As I started up on this, I wasn't loving it ... but as the story developed, I came to care about the characters more, enough that I think it will stick in my memory and maybe I'll continue on to the sequel, see what else happens. 

Most of the chapters are from Taylor's POV - 1st person/past tense, very conversational, just unfurling her story. I was a bit confused at ch2&4, which shifted to 3rd person/Luann's POV. Honestly, even in retrospect, I'm not sure that this additional background look into Luann's past really helped us/the reader. I think personally I would have preferred the consistency of just Taylor's POV/1st person (especially in audio, when the "voice" is the same), and just meeting Luann later. I think it would be interesting to have a Q&A with the author to know why they chose to do it this way, if others felt like it added something.  There was a Q&A at the end of the book, but it was just general questions, not anything about THIS book (I was disappointed). No discussion questions included, I Googled and found a couple but nothing great but then saw some Spark Notes, and that added a little insight. A book club discussion would likely talk about what's right vs what's "legal", the racial issues, immigration, abuse issues, homelessness & their treatment/perception, what makes a family, how the beans ran through the novel ...

17 chapters, with headers:
1. The One To Get Away
2. New Year's Pig
3. Jesus is Lord Used Tires
4. Tug Fork Water
5. Harmonious Space
6. Valentine's Day
7. How They Eat in Heaven
8. The Miracle of Dog Doo Park
9. Ismene
10. The Bean Trees
11. Dream Angels
12. Into the Terrible Night
13. Night-Blooming Cereus
14. Guardian Saints
15. Lake o' the Cherokees
16. Soundness of Mind and Freedom of Will
17. Rhizobia

Looking over the Table of Contents after finishing (in the Kindle copy, the physical book doesn't deign to provide a TOC, and the audio TOC was really fragmented, listing just the numerical chapter sans header, then breaking down the chapters further, using a first line for reference) ... some headers are enough to nudge my memory as to what was happening in that chapter.  I like when a TOC does that. I had the physical book, and borrowed the audio/Kindle from the library. I went primarily with the audio. Didn't LOVE the narrator, a little dry. Looooooong pauses in audio, it needed some editing. I kept wondering if my audiobook had turned off.   Song SUNG ...  when there was a little song, it was sung, which I appreciated, kept me in the story. 

No proFanity. Other words/phrases I note: careened, whirling dervish, route (root).  There was an "Esperanza" in this, and I'd just read Esperanza Rising, and that was just a bit too close together (all the chapters in it had different produce for their headings, although none were beans).

The sequel is available from the library, I wish I didn't have a few other big books already checked out that I need to get to first. We'll see if my interest remains to come back and continue on with the series ...

I've got a few of this author's book in my TBR. I read Demon Copperhead and didn't really care for it and was hoping I'd like this better.