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Susan McBride

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The Debs: Love, Lies and Texas Dips Kindle Edition

by Susan McBride (Author) Format: Kindle Edition

4.6 13 ratings

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The Debs are back!

Now that her dream of becoming a deb is finally coming true, Laura’s confidence is at an all-time high. But when she dares to mess with Jo Lynn’s football star boyfriend, Dillon, Laura finds herself at the center of some heinous gossip.

As predicted, becoming a deb is a shallow undertaking that Mac can barely muddle through. Still, things go from bad to worse when the new girl at school starts working her charms on Mac’s best friend, Alex. When Ginger’s grandmother asks her to sit for a formal portrait with the son of a local legend, she discovers that she already knows him—and what she knows isn’t good.

The stakes are raised for Jo Lynn when she finds Laura’s digits in Dillon’s cell phone. Is her boyfriend cheating on her with a debu-tank? She will soon find out.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Susan McBride lives in Missouri with her husband. Please visit her at www.susanmcbride.com.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

One
Where is everyone?

Jo Lynn Bidwell entered the Houstonian's Grande Ballroom in a rustle of tulle petticoats and silk. She'd expected to hear music, to see the arch of raised military sabers that she was supposed to walk beneath on her daddy's arm when she was formally introduced, but the enormous room was dead silent.

"Hello?"

Despite her elbow-length white kidskin gloves, goose bumps rose on her arms, and she rubbed them as she wandered around, gazing up at chandeliers that dripped from the ceiling. The crystal-beaded lamps were bare, without the clouds of white dendrobium orchids Bootsie Bidwell had said would be flown in from Hawaii to decorate the room for the Rosebud Ball. Jo noticed too that the tables had no linens, and there were folding chairs parked around each. Where are the gold Chiavari chairs and the enormous floral centerpieces that Bootsie had specially designed by Lyman Ratcliffe? They were nowhere in sight.

"Hello?" she repeated, though her voice merely echoed in the huge space. "Is anyone here?"

She glanced around, catching her reflection in a mirror on the wall--then realized it wasn't her reflection at all. The girl in the silvered glass was at least twice her size, and she was smiling maliciously as she approached.

Oh, hell. It was Laura Bell, wearing the exact same Vera Wang gown as Jo Lynn: a silk satin underlay with a layer of English netting and a silk voile overlay with delicate hand-sewn flower appliques and seed pearls. Except Laura's dress was much larger than Jo Lynn's. Forget her being a debu-tank. She was more like a debu-blimp, as in Goodyear.

"Surprise, surprise," Laura taunted her, the sparkle from the heavily jeweled tiara in her upswept blond hair so intense Jo felt blinded. "What's wrong, girlfriend?" Laura's square-jawed face leaned close enough for Jo to feel the girl's hot breath on her skin. "You look like you've seen a ghost. Or is it envy, since I look better in this gown than you? Or maybe it's because I've got the best-looking escort in the room, and you're all by your lonesome?"

Jo Lynn started to open her mouth to fight back, but all words caught in her throat when she saw the broad-shouldered guy in the tuxedo walking toward them. He ignored Jo completely as he took Laura's hand.

OMG. It was Dillon Masters.

Her Dillon.

"Noooooooo!" Jo Lynn screamed at the top of her lungs.

Hands gripped her, shaking her shoulders, and a gravelly voice said, "Jo, hey, calm down. It's all right."

But it isn't all right. Dillon is with that lard-ass Laura!

Jo struggled against the arms that wrapped tightly around her. A sob wedged in her throat, and she felt the rush of tears behind her eyelids.

"Babe, I'm here. It's okay."

She stopped fighting and forced her eyes open to see Dillon's chiseled features hovering above her. His wide brow wrinkled with concern. She wiped the dampness from her cheeks and touched his jaw, the unshaved skin like sandpaper, and she let out a huge sigh of relief.

"You're here," she whispered, and glanced around them at the familiar living room of the Bidwells' guesthouse. They lay on the L-shaped sofa, across from the plasma TV, its screen dark and empty. It had all been a dream, she realized, the crazy beat of her heart slowing down. This was real. How could she ever have believed someone like Dillon would escort a slob like Laura to the Rosebud Ball?

