Excerpt from Crooked Hallelujah by Kelli Jo Ford, plus links to reviews, author biography & more

But Lula's prayer rose and dipped into a moan. Then great, body-shaking sobs vibrated through the door into Justine's hand, along her arm, and into her chest. She dropped the purse and Bible on the kitchen table and locked herself in the bathroom.

"Shit. Shit. Shit," she muttered. Feeling as if her bones were shaking, she took a can of Aqua Net, covered her eyes, and sprayed it all around her head. She waved hairspray from the air and then scrubbed her face red with scalding water. Her father's blue eyes reflected back at her, not Lula's brown eyes or eyes that seemed her own. Mostly she didn't think about him anymore. She didn't think she wanted to see him, but what was done was done. She decided then that she would go to Six Flags with her father and never think of Russell Gibson again. It was as if her young heart could only hold the two emotions: one, a guilt so deep for betraying her mother that it left her feeling like a human rattle, empty save for a few disconnected bones; and two, a joy so sudden and surprising at the thought of riding Big Bend, the fastest roller coaster in the world, that she felt she might pass out.

Excerpted from Crooked Hallelujah © 2020 by Kelli Jo Ford. Reprinted with the permission of the publisher, Grove Press, an imprint of Grove Atlantic, Inc. All rights reserved.