PJ Spoon is midway through her PhD at Vanderbilt when the death of her father brings her back to her podunk hometown, Pennywhistle, Tennessee. Rather than deal with grief or talk to her mother about anything, PJ gets a job as a fry cook at the local hot chicken joint, the Chickie Shak. But before long, all of the female employees of the southern chain (plus two in New Jersey) are forced into a pageant to find Miss Chickie Shak, and PJ finds herself competing against her coworkers — cutie pie Boof and cranky Linda — and ignoring calls from her PhD advisor.
This is a quirky book, full of folksy Southernisms ("cuter than a piglet in jorts" is uttered at one point), to the point that the caricature of the South almost overwhelms the plot (which is plenty stereotypical South, in and of itself). Looking at the characters and their arcs, they're a bit flat, even with the meaty backstory that PJ has behind her. But if you're in the mood for laughing your way through something that doesn't really have a lot of substance, go ahead and pick this one up. Just make sure you're fully armed with your rhinestone gun and Velveeta when you start reading.
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