"Oh, God," she cried, burying her face in his chest. "It was awful."

"I knew we shouldn't have watched Shaun of the Dead again," he said as he stroked her hair. "All that salsa and chips probably didn't help either, and neither did falling asleep on the couch." He squinted at his wristwatch and groaned. "It's already eight o'clock."

"Eight?" Jo lifted up her head, panicking momentarily because it was a Monday morning, until she remembered it was Labor Day. She sighed and settled down again. "It's a holiday, Dill. We don't have to go anywhere for a while if we don't want to."

"Your mom's still gonna freak if she wakes up and sees my car here."

"Please." Jo laughed. "Bootsie adores you."

And it was true. Her mother loved Dillon. He could do no wrong in her eyes, so long as he was making Jo Lynn happy. Jo's mother would totally buy that they'd passed out in the guesthouse watching movies, which was mostly all they'd done. Bootsie thought Mr. Star Quarterback was the model gentleman and he was, more than Jo Lynn would've liked, although he had macked on her plenty last night. Jo's face heated up even now, thinking of Dillon's strong hands on her skin and the firm way he'd kissed her, like he had something to prove.

Which he does, she reminded herself, figuring it was the least she deserved after the romantic drought she'd endured the past month. Dillon always had a million excuses too, like the stress of football practice, training sessions, and pressure from his dad and college recruiters.

"Jo?" Dill's voice brought her back to the present as he settled against the deep cushions, his pale gaze glued on her. "So, what's with your nightmare?"

He obviously isn't in a hurry to disappear, she thought smugly, hoping that things were getting back to normal between them. She'd missed being close to him.

"It was more like a fright-mare," she said, shaking off the flashes of it that still lingered. She squeezed her eyes closed a couple times to clear the visions. "I was at the Houstonian, but no one else was there for the deb ball except that skank Laura Bell, and she was wearing my couture Vera Wang gown, although hers was way bigger than mine, of course. But that couldn't possibly happen because the Glass Slipper Club's historian records everyone's dresses so no two are alike--"

Dillon was staring at her like she was a lunatic so she stopped herself. "Never mind," she told him, because explaining it did make her sound totally obsessive. "I think I'm just feeling the pressure. The first Rosebud meeting's tomorrow night, and she'll be there, acting like she's all that and getting in my face unless I--"

Jo Lynn didn't finish. Dillon didn't need to hear her scheme to get Laura ousted from the Rosebuds no matter what it took, no matter how important it was to her. He wouldn't understand. She gnawed on her lower lip, itching to ask him a question that nagged at her. Finally, she just blurted out, "So what do you think of her?"

Product details

ASIN ‏ : ‎ B002C1Z44W
Publisher ‏ : ‎ Delacorte Press (June 4, 2009)
Publication date ‏ : ‎ June 4, 2009
Language ‏ : ‎ English
File size ‏ : ‎ 591 KB
Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
Print length ‏ : ‎ 306 pages

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4.6 13 ratings

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Susan McBride

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Susan McBride is the USA Today Bestselling author of Blue Blood and the Lefty Award-winning, Anthony Award-nominated Debutante Dropout Mysteries from HarperCollins/Avon, including The Good Girl's Guide to Murder, The Lone Star Lonely Hearts Club, Night Of The Living Deb, Too Pretty To Die, and Say Yes to the Death. Susan has a second bestselling series with HC/Avon that debuted in May 2014, the River Road Mysteries, that include To Helen Back, Mad as Helen, Not a Chance in Helen, and Come Helen High Water. Walk Into Silence, a darker mystery featuring Texas police detective Jo Larsen, was a November 2016 Kindle First pick that reached #1 in paid Kindle in both the US and UK, and it was #3 in Australia. Walk Into Silence was the seventh best-selling Kindle title overall in 2016. Walk A Crooked Line (Jo Larsen #2) will be out from Thomas & Mercer on July 10, 2018.

