Rating: 
Summary: Shallow characters, contrived situations
Review: I was excited to read this book because a few people had recommended it to me. I also saw it as a "light" read, which was perfect for me to read on vacation. [...]Basically, the problem with this novel is twofold: the characters are all walking stereotypes and the plot is so contrived that I could see what was going to happen from the very first chapter. These characters are so one-dimensional that I felt embarassed for the author when I read it: you have the highly stereotypical gay couple; the fortune-reading gypsy woman; the minister who is such a sanctimonious creep that you can't imagine why anyone would marry him; the wild-child Augusta; and a host of other people who are not given multiple facets to their personalities. The plot was just as bad; what the author saw as foreshadowing or subtle clues instead simply spelled out what was going to happen from almost page 1. [...] The dialogue is so unconvincing, it entrenches each character deeper into his or her stereotype rather than bringing any character to life. I gave this book 2 stars because it kept me entertained in much the same way that a Lifetime movie would: you are oddly fascinated by its melodrama but appalled with yourself for indulging yourself in such an awful waste of time. Please spare yourself this experience and watch something on Lifetime instead; it will only take you 2 hours and you can fold laundry or do your taxes while you watch it. --This text refers to the Paperback edition
Rating: 
Summary: Entertaining and then some!
Review: Thank you Cassandra King for a most enjoyable read. How often do we find a book that we cannot put down? Well, this is one. As a Pastor's wife it brought particular joy and made me thankful for the Pastor that is in my life. This book had been suggested to me by many others who are unchurched and enjoyed every moment of it. It might not we a literary masterpiece, but to me it is a real winner. Enjoy,,,,with a smile!
Rating: 
Summary: Here's a romance novel - a really bad one.
Review: A friend gave me this book to read. She gushed over it. I thought I'd enjoy it since I am no fan of organized religion these days. But there was nothing in this novel to raise it above paperback trash. The characters were cardboard stereotypes. And the plot! It could have been condensed into one chapter. What did I learn from this book? That the gay marriage was the only marriage in the book that was a real true marriage. All the rest of the characters were adulterers, abusers, hypocrites and fools! [...] --This text refers to the Paperback edition
Rating:
Summary: UGH!
Review: Such drivel! This book is poorly written, with improbably situations, unbelievable characters and certainly unlikely outcomes. Even the grammar is poor! Save your money. Buy something more worthwhile.
Rating: 
Summary: Lighthearted Story about Religion in the South
Review: I enjoyed this book. I think the cast of characters were diverse although not deep. Assuming at times, yes. I was brought up as a Baptist with a grandfather who was a minister from the South and I didn't doubt for a moment what Dean was going through. It was fun to see what Augusta was going to be up to and whether or not Dean would go along with her pranks. Dean's curious and devilish self and her love of a man that couldn't detach himself from his beliefs. Let us remember that this is a fictional story and not meant to be the real thing....have a little imagination.
Rating:
Summary: Poorly Written With Cliched Characters
Review: I started reading this book with great hopes since I have always enjoyed Pat Conroy's works. However, Cassandra does not carry on or do justice to the Conroy name. The first problem with this book is that it is written on a 6th grade level (or lower, I couldn't really decide). Secondly, it is full of grammatical errors. The dialogue is atrocious, especially for characters who are supposed to be educated and/or outstanding members of the community. There is no depth to the characters whatsoever. However, there are points where the characters could have been developed (such as why did Dean stay with Ben, development of her low social background that led to her decisions, building motivations for her actions, etc.; development of Ben why he acted as he did, what was his background, why was he so cold, but there was little to no mention of this; the gay couple, the development of their relationship, etc.; Augusta, here is the opportunity for the development of a great character who appears to have many facets, but I began to really dislike and be annoyed with her before the end of the book; how about the development of Maddox? And Gus who seems to be a mentally retarded child, passing for a normal 8 year old? There were so many opportunities for the author to take and run with them, but she continued on the same redundant path. I grew up in a small Southern town and as a Methodist. I saw no resemblance to the same church. I do belive that there are wives of ministers who feel overshadowed and that the chuch community can attempt to dictate their lives, but the situations in this book were just too ridiculous. The incidents that did happen were so poorly written, with such poor dialogue that you lost the impact. Sorry I wasted the time when I could have been reading something better.
Rating:
Summary: Lifetime movie in print!
Review: Having been born and raised in Alabama, I really wanted to like this novel. However, I was extremely disappointed in it. It is exceptionally predictable; the main characters are cliched, absurd, or exaggerated; and it contains simple and inane dialogue. In other words, it reads like a Lifetime movie! On the positive side, it is a quick and easy read, and sometimes you just may be in the mood for something simple and brainless. Or, if you really enjoy Lifetime movies and Danielle Steele books, then you might like this. [...]
Rating:
Summary: innocuous, overwritten, feel-good melodrama falls flat
Review: Lacking only a cover featuring a torn-bodiced innocent damsel on the verge of offering her untarnished womanhood to a studly, but erudite, hulk hovering lustily behind her, Cassandra King's overwrought, overwritten "The Sunday Wife" is little more than a Harlequin romance masquerading as literature. Nearly four-hundred tiresome pages long, King's novel does not lack plot or moral insight;[...] Featuring prose of a decidedly purplish cast, dialogue resembling rehashed daytime soaps and characters so outrageously unidimensional that they often could appear as cartoon characters speaking with bubbles above their heads, "The Sunday Wife" drowns in its excesses. This overkill is unfortunate, as King does attempt to explore themes of marital instability, religious hypocrisy and the dangers of living an unexamined life. With greater subtlety and more respect for her readers' ability to generate informed judgments, her protagonist, Dean Lynch, could have emerged as not only sympathetic, but profound. She is a prototypical "Sunday wife" and terribly compromised by her suffocating responsibilities as the partner to a minister. Dean's dilemmas are shopworn, her ambivalences become tiresome and her ultimate decision predictable from the first chapter. Her execrable husband, a porcine overachiever whose religious homilies tragically are perceived as elemental truths by millions of Americans today, deserves to float away by the gas produced as a result of his prodigious appetite or explode as a consequence of his pompous pronouncements. All the standard plot devices and tired cliches make their obligatory appearance: a child of undefined parentage, a mysterious gypsy fortune teller, and, yes, a nefarious older minister with a past he wishes to forget but, alas, cannot. Dean's dulcimer soothes the savage breast, and Ms. King never tires to reminding her audience that Dean has struggled to overcome her white-trash origins. If you are deficient in blood sugars and don't mind a novel where you can skip fifty pages at a shot without losing a step, "The Sunday Wife" is for you. My guess is that Cassandra King's novel about misplaced faith could make atheists out of believers. --This text refers to the Paperback edition
Rating:
Summary: Couldn't put it down
Review: A friend loaned me this book and warned me that it may take a while before I got into it but just to continue reading. Well, let me tell you I was caught on page one. Once I started I couldn't put it down. Well worth reading.
Rating:
Summary: This book needs an overhaul
Review: I read this book through to the end just to be done with it, and it left me very annoyed (maybe also with myself for sticking with it, hoping it would improve). The motivations for most of the characters' actions did not ring true. The author spent too much time on plot and not enough time on the inner workings of the characters. The result is an array of characters whose actions often didn't seem believable. As I tried to figure out why this book has so many stars, I saw that one reviewer entered her five-star review five times-good grief. I think the book could have been vastly improved by a third person viewpoint, so perhaps we could have gotten insight into the various characters. As it was, we were limited to Bean's thoughts. Along with being an unrealistic character in general, she decried the hypocrisy of others throughout the book. Then she ended up there herself, and I think we were supposed to applaud it. I gather that she stayed with Ben for 20 years because of her background and her current situation as a verbally abused wife. Sorry, again this wasn't fleshed out. Ben didn't have hot-and-cold cycles; he was just permanently chilled and a very flat character. He didn't threaten to harm her if she left him; in fact, other than her cooking, she seemed to be a detriment to his career. Bean moved back and forth from being headstrong, willful, and defiant to being an obsequious wimp. We all have paradoxes within us, but hers were not believable. I found the liberal viewpoints in the book refreshing, although the Methodist denomination took a slamming, which is not realistic. There are a huge number of Methodists with liberal views (perhaps not in Florida, though...Southern Methodists can speak with more authority on this). I was surprised to read the review by the literature professor of 37 years (?), who denigrated the negative comments by other reviewers. These reviews are an important way that we inveterate readers find out which books to select next. If people didn't enjoy a book, I want to know about that and why they didn't like it. Unfortunately, I didn't read the reviews before I got this book...too bad for me! Also, I'm surprised that a literature professor wouldn't have mentioned the repeated grammatical errors in this book (e.g., "None of us have...."). There are other errors as well. Where was the editor?
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