Dancing Naked in Dixie

by Lauren Clark

[Cocktails and Books]

This is one of those books that shocks you, because it is so different from what the book blurb reads, but then again it isn't. I was expecting a light hearted book about a clumsy, cute woman who is sent to Alabama to write her story and then gets caught up in all the funny "goings on" in the town. That is what happens, but what doesn't come across in the blurb is how this is really a gut-wrenching, emotional read about start over.

Julia Sullivan is a travel writer and spends very brief amounts of time at home. She's disorganized and clumsy, which leads to many mishaps on her travels but also serious repercussions at work with her new editor. She has a steady boyfriend who she isn't in love with, but isn't ready to let go of just yet because they get along well. She's estranged from her father and missing her mother terribly after her death two years ago.

But Julia's world does a complete 180 when she sets foot in Eufaula, Alabama. She finds the town charming, it's busy body residents irresistible and her tour guide, Shug Jordan. In this quaint little town, she finds what's been missing in her life: a relationship with her father, putting down roots and opening yourself up to all the joys and pains in life. Without knowing it, Eufaula, Shug and his family and the friends Julia made give her everything she didn't know she wanted, but in the end truly couldn't live without.