Charleston Kisses

by Terry Ward Tucker

Terry Ward Tucker does it again. The main characters who pucker up for Charleston Kisses, the novel, deliver a one-two punch disguised as a French kiss. Her plot confirms a Southern that "family" and "dysfunction" in the same phrase is redundant. Logan Gaillard, the female main character, knows perfectly well Thomas Wolfe was right, but she goes home again anyway. Charleston, "Lady by the Sea," is always the fall-back for this Southern gal whose string of failed relationships has elapsed too much time on her bio clock. Enter Tradd Petigru, the drunken young Charleston preacher who permanently trips Logan's romantic trigger. As soon as we begin to loathe him for his sins of weakness, Tucker pulls back a tendril of Spanish moss to show us poor Petigru's reason for communing with the bottle--a fiance who's been comatose four, long years. For her other characters, Tucker weaves Southern traits into patterns as complicated as the lattices in Lowcountry sweetgrass baskets. In some scenes, the players beg you to shake them by their shoulders; in others, to say, "Aw, sugah"--saving, "Bless their little hearts" for more innocent moments, excluding bending the truth. Charleston Kisses is a full-on-the-lips-buss, just the great read you'll want in your beach bag or on your bedside table.

249 pages, Paperback

First published April 28, 2012

Reviews

[Shirley Paoletti · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a fun book to read, about finding love. I enjoyed it mostly because I live in Charleston and knew all the places and streets mentioned in the book.

[Julie · Rating 2 out of 5]

It was a nice story and it was easy to imagine myself in all the places the characters found themselves, but the relationship between the two main characters seemed to move almost unbelievably quickly. And there was a past love interest who was introduced, that the female lead was upset about, but it was never really resolved.

[Keightley8 · Rating 1 out of 5]

With Charleston as backdrop, there is hardly an excuse for such weak development of character. Good story, just failed to bring the real flavor of the City and its culture to bear to make it a good book. Don't bother.

[Liz · Rating 2 out of 5]

Just because it is set in Charleston does not make it a good book.
Try South of Broad instead.