Ronda Rich

I'm going to let you in on a big Southern girl secret.....it's all in the water! Hah! Just kidding, actually according to Ronda Rich, if you are gracious, flirt with everyone, charm the socks off of every man from the youngest to the oldest and make a killer pecan pie, then you know the secret to being a Southern woman......Now, myself, being born in Beaufort, South Carolina which is about as southern as they come, do know that it is about being gracious and kind to everyone and yes somewhat show more charming. I prefer peach cobbler to pecan pie! There are some gems in Ms. Rich's book such as "Pretty is as pretty does" or "character and spirit are the true beauty of a woman" and my favorite -

" In this life, we have two choices when adversity clouds our skies - to be bitter or to be better. Being bitter will choke the joy from our lives and darken our days spent on earth. Choosing to be better after our troubling experiences, however, will enrich our days and add peace and contentment to our lives."

Southern women know to accept that life is neither a fairy tale nor fair and get on with the task at hand."

Now see that last line is just where I started to have a bit of a problem. Because I do have women family and friends who live all over the country who have met adversity and faced it with a grace unlike any I have ever seen. It is not only women in the South who know how to be graceful under pressure or to be a "steel magnolia" I truly believe it is women all over who have an inner core of strength that defies all logic. Yes, women in the South may flirt a little more, be somewhat more charming, cook with a lot more sugar and turn our tea into syrup but I believe women all over should stick together and not point fingers at each other or say one region is better than another because it can flirt more....that just seems somewhat pompous. I give this book 3 out of 5 stars. There's some good points about being a woman, if you can get past the arrogance.....and I don't even think it is an intended arrogance, but still it comes across to me as being there, and I'm a fellow southerner. show less

Ah, the art of flirting, all respectable Southern woman use this secret weapon every once in a while. It is one of the basic tools in our psyche, allowing us to obtain wants and needs in a fun, game-like manner. Flirting allows us to meet new people, charm the curmudgeons, and climb the business ladder. We know exactly when to use it and when to turn it off.

Margaret Mitchell got it right in Gone with the Wind, when Bonnie Blue hugs and kisses a delighted Daddy Rhett, and then asks for a show more pony. We, as Southern girls, are always Daddy’s little girl and carry this special gene for the flirting ability.

Our fathers activate this gene without consciously being aware. From the beginning, they melt when asked for something, if given the proper XXOOs lead-in. When they realize they may be spoiling us, they slow down rewards. We still get what we want, but we may wait a couple of months or years for satisfaction. This slow down is an opportunity to hone our skills for the hard sell, we know her as mother.

Ronda Rich fills her book, What Southern Women Know about Flirting, with wonderful Southern stories to demonstrate our God-given ability. One of my favorites involves the marital argument, which always occurs if one spouse thinks the other is “laying it on too thick” at a social event.

“…an Alabama-trained diva, and her husband left a Christmas party and immediately entered into an argument over her allure and charm, which had held most of the men at the party captivated. He thought she had taken too far her vow to always uphold social flirting as a critical attribute of Southern womanhood. As they argued, he swerved the car and looked up moments later to see a blue light flashing behind him.

He pulled over and a trooper approached the car. Since [the] husband, an attorney, had partaken of a couple of glasses of wine over the course of the evening, he was a bit nervous. After checking his license, the trooper said, ‘Sir, can you recite the alphabet for me?’

[The wife] leaned across her husband and said sweetly with a flutter of her eyelashes, ‘Now, officer, he couldn’t recite the alphabet when he was a senior at Ole Miss. Why would you expect that of him now?’ She finished the question with a delicious, flirtatious smile, and the officer laughed so hard that he dropped the whole matter.

As her chastised husband pulled the car back onto the road, she asked mischievously, ‘Now, what do you think of my charm?’” show less

This is such a fantastic book!
I've had so many downs that its pretty difficult to find an up during the down times. But while reading this books, I've realized that 1) there really are other people who've had it worse than me and 2) there is always a good either in or after the bad. I have cried, laughed and smiled through this book.
If its not the book, than there's a chapter, a page, even a quote that I promise will make you feel better and really think that There is a Better Day A-Comin'

Funny sharp and oh so southern! A no-nonsense approach to relationships with a genteel spin.