June 2010 by Grand Central Publishing 

Hardcover, 336 pages/ Audio Book Apx. 13 Hours 

Review Copy won from Hachette

Book Synopsis

Rose Mae Lolley is a fierce and dirty girl, long-suppressed under flowery skirts and bow-trimmed ballet flats. As "Mrs. Ro Grandee" she's trapped in a marriage that's thick with love and sick with abuse. Her true self has been bound in the chains of marital bliss in rural Texas, letting "Ro" make eggs, iron shirts, and take her punches. She seems doomed to spend the rest of her life battered outside by her husband and inside by her former self, until fate throws her in the path of an airport gypsy---one who shares her past and knows her future. The tarot cards foretell that Rose's beautiful, abusive husband is going to kill her. Unless she kills him first.

Hot-blooded Rose Mae escapes from under Ro's perky compliance and emerges with a gun and a plan to beat the hand she's been dealt. Following messages that her long-missing mother has left hidden for her in graffiti and behind paintings, Rose and her dog Gretel set out from Amarillo, TX back to her hometown of Fruiton, AL, and then on to California, unearthing a host of family secrets as she goes. Running for her life, she realizes that she must face her past in order to overcome her fate---death by marriage---and become a girl who is strong enough to save herself from the one who loves her best.............(Goodreads)

Review

Ro Grande also known as Rose Mae Lolley has known abuse all her life. Growing up with a drunken father who used his fists more than his words led Rose to become a woman who thought less of herself. She believed that inside her something was bad….something dark and something that gave men the right to hit her. After fleeing her father’s home as a young teenager, Rose sets out to break free of Alabama and gain some independence. Shortly she meets a man that will take her to the same prison she just escaped from, only this prisons warden doesn’t get drunk and pass out, he doesn’t forget that Rose leaves the house or speaks her mind, or waits for the opportune moment to smack her upside the head, kick her in the ribs or use her back as a personal punching bag. Slowly but surely Rose sheds of who she was in Alabama and becomes Ro- a meek, sunny gal who wears dresses and ballet flats. A girl who would like nothing better than to cook Thom's meals, make his home sparkle and give him long nights of pleasure.... but.... when Ro gets that itch in her skin to become Rose again she back talks, she tests the boundaries of what she can do and begins to crave the beatings also something Thom craves, something he waits for……….something he longs for.

A chance encounter with a strange but familiar gypsy changes everything in Rose’s life. A pivotal moment is pressed upon her and deep down she knows that ether her or Thom is going to die, one by each other’s hands and it’s her decision to decide who. Armed with her grandfather’s gun and hiding in the bushes, Rose takes aim at Thom during his morning run, what happens on that trail sets fate in motion and leads to Rose escaping with her three legged dog Fat Gretel and will literally become a journey to save her life.

Absolutely one of the best novels Ive read this year and I would highly recommend this to anyone, but would warn those who do not like explicit sex scenes and violence to read with caution. Rose's character was so defined and well drawn out that I as the reader had very mixed feelings over her. I wanted Rose to escape and stop subjecting herself to the abuse, I wanted her to have strength but I also wanted her to give up the whole Rose attitude. Ro was a charming and sweet girl but also fake, but Rose was the real deal and it was hard to understand why in the world she craved beatings. Ive never been in that type of relationship so I'm sure this may hit close to home for a battered woman and I'm sure as Ro states, its easier for a woman to say Id never go back until your that woman........regardless though a very tremendous and gripping read.

**I very seldom listen to audio books, but love having one on hand to listen to in the car. Ill tell you, once I stared Saints there was no turning it off, through a random series of needing to take a drive and nighttime listening on the ipod, Joshilyn's thick southern voice and tantalizing writing hooked me till the end and had me listening until wee hours of the night.....

Rating

Backseat Saints is recommended to adults only and contains: Explicit graphic sexuality, graphic physical abuse including parental and spousal, violence (mostly domestic) graphic language, alcohol use and mild references to occult themes such as tarot cards and religious themes including catholic saints.

5/5- Southern Fiction- Domestic Abuse

A Huge thanks to Hachette for Audio Copy