The Tea-Olive Bird Watching Society has some similarities to the Ladybug Farm books: single women friends living and thriving in a small town. In this case, the women have strong generational ties to the community. But, when their mentor dies and her house and land are sold, they discover that the outside world is ready to move in, in the person of a retired judge whose charm catches almost everyone off guard. Here is where the book takes a different path as two of the friends decide to take things into their own hands where the judge is concerned. I thoroughly enjoyed this dark comedy, where older women again play a strong role, showing what they can do despite their age.

This one has been lurking on my Kindle for a long time. I picked it to match the January RandomKIT: Early Birds. It had bird in the title and was, at least a little bit, about birds. ( )

I bought this book from a Friends of the Library shop in Florida, because the title grabbed me, and the synopsis said it was a blackly hilarious take on Arsenic and Old Lace.

It probably is (a take on Arsenic and Old Lace). And it's not bad. But it's not great either. It's a story that plays on, and exaggerates in small ways, the eccentricity that is often found in small towns in the Deep South (USA). These are all Good Christian Women (though the book isn't at all oriented toward 'being Christian') who have all been graced with names straight out of the Bible (Zion, Beulah and Sweet - from the hymn Sweet by and by) and have all grown up together. Sweet finds herself in a late-in-life marriage to a man that turns out to be a violent abuser, and Beulah and Zion take it upon themselves to graciously and politely do away with him before he does away with Sweet.

The elements are all there for a great story, but I found it a tad tedious. It felt like it took forever to get going, though as I look at it know, it was only 60 pages in that Sweet finds herself suffering the consequences of a hasty marriage and Zion and Beulah start plotting. If the domestic violence isn't a trigger warning, there is the aftermath of a horrible incident involving a pet canary that the main character Beulah kept bring up again and again. The first telling of it was bad enough but I almost DNF'd the book because she just kept bringing it up again and again.

The ending is ambiguous, which is fine, but the author stressed the ambiguousness of the ending too strongly so that by the last page I was muttering 'yeah, yeah, I get it - we'll never know' to myself.

It wasn't a bad book; I wasn't scrambling to read it, but I wasn't avoiding it either. It's very readable. It just isn't as gripping a story as it could have been had the characters and pacing been a bit more balanced. ( )

I thought this was a charming little story. Sort of a combination of Golden Girls meet Agatha Christie, combined with elements of Arsenic and Old Lace. The main characters of the story are Beulah, Sweet, Wildwood and Zion, four genteel southern ladies in Tea-Olive, Georgia who attend church together and like to go birdwatching. Their old friend Love-Divine has died and left them a parcel of land for their bird watching activities. She's also left money to the local library and the Homework Helpers Group that helps local kids with their school work. The only caveat is, if the club breaks up, the town obtains the land to do what they want with it.

We learn how the ladies met, meet their families, and hear about their careers. None have children and a couple have never been married. They follow traditions where every girl is named for a church hymn, and they love their small town lives in Tea-Olive. Soon, retired New York Judge Hyson Breed moves to Tea-Olive where he courts Sweet. They marry and he immediately gains control of her family estate, which he plans to develop. In just a short time Hyson isolates Sweet from her friends. Beulah and Zion worry about Sweet and when they sneak over to see her they notice bruises and other signs of abuse. Once they realize Hyson is planning to exploit the town they decide the only way to save Tea-Olive and Sweet would be his death.

This book was witty and well written. The events and location of the story were interesting, and I loved the way it showed the ladies' friendship. The ending was really wonderful. It's not a story for anyone wanting a complex plot but is more of a cozy type of novel. ( )

Started but didn't finish

I thought this was a charming little story. Sort of a combination of Golden Girls meet Agatha Christie, combined with elements of Arsenic and Old Lace.

The main characters of the story are Beulah, Sweet, Wildwood and Zion, four genteel southern ladies in Tea-Olive, Georgia who attend church together and like to go birdwatching. Their old friend Love-Divine has died and left them a parcel of land for their bird watching activities. She's also left money to the local library and the Homework Helpers Group that helps local kids with their school work. The only caveat is, if the club breaks up, the town obtains the land to do what they want with it.

We learn how the ladies met, meet their families, and hear about their careers. None have children and a couple have never been married. They follow traditions where every girl is named for a church hymn, and they love their small town lives in Tea-Olive.

Soon, retired New York Judge Hyson Breed moves to Tea-Olive where he courts Sweet. They marry and he immediately gains control of her family estate, which he plans to develop. In just a short time Hyson isolates Sweet from her friends. Beulah and Zion worry about Sweet and when they sneak over to see her they notice bruises and other signs of abuse. Once they realize Hyson is planning to exploit the town they decide the only way to save Tea-Olive and Sweet would be his death.

This book was witty and well written. The events and location of the story were interesting, and I loved the way it showed the ladies' friendship. The ending was really wonderful. It's not a story for anyone wanting a complex plot but is more of a “cozy” type of novel. ( )