The Chicken Sisters by KJ Dell'Antonia - Bookin' It With Jen

As a southerner and consummate couch potato there are few things I enjoy more than fried chicken, family drama and food tv, so when I read the description of this book I knew I had to read it.

It did not disappoint.

I was drawn in from the very first line on the very first page, a casting call for a tv show called Food Wars, which our protagonist Amanda is in the process of applying for. Through a series of drafted emails we learn about the century old family history of feuding and finger lickin' chicken between the two local chicken shacks, Mimi's and Frannie's.

What follows is a series of unfortunate events orchestrated by the shrewd producer of the show, Sabrina, who will stop at nothing to ensure high ratings, even at the expense of the contestants lives. I really expected this to be a fun, light read but was pleasantly surprised by the underlying themes of loss and betrayal  reinforced by the subsequently concealed and revealed dirty little secrets of our characters, as well as the aspects of mental health and hoarding, which I have never encountered in a book like this before.

There were a lot of moving parts to this story, but somehow the author managed to weave them all together to create a beautiful portrait of small town life, family and forgiveness.

Thanks to Edelweiss and Penguin for providing me with a copy of this book to review.