Review: Southern Fried Sushi by Jennifer Rogers Spinola

Title:  Southern Fried Sushi
Author: Jennifer Rogers Spinola
Format: egalley (read on iPad)
Genre: Contemporary Fiction, Christian
Source: Netgalley
Published:  October 1st 2011 by Barbour Books
My Rating: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥
 
From Goodreads 


Ride the rollercoaster of Shiloh Jacobs’s life as her dreams derail, sending her on a downward spiral from the heights of an AP job in Tokyo to penniless in rural Virginia. Trapped in a world so foreign to her sensibilities and surrounded by a quirky group of friends, will she break through her hardened prejudices before she loses those who want to help her? Can she find the key to what changed her estranged mother’s life so powerfully before her death that she became a different woman—and can it help Shiloh too?

I saw this book on Netgalley and had to have it! The title is just plain fabulous - and the synopsis had me curious. At the start, Shiloh has it all - a glamorous job, a fabulous fiance a great life! But after her (estranged) mother dies and a series of events leaves Shiloh alone and jobless she at least has the luck that her mother left her hte house, and she is befriended by an eclectic group in Virginia who help her to find herself, and God. 


What I loved about this book:
*Shiloh's friends. They were fabulous, on so many different levels. They were the kind of people I wish I had more of in my life
*I really felt Shiloh's journey made it full circle, something a lot of Christian Fiction books seem to lack for me. I started a bit nervous for the poor girl, she seemed so lost and I have to admit I wasn't sure she could fully reach the transformation I felt was coming, but it was done and it was done realistically. 
* The fact that Jennifer Rogers Spinola wrote the culture shock so well, I have never experienced such a change in culture and location (Tokyo to Virginia) but I felt this aspect of the book was so well written that I could understand. 


What I didn't care for:
*The narration was a bit rough for me at times... Although I think that's a personal preference (for third versus first person narration) 


Overall? I loved Southern Fried Sushi and would recommend it to anyone looking for a good Contmporary Christian read! I give it 4 hearts. ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