Down and Out in Bugtussle
Read Down and Out in Bugtussle Online
Authors: Stephanie McAfee
Praise for the Novels
of Stephanie McAfee
Happily Ever Madder
“A funny story about a woman who can’t seem to keep it together and her madcap friends. Fans of Bridget Jones should like this one.”
—
News and Sentinel
(Parkersburg, WV)
“McAfee’s novel is filled with delicate Southern charm as well as backbiting Southern snark, and her characters alternate between inducing laughter [and] prompting eye-rolling. Fans of [her first book] will certainly clamor for this one.”
—
Booklist
“Fun and clever, and Ace is still a firecracker.”
—
Publishers Weekly
“One of the funniest stories that I can remember reading…. I just can’t sing the praises of McAfee’s books enough!…In fact, her style reminds me a bit of Jennifer Weiner’s…. Graciela ‘Ace’ Jones…is my current favorite literary character.”
—BookPleasures.com
“This book is written with humor but still a lot of feeling, and I have to give this sequel a big five stars!”
—Chick LitPlus+
“An excellent story that combines tons of humor, fun, and emotions. I guarantee that you will laugh, cry, squeal, and shake your head in exasperation…. Ace Jones is such a hoot and I could not help but fall in love with her and her sassiness and guts!…The perfect sassy Southern girl book that will have you rolling with laughter and your heart tugging with emotion.”
—Romancing the Book
“McAfee manages to create a character that is over-the-top but at the same time down-to-earth and someone you wish was your best friend.”
—Night Owl Reviews
“Ace is one sassy lady for sure!…A great read, depicting a character almost every reader can fall for…. This reviewer hopes we’ll hear more about Ace in the future!”
—Crystal Book Reviews
“Straight-up hilarious…[McAfee] has totally captured a side of the South that frequently goes unwritten—at least as far as heroines are concerned.”
—Book Hooked Blog
Diary of a Mad Fat Girl
“Meet Graciela ‘Ace’ Jones, a wildcat Southern version of Janet Evanovich’s Stephanie Plum…[a] hilarious debut novel.”
—
Library Journal
“This story may be set in the tiny town of Bugtussle, Mississippi, but Ace, our heroine, is anything but a shrinking Southern belle…. [This] is the kind of breezy summer read that’s perfect for wintertime, too.”
—
Entertainment Weekly
“Bawdy, sexy, Southern-fried fun. McAfee makes a powerhouse debut that readers will love.”
—Valerie Frankel, author of
Four of a Kind
“Fresh and funny. Ace Jones is a hoot! This is what
Sex and the City
might have been if Carrie and friends were looking for love in Bugtussle, Mississippi, instead of Manhattan.”
—Wendy Wax, author of
Ocean Beach
“Ace Jones is my kind of girl: Her outsize appetite for life, plus a dangerously low tolerance for losers, gets her into one impossible fix after another. In addition to involving a delightfully madcap crew of friends and acquaintances in her quest for justice, Ace is aided, abetted, and occasionally bedded by some delicious Southern gentlemen. Ace prevails with humor, heart, and a speed-dial relationship with the pizza guy.”
—Sophie Littlefield, award-winning author of
A Bad Day for Scandal
“Stephanie McAfee, in creating Ace Jones, has written a character that will grab you by the shirtfront and take you with her on her ride, and oh, what a wild ride it is.
Diary of a Mad Fat Girl
is pure fun.”
—Rachael Herron, author of
Wishes & Stitches
“Southern-fried Janet Evanovich.”
—
Booklist
Also by Stephanie McAfee
Diary of a Mad Fat Girl
Happily Ever Madder
DOWN AND OUT
IN BUGTUSSLE
The Mad Fat Road to Happiness
Stephanie McAfee
New American Library
Published by the Penguin Group
Penguin Group (USA) Inc., 375 Hudson Street,
New York, New York 10014, USA
USA | Canada | UK | Ireland | Australia | New Zealand | India | South Africa | China
Penguin Books Ltd., Registered Offices: 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England
For more information about the Penguin Group visit penguin.com.
First published by New American Library,
a division of Penguin Group (USA) Inc.
Copyright © Stephanie McAfee, 2013
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form without permission. Please do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of the author’s rights. Purchase only authorized editions.
REGISTERED TRADEMARK—MARCA REGISTRADA
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING-IN-PUBLICATION DATA:
McAfee, Stephanie.
Down and out in Bugtussle: the mad fat road to happiness/Stephanie McAfee.
p. cm
ISBN: 978-1-101-61422-8
1. Female friendship—Fiction. 2. Family secrets—Fiction. 3. Grandmothers—Fiction. 4. Man-woman relationships—Fiction. 5. Mississippi—Fiction. I. Title.
PS3613.C2635D59 2013
813’6.—dc23 2013003874
Designed by Alissa Amell
PUBLISHER
’
S NOTE
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
The publisher does not have any control over and does not assume any responsibility for author or third-party Web sites or their content.
To Mandi,
who entertained the character of Gloria Peacock
long before she had a story.
Thank you for always being there when I’m Down and Out.
Special Excerpt From
Diary of a Mad Fat Girl
F
rom a distance, it looks better than it actually is: the starched white tablecloth, a carafe of red wine, the glass goblet candleholder glowing amber against a terra-cotta wall. The ambiance is enchanting, the pesto is amazing, and sitting on the other side of that luscious chunk of rosemary bread is a fairly decent-looking fellow with neatly trimmed hair, light brown eyes, and a perfectly manicured goatee. He smiles. I smile. Dinner arrives. And then he launches into yet another idiotic spiel. “Have you ever envisioned the materialization of your most fantastical dreams?” he asks, smoothing the napkin on his lap with both hands. I have no desire to discuss my dreams—or my lack thereof—with a perfect stranger, but I welcome the odd turn of conversation, seeing as how he spent the past twenty minutes blathering about his mother. His eyes are locked on mine as he swirls linguine onto his fork.