‘Bless Your Heart, Rae Sutton’—Funny Mom ‘Whoa! Susannah’ Releases New Fiction Novel Just in Time for Summer

You may know Susannah B. Lewis as “Whoa! Susannah”— the humorous Southern mom in aviator glasses who sits behind the wheel of her SUV cluttered with softball bags and stale tater tots and rants about everyday grievances like long carpool lines and only one available check-out at the grocery store. But the Tennesseean is also an author. In 2019 and 2020, Thomas Nelson released two of her best-selling non- fiction books, “Can’t Make This Stuff Up!” and “How May I Offend You Today?“

But, since she was an 8-year-old clacking away on a Brother typewriter, Susannah’s dream has always been to be a published fiction author. And that dream will come true on May 24, 2020 when Bless Your Heart, Rae Sutton is released by HarperCollins.

“I enjoyed writing non- fiction, but that was never my plan when I set out to find a literary agent and publisher. For as long as I can remember, I’ve wanted to walk into a bookstore and see my name on the cover of a fiction book. I love storytelling, and I’m so blessed and honored to have this opportunity,” said Lewis.

Inspired by the loss of her own mother and her Aunt Eula’s and friends’ book club, Lewis spins a sweet and witty tale of a group of eccentric older ladies who take a motherless woman under their wing.

About the book

When Raeley Ann Sutton’s mama passes away and leaves her the house where she grew up, Rae can’t imagine how the little old place might restore her broken life. Mourning the recent loss of her marriage, she takes the house and settles back in tiny, “one-horse Whitten” with her fourteen-year-old daughter, Molly Margaret, and their overweight dog.

There she’s embraced by her mother’s close-knit circle of friends, the Third Thursday ladies: Mrs. Fannie, Mrs. Dora, and Aunt Maxine. Though almost half their age and far less confident of positive outcomes, Rae joins their ministry-slash-book-club-slash-gossip circle and allows the women to speak wry honesty and witty humor into her tired heart. As a new career and a new romance bring their own complications, Rae relies on the unlikely family she’s found and begins to wonder if her future holds more hope than she ever could have imagined.