"The wacky side of Charlotte Hughes is on entertaining
display as THE LAST SOUTHERN BELLE (3) bolts her own wedding
and ends up waitressing in a small town in Georgia and falling
in love with her sexy employer. Although it takes a while
to appreciate the hero, Ms. Hughes creates a delicious cast
of supporting characters to complement an irrepressible
heroine."
—Melinda Helfer
"The Last Southern Belle is the last in another area,
too. With the release of these last four books, Loveswept
is calling it quits. Nine hundred and seventeen books were
published during a fifteen-year period. I for one will miss
this line that introduced us to authors such as Deborah
Smith, Janet Evanovich, Kay Hooper, Iris Johansen and others
too numerous to list. Not too shabby, folks.
For the first few pages I was really afraid that the last
Loveswept I would ever read was going to be a dud. I was
too hasty in my assessment and by the time I had finished
The Last Southern Belle, I knew I'd read a book that was
a final fitting tribute for Loveswept.
The plot begins with a scenario we've all read before.
Nothing new. A bride decides at the last minute that she
doesn't want to marry Daddy's hand-picked man, so she escapes.
In our heroine's case, Daddy's hand-picked man wants Annie
Hartford for Daddy's wealth. In keeping with that wealth,
Annie steals the family's limo and leaves Atlanta in a hurry.
Several paragraphs later she stops in Pinckney, a small
Georgia town, with the limo dead and Annie still wearing
her ten thousand dollar gown.
Sam Ballard, businessman extraordinaire, leaves his restaurant
to see what all the commotion is about. Spotting a lovely
young woman getting out of the limo in all her wedding finery,
he is immediately reminded of how his fiancée left him high
and dry years before. At this point I wondered if we'd be
subjected to pages and pages of "I've been dun wrong and
I ain't ever getting serious again. All wemmen are *itches."
Although that's Sam first reaction and his hostility shows,
his reaction is short-lived. When he begins to notice the
real Annie, the Annie who is a good waitress, who is enrolling
at the jr. college in town, who isn't flighty and doesn't
flaunt her wealth, this story takes off and delivers a fine
read.
The plot is really that boy meets girl and they fall in
love. Sure, we keep waiting for Daddy or money-grubbing
fiancé to appear, but that doesn't overshadow the fun. This
resolution does take an unexpected, surprising turn, but
in the end true love triumphs. Charlotte Hughes has given
us some of the most delightful secondary characters, in
addition to appealing leads. There's Darla, the heart of
gold waitress whose short skirts sure do bring in the tips.
Flo and Patricia, cooks in Sam's cafe, are always quitting
when Sam hurts Annie's feelings.
The Pinckney Social Club, comprised of older town women,
embraces Annie. One lends her a bicycle, one rents her a
room and takes her on one of the story's endearing episodes,
shopping in a gently-used clothing store. I love that euphemism.
When Lillian, one of Annie's new friends, confides that
she buys her clothes here, too, but always wears them on
out of town trips, I had to shake my head in amusement.
The Last Southern Belle radiates small town goodness and
salt of the earth people. When I described Sam earlier as
an extraordinary businessman, I wasn't kidding. He's the
town's lawyer, which is why the Pinckney Social Club loves
him, He's gotten them all good settlements when their husbands
left them for trophy wives. He owns the local restaurant,
plus a used-car dealership which is right across from the
restaurant, so he can run across the street to greet potential
buyers. He also owns a couple of convenience stores and
a car wash . . . a Southern entrepreneur.
What kept me reading was the lively dialog. Authors who
write with sparking wit are my favorite kinds. Here are
some examples of what I read which made my husband look
up from his reading in puzzlement. He doesn't have much
occasion to laugh as he reads his nonfiction tomes. In one
scene, Annie has fallen off her bicycle and is pretty banged
up. When Sam carries her to her front door, she makes the
obligatory female disclaimer.
"But I'm too heavy," she said as he carried her
up the stairs with an ease which surprised her. "Damn right
you are. What do you weigh, about one-eighty?"
Later in the same scene Sam is inspecting for cuts and
bruises. Her sprained ankle is only one of the many injuries.
As he inspects her ankle, he advises, "Now try to be brave.
Remember, you'll probably bear children one day. You might
as well get used to dealing with pain. . . . Now, try taking
a few deep breaths to keep your mind off it."
"I don't believe this. I've got a sprained ankle, and
you're teaching me Lamaze techniques."
There were those rare discordant notes when Sam vacillates
about Annie, knowing that she's extremely wealthy. But Annie
is not portrayed as an airhead or one of the disdainful
rich. She's as down home, despite her upbringing, as the
rest of Pinckney, Georgia.
The Last Southern Belle is one of the 'Last' Loveswepts.
Treat yourself before it's too late."
—Linda Mowery
