Yankee Doodle Dixie

By: Lisa Patton
Publisher: Thomas Dunne Books
Publication Date: September 2011
ISBN: 978-0-312-65889-2
Reviewed by: Amy Lignor 
Review Date: August 2011

Lisa Patton has done it again. Her bestseller, Whistlin’ Dixie in a Nor’Easter, was an absolutely perfect, entertaining, and fun novel. Now, with this second foray into “Dixie whistlin’” she has brought even more humorous, heartwarming, and hilarious characters into a literary world that has been more than a bit depressing for the past year.

Our Dixie heroine has returned in Leelee Satterfield. She and her two children have returned to Memphis because her “trip” to Vermont didn’t turn out all that well. When she moved to the frigid cold East with her husband and opened up the Peach Blossom Inn, she had no idea that her journey would end with her husband turning into a philandering jerk, and a woman by the name of Helga (who acted like a true Nazi) trying to wrestle away her popular B&B. The only thing Leelee did find that was good in the East was a stunning man, which is the only person that Leelee misses.

Coming home, she stays with her old baby nurse, Kissie, for a while before finding her “legs” and getting a place of her own. Her friends are all back around her at the Memphis Country Club listening to Leelee tell of the mysterious Vermont stranger who stole her heart (yet, she can’t seem to get him to return any of her phone calls). This trio of women who have loved and supported Leelee all her young life are still standing 100% behind her, and the conversations that they get into over numerous peach daiquiris are absolutely hysterical. In fact, with this type of sisterhood, all readers will find themselves thinking about the women who offer them advice and share each other’s lives.

Leelee soon opens another restaurant because of want, need, and more than a bit of advice from her helpful friend. Being a single Mom and wanting the “man who stole her heart” to appear in her neck of the woods makes Leelee’s life a bit of a mess. Although she’s back in the “world” that she knows like the back of her hand, Leelee soon comes to the realization that even though this is “home,” she is still going to have to work to make a successful business, figure out her love life, and raise her girls.

This second tale of Leelee allows readers to, once again, have a wonderful time. The characters are vivacious, the story is lovely, and the Memphis charm oozes through every page.

Quill Says: Charm, charm, and pure charm. Leelee is a Dixie heroine who never goes out of style!