Those Pearly Gates — Julie Cannon

The heartwarming saga of Imo Lavender and her spirited family continues in a third installment of the beloved Homegrown series.
Life is moving on for Imogene Lavender, and reluctantly she leaves her farm in rural Georgia to follow her new husband, Reverend Peddigrew, into town to live in the parsonage. Her struggle to adjust is not what she expects when she begins feeling the all-too-perfect presence of the Reverend's late wife. The move also leaves Imo's niece Loutishie resentful and stretching her faith to find a way back to her beloved farm. Imo's daughter, Jeanette -- a beautician at the Kuntry Kut 'n' Kurl married to a reverend of her own -- is so afraid of becoming a "church lady" that she secretly enters an erotic bull-riding contest. But a devastating event forces Jeanette to see that beauty is not just skin deep, and when Imo's neighbors suffer a great tragedy, she learns what it really means to be a reverend's wife by helping to restore their faith.