The Scandalous Summer of Sissy LeBlanc

by Loraine Despres

Book Overview

It's a steamy June afternoon in Louisiana, circa 1956, and Sissy LeBlanc is sitting on her front porch, wondering -- half seriously -- if she could kill herself with aspirins and Coca-Cola. She's been living in stifling old Gentry since the day she was born and trapped in a sham of a marriage to PeeWee LeBlanc since she was only seventeen. In short, she's fed up, restless, and ready for an adventure.

Sissy just never imagined temptation would come...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0060505885
• ISBN13: 9780060505882
• Release Date: August 2002
• Publisher: William Morrow & Company
• Length: 352 Pages
• Weight: 0.62 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 5.4" x 8.0"

Customer Reviews

The perfect book to get me out of a reader’s slump

This book was so captivating! Truly one of those books you can’t put down! I finished this book a few days ago and still find my self thinking about what Sissy LeBlanc would be doing!

Great Summer Read

I was so sorry to learn that this was the only novel by Lorraine available at the moment. It was such a captivating and fun read for the summer than I immediately pre-ordered her second book! This story has many twists and turns and keeps you turning the pages to see where Sissy will end up next! She a fun character with and interesting life and story to tell. I would recommend this book to anyone who's looking for a fun and interesting story.

A scandalous, juicy read!

This book sat in my "to read" pile for months before I finally picked it up this past weekend, and didn't put it down until Monday night. It was a great read!

Caution ~~ you won't be able to put this one down!

I happened to see this book and knew that it was going to be a fun read ~~ it has all the ingredients I look for in a book ~~ saucy, sexy and hilarious. Sissy LeBlanc, without trying to, stirs up trouble wherever she goes. Married to PeeWee, Sissy realizes that she is bored in her marriage. When a high school flame breezed in from out of town, she hooks up with him and trouble ensues in their path. It has the perfect characters ~~ there is the wimpy husband, Peewee who could never stand up to his father, there's the father-in-law who is evil to the core; there is the psychopathic older son, Chip, who uses his mother's trangressions to his benefits, as well as torturing people and dogs with his chemistry set; the adorable middle son, Billy Joe and the cute little daughter, Marilee. There is Parker, the old high school flame who could never get Sissy out of his mind; Belle, the sassy grandmother who is proud of her granddaughter; the cousin who is of mixed race and how Sissy trys to help her to get ahead to college. There is the typical nosey-body neighbor who couldn't wait to tell Peewee about his wife's sin ... and so forth. These characters will stick with you long after the last page is turned. Written with typical southern dry wit and humor ~~ this book is absolutely perfect for people to take on vacation. You'll fall in love with Sissy and her pickled watermelon rinds. You'll enjoy reading about her scandalous summer in 1956 where she shocked everyone in Gentry with her love affair with Parker. You'll find yourself rooting for her as well. This is just a great book to read! It was a near-miss for me ~~ one that I am glad to have picked up!...

The real deal

As much as I love living down here in the Deep South I enjoy reading a good book about it even more. This was one of the rare books set in the South that accurately portrayed and didn't make us look like charicatures of our real selves. Set in rural Gentry, Louisiana Sissy's story is essentially a flash back to her early adult years when she was trapped in a loveless marriage with PeeWee LeBlanc, a man she never really loved in the first place. This particualar summer her high school sweetheart returns to Gentry and stirs up his and Sissy's desire once again. Throughout the book we see views of young Sissy in high school and of adult Sissy struggling to be the reputable wife and mother while fighting her feelings for Parker. These glimpses show just how Sissy ended up stuck in Gentry with PeeWee and often make you wonder which was the scandalous summer - her high school one or the one that is the "main" focus of the story.This was a most entertaining and often enlightening read. There were some very dark themes in the book but they were well handled and balanced by all the good Southern charm and humor dispersed through out. I look forward to more from this author.

Sissy Rocks!

Sissy is sexy, sassy, savvy, and sweetly, seductively sinful. Ain't nobody--certainly no mere man--push her 'round. Here is honey-dipped hilarity from start to finish, with much to say about the way men and women get along and, perhaps more pertinently, the way they do not. Loraine Despres writes with a Southern-fried quill that flows with characters who are fiercely, wholly, completely human. Sissy Leblanc's Scandalous Summer is laff-out-loud funny and keenly erotic. Its author serves up a feast, a banquet, that pops and sizzles with dialog that is so sharp you should read it with a supply of BandAids at the ready.