Southern Belle's Handbook: Sissy LeBlanc's Rules to Live By » (First Edition)

Loraine Despres is the author of the bestselling novel The Scandalous Summer of Sissy LeBlanc and its tie-in title, The Southern Belle's Handbook. Raised in Amite, Louisiana, Despres is a former television writer and international screenwriting consultant. She lives in Los Angeles with her husband and continues to enjoy bad behavior.

Learn how to navigate life with the effortless savior faire of a true daughter of the South with The Southern Belle's Handbook.

Sissy LeBlanc's rules to live by will teach you how to hook, hold on to, and handle any man as well as conquer any personal situation with the poise and confidence of a sophisticated southern stunner.

And because every woman possesses her own sassy instincts, you can also record your own rules for unstoppable fabulousness and success.

Publishers Weekly

This little gift book, following TV writer Despres's 2001 novel The Scandalous Summer of Sissy LeBlanc (Sissy lived by the titular code) and packaged in a vaguely cocktail-nation design schema, aims to define a new "southern belle" through pithy rules of living. While the general profile that emerges is slightly more liberated than the antebellum stereotype, the edicts are generally goofy and sometimes a little confused, tacking from warmed-over Ben Franklin ("Men always find themselves the most fascinating subject of any conversation. When in doubt, let him talk about himself. He'll think you're a brilliant conversationalist") to reheated Oscar Wilde ("A girl doesn't have to give in to temptation but she might not get another chance"). Dictating equal parts subservience ("Laugh at his wit, and he'll admire your sense of humor"), naughtiness ("A girl can stand just so much virtue") and outright nonsense ("Sometimes doing good can be delightfully bad"-whatever that means), this book is short on authentic advice, but long on kitschy appeal. (May) Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.