Jan 2, 2026

What’s in a Name: Saints & Sinners

The Myth of Being Good, and the Truth of Being Human

One of my favorite things about the Magnolia Manor series isn’t just the stories themselves—it’s the titles.

From the very beginning, I knew I wanted each book’s name to feel like home. Something familiar. Something you might hear drifting across a porch on a warm evening, spoken with a knowing smile and just a hint of mischief. Southern sayings have a way of doing that. They’re lighthearted, expressive, and often carry far more meaning than the words alone suggest.

Each title in the Magnolia Manor series is built from a Southernism or bit of Southern slang—phrases that sound casual on the surface, but hint at deeper truths, tangled relationships, and the kind of drama that simmers just beneath polite conversation.

In the South, we have a habit of sorting people neatly…

You’re raised right or you weren’t. You’re good folk or you’re trouble. You sit on the right side of the church or you whisper from the back pew. You’re either a saint or a sinner.

It sounds simple enough, until you live long enough to realize how impossible the distinction really is.

That’s why Saints & Sinners felt inevitable as the second title in the Magnolia Manor series. Because once the dirty laundry has been acknowledged, the next question always follows: Who’s to blame? Even if this sequel is actually a prequel, but stories have to begin somewhere.

In Southern culture, goodness is often measured by appearances. How politely someone speaks. Whether they show up when expected. Whether they know when to stay quiet. But appearances are careful things, curated things. And Magnolia Manor is full of people who have learned exactly how to look righteous while carrying something far more complicated inside. The truth is, saints stumble, and sinners can love deeply. Most people fall somewhere in the in-between, doing the best they can with what they’ve been given, and sometimes failing spectacularly along the way.

This title explores the uncomfortable space where judgment lives. The way communities decide who is forgiven and who is remembered for their worst moment. The way grace is offered freely to some and withheld from others without explanation. At Magnolia Manor, no one escapes being labeled, but labels rarely tell the whole story.

What makes someone a saint? Is it kindness? Loyalty? Silence? And what makes someone a sinner? Desire? Anger? Choosing themselves when they’re expected not to? Saints & Sinners asks readers to sit with that tension, to question whether morality is as clear-cut as we want it to be, or whether it shifts depending on who’s telling the story. Because the South loves redemption stories, but only when they’re neat.

This book leans into the messier version of grace; the kind that’s earned slowly. The kind that requires understanding rather than approval. The kind that acknowledges that good people can cause harm, and broken people can still do beautiful things. Saints & Sinners examines the fallout and the judgments whispered behind fans and folded hands. The choices people make when they believe they’ve already been condemned.

At Magnolia Manor, no one is entirely holy, and no one is beyond hope. And maybe that’s the most Southern truth of all.

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