Road Tripping Across the USA Mini Reading Challenge: Alabama

Folksy and fresh, endearing and affecting, Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe is a now-classic novel about two women: Evelyn, who’s in the sad slump of middle age, and gray-headed Mrs. Threadgoode, who’s telling her life story.

Her tale includes two more women—the irrepressibly daredevilish tomboy Idgie and her friend Ruth—who back in the thirties ran a little place in Whistle Stop, Alabama, offering good coffee, southern barbecue, and all kinds of love and laughter—even an occasional murder. And as the past unfolds, the present will never be quite the same again.

Devastated when her lover dies from an error made during a simple operation, Cadin Michaels vows to make the guilty pay for their deadly error.

She uses the settlement won to create a foundation in her lover’s name to help women and children. When that does nothing to ease her grief, she is encouraged to take a sabbatical, to try and find herself again. Cadin mounts her motorcycle, and lets fate, and a dart, lead her on her journey.

Kat Linder and her lover Lauren share a home with Kat’s Gran.

Since her grandfather’s death, she’s taken over maintaining the family farm in South Alabama. In the small town, the annual church Homecoming is a big event, and Kat rushes to get the hay in the barn to beat a storm while Lauren, a beautician, prepares the town’s older women for the year’s social event.

Parker “Kong” King is the number one tennis player in the world with a real talent for getting women in her bed.

To prepare herself for the one title she’s never won—and avoid the press and her ex—she retreats to a secluded home in Press Cove, Alabama. There she’ll also be safe from the Soldiers of God who’ve threatened to kill her for what they see as her depraved lifestyle. Commercial pilot Captain Sydney Parish loves the order that comes from a well-constructed plan for everything, her only failure being her personal life. She hopes a vacation will help heal her bruised heart, but soon finds that might not be possible when she discovers she’s one house over from Parker King.

Will the hunt for a murderer lead Avery and Cam to love?

When the discovery of a dead body in town coincides with the arrival of attractive but irritating tv personality Cameron Reinhart, Detective Avery Smith has to put aside her feelings of skepticism and disbelief when Cam claims to have seen Avery’s murder victim — after she was murdered.

Chloe Green is so close to winning.

After her moms moved her from SoCal to Alabama for high school, she’s spent the past four years dodging gossipy classmates and the puritanical administration of Willowgrove Christian Academy. The thing that’s kept her going: winning valedictorian. Her only rival: prom queen Shara Wheeler, the principal’s perfect progeny.

This new romance by award-winning author Nat Burns is filled with quirky patients, comedic office staff and, oh yes—love. Lots of love.

Physician Corinthia Madsen Salas—Dr. Maddie—has a flourishing practice in the tiny southern town of Maypearl, Alabama. Although she’s on call for her eclectic patients 24/7, she keeps her personal life private—most notably the fact that she is in love with her new receptionist, Ella Lewis. To reveal the truth could be an ethical disaster for her career and her impeccable standing as a civic leader in the small town. Yet, even so, she wonders often if Ella’s sly, shy glances indicate a return of affection or just workplace courtesy.

Identity is a story of survival, tenacity and the strength of true love.

Shay Raynor doesn’t need to learn anything twice. After a three-year disastrous relationship she now knows what happens when you let someone inside your heart, body and mind—they take everything. Her career as a prominent D.C. dog trainer is in tatters, but that pales next to the wounds she carries inside and out. Liza Hughes has left her business in Montgomery for the even smaller Maypearl, Alabama, to care for her ailing father. Distance from her clinging ex is also welcome. She’s not expecting to meet someone like Shay, but the attractive newcomer in the small town is clearly keeping her distance from life.

Delora November is a survivor—ask anyone in Redstar, Alabama, and they will tell you that.

Her ex-husband put her in a burn ward and she came fighting back. She works three jobs and on the surface she’s keeping it together. Redstar itself works its own magic. When the thought of yet another hospital is too much, Delora turns to healer women she’s heard might help. In the quiet, breathing depths of Bayou Lisse she meets Sophie Cofe.

Forced to spend her summer in her aunt's strange small town, a teen girl discovers dark secrets hidden in the woods. From the author of Bad Witch Burning comes another pulse-pounding novel perfect for fans of Supernatural and Lovecraft Country.

Don’t go outside past dark. Come straight home after church. And above all—never, ever, go into Red Wood. These are the rules Latavia’s aunt gives her when Latavia arrives in Sanctum, Alabama for the summer. Though, weird as they are, living in Sanctum does have its pros. Mainly, the cute girl who works at the local ice cream shop.

Mary Griggs’ debut romance novel unites a lost soul and a determined survivor to create a passionate story that readers will remember long after the final page.

Sallie Lee Hybart doesn’t see many strangers at her diner counter. Pennington, Alabama, is a town the interstate passed by, so newcomers are rare. But this one looks familiar. Janet Bouton has nothing and no one. Her life has been stripped down to the clothing on her back. Counting out her meager change to pay for a stick-to-the-ribs meal, she is hoping to escape the diner unrecognized. She shouldn’t have come back…but no place else on earth was familiar.

Charlene "Charlie" Mack is a PI in Detroit.

Born and raised in the city that America forgot, Charlie has built a highly respected private investigation firm through hard work, smart choices, and relentless ambition. Her team of investigators is highly skilled and trustworthy, but she secretly struggles with her sexual orientation and a mother with early-onset Alzheimer’s. When Charlie and her crack team head to Birmingham, Alabama following the trail of a missing person, what should be a routine case turns into a complex chase for answers.

Can we find or create belonging where we least expect it?

Weary from the road, singer/songwriter Dani’s loneliness is eased through volunteering at a Southern LGBTQ safe home where she finds love and family. When a hateful campaign threatens the home, Dani must use her gifts to fight hate like what drove her from home in order to save all she has found.

Young Love

When Mary McGhee moved to a small Alabama town shortly after the Second World War she was sure she could change her life for good. But then she met, Lila Dubose, the wife of her new employer.

What’s out there for a young, bi-racial, lesbian woman in Birmingham, Alabama, the cradle of the Civil Rights Movement?

Isabella is young, in love and she thinks she has it all. As a mechanic trained in high school, where being a female in the classroom was accepted, to doing the same job in the Air National Guard where it is too and getting her tuition to aviation tech school paid for by the Guard, she’ s got it made… or does she?

Sawyer Noel’s car troubles leave her coasting into the dreamy town of Ladybug Junction, Alabama, on her way to the Fetch Veterinarian Conference.

When life seems to be too good to be true and love is within reach, Sawyer and Macey discover the truth about Ladybug Junction, and the cold light of reality tests the hearts of these dreamers.

Rhodes and Iliana couldn't be more different, but that's not why they hate each other.

Rhodes and Iliana couldn’t be more different, but that’s not why they hate each other. Rhodes, a gifted artist, has always excelled at Alabama’s Conservatory of the Arts (until she’s hit with a secret bout of creator’s block), while Iliana, a transfer student, tries to outshine everyone with her intense, competitive work ethic. Since only one of them can get the coveted Capstone scholarship, the competition between them is fierce.

Do opposites attract or simply impact?

Farrah and Sirena are fighting over a boy, but not like you’d think… Both young witches are tasked with securing Adrick, the chosen one and possibly savior, for their side. Neither expected to catch feelings.