Susan's young adult thriller, Very Bad Things, came out in 2014 from Delacorte Press. Publishers Weekly raved: "McBride's fast-paced plot is fueled by jumps between multiple characters' perspectives, and her rendering of the venerable yet sinister school...is as absorbing as the tightly wound mystery." She has authored several YA non-mystery novels for Delacorte about debutantes in Houston: The Debs (2008) and Love, Lies, And Texas Dips (2009). Gloves Off, the third book, will be released in 2017.

Susan has also penned three women's fiction titles: The Truth About Love & Lightning, featured in Target's Emerging Authors program, a Midwest Connections Pick, and dubbed "a poignant page-turner" by Publishers Weekly; Little Black Dress, a book club favorite and Target Recommended Read that spent five weeks on the St. Louis bestsellers list; and The Cougar Club, a Target "Bookmarked Breakout Title" and a Midwest Connections Pick. Foreign editions of Susan's books have been published in France, Turkey, Croatia, Bulgaria, and Lithuania.

Susan has a short memoir available from HarperCollins: In the Pink: How I Met the Perfect (Younger) Man, Survived Breast Cancer, and Found True Happiness After 40, which tells her tale of becoming an "accidental Cougar" and marrying a younger man, her cancer diagnosis at age 42, and finding herself pregnant at 47. In 2012, Susan was named one of St. Louis's "Most Dynamic People of the Year" by the Ladue News and was given the "Survivor of the Year" Award by the St. Louis affiliate of Susan G. Komen for the Cure. As Susan likes to say, "Life is never boring."

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4.6 out of 5

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CATH

Yikes...teenage drama!

Reviewed in the United States on September 14, 2020

Verified Purchase

Hard to keep track of all the teen drama. Took me back to when my daughters were teenagers. I’ll pass this along to my daughter-in-law, she’s raising our grandchildren.

Reviewed in the United States on March 20, 2013

Verified Purchase

great job. Product was on time and in great shape. Thanks so much for the great service. I like Susan McBride books

Helpful

Michelle Boytim

Further intrigue for the debutantes

Reviewed in the United States on July 21, 2017

This is the second book in the series. Mac, the reluctant debutante is realizing she has feelings for her best friend, Alex. Unfortunately, she is a little too late as he starts to date the new girl and new debutante, Cindy Chow, who she likes, despite the situation. She tries to stay comforted by her mom’s letters, but is slipping into a bad place emotionally. In contrast, her friend Laura is dealing with a nasty and embarrassing rumor that threatens to push her out of the club, one instigated by her arch rival, Jo Lynn. Jo Lynn is convinced that Laura is making a move on her boyfriend, a suspicion increased when she finds her number in his phone. Ginger is making amends with her grandmother by having a formal portrait painted, but she finds that the artist is someone from her past and this causes trauma leading to a fashion disaster. The group continues with their training, including the dreaded “Texas Dip” curtsy. This was an improvement over the first book, but unfortunately, the third book is in publishing limbo, so the actual debut of the Glass Slippers may never occur.

Reviewed in the United States on May 4, 2016

Verified Purchase

This was a great find.

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TeensReadToo

Courtesy of Teens Read Too

Reviewed in the United States on June 21, 2009

Gold Star Award Winner!

Well, they did it. Laura, Mac, Ginger, and (unfortunately) Jo Lynn were four of the handpicked girls to become Rosebud Debutantes of The Glass Slipper Club. But the only thing harder than getting into the GSC is staying in it...

Laura's dream is finally on its way to becoming true! Or at least that's what she thought at first, until an awfully nasty lie was spread around about her by who she can only assume was Jo Lynn or one of her followers. She just seems to keep getting herself into more and more trouble by talking to Dillon and Avery - and Jo Lynn just won't have it anymore. Will this heinous lie get Laura kicked out of the GSC for good?

Mackenzie aka Mac still isn't psyched about becoming a Rosebud. Now that she actually is one, she keeps referring back to her late mother's letters for inspiration and guidance. She especially needs the extra guidance now after realizing how shallow girls can really be, what with the whole Laura and Jo Lynn stuff going on. To top it all off, the new girl in town, Cindy Chow, has her eyes on Mac's oldest pal, Alex, who has always been there for her. Now that he's spending time with Cindy, Mac may be starting to feel a little bit jealous. But will she ever be able to confront Alex about how she thinks she may feel?

Ginger, having finally put what happened with the college boy behind her, is ready to move on to bigger and better things, like of course being a Rosebud, social activism, and fine art. But when her grandmother wants her to sit for a portrait in her gown by the son of a local artist, she realizes that she already knows the guy. And what she remembers isn't good at all. Why, oh why, must she always attract the bad guys? But wait, is he really as bad as Ginger remembers him to be?

All Jo Lynn wants to do is take down Laura once and for all. After finding Laura's number in Dillon's phone, she has just had it. According to Jo Lynn, the girl has to go down. There is no way that Laura is taking Dillon from her, and she sure as heck is not getting back with Avery yet again. She just has to think of the perfect rumor that will get her kicked out of the GSC and ruin her reputation for good.

This is the second book in THE DEBS series, and I have to say that it is amazing! It's even better than the first. In THE DEBS you're introduced to Laura, Mac, Ginger, and Jo Lynn, but this book goes much deeper into their relationships and, of course, there's scandal.

Each chapter draws you more into the story, and each chapter is told by one of the four main characters, so you get a different point of view in each. It's pretty easy to sympathize with Laura, Mac, and Ginger. And Jo Lynn is just a girl you love to hate. She is the perfect bad girl in this story and, despite her witchiness, I love her character.

I'd recommend this to anyone who has read THE DEBS, of course, and for anyone who likes to read about teen girls, relationships, and scandal. I bet if you pick up this book you won't be sorry.

Reviewed by: Breanna F.

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LC

Enchanting Review: Love, Lies and Texas Dips

Reviewed in the United States on June 11, 2009

LOVE, LIES AND TEXAS DIPS
SUSAN McBRIDE
Contemporary YA
Delacorte Press
ISBN# 978-0-385-73520-9
304 Pages
$9.99
Trade--Available June 9, 2009

Rating: 5 Enchantments

LOVE, LIES AND TEXAS DIPS is the perfect sequel to `The Debs'.

Jo-Lynn is both as plotting, manipulative and as calculating and bitchy as always. Laura is still her main target, and she can't figure out how anyone would want to pick Laura over her, especially anyone male. The only thing that'll make her life perfect is casting Laura out of The Debs and if her loser friends go right out the door with her. Fortunately for Laura, she isn't the intimated easily type, and neither are Mac and Ginger, her two best friends. In fact, they all hate Jo-Lynn just about as much as she hates them and they aren't about to let her get rid of them at all.

I think Jo-Lynn is the ultimate--perhaps perfect, YA villain. Seriously. Calculating, manipulative and scheming to a T, she'll stop at absolutely nothing to get what she wants most--to get rid of Laura. Including sending sweets Laura's way to sabotage the Deb and spreading some particular heinous gossip about her.

What I really enjoyed in LOVE, LIES AND TEXAS DIPS, is the storyline revolving around Ginger and the portrait her grandmother wants painted of her. Some of my favorite scenes in the book from here, including when Ginger meets Kent for the first time, the grandson of the artist who painted her grandmother's portrait and the one who is going to paint hers.

`The Debs' series has quickly become one of my favorite YA series and LOVE, LIES AND TEXAS DIPS just shows why. Great characters, great story and a great voice combine to make this a totally entertaining read. With an ending guaranteed to leave readers demanding the next in the series asap, LOVE, LIES AND TEXAS DIPS is a great second book in the series.

Susan McBride is the author of The Debutante Drop-out adult mystery series. She grew up in the heart of Texan Deb country, but now lives with her husband in Missouri. Visit her online at [...]

Lisa
Enchanting Reviews
February 2009

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The Debs: Love, Lies and Texas Dips Kindle Edition

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Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

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