Etta Mae's Worst Bad-Luck Day by Ann B. Ross

"Why, you just lose your temper if you want to, honey. All the Bible says is don't let the sun go down on your wrath. It don't say nothing about when it's shining. Sometimes you have to let folks know you're not gonna take whatever they want to throw at you. You just cut loose if you need to. Put your foot down, and remember who you are...."
                                      -Granny, from the novel

Well, I absolutely love Ann B. Ross's Miss Julia series! This was the author's first novel featuring another character in the series, Etta Mae Wiggins, and I enjoyed it, although not quite as much. (My rating: 4) Etta Mae is the home health nurse for Howard Connard, Sr., a wealthy man suffering from a stroke, almost immobile with greatly impaired speech. He lets Etta Mae know that he wants to marry her and she is perfectly agreeable since she thinks it will gain her some respect in the small town that loves to gossip about her and her multiple husbands.

The plot involves Etta Mae's efforts to bring this wedding about even over the protests of Howard, Jr. and his snooty wife, Valerie. Add in an ex-husband, Skip, who is being stalked by the vengeful Puckett brothers and expects Etta Mae's help, and you get a "worst bad-luck day"!

I enjoyed the humor in this book and also several mentions of country music artists I know and like. There is a quote about tourists I found hilarious: "All I could do was hope that going-home traffic in Abbotsville (N.C.) wouldn't slow us down. I swear it got worse every year, what with tourists and Northern summer visitors. And Floridians! You wouldn't believe the way they drove. They were about to push us natives out and take over the whole county..." We Floridians complain often about tourists' driving and I have had several Florida friends who have retired to North Carolina so it rang pretty true.

I did miss Lillian, one of my favorite characters in the Miss Julia stories and also Sam and Hazel Marie. Miss Julia and Hazel Marie were involved toward the end of the story---a brief episode but VERY funny! Luckily Miss Julia Lays Down the Law comes out in April, 2015!