What do you think?
Rate this book
Maggie Sweet
Maggie Sweet has had it! For nineteen years, she's kept house, raised a pair of battling twin daughters, put up with her frugal husband, Steven, humored his impossible mother, and kept her mouth shut. But when Steven spends their life savings on a cemetery plot, it's time for Maggie to take control.
With her twenty-year high school reunion just around the corner and her long-lost high school boyfriend back in town, it's Maggie's turn to start turning heads. In the face of small-minded gossips, a surly family, and a meddling grandmother, Maggie must reach deep inside her Southern-housewife soul to become the woman she's always wanted to be.
With her twenty-year high school reunion just around the corner and her long-lost high school boyfriend back in town, it's Maggie's turn to start turning heads. In the face of small-minded gossips, a surly family, and a meddling grandmother, Maggie must reach deep inside her Southern-housewife soul to become the woman she's always wanted to be.
224 pages, Paperback
First published April 1, 2001
42 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews
August 31, 2019
Pretty entertaining! I liked it!
September 22, 2019
I vacillated between 2 and 3 stars and settled on 3 for the humor.
Maggie Sweet is in her late 30s and in a loveless marriage. Her twin daughters will soon be graduating from high school and she is going through a bit of a crisis, feeling that her life is heading toward being totally meaningless. Always a pleaser, she is uncomfortable standing up for her wants and beliefs.
This book was only so-so for me. I have frequently enjoyed books with a southern setting and flavor, but this one didn't do much for me. I found most of the characters rather one-dimensional and selfish. Although Maggie might show some growth as the story goes along, I never felt myself rooting for her.
Very quick read, with some humor, but just OK for me.
Maggie Sweet is in her late 30s and in a loveless marriage. Her twin daughters will soon be graduating from high school and she is going through a bit of a crisis, feeling that her life is heading toward being totally meaningless. Always a pleaser, she is uncomfortable standing up for her wants and beliefs.
This book was only so-so for me. I have frequently enjoyed books with a southern setting and flavor, but this one didn't do much for me. I found most of the characters rather one-dimensional and selfish. Although Maggie might show some growth as the story goes along, I never felt myself rooting for her.
Very quick read, with some humor, but just OK for me.
November 25, 2019
“‘Maggie, are you sure tonight’s meat loaf? I thought it was fish stick night.’
‘No, Steven. Every other Friday’s fish stick night.’ We’d had this conversation so many times, I wanted to put my head in the iced tea pitcher and drown myself.”
Maggie is simply going through the motions of life while waiting for her life to begin. Her world comes full circle when her ex-boyfriend moves back to town.
‘No, Steven. Every other Friday’s fish stick night.’ We’d had this conversation so many times, I wanted to put my head in the iced tea pitcher and drown myself.”
Maggie is simply going through the motions of life while waiting for her life to begin. Her world comes full circle when her ex-boyfriend moves back to town.
December 4, 2021
This is a book I can, and have, read over and over. It never fails to delight me.
August 20, 2025
Just a wonderful southern story that makes you think about what your life might have been.
October 27, 2012
I knew from the first few pages that I would enjoy this book. It begins with 38 year old Maggie Sweet reading the response she got when she wrote to a newspaper "advice" columnist complaining about the lack of fun in her married life and asking for advice for ways to perk up her married life. With the upcoming high school graduation of her twin daughters, Maggie thought that she and her husband could venture out on their own...a trip to Myrtle Beach, perhaps. Instead, her serious-minded husband bought adjoining burial plots for their future together. In answer to Maggie's letter, the advice columnist suggests that Maggie invest in The Joys of Jell-o Cookbook to create lovely, new Jell-o salads.
Long story short: Maggie lost her chance at marrying her high-school sweetheart and her dream of owning her own hair salon when she married much older Stephen Sweet. When she dared to mention her dream of styling hair, her husband kept telling her to wait until the time was right and in his mind, the time was never right. He dominated her everyday life from doling out money as he saw fit, to creating economical monthly menus, to scheduling their weekly intimate encounters. Finally, Maggie had had enough and when she broke free, she did it with no holds barred, and no Jell-o salads, thank you very much!
Long story short: Maggie lost her chance at marrying her high-school sweetheart and her dream of owning her own hair salon when she married much older Stephen Sweet. When she dared to mention her dream of styling hair, her husband kept telling her to wait until the time was right and in his mind, the time was never right. He dominated her everyday life from doling out money as he saw fit, to creating economical monthly menus, to scheduling their weekly intimate encounters. Finally, Maggie had had enough and when she broke free, she did it with no holds barred, and no Jell-o salads, thank you very much!
April 15, 2020
I absolutely loved this book! Maggie Sweet sure stood up for herself and took charge in the end! I just can't believe that she stayed with that awful husband of hers as long as she did.
This is the story of Maggie Sweet...a woman in a crappy marriage to a man years older than her (he was one of her teachers in high school), who finally gets to the point that she's had enough. Especially when the high school love of her life, Jerry, returns home after his divorce with his wife.
Will Jerry and Maggie live happily ever after? Will the kids ever forgive her for her final decision? And will Maggie finally get to have a successful career doing hair?...I'm not sure, but I'm really hoping the next book gives us a look into the new life Maggie has planned for herself.
I definitely recommend this as a great southern read. There's tons of gossip, drama, and sweet tea! I'm gonna read the next installment the second I get my hands on a copy!
This is the story of Maggie Sweet...a woman in a crappy marriage to a man years older than her (he was one of her teachers in high school), who finally gets to the point that she's had enough. Especially when the high school love of her life, Jerry, returns home after his divorce with his wife.
Will Jerry and Maggie live happily ever after? Will the kids ever forgive her for her final decision? And will Maggie finally get to have a successful career doing hair?...I'm not sure, but I'm really hoping the next book gives us a look into the new life Maggie has planned for herself.
I definitely recommend this as a great southern read. There's tons of gossip, drama, and sweet tea! I'm gonna read the next installment the second I get my hands on a copy!
November 27, 2019
The story has some promise - Maggie Sweet, a 38-year-old housewife with twin girls, an overbearing mother-in-law, and an ass of a husband, wants to find meaning in her life. The fact that she lives in a small, Southern town makes change hard because everyone knows everyone else’s business. Lord knows, you can’t upset your neighbors!
If the story could have been presented simply and a bit more realistically, then I imagine that I would have liked it better. I actually toyed with giving it a rating of 1. It was affectatious and smarmy. I have never, ever experienced radios that produce songs to fit the theme of the moment every time one is turned on - until I read this!
I suwannee I will not be reading the second book. (Yes, evidently that is Southern slang. I know because I looked it up. Being a down-home Georgia girl did not help me with that word. I have never heard it in all my life and I have relatives on farms in small-time Wrens, GA, population approximately 2000).
If the story could have been presented simply and a bit more realistically, then I imagine that I would have liked it better. I actually toyed with giving it a rating of 1. It was affectatious and smarmy. I have never, ever experienced radios that produce songs to fit the theme of the moment every time one is turned on - until I read this!
I suwannee I will not be reading the second book. (Yes, evidently that is Southern slang. I know because I looked it up. Being a down-home Georgia girl did not help me with that word. I have never heard it in all my life and I have relatives on farms in small-time Wrens, GA, population approximately 2000).
January 19, 2023
Maggie Sweet has had it! For nineteen years, she's kept house, raised a pair of battling twin daughters, put up with her frugal husband, Steven, humored his impossible mother, and kept her mouth shut. But when Steven spends their life savings on a cemetery plot, it's time for Maggie to take control.
With her twenty-year high school reunion just around the corner and her long-lost high school boyfriend back in town, it's Maggie's turn to start turning heads. In the face of small-minded gossips, a surly family, and a meddling grandmother, Maggie must reach deep inside her Southern-housewife soul to become the woman she's always wanted to be.
With her twenty-year high school reunion just around the corner and her long-lost high school boyfriend back in town, it's Maggie's turn to start turning heads. In the face of small-minded gossips, a surly family, and a meddling grandmother, Maggie must reach deep inside her Southern-housewife soul to become the woman she's always wanted to be.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 16, 2017
I don't know what it is about stories with a Southern flavour, but I love them. Inasmuch as I adore stories set in English countrysides with rambling walks in nippy weather, stories with a Southern twang tend to promise a quirkiness that can only come with off-kilter characters and a logic that can only make you go hmmmm....
Maggie Sweet is a sweet, sweet read - light, easy, but with a poignant punch in the gut. Nothing new really, but the telling of the story is one almost every woman can identify with. Well, that's life. :)
Maggie Sweet is a sweet, sweet read - light, easy, but with a poignant punch in the gut. Nothing new really, but the telling of the story is one almost every woman can identify with. Well, that's life. :)
June 1, 2016
Quaint and endearing. I enjoyed the story and the author's style of writing. I especially liked this scene where she spoke of someone dreaming of exploding sourdough. Very vivid. Not sure I agree with the ending but it was classic Hallmark. One of my old instructors would have hated it! No Hallmark endings!
September 20, 2008
Didn't like it much at all...
July 27, 2008
A quick, easy read. I loved the writer's tone and the voice she gave the characters. There were some infidelity issues, but it was clean and hopeful.
July 30, 2010
The book was a quick read. It centered around the title character's dissatisfaction with her husband and how she decides to leave him.
Read
April 6, 2014Good, light, quick read that is a pick me up for those of us females especially in the 40 to 60 age range.
December 9, 2016
Really cute (bits of humor throughout) book--so welcomed after reading so many books lately that were rather dry.
September 20, 2025
My beautiful grandmother wrote this book. Rereading it is like talking to her again in a way. Will always treasure this book!
September 26, 2008
Entertaining read about young wife becoming who she wants to be
November 30, 2014
Cute, quick read. I hope there's a sequel!
Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews