Looking for Salvation at the Dairy Queen follows Catherine Grace Cline through her years of school and after graduation. Catherine has lived in the town of Ringgold, Georgia, all her life and yearns for something not quit achievable in a small town of only 1,923 with only one traffic light and one Dairy Queen. Her mother died when she was nine, leaving behind a husband and two daughters. Once a week, Catherine sits on the bench outside of the Dairy Queen with her younger sister, Martha Ann, contemplating life's mysteries and how she is going to escape this small-town life. When her father unexpectedly grounds her from going to the Dairy Queen for an entire month, Catherine comes up with a plan with the help of her next-door neighbor Gloria Jean of making jars of homemade strawberry jam. Selling the jars at the town's dollar store helps her on her road to buying the bus ticket she needs to start her life. A small setback has her ending her career in jam making for now, and once again dreaming of leaving this town she has called home for 18 years. A romance blossoms between her childhood friend Henry Blankenship and Catherine, and even though they have fallen in love and the whole town thinks they will be getting married soon, that still does not stop Catherine from leaving for the bright lights of Atlanta.

But just when she is settled into the city life and has a great new job as a food distributer of a grocery store, events back home force her to return. She finds nothing has changed, yet everything is different. There is a woman in town claiming to be her mother, her father has died, and her best friend is now dating the love of her life.

Looking for Salvation at the Dairy Queen is a delightful read, quick and engaging. You will soon fall in love with all the characters, and if you cry easily, you will find that the parting of Henry and Catherine is bittersweet. The lesson learned is simple and easy: sometimes what you strive for all your life is pretty much right under your nose, but the trick is to notice it before your whole life passes you by. I loved snuggling under a warm blanket on cold nights and reading this book until I could not put it down. I personally cannot wait for Susan Gregg Gilmore's next book. I will stand behind my rating of five stars; even though there is no for-certain happily ever after, it's implied.