Book picks similar to
Trailer Trash by Rick Johnson


contemporary-fiction
dark-humor
kalli-sisk
southern

One Mississippi


Mark Childress - 2006
    After his family moves to Mississippi just before his junior year, Daniel finds fellow outsider Tim Cousins. The two become inseparable, sharing a fascination with ridicule, The Sonny and Cher Comedy Hour, and Arnita Beecham, the most bewitching girl at Minor High. But soon things go terribly wrong. The friends commit a small crime that grows larger and larger, and threatens to engulf the whole town. Arnita, the first black prom queen in the history of the school, is injured and wakes up a different person. And Daniel, Tim, and their families are swept up in a shocking chain of events.

River Jordan


Augusta Trobaugh - 2004
    Set in a small town well below the Mason-Dixon line, River Jordan features an improbable friendship among three people who come to depend on one another like family. Jordan, a girl with an adventurous imagination, is hungry for warmth and companionship, since she gets no more than scolding from her strict mother and stepfather. When Jordan’s step-grandmother, Miss Amylee, needs a live-in nurse, the family’s housekeeper suggests her sister, Pansy—newly saved and released from prison—for the job. Pansy, Jordan, and Miss Amylee form an unlikely trio, and through small and large triumphs, each recovers a part of herself that was lost.

Mrs. Entwhistle: Once you're over the hill, you pick up speed.


Doris Reidy - 2017
    Entwhistle may look like your sweet, old granny...but things happen to her: she's caught up in the witness protection program, stuck in an elevator with an assortment of strangers, her house is burglarized and her dog is kidnapped. But Mrs. Entwhistle is dauntless; she didn't get to be a fesity seventy-eight by wimping out. Come join her on her porch swing, meet her best friend, Maxine, and her dog, Roger. Maxine will probably offer you a bowl of her homemade soup. Sit a while. Come back when you can.

A Bid on Forever


Joy Avery - 2019
    So manymemories exist for him here, including the one of being crushed by the onlywoman he's ever loved. Three years hasn't diminished his feelings for hisex-best friend and lover, Macie Shaw. And when their paths cross, the fire thatused to burn scorching hot between them reignites. His head says run, but hisheart is far more courageous. ...but she'sdetermined. Years ago, Macie made a horrible decision, causing her tolose the one person in her life who had always been real and true. TrentThatcher. Now he's back, and a winning bid just might give her the chance tomake things right. But can she rid Trent of three years of heartache in oneweek? Especially when he seems to hate her.

Come Walk with Me


Joan Medlicott - 2007
     When Claire Bennett's husband died, she felt directionless. Their thriving antiques business and beautiful house in the Hamptons, the social scene and her volunteer work -- all seemed empty without Phillip. Estranged from her adult daughter and son, Claire knows that in the depths of her heart she still mourns a terrible loss from a tragic accident years ago. Fleeing her memories, Claire moves to a condo in Florida, then impulsively leaves to visit her engaged daughter in North Carolina. From the sandy beaches of Boca Raton to a tiny farm tucked high in the Blue Ridge Mountains, Claire gains self-awareness through the unexpected kindness of strangers, and finally forces herself to confront some hard truths from the past. Finding a joy in life that has been missing for many years, Claire at last reaches out to her son and daughter. And when the healing of old wounds leads her to a new love, Claire realizes that her travels have brought her to a place where she will never again walk alone.

Flights of Angels: Stories


Ellen Gilchrist - 1998
    Described by "Publishers Weekly" as "easily Gilchrist's best book in years, " this collection of stories gives readers a taste of her gifted sense of the language and the humor of human foibles.

The Ticket


Debra Coleman Jeter - 2015
    R. Haldeman and John Ehrlichman are found guilty of the Watergate cover-up, the Weather Underground bombs the U.S. State Department, and Bill Gates founds Microsoft in Albuquerque, New Mexico. As Communist forces take Saigon and the Vietnam War winds down, Tray Dunaway, an ordinary teenager from a poor Southern family, longs to become part of the popular clique at school.Tray's mother, Evelyn, lies in bed most days with her bipolar tendency toward extreme highs or desperate lows. Meanwhile, Tray's grandmother Ginny, still grieving over the loss of her husband, would love to move out and find a place of her own. Maybe even a bit of romance to replace the loss she feels. But given the sorry state of the family's finances that's not possible.Then the Dunaways' luck changes. Or so it seems.Tray's father drives a down-and-out friend of the family, Pee Wee Johnson, to Hazard, Illinois, so Johnson can buy lottery tickets. As a gesture of thanks, Johnson gives a ticket to Tray's father. And what do you know? The Dunaways' are suddenly rich.When Johnson demands his cut of the winnings, Tray's dad refuses. As Evelyn's illness spirals toward madness, Johnson threatens the family. Out of time, Tray makes one poor decision after another until what initially seemed like a stroke of good fortune quickly becomes a dangerous game of life and death for the Dunaways.

The Natural Man


Ed McClanahan - 1983
    "Others have observed the natural man in the American condition before, but nobody has done it with such good humor. Ed McClanahan's good humor both sharpens his eye and gentles his vision. I don't know where else, now, you would find workmanship that is at once so meticulous and so exuberant" - Wendell Berry.

Nature Girl


Carl Hiaasen - 2006
    In his latest New York Times bestseller, Hiaasen introduces impassioned, possibly bipolar, self-proclaimed queen of lost causes Honey Santana, who schemes to help rid the world of irresponsibility, indifference, and dinnertime sales calls.

Blood On The Sands


Sujata Sabnis - 2020
    Her husband Virender is a tracker at the BSF headquarters in Rapar.Virender returns home during Navratri, triumphant after nabbing Shaukat, a member of a dangerous cross-border gang involved in a terror plot against India. But there are some terrible news awaiting Virender in Kuran. Are there murky secrets that threaten to destroy his family? And what are those haunting voices that whisper about a horrifying kill?When a brutal murder takes place under mysterious circumstances, Virender’s boss, Commandant Ranbir connects it to the minute-by-minute unravelling terror plot. But was he overlooking something? Then, little Ranu goes missing. Ranbir finds himself chasing red herrings in a race against time to find her and foil a terror plot. As chilling secrets tumble out, the end is more sinister than you can ever imagine.

The Producer's Daughter


Lindsay Marcott - 2013
    Twenty years later, her daughter Hannah is released from prison after stealing a hundred thousand dollar necklace -- a crime she did not intend to commit. Resolving to change her life from wild child to purposeful young woman, Hannah begins to uncover secrets -- involving both high Hollywood financial stakes and the startling history of her own family.

Broken Crayons Still Color 3: The Mirror of Regret


David Weaver - 2021
    

Even Me


Celeste Granger - 2020
    He sees a woman worth loving.Jennifer Williams faces the hardest battle of her life. She is incarcerated in maximum security prison behind the death of her husband, sentenced to life. She resigns herself to the hand fate has dealt her. Jennifer killed her husband. That fact is indisputable. Yet, some things happen that are completely unexpected. A higher court decides to hear her legal case on a clemency petition. Attorney Tareef Ali fights to protect Jennifer in the courtroom. Prison guard, Quinton Miller enters her life. He’s seen her before, even though she’s never seen him. He’s drawn to her even though she’s behind bars. Quinton fights to love her even though Jennifer feels she doesn’t deserve it. A romance begins to brew that neither can deny. But breaking Jennifer’s barriers isn’t easy when she feels love isn’t within her reach.This is a standalone novella with a HEA.Trigger warning: Gratuitous profanity, some violence, detailed sexual encounters

A Loyal Heart (The Hale Girls #3)


AshleyNicole - 2020
    

A Boss For The Holidays : Titus & Burgundy


Lakia - 2020