I bought Lisa Patton’s debut novel (in hardback, no less) the other day and started reading it even though I have a perfectly good stack of books collecting dust on my nightstand. And do you want to know why Whistlin’ Dixie in a Northeaster was a line-jumper? Because it’s all about Southern girls. Memphis girls, to be exact. Coming from the land of Carson McCullers I wasn’t one who was really into the whole country club scene, but I sure do love to read about it. And the best parts of this book are when the main character, LeeLee, is with her girlfriends. They do get up to mischief in Yankee -land. I would have liked to know more behind the facades of LeeLee and Baker Satterwhite, and why he (**spoiler alert**) leaves her high and dry in Vermont, but I’m not going to complain. Bring on the peach preserves, peach jam, peach candles and peach daiquiris and let’s just have a good ole time.

As a Georgia girl, I do miss hearing a good Southern drawl and a “bless your heart” every now and then. Since it doesn’t look like I’m leaving Texas anytime soon, I guess I’m just going to have dig into my imagination and bring out a story or two from my days along the Chattahoochee River. Oh, even better, I’ll climb into one of those age-old, Spanish moss-covered trees on Amelia Island and spin a tale told to me by one of my great aunts. Have I mentioned a pair of them (twins) used to work for the OSS? (That would be the front runner to the CIA back in the day.) Are there any other displaced Georgians out there hankering for a Golden Flake dinner roll and cold RC? Let me know. I still have friends in the old country. I’m pretty sure they’d put together a care package for the desperate.