Show Buzz: True Friends Are For Life
- Lance Alvarez
- Mar 22, 2024
- 5 min read
Netflix has come out swinging in recent years with its book-to-film and TV show adaptations. This month, we are looking at one of the most heartwarming series that they have adapted from the mind of author Sheryll Woods. No one in the world can deny that true friendship is the purest form of love and respect. Friendship is one of the most vital aspects of life, along with family and love. In her Sweet Magnolias series, Woods creates a world built on a foundation of true friends who support each other through some of the worst life has to offer. The magic of friendship truly shines through in her stories, and that same magic has been perfectly transplanted into Netflix's series adaptation Sweet Magnolias.
It All Comes Down To Serenity
The Southern small-town setting of Wood's series is home to a trio of friends made up of Maddie Townsend, Dana Sue Sullivan, and Helen Decatur. The trio, affectionately known as the Sweet Magnolias in their town, find strength and support in each other as they face some of the greatest hardships life has to offer, from cheating husbands to family turmoil to the age-old clash between personal life and career. But together, the three friends find that with true friends at your side, there is nothing you cannot overcome.
Stealing Home by Sherryl Woods
For the Sweet Magnolias, friendship lasts a lifetime...
Maddie Townsend might live in a town called Serenity and have the best friends a woman could ask for, but her life is overturned when her husband leaves her for a younger woman. With her three children heartbroken from the change, Maddie has a lot to contend with. On top of it all, after years outside the workforce, she must dust off her business skills to take charge of her best friends' newest project--planning the town's only fitness spa for women.
When her son's developing anger issues begin to affect his passion for baseball, Maddie knows she must step in to help. She didn't expect to develop feelings for her son's coach, the handsome Cal Maddox, and to learn he has feelings for her, too. But gossip travels quickly in a small town, and Maddie and Cal's relationship may threaten both their reputations and careers.
Then again, he could be the one man in all of South Carolina who can help her find serenity after all.
Stealing Home is the first novel in the Sweet Magnolias series d follows the story of Maddie as she faces being left by her husband who gets with a younger woman, returning to work to support her family, her son's anger issues, and a new, burgeoning romance with baseball coach Cal Maddox who has a past of his own he is running from. Her story is followed by A Slice of Heaven, which sees Dana Sue navigating the return of her cheating ex-husband, losing her grip on her weight, the pressure of running the best restaurant in town, and her daughter's eating disorder. Finally, in Feels Like Family we follow Helen as she revels in the success of her law career and faces the harsh reality of wanting to start a family later in life, facing the issues of childbirth at her age, and finding the man who she will start this next phase with, even at the risk of losing her friends.
Sweet Magnolias (2008-2014)
A World Of Friendship
But the story does not end there—far from it, actually. Maddie, Dana Sue, and Helen may have been the start of the Sweet Magnolias, but the series goes so much further, consisting of eleven books in total. Book four, Welcome to Serenity, follows Jeanette Brioche, and book five, Home in Carolina, follows Annie Sullivan, Dana Sue's daughter, as she reconnects with her childhood best friend and son of Maddie, Tyler Townsend. These books officially close the first chapter of the Sweet Magnolias franchise, and with Book Six, Sweet Tea at Sunrise, we are introduced to Sarah Price, who, along with her two best friends, Raylene Hammond and Karen Ames, ushers in new generation of Sweet Magnolias. Their side of the franchise wraps with book nine, which follows high-school teacher, Laura Reef, and pediatrician, J.C. Fullerton as they receive support from the Sweet Magnolias in the face of a bullying crisis that threatens a student's life, book ten, which follows single mom Lynn Morrow as she grapples with the family fracturing, and book eleven which follows Adelia Hernandez who relocates to Serenity to begin a new life post-divorce and sees a return of characters from throughout the entire series.
Sweet Magnolias (2008-2014)
Serenity Comes To Life
Sherryl Woods is in no way a stranger to the world of screen adaptations. In 2016, another of her series, Chesapeake Shores, was adapted into a television series by Hallmark Channel that ran for six seasons and ended in 2022. Shortly after, Netflix released its adaptation of Sweet Magnolias in 2020.
Sweet Magnolias
Lifelong friends Maddie, Helen, and Dana Sue lift each other up as they juggle relationships, family, and carers in the small, Southern town of Serenity.
The first season of Sweet Magnolias was positively received, with Netflix confirming a second season just two months after its release. The show has been recognized for its ability to bring Wood's characters to life in an authentic and careful way. It has also managed to capture that raw depiction of friendship that is so rare to see on television nowadays and yet which is so integral to the original novels. While the show currently focuses on just the original trio and expands on the side characters a bit more, like their children, friends, and other townspeople, it is sure to delve deeper into the world of Serenity as it continues. One thing is for sure, if you're having a bad day and need a comfort watch to cuddle up on the sofa with your teddy bear, this is the show for you.
The series stars JoAnna Garcia Swisher (The Astronaut Wives Club) as Maddie Townsend, joined by Brooke Elliott (Drop Dead Diva) as Dana Sue Sullivan and Heather Headley (Respect) as Helen Decatur, making up the Sweet Magnolias trio. Joining them are Logan Allen, Anneliese Judge, Carson Rowland, Justin Bruening, Chris Klein, Jamie Lynn Spears, Dion Johnstone, Brandon Quinn, and Chris Medlin.
Brooke Elliott (left), JoAnna Garcia Swisher (center), Heather Headley (right)
Seasons one, two, and three of Sweet Magnolias are available to stream now on Netflix, and the studio confirmed season four in October 2023.
Sherryl Woods is the author of nearly 150 romance and mystery novels and grew up in Virginia. Over the years she has lived in Ohio and Florida, as well as California. Currently she divides her time between Jacksonville Beach, Florida and Colonial Beach, Virginia, the small, river-front town where she spent her childhood summers. That town provided the inspiration for the small-town settings of many of her books. When she’s not writing or reading, Sherryl loves to garden, though she’s not at her best on a riding lawn mower. She also loves tennis, theater, and ballet, even though her top spin has long since vanished, she’s never set foot on a stage, and she’s way too uncoordinated to dance. She also loves baseball and claims anyone who’s ever seen Kevin Costner in “Bull Durham” can understand why. You can learn more about Woods and her extensive collection of works by visiting her website sherrylwoods.com.
HAVE YOU READ THE STEALING HOME OR ANY OF THE BOOKS IN THE SERIES?
HAVE YOU WATCHED SWEET MAGNOLIAS ON NETFLIX?
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