Rating: 
Summary: Recovery in a small Southern town
Review: "Queen Bee" is a book that explores the processes of self-examination and recovery from life's abrupt curves in the setting of a small Southern town that has both supportive as well as suffocating aspects. Fifty-year-old and newly divorced Linwood Scott did not want to move back to her childhood home in Mimosa Branch, GA to live with her overbearing, elderly parents and an aunt, uncle, and brother - all with medical or personal problems. But Lin's life had taken a dramatic left turn when her husband of thirty years completely depleted the family's financial resources in an out-of-control pursuit of an exotic dancer. Though leery of the closeness and nosiness of her hometown, Lin quickly finds support among old friends, even finding work in a drugstore where she worked as a teenager. The author has a keen eye for the Southern manners, think, and talk that Lin had gotten away from in her life as a suburban matron. But the nagging issue for Lin is to come to grips with her apparent lack of understanding of men. The author conveniently supplies the male element in the form of the smooth, handsome owner/pharmacist of her drugstore. Lin, despite many misgivings, simply cannot resist his charms and her own needs for self-reclamation. Though Lin gains strength from an affair, it is done at the sacrifice, as many readers may feel, of the doc to stereotypical characterization. In addition, the concerns of the political corruption of Mimosa Branch, a not uncommon fact of small-town Southern life, provide a useful device for the repair of Lin's self-assurance, as she becomes a part of a vigorous campaign to combat the forces of city hall. There may be just a bit too much feel-good about this novel. It is not totally implausible that many long-standing family issues can be resolved, a completely disconsolate and rejected woman finds herself and triumphs over an insensitive male, and the town's boss is sent packing, all within a few weeks, but belief may be stretched. Nonetheless, the novel does have a certain appeal.
PS. For non-Georgian readers, Mimosa Branch is the pseudonym for the very real town of Flowery Branch.
Rating: 
Summary: ok, but save your money...
Review: After reading the back cover of this book and surveying it I decided to pick this book up and settle in for a good laugh and spend a pleasurable few hours reading. For the most part this book did that and wasn't a bad read overall but, in the end, it just left something amiss. The characters were fun & likeable in the beginning and had a good start. This book had a lot of strong points in that it had some solid, grounding parts but was also very funny and had a whole lot of potential but until the last 3rd or so of it. I give this book only 3 stars however because torwards the last 3rd or so of the book it is definitely clear that all men are the scum of the earth. There are some good guys I promise! This book was good to begin w/ I thought and had a whole lot of potential but it quickly went from good to bad with the extreme man-bashing towards the end and though not a horrible book I would skip this title next time and stick to something a little less ridiculously man bashing where the men are more realistic and human.
Rating: 
Summary: Riveting!
Review: I brought this book home, sat down to read a few pages and surfaced 4 hours later, having read half the book! Characters leap right off the page and Linwood grabs you by the heart from the get-go. Her determination to reclaim her life will make you cheer. The plot is well done and the dialog is so true to life you can almost hear these people talking.
If you don't see glimpses of yourself somewhere in this story, you'll recognize someone you know. The story is not only funny, but warm, wise, pithy and more complex than it seems at the beginning.
Veteran author Haywood Smith has taken a step in a bold new direction and the result is pure gold. I can't wait to see what she comes out with next!
Rating: 
Summary: It's hard to believe life is this predictable!
Review: I enjoy easy light-hearted reads in the summer. They're great to pick up, put down, stick in your beach bag, etc. However, I do prefer the book to have some "meat" to it or at least be well-written. I can't say that "Queen Bee" fills either bill. The dialouge is trite, the plot is predictable, and the characters are one-dimensional. While likeable, Lin, her whole family, and other characters in the book have no depth. Being from the south, and Georgia in particular, I could appreciate some of the references she made to the cultural climate here. My mind's eye can see Mimosa Branch,the drug store, the tub of flowers on the porch, and even feel the summer heat. It's too bad the author didn't develop the characters as well as the setting. However, I hope that anyone outside the southern region will not read this book and assume this is the "status quo". About a third of the way through the book I realized it wasn't very good and by two thirds of the way through I skimmed to the predictable end only because I can't stand to not finish a book that I start. If you're still interested - it's an easy read, there is no violence or raunchy sex and you won't mind if you drop it in the pool or get sunscreen on it.
Rating:
Summary: I absolutely loved it!
Review: I finished this book in two days. I not only loved the characters and their realistic nature, but it is not at all the breezy read that i had expected. This book made me think and consider re-evaluating my life as Lin re-evaluated hers. This book hit close to home, and i've never met anyone who didn't love it.
Rating:
Summary: I loved this book!
Review: I opened this book and couldn't put it down. It was so refreshing to read about a character who could laugh at herself as she started over and tried to date again after thirty years as a sheltered housewife. I laughed out loud right along with her. And I cried as she faced her father and her uncle's Alzheimers. I especially liked the wonderful small-town chartacters and the way Lin pulled the rug out from under the corrupt mayor to bring about truth, justice, and the American way. Wish we could clean house on the national level that easily. I can't wait to read Haywood Smith's next one.
Rating:
Summary: Quick read, not as predictable as you might think
Review: I read this book very quickly and found Lin to be a very believable character as a woman who is getting over her husband who left her for another woman (I should know!). What made this story stand out above all others of this genre of Southern Ladies Fiction (which I DO LOVE SO!) is that the plot with the mayoral campaign doesn't just make Lin the center and provides some great outside interest. Another thing I liked about it was it is not really a predictable cheesy love story which I was sure it would end up being. It is just a journey of a woman coming home and growing up instead of in the reverse order. My only warning to potential buyers/readers would be if you are turned off by religious talk/ prayer talk, you may not enjoy this book. It did not bother me, but it may bother others.
Rating:
Summary: Not as good and could be..
Review: Queen Bee Of Mimosa Branch is the story of Lin Breedlove Scott, a recenty divorced woman who high tails it back to her hometown after 30 years to re-group and get on with her life after her husband leaves her for a stripper and in trouble with the IRS. While back home in Mimosa Branch, Georgia, she gets involved with a politcal campaign to remove the current Mayor and replace him with a local preacher. Lin also takes up with Grant, a man that she does not particularly like but uses to get back into the dating pool again. My favorite parts of the book happen to have been about Lins off the wall family.. her mother Miss Mamie, her father the General, her Uncle Bedford, and her Aunt Gloria. Queen Bee of Mimosa Branch started off light and funny but took a quick nose dive with uninteresting story lines and charactors.
Rating: 
Summary: Stupid book filled with cliches
Review: This book started out good for the first couple of chapters. It started to go down hill and by the time I realized how bad it was, I was more than half way done. I finished only because so I could discuss it with other people I know who have read it. In my opinion, the author seemed to be making up the story as she went along. Character developement was erratic (bringing in tattoos on a character that earlier was a matron type.) Plot was undistinguished. No real story line except man bashing. Certain characters dropped and then brought back in for no apparent reason except to end the story somehow. What a waste of paper!
Rating:
Summary: I agree middle of the line.
Review: This wasn't a bad book, per say. It was an easy read but didn't seem to have much of a point other than man bashing and her friendship with Tricia. I am glad for the people of Mimosa Branch though. This book isn't her best, but still enjoyable!
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