Scandalous Summer of Sissy LeBlanc

Despres, Loraine. The Scandalous Summer of Sissy LeBlanc. New York: HarperCollins, 2001. 342 pp.

If you enjoy romances that pull on your heart strings, this debut novel by screenwriter Loraine Despres is a must read! Here's the plot synopsis from the back of the novel:

"It's a steamy June afternoon in Louisiana, circa 1956, and Sissy LeBlanc is sitting on her front porch, wondering—half seriously—if she could kill herself with aspirins and Coca-Cola. She's been living in stifling old Gentry since the day she was born and trapped in a sham of a marriage to PeeWee LeBlanc since she was only seventeen. In short, she's fed up, restless, and ready for an adventure. Sissy just never imagined temptation would come into her life that breathless summer day as she sat smoking on her porch swing. For although she may have been fixated on the taut muscles of the lineman shimmying down the telephone pole across the street, she hadn't allowed herself to imagine that he'd be none other than her high school sweetheart, Parker Davidson, who left town fourteen years before without so much as a wave good-bye. But suddenly, here he is, standing in her very own kitchen, sipping Coke over cracked ice and leaning in for a kiss that will stir up more excitement than Sissy could have ever imagined…."

I just finished reading Scandalous Summer for the second time, and again I found myself unable to put the book down. The unexpected twists and turns of the plot (it's much more than a happy ending!), as well as my sympathetic feelings for Sissy, "the princess" who married "the toad" for all the wrong reasons, contributed to my enjoyment of this novel. The Scandalous Summer of Sissy LeBlanc is a hilarious, thought-provoking read that is sure to warm you up any time of year!

Erica