A fun easy to read book that feels like your best friend gossiping with you. I’m not a southerner, but I certainly couldn’t stop reading this book for the pure enjoyment of it. Helen Ellis makes this book one you’d gift to a friend who is equal parts sassy and sweet.

I have to start with a personal note to Helen Ellis: I love you! Ms. Ellis, you had me at black honey lip gloss and hair bows! I very much enjoyed the short stories that will speak to women who grew up in the 80s. I am not from the south but women from the south really seem to know how to tell a story. Helen Ellis shares her personal thoughts, opinions and experiences in a very entertaining way. I am not usually a fan of short stories but these are told in a way that paints a picture for the reader and most women will find the stories very relatable. I love your voice Helen Ellis!

Oh the life of a Southern Lady. I can tell you it is not easy. And this funny book of short essays gives those uninitiated in the ways of being a Southern Lady a good look at how it is done. 

Ms. Ellis holds back nothing on the topics we all must deal with. How to be a Southern Lady in a time and place where people just don't know about such things as the thank-you note rules, ghostly happenings, shooting guns and my favorite, monogramming!

We have a saying in our family. If it sits still long enough Momma will monogram it. There are rules. And I for one am happy that the author is fighting the good fight among the Yankees. Keep up the good work and thanks for the laughs and memories! There was not a single story I didn't identify with!

Netgalley and April 16th 2019 by Doubleday Books

Ever since my college girlfriend recommended Eating the Cheshire Cat to me, I have eagerly awaited another Helen Ellis book - and was thrilled when American Housewife came out last (?) year. I was even more excited to see that Southern Lady Code was a series of nonfiction essays about this author that I've gotten a little obsessed by -- she's sweet (she's Southern, after all), but still a little prickly and darkly comic about it all.

Oh, and this book is a great reminder of the importance of a proper thank-you note.

A collection of essays that explain what a Southern Lady really means. It makes you laugh as you realize it is what you are thinking and wish you could say when confronted with the behaviors or situations.

Hysterical, especially to a Southern woman of a certain age. I'm highly recommending this to my friends and fellow readers. Great, funny essays.

Southern Lady Code is a collection of essays that offers perspective on an array of topics. From ghosts to Burberry coats to Twitter porn, Ellis approaches each subject with the sincerity and humor of a true Southern lady. She had me laughing all throughout, as well as giving me some food for thought. And it gave me an idea for a killer Halloween costume. Thanks to NetGalley for the eArc.

Darkly funny as always, Ellis brings us a new offering full of insights, humor, and her trademark subtle Southern snark.

As a southern gal, I simply adored this book. I can’t wait for it to come out so I can buy copies for all my girl friends!

I raved about it to my sister and then had to apologize she has to wait to buy it!! Whoops.

Helen’s voice is hilarious and sincere and speaks to the deeper parts of any woman raised in the south.
Delightful!

Being a Southern gal myself, raised by Southern women, I thought I would really like this book. But after the first few stories/essays, I just couldn't force myself to read any more. It wasn't funny (like I thought it was going to be), it was just kind of sad and cringe inducing.

Being from Alabama and having read Helen Ellis’ previous two books I was excited to see she has written something new! Southern Lady. Code did not disappoint! Ellis is HYSTERICAL. The only thing disappointing is that this collection of essays is not longer. I did not want any of them to end!

Just a thing glimpse of the kind of writing you will get....

“I come from a very real place where girls missed seventh-grade roll call because “She havin’ her baby!” High school girls really did have babies in my high school bathrooms. Ambulances never got there in time because full-term fetuses—fueled by Mountain Dew and Betty Crocker frosting straight out of the can—rocketed from fourteen-to eighteen-year-old vaginas like a Six Flags log ride.”

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this hilarious book of essays, so much so I read parts out loud to my husband of 27 years. Growing up in the south in the same time frame I could so relate to your southern childhood and motherly advice. It is truly a wonderful way to be raised, the basis of kindness and being polite is something that really makes the world a better, happier place.

This is the first thing I have read by Mrs. Ellis, aka Mrs. Harris but it will not be the last! From one dense breast to another MAMA LIKE!

Thank you NetGalley and Helen Ellis for the ARC and the opportunity to find a new favorite author for a review.

I absolutely loved this collection of essays! Helen Ellis is that witty, snarky, honest, hilarious person that you would want as your best friend because you know she'd call you out on your shit, and then write about it.

I was given this book by the publisher and Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

I love female humorists. I really love Southern female humorists. Celia Rivenbark, Erma Bombeck, and the like are my faves. I actually aspire to be them. Especially Erma.

And Helen Ellis is like them, only with a slight pornography obsession and the wish to try marijuana. She sounds a lot like people I know. I enjoyed this book, and I would read more by her.

Helen Ellis has shared written a book to share the Southern secret of "Lady Code." Don