I love these books! When I read this author’s, Sophie Littlefield, Aftertime series I was blown away and thought this author gets people and their motivations and writes about them so well. I could not imagine she would top the Aftertime series, but …. I think the Sorry/Stella series is my favorite of Sophie Littlefield’s.Stella, the main character in this series, is a 50 year old widow who likes drinking Jack Daniels before she goes to bed and owns a sewing notions shop in a small rural Missouri town. Stella also runs a side business that scares off abusive men and protects their victims. In Stella’s earlier life she was an abused wife, overweight and insecure. She has redefined her body and her life. She still sees herself as overweight and questions her appeal – but the local Sheriff certainly does not. Have you ever seen someone else you think is more attractive than yourself and it makes you feel less than deserving of affection or attention? What about when you are in a down point in your life (maybe like Stella you have scars on your face from various knife cuts ……no?) and you come across people you think top you in certain aspects of your life? Well Stella has these encounters in Bad Day for Pretty. These interactions are beautifully written and the manner in which Stella changes her actions based on her insecurities and then her later revelations into her own personal value are so well done I think Ms. Littlefield must have studied psychology.So the Sorry/Stella series has interesting side characters that are interesting, quirky and real. I feel awkward saying this but I have to, this series reminds me of the Stephanie Plum series by Janet Evanovich if Ms. Evanovich had written three dimensional characters living in a richly defined world and a storyline that has progression and character development. I had fun with the Stephanie Plum series, it is fun and sexy fluff but quickly (okay, not so quickly, I read over 15 books in that series if I include the in between books) got frustrated with the lack of character development and the fact that if I blew on the characters they would fall over due to their lack of dimensionality. Ms. Littlefield does not make that mistake. Her characters are rich in personality and background and not predictable but they are consistent with who they are. They have real life consequences. For example, if someone is shot or cut up in a fight there is a recovery period that last months. And the same thing does not keep happening to the characters over and over again. This is an action series but with emotional depth.In case I am portraying this book as all raw and rough, it isn’t. This book is fun to experience and just laugh out loud funny. In book #1, Bad Day for Sorry, Stella is helping out a sort of hapless and helpless victim of an abusive relationship. Now in book #2, Bad Day for Pretty, that former victim - -Chrissy – has become Stella’s partner in crime. She has evolved, Chrissy is more confident and clearly smart. Together they solve crime, help local residents who do not have access to help otherwise, and take care of Chrissy’s young toddler – oh and get involved in sexual and romantic dalliances. There is no explicit sex in this book, but the characters do become involved in sexual and romantic relationships.I cannot say enough about this book. I waited too long to start this series. A book about a 50 year old widow living in rural Missouri just did not appeal to me but I misread what this series was about. I waited too long. If you enjoy stories about real people, who have real life entanglements and responsibilities and you enjoy reading books about people’s lives outsides of the upper crust and urban areas then you will like this book. Ms. Littlefield gets what people are like when you take the pretty stuff away. She writes about insecurities, dependencies and responsibilities that are just so real but she still does it in an entertaining way. Small town rural life is captured so perfectly in this book, having grown up in a small rural Midwest town similar to the one Stella lives in I could relate to the fear of tornadoes and the power they have over the spring and summer. I could relate to the less shiny side of life that seems to exist outside of suburbia. And I gotta say this, Ms. Littlefield captures the love a mother has for her children so well. She did this so on target in the Aftertime series and she does it again in the Sorry series. Kids are not just a throw in this book (or in Aftertime) they actually shape the characters and the storyline.I listened to the narration of this book. The narrator does a decent job. My only complaint is that she is a very slow reader. I listened to the audio on 1.5X speed and it was perfect at that speed.
