Joe, Yolanda. The Hatwearer’s Lesson. Plume, 2004.
Reason read: Yolanda Joe was born in March. Read in her honor.
When Grandmother Ollie speaks, her granddaughter, Terri, best sit up straight and listen with both ears wide open. Ms. Ollie knows a thing or two about life, love, and loss. When she couldn’t write Terri’s fiancé’s name (Derek) in her Bible she knew trouble was brewing. Terri might be a successful Chicago lawyer and one half of a gorgeous power couple soon to be married, but what is she to do when Grandmother says there is bad luck coming? Derek is wealthy, sexy, and smart. Terri, only thinking about image, cannot afford to lose Derek so she does what any practical woman would do. She ignores the mystical warnings. Terri thinks she has it all with her career and Derek, but her luck goes from bad to worse when first, she discovers her hunk of a boyfriend has been stepping out on her with a rival. Then her grandmother suffers a fall that lands Ollie in the hospital and in need of an operation. This health scare couldn’t come at a better time. Going back home to Alabama to care for Ollie gives Terri the much needed time away to clear her head. Except. What about her professional legal career? Will her absence jeopardize her place in the firm? She does have rivals sniffing around her clients. And what about her heart? Will she ever be able to trust Derek again? She has rivals sniffing around her man, too. Life becomes even more confusing when she meets an Alabama country boy who wears his heart on his sleeve and trustworthy honesty on his tongue.
Head scratcher: correct me if I am wrong, but I do not think you need to block your number when calling from a cell phone. No one will know if you are standing in your own bathroom or at the North Pole when you make a call from a cell.
Author fact: I am reading four Joe books for the Challenge. I finished Bebe’s By Golly Wow. Still to go are He Say, She Say and This Just In.
Book trivia: According to Joe, hat wearer is one word: hatwearer. My spell checker hates me right now.
Playlist: Gladys Knight, James Brown, Bill “Bojangles” Robinson, Stevie Wonder, Sammy Davis Jr., Lena Horne, and Luther Vandross.
BookLust Twist: from Book Lust in the chapter called “African American Fiction: She Say” (p 12).
~*LunaSea*~ 