Mama Tried by Kathy Des Jardins | $25 Gift Card Giveaway, Review, Excerpt, Book Info, & Author Bio
A book blog tour from Goddess Fish Promotions.
Thank you to the author, publisher, and Marianne & Judy at Goddess Fish for providing me with the information for this tour.
Book Details
Mama Tried by Kathy Des Jardins Published by Wild Rose Press on April 13, 2022
Genres: Contemporary Fiction
Format: eBook, Paperback
Pages: 428
Source: Goddess Fish Promotions, Received from the author or publisher for review.Disc jockey Joy Faye Savoy plays country songs written about women like her mother, the comely, exasperating Quida Raye Perkins.
When Joy treats her audience to good-natured gripes about her big-haired and bossy mother, who's known to hitch rides in semi-trucks, she is shocked to find herself syndicated...with one catch--she must keep poking fun at feisty Quida Raye.
Joy makes the best of small-town stardom despite big-time baggage, a load not lightened by hunky co-workers or her overbearing best friend until true love strikes.
She finally hears in those old melodies what she and her mother have had in common all along--yesterday, with its shared memories of happiness and tragedy...and they know all the words by heart.
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Excerpt from Mama Tried
“I hope yore sittin’ down,” her mother blared into the phone, instantly opening Joy’s eyes and blanketing her in panic.
“I’m lying down,” she said, checking the bedside clock. “I do that at two thirty-seven in the morning.”
“I know what time it is,” Quida Raye snapped. “I just thought you might like to know Doyle’s in jail and it’s a miracle I’m not, too.”
Joy sprang up in bed. Doyle was in jail? Had they run over someone? It was her worst fear, the thought of her mother hurtling through the night, a tawny, heat-seeking missile shot from charred, mangled metal. If there had been a wreck, Joy realized with some degree of relief, at least she was still alive.
“What happened?”
“They got him for grand theft,” her mother said.
“What?” Joy heard a quick gulp of breath, nicotine nerves rushing to neurons near and far. Not even that steadied her mother’s voice when she spoke again.
“Joy Faye, you know full well that truck we’ve been drivin’ is stolen property.”
She said this as if stating actual fact, as if stealing an eighteen-wheeler was a minor maternal detail that had simply slipped her daughter’s mind. Joy Savoy knew what brand of beanie weenies her mother preferred. She was pretty sure, even jolted from a sound sleep, she would have recalled some mention of a snatched semi.
Excerpt provided by the author/publisher for use in this book review.
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Purchase Links for Mama Tried
Amazon – OneLink for every country
AppleBooks/iTunes The Book Depository Blackwell’s
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My thoughts on Mama Tried
Mama Tried captures the relationship between many mothers and daughters in vivid detail. Love, hate, anguish, and exasperation jump off every page.
The story will have you laughing at loud in one chapter and gently weeping in the next, all while humming classic county tunes.
While some readers might consider the plot a Southern cliché, people that lived through that wild, raucous era see through to the truth behind the tale. It truly was a time of big hair, cigarettes, and nonstop music.
Kathy Des Jardin’s debut tragicomedy novel is fantastic. Whether you relate to Joy’s circumstances or Quida’s over-the-top lifestyle, I’m sure you will find this book entertaining.
I recommend Mama Tried to all readers. Whether you choose to keep it light-hearted and fun or dive-deep in analyzing relationships, the book will mesmerize you.
I received a copy of the book for the tour. This review is my honest, unbiased opinion.
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I love my Amazon Kindle Unlimited Subscription. So many books, so little time!
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About Kathy Des Jardins
Kathy Des Jardins owns a publications firm in metro Atlanta and is a member of the Atlanta Writers Club and Roswell Reads. A former newspaper reporter, columnist, and editor, she won her first journalism award for a country concert review.
During the next decade, another category would dominate her nearly 100 national, regional, and state awards: humor writing. In addition to winning two Louisiana Press Association’s Best Regular Columnist Awards, four Louisiana Press Women Sweepstakes Awards, and a first for humor articles from the National Federation of Press Women, she was honored by the Louisiana-Mississippi Associated Press Newspaper Contests and United Press International Newspapers of Louisiana, among other organizations.
She has also received California Press Women’s Outstanding Excellence Award and USTA Georgia’s Media Excellence Award.
Mama Tried, her first novel, revisits her two earliest, and most winning, themes: tragicomedy set to classic country music.
In addition to appearing in O, Georgia! A Collection of Georgia’s Newest and Most Promising Writers, she has written for several national and regional publications. Beginning in 2015, she also penned a book column for a monthly Atlanta magazine.
Kathy claims dual citizenship, having been born in Kentucky and raised in Louisiana, where she fleetingly attended Louisiana State University-Alexandria and Louisiana College. She and her husband live in Johns Creek, Georgia, and have three sons.
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Purchase Mama Tried online from a local bookstore.
Amazon – OneLink for every country
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Giveaway!
Kathy Des Jardins will be awarding a $25 Amazon or Barnes and Noble GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour.
Visit more stops on this Goddess Fish tour for extra chances to win!
Full Tour Schedule:
May 19: The Faerie Review
May 26: The Avid Reader
June 2: Gina Rae Mitchell
June 2: Novels Alive
June 9: Lynn’s Romance Enthusiasm
June 9: Harlie’s Books
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Sounds interesting!!
Do you have a favorite place to do your writing?
Sounds like a great book. I like the cover and excerpt.
Thank you for sharing your thoughts on Mama Tried, this sounds like a wonderful story and I can’t wait to read it myself
Thanks for stopping by, Bea!
I enjoyed the excerpt and Mama Tried sounds like a great book to read, thanks for sharing it with me! Thanks, Gina, for sharing your thoughts! Have a fantastic TGIF!
Thanks, Eva. Happy Weekend!
[…] Mama Tried by Kathy Des Jardins | $25 Gift Card Giveaway, Review, Excerpt, Book Info, & Author B… […]
Great review, Gina!
Thanks Jenny. It’s perfect for someone like me who loved their mother, but was also exasperated by her!
Mama Tried by Kathy Des Jardins sounds like a book that would be great summer reading.
It is perfect summer reading, Nancy!
Looks like a very interesting book.
It is a very entertaining book, as well as a bit heartbreaking.
I really loved this book.
What inspires your book titles?
Thanks for hosting!