does earn her is the absolute scorn of the town's biggest charity donor, at least in rumor if not in actual donations.  Ace, however, has promised herself she will control her tendency to fight and utter comments that could wreck her reputation in five seconds or less. Oh yes, Ace is one sassy lady for sure!

Mrs. Lenore Kennashaw seems to have decided she will ruin Ace's life. Her attempts are foiled, however, by Ace's initially tame responses.  Mrs. Kennashaw's cronies, however, are so fearful of losing the spotlight they share, they give in and treat Ace like an "outsider," something that shames her and makes her wonder if she's really made a terrible, terrible decision to come to this town.  She is finally engaged to Mason, the love of her life since forever and sticks it all out for their sake.  Will they survive and how?  Quite simply really! Ace declares war and the fun begins!

Happily, Ace meets a group of friends who are as crazy as she is.  Their plot to reveal a secret of their enemy thrills them and the reader but with unforeseen results.  As Ace's friends meet lovers and make future plans, Ace's uncertainty grows.  She's homesick for Mississippi but really is just unsure and needs space, even though she and Mason still love each other dearly.

This is a funny, tender story about growing up, using humor as one's stabilizer and security - until it goes too far.  It's also a gentle satire about smallness of spirit in towns (and not just the South) where everyone knows everyone else and a social order rules that can make or break a person or persons.  But most of all, it's comic and light, a great read, depicting a character almost every reader can fall for, love, feel sorry for, sympathize and even empathize with.  This reviewer hopes we'll hear more about Ace in the future! Nicely done, Ms. McAfee!

Diary of a Mad fat Girl by Stephanie McAfee

Diary of a Mad fat Girl. Stephanie McAfee. New American Library Trade Book. February 2012. 368 pages. ISBN: 9780451236494.

Ace Jones is one crazy, feisty, and funny gal! She has had a few very close friends who sheltered and comforted her when she lost her entire family in a very brief time, a fact that just might be a trust issue with Mason McKenzie who worships the ground she walks on as well as her chiweenie dog named Buster Loo! Oh why else would she turn him away?

Ace is working as an art teacher but haunted by a nasty principal itching to fire Ace and toting up every rule infraction Ace commits, of which there are a few, deliberately done, ahem? When the tyrant boss accuses Ace's best friend, Lily, of having sexual relations with a student, Ace is shocked beyond belief initially but then becomes determined to find out the truth behind the allegation.

Add to that another friend, Chloe, whose cheating husband has beaten her up so that she must be hospitalized, and Ace is out on a mission - proof of what a low-life Chloe's husband really is! At first Chloe asks for help but then as a true victim rejects any help, which doesn't stop Ace and Lily from surging forward on their mission, with the help of some police officers and a very rich old lady, who is a hoot in her own right!

For more about how this hilarious adventure progresses, you'll have to read about it yourself and it's well-worth the read! This diary is a light-hearted great read, and Stephanie McAfee has written a chick lit book that is guaranteed to make you want her to write more books as fun as this one! I'm still laughing, Ms. McAfee! Thank you!