A review by grandpas_farts
The Secret Lives of Church Ladies by Deesha Philyaw

challenging emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.75

This short story collect kept getting so much buzz. The buzzing finally became loud enough I took a bite. Happy I did! This book may be titled Secret Lives of Church Ladies, but scripture doesn't really play into the stories. This is not a "preachy" book and more of a cup of tea.

In each short story we explore the lives of various women, throughout various decades, places, life stages, and situations of life. Anyone who has grown up in/around church culture will know some of the people in a few of these stories. This collection shines a light on what happens when the gossipers hang their laundry out to dry. He who is without sin and all of that!

My favorite short story was "Instructions for Married Christian Husbands" because it connected to "Peach Cobbler". Here we have a daughter (did we ever get her name), that never wanted to turn into her mother. As we see from the article or Facebook post, whatever it is she made, she has ultimately turned into... her mother.
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