Stabbing Pencey Boudreaux by Mary Lynn Plaisance

The small wedding shower went well, she guessed, because her son's wife, Jane, closed the louver doors and blocked the doorway into the larger living room, which meant that she had uninvited Pencey at the last minute in her own home; the ultimate shun to anyone in the South.

Being shunned in the South was the lowest of lows, but this wasn't the first time she was shunned by that one. She called her neighbor and lifelong friend since high school, Laura Lee, to come over and talk.
Laura Lee was always the casual dresser with her hair up. She loved her blue jeans and button down cotton shirts. When she walked over and opened the back door, Pencey immediately began telling her what happened at the wedding shower. Laura Lee listen well, but most importantly, she watched Pencey's face.
"Girl, you mean to tell me she blocked you from entering your own living room after you were invited?"
"Yes indeed. That was some nerve of her to do that to me after she tells me I'm invited. Who in their right mind does such a thing? I come home from the hair salon, dressed, and ready for the wedding shower, and I'm blocked out of my own living room." Pencey was so upset.
She picked up the last dish in the kitchen cabinet. Her kitchen was adjacent to the large living room near the pool and it was always spotless. Jane's friends cleaned up after the wedding shower, because Jane never did any housework at all, but she sure could while saying..."Put this here. Take that from there and place it here. Come on we need to get the party going. Work, work, work. Let's go gang." But she never did anything to help...
"Laura Lee, all I got to see in my living room was a swan theme. There were swans everywhere for her friends. On the coffee table, hanging from the middle of the chandelier, printed on the tablecloths, and I saw the center piece was a nice ice swan sculpture on a table they hauled into my living room with a lattice backdrop. I didn't see a cake, but I'm guessing it was on that same table
Pencey was still shaking her head...the nerve of Jane doing this to her, and then leaving her out of the room...
"She invited the girl's mama from another state, Laura Lee. I was introduced to her when I opened the louver doors to go into the living room. That's when I saw that the door was blocked with all the gifts, but Jane at least smiled at me and said that some lady in there was the mother of the bride. I'm beginning to think that she wanted her "best" friend's family to think this was  her home. She always did tell me that she had an image to keep up. I have no idea why. She's not a movie star."
"So, again, she just stabs you in the back. How many times are you going to this that shit, Pencey?"

~~~

Stabbing Pencey Boudreaux

By Mary Lynn Plaisance

After earlier reading two books by Plaisance, The Ghost of Mavis and Under the Healing Dome, it was interesting to read an earlier novel, Stabbing Pencey Boudreaux. This dramatic story is much more likely to come directly from life--have you ever had someone stab you in the back?! It can be a friend, someone with whom you work, or even somebody within your own family...

Jane was the wife of Pencey's only son. And with her actions, Pencey rarely saw him or her granddaughter. But Jane wasn't satisfied to just separate them, she would go further to embarrass or discredit her mother-in-law whenever she could. For instance, Jane invited Pencey to help host a bridal shower for her best friend, at Pencey's home. As always Pencey opened her home...But on the day of the shower and Pencey was out before it was to start, Jane arranged the room where it was to be held, so that Pencey was unable to enter once she came home and the party started... Pencey had realized that Jane seemed to want to have the attendees think that this was Jane's home rather than Pencey's. It was indeed a beautiful home, especially in comparison to her son's home, as he worked to take care of his family...

Fortunately, Pencey had three close friends with whom she could talk and each of them thought she should fight back! But how? Jane was so vindictive that she would lie to her son and Pencey would be forever cut off. Readers see how individuals can be so cruel to others as Pencey suffers through each stab of pain Jane placed in her back... 
As they meet to support Pencey, her friends share their own stories from which they had to fight and leave... Later, they learned that somebody else was listening to those personal secrets! But while Pencey drew back from vengeance, it soon became apparent that Jane was not only a narcissist who always wanted her way, she wanted even more and was willing to do what was necessary to get it! This narcissist was also a sociopath...

Even so, readers will be drawn in as the drama and suspense gains root in Jane's actions and we discover exactly what she has planned... I was reminded of some of my own backstabbers and must admit that I was gratified as the climatic ending was very satisfactory... While this book had quite a number of proofreading errors, there are few distractions in reading and understanding the story...  This is Plaisance's first attempt at drama and suspense and reveals the breadth of imagination and creatively in her storytelling, which she has continued to develop. Do check it out!

GABixlerReviews

Stabbing Pencey Boudreaux is Mary Lynn’s first attempt at drama and suspense. First and foremost, Mary Lynn Plaisance is a storyteller who has a magnificent imagination of stories that begs her to take a pen out and put her thoughts on paper. It may be her love of movies that gave her such an active imagination or her love of reading. But whatever makes the wheels in her mind roll, she keeps them rolling. She says, “An active mind is a mind at peace, no matter if you write, read, paint, have a hobby; whatever your expression is, keep expressing. The active mind is at peace. So, tell your stories. Let the pen roll. Tomorrow is promised to no one. Let the words come from the depths of your soul. Always fiction. Always drama. Always bold.” --Peace and Love. .....Mary Lynn Plaisance has been writing stories since she can remember, but her first published work was in 2004. She now has four fairy tale, fantasy books to her credit about a magical doll land called The Sha Bebe. There may be a few more added to The Chronicles of Sha Bebe, later. One never knows. You can find her books on Amazon, Barnes and Noble as well as many book stores and other sites online. Google her name. Books by Mary Lynn H. Plaisance --- Do You Believe -- In the Land of Sha Bebe ---Cajun Fairies -- In the Land of Sha Bebe ---The Wizard of Swamp Alley -- In the Land of Sha Bebe ---A Quizard is Born -- In the Doll Land of Sha Bebe.