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Bobbie Faye's Very (very, very, very) Bad Day: A Novel
by Toni McGee Causey

Published: 2007-05-01
Paperback : 328 pages
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Bobbie Faye Sumrall knows that a day without disaster is a day in someone else's life. Criminals have kidnapped her good-for-nothing brother and are demanding her Contraband Queen tiara--the only thing of her mama's she inherited--as random. So Bobbie Faye has to outwit the police, ...
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Introduction

Bobbie Faye Sumrall knows that a day without disaster is a day in someone else's life. Criminals have kidnapped her good-for-nothing brother and are demanding her Contraband Queen tiara--the only thing of her mama's she inherited--as random. So Bobbie Faye has to outwit the police, organized crime, former boyfriends, and a hostage she never intended to take (but who turns out to be damn sexy!), in order to rescue her brother, keep custody of her niece, and get back in time to take her place as Queen in the Lake Charles Contraband Festival (think Mardi Gras, with more drinking and pirates).
Luckily, Bobbie Faye knows how to handle guns, outsmart angry mama bears, drive a speedboat, and get herself out of--and into--almost every kind of trouble. If only that pesky state police detective (who also happens to be a pissed-off ex-boyfriend) would stay out of her way . . .
'Bobbie Faye is a true original and Toni McGee Causey a true talent!'
--Melissa Senate, author of See Jane Date and Love You To Death
'I love Bobbie Faye's Very (very, very, very) Bad Day by Toni McGee Causey. The tears are still running down my cheeks from laughing. Oh, my. What talent. What verve. What NERVE!'
--Gayle Lynds, New York Times bestselling author of The Last Spymaster

Editorial Review

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Excerpt

“You know how some people are born to Greatness? Well, Bobbie Faye Sumrall woke up one morning, kicked Greatness in the teeth, kneed it in the balls, took it hostage, and it’s been begging for mercy ever since.” ... view entire excerpt...

Discussion Questions

From the Author:

1. Bobbie Faye curses (often) and the people surrounding her chide her for it. Does it surprise you that someone with some college experience expresses herself in such a coarse fashion (at times), and if so, what do you think she's trying to accomplish by using that type of language? Why do you think she chooses language as her weapon of choice and what is its effect on those around her? On herself?

2. Underneath the humor of the story, there is an implied debate about what a person should and shouldn't do for love, how they should or shouldn't behave. How does Bobbie Faye love, and what is she sacrificing for it?

3. Is what she gains worth the potential sacrifice of all that she is? Why or why not?

4. How does Cam love, and why is his view of what one should do for love at odds with Bobbie Faye's view?

5. Why is this important to Bobbie Faye, insomuch as neither of them can get past it? What are the implications of her unwillingness to sacrifice her pride for Cam?

6. What do you think Bobbie Faye has to learn about love before she'll ever be able to have it or believe it in her life?

7. What does her willingness to (continually) sacrifice herself (and potentially die) say about how she values herself? her family? And is there a balance that she's missing?

8. Ultimately, when Bobbie Faye notes that Cam didn't want to be in love with her, it hurts (clearly), but what is it that you think she's learned in that moment about herself, and how does that show growth?

9. Finally, Bobbie Faye views the world through a prism of humor, always picking out the absurdity of the chaos surrounding her. Why do you think she does this and what can we learn from this choice?

Notes From the Author to the Bookclub

A Note from Toni to BookMovement readers:

Whenever I'm asked why I wrote this book, my first answer is that if I didn't, Bobbie Faye was going to blow something up... probably involving me. She arrived here, bags packed, intending on staying, and it was either write about her or get therapy, and writing was way cheaper.

The central idea was simple: one woman, battling against the odds, trying to save her brother. Someone with trust issues, forced to trust a stranger with her life. I wanted to write a story where someone was scrappy and smart, but also someone for whom things never come easily, and I wanted to watch her grow through that experience. Mostly, I wanted to show how her humor gets her through the day, as well as her difficult life. She's broke, she's got so many responsibilities, she's plagued by bad luck, but her own humor--and her ability to see the absurd in the chaos around her--keeps her sane, makes people love her, and ultimately, saves her.

That humor, that way of facing down the worst disasters, is what I hope readers take away. If I've cheered one person up, made one person laugh, or made one person look at their own life with a little more lightness, feeling better able to take on their own adversity, then I will be thrilled.

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