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Dancing Naked in Dixie

by Lauren Clark

genre: chick-lit, horror*

I cannot thank Lauren Clark enough for giving me a chance to review Dancing Naked in Dixie.  I had trouble connecting with the characters in her other novel, Stay Tuned, and might not have picked up another one of her books, but despite my luke-warm review of Stay Tuned, she asked if I wanted to review Dancing Naked in Dixie.  I am now officially a fan of Lauren Clark.

Synopsis

International travel writer Julia Sullivan has missed one too many deadlines and her writing is slipping.  She’ll get it together… any day now.  Then a new boss gives her an ultimatum, go to Eufaula, Alabama and put a quality piece together for the new direction the magazine wants to go in, or look for a new job.  Julia throws a spectacular tempter-tantrum, but heads off to Eufaula where she finds more than just a travel story.

Review

The South has its own culture and its own set of rules.  Unless you’re Lorelei Gilmore, only in the South can you get away with calling a sixty year old woman Sweety.  Lauren Clark managed to capture the culture of the South-the southern hospitality, the dialect, the fire ants, warm winters, sweet tea, and “The War of Northern Aggression” when talking about The Civil War.  

The characters were great, all of them active participants in the story.  Even though Julia suffers waves of self doubt, she isn’t whiny and while she may not always accomplish what she sets out to do, she puts in an effort, baby steps.  I figured out who was behind the main drama in town and why, but the ending caught me off guard and I actually cried.

5 out of 5 stars

* “My coffee flies out of my hand and splats on the carpeting.  I watch in horror as my latte seeps into the rug fibers.”  For me, it is white mocha rather than a latte, but tell me that doesn’t make this a horror story, even if only for a paragraph 😛

-Eliabeth Hawthorne


I received this book from the author, but this did not affect my review.