The Sweet Potato Queens’ First Big-Ass Novel by Jill Connor Browne with Karin Gillespie. Read by the author. I’ve been a fan of the Sweet Potato Queens for several years now, and heard really good things about the audio novel from a colleague. Well, I think it’s a good first novel, and funny as novels go. It’s just that novels are inherently less funny than a book of straight comedy. I remember my grandfather complaining about the Cosby Show for the same reason. The novel is a change from the books, aside from being fictional, in that the queens have different names instead of all being called Tammy. In the fictional world, Jill and friends Mary Bennet, Patsy, Gerald and Tammy form the Sweet Potato Queens in high school, to help Tammy get over being rejected by the Key Club. They have a highly successful debut in the homecoming parade, outshining the elected homecoming queen and president of the Key Club. The book proceeds to follow the Queens from high school in the 60’s through to the 90’s, with romances, career changes, and some painful misunderstandings between friends. It’s all very southern, very soap-opera like, crude-mouthed and sparkly, like the Queens themselves, and very much for women.