Gods in Alabama — Joshilyn Jackson

There are gods in Alabama:
Jack Daniel's, high school quarterbacks, trucks, big tits, and also Jesus. I left one back there myself...

When Arlene Fleet heads up north for college, she promises God that she'll stop fornicating and lying, and never, ever go back to her hometown in Alabama. All she wants from Him is one miracle: make sure the body is never found.

Now, ten years later, God has broken the deal. Her hometown lands on her Chicago doorstep in the most annoying way and Burr, her African American boyfriend, insists on meeting her lily-white kith and kin. With the fickle finger of fate pointing her south -- and toward her steel magnolia Aunt Florence; eccentric, half-mad Mama; and sweet-as-pecan-pie Cousin Clarice -- Arlene and Burr are soon confronting the demons and the secrets she ran from. Here, in the heart of redneck country, the truth is waiting...to either destroy Arlene's life, or open her eyes to a love powerful enough to renew it.