The Bluebonnet Battle

By: Carolyn Brown

Narrated by: Brittany Pressley

New York Times bestselling author Carolyn Brown’s heartwarming novel about old rivalries, young love, and a lemon meringue pie to die for.

In Bonnet, Texas, Liddy Latham, the queen of funeral dinners, keeps a Southern comfort-food tradition alive - until fancy-schmancy Matilda Monroe moves back to town. She wants room at the table for her own style of consolation and closure: healthy, modern, and vegan. But this is about more than fried chicken versus tofu turkey. Matilda’s return is also stirring up their volatile, unresolved history. And just when they thought it couldn’t get more personal...

Matilda’s son, Nick, and Liddy’s niece, Amelia, have met and the sparks are flying. For Matilda and Liddy, their precious kin’s romance is their worst nightmare. Now, it’s all Nick and Amelia can do to survive a family feud that has the whole town talking.

The battle for the funeral dinner crown is on. As two strong-willed women wrestle for control, making peace with the past may be the only way to serve the star-crossed lovers a happy ending.

©2022 Carolyn Brown. (P)2021 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved.

Critic reviews

“Two longtime rivals are brought to life by narrator Brittany Pressley.… Pressley's performance brings the two women's suppressed rage to the surface.… Using just the right amount of a Southern accent, Pressley helps listeners picture the small Texas town and the cast of characters.”—AudioFile Magazine

5 star for a cute romance novel

Enjoyable Carolyn Brown as always and the best narrator Brittney Presley. Good down home people with quirky dynamics. The villainess is hateful!

The Bluebonnet Battle

Just the perfect small town story for summer. Every small town knows what to do when there is a tragedy, bring food, and this small town has Liddy who has organized the gatherings for years. Comfort food is the key. That is until Mathilda blows back into town with her ideas and tries to take over. She is spoiling for a fight and vows to take Liddy down by any means. Her son, Nick, comes with her to take over his uncle's business at his request and he and Liddy's niece, Amelia, meet and the sparks are all it takes for them to try to keep their meetings secret. This story was great. Add in all the mentions of good food and the snarkiness and the laugh out loud moments and I enjoyed it from the beginning to the end. You know this was really Texas when the meeting place with the church and the preacher meets you at the door and makes you leave your purse for fear of what is inside it because there will be no blood shed at that meeting. Love it!

Small Town Feud and And Romance

Let’s get ready to rumble small-town country style! When Liddy Latham learns her hated enemy is coming back to her town, she’s ready to fight Mathilda Monroe with all she has and the whole town is either taking sides or settling their lawn chairs in for front row seats. With such goings on, what are the chances for their survival when Liddy’s niece and Mathilda’s son feel quite the opposite of enemies when they meet over the dessert table at the latest town funeral? I got comfy and settled in to find out.

The Bluebonnet Battle is quintessential Carolyn Brown. Down home cooking, feuding chicanery, family loving, and a healthy helping of sweet small town romance served up with a generous slice of Libby’s lemon pie. Libby is the spirited head of her family and she is one strong woman going through losses that would take the heart out of most people and the person she blames for the most difficult loss is now strutting in her designer heels and threatening to break up all Libby’s peace.

I enjoyed that there is a little mystery at first as the reader is left wondering about the back history between Libby and Mathilda and between Mathilda and her brother who is nothing like her. Mathilda is a real piece of work and doesn’t seem to come with one redeeming quality. It’s not hard to take Libby’s side and cheer her on to block Mathilda’s antics. Later in the book, some nuances are introduced to explain (not resolve) Mathilda’s behavior. And, Libby isn’t without her need to work through her own pain so she doesn’t end up hurting Amelia who has fallen for good-hearted Nick Monroe. Nick is nothing like his mother, but at first, some aren’t sure so he has to work a little harder to win the town’s respect and especially Libby and her family.

There are several moments of fun antics, but also the slower-paced everyday life events as friends and family get together. The pace lags a little, but not enough to distract. The focus of this book being on funerals many of the time because Libby has the role of funeral supper organizer in the small down, but the tone isn’t sad. Libby and her friends have an important role because they help with that time of deep grief and loss by providing the comfort of food and the memories that come with talking about food. I thought this was a poignant element in the story.

Family is huge so there is the warmth and closeness of Libby and her Taylor family juxtaposed with Nick feeling the difference between them and his mom’s antagonistic and narcissistic approach. Nick was lucky to have his dad even after his dad divorced his mom and moved on and he was particularly close to his mom’s brother who taught him to be the man that Amelia could respect and fall for. Their romance is cute the way they have to sneak it and also sweet because they learn to fall in love even with great opposition and past history with bad relationships. I liked how the romance blended nicely with the women’s fiction aspect of the story.

All in all, it was a relaxing, engaging read that had me laughing and sighing in turn. Definitely another good one from Carolyn Brown that I can recommend to new fans who like country-charmers with lots of small town, family, and romance.

funny and right on the mark

Again a funny and great story about the southern ways. Carolyn Brown brings us another great story that you cant put down.

The Bluebonnet Battle

The story is sad in parts. I felt the mothers grief and sadness. It has lighter moments. I agree that in real life people do awful things and do not suffer because of it. I liked the characters and hated to say goodbye. I enjoy Brittany Presley’s voice.

Excellent Read

Another excellent book from Carolyn Brown. Thank you for all of your wonderful stories. Now onto another Carolyn Brown book.

Loved it

I loved the book. The reading was wonderful . Parts of the book made me laugh out loud several times

Love love

Excellent characters, great combination of laughter, love, bittersweet moments, and motivation to do good for others. I thoroughly enjoyed this story and was sad when it finished.

Just Like Home

Great story that will bring back memories for anyone that’s lived in a small town. All small towns suffer from gossip, hurt feelings, misunderstandings, etc. This book was a fun listen as two families battled back and forth.

true love always wins,,,,,

once I started to read this moving story,I couldn't stop. I just had to finish this true love story. thank you Carolyn ?