Never Sit Down in a Hoopskirt and Other Things I Learned in Southern Belle Hell
By Crickett Rumley
Egmont, June 14th, 2011
I must admit that I generally avoid books set in the South or books about pageantry of any sort. But this title had me from the get-go, at least the “Never Sit Down in a Hoopskirt” bit. And the book was genuinely enjoyable in a mindless, quick-read sort of way (and everyone needs one of those now and then). There are the requisite dead/ineffectual parents, the mean rich girl, the dreamy rich boy, and that girl who has been kicked out of more schools than you can count. Oh, and the drinking and partying that seems to be in every high school book (though I cannot recall any of this in actual high school, though that could be because I was the bookish one). Despite this, the book is genuinely fun and redeeming. Each girl experiences true change over the course of the book, and I don’t mean in just the makeover way. A great beach read or something to snag after your last exam and savor on the porch with a southern sweet tea.
