Jasmine Cox Larsen Bush and Rachel Jackson Adams, two of the most infamous pastors' wives, are back together and as always, trying to one-up each other. In this latest installment, Rachel is prepared to start shooting her reality TV show, First Lady, when Jasmine gets wind of it and maneuvers her way on to the cast. To their collective surprise, however, the show, now renamed First Ladies, holds additional surprises in store. Can these two ladies keep their sanity and wits about them as they try to do away with old rivals once and for all even while proving to all who the real First Lady is? Will Jasmine and Rachel ever be friends or are they destined to be BFFs—Best Frenemies Forever?

Victoria Christopher Murray and ReShonda Tate Billingsley have one-upped themselves again. Each installment of this popular series seems as though the hijinks of Jasmine and Rachel can get no worse...until the next installment is published. Murray and Billingsley instill the slapstick humor of Lucy Ricardo and Ethel Mertz in these two ladies while also imbuing them with a sensitivity toward the Holy Spirit that never fails to convict them when they go too far. Still, they have to get pretty far before any sense of propriety or remorse kicks in, and that makes for a rollicking, laugh-out-loud reading experience.

The only downside to Fortune & Fame is that the ending felt as though this particular installment wasn't quite over. The primary story lines wrapped up neatly yet left enough threads hanging that there is sure to be another book. Still, one of the plot lines—and it's hard for me to say more without giving a spoiler—felt as though the character made an interesting turn in her circumstances, but that that portion of the story was far from over, leaving just a whiff of disappointment for this loyal reader. Call it impatience. It likely will be a year before the next book is released.

Putting that aside, what Murray and Billingsley do best is shine a light on the foibles of Christian women everywhere who seek godly perfection but are all too human, no more or less than every other Christian woman. So the petty jealousies, personal vanities, church embarrassments, spiritual deficiencies and scheming ways of Jasmine and Rachel become reflections and even instruments for spiritual growth for their readership.

Murray and Billingsley can continue to spotlight my flaws and help me to grow as long as they keep the crazy capers and laughter coming. It's hard to conceive that Jasmine and Rachel might ever part ways. If they do, I hope they reincarnate themselves, as did Lucy and Ethel in The Lucille Ball Show, such that we never, ever have to let them go.

Book Summary

Jasmine Cox Larson Bush and Rachel Jackson Adams have been through a lot together—from fighting for their husbands to become the head of the American Baptist Coalition to getting mixed up in a terrible murder. Now the frenemies have found themselves the stars of First Ladies, a muchanticipated new reality television show.

Jasmine balks at the idea of airing her dirty laundry on national TV, but Rachel sees it as the perfect opportunity to take her brand to the next level. And if Rachel is in, so is Jasmine. All the cast members are women of God—how much drama can there be?

Rachel and Jasmine know their own pasts are murky, but they’ll seem like choir girls when the secrets and sins of the others come to light. The two will once again have to form an unholy alliance to go up against these so-called Godly women who see the show as their chance to take them down—at any cost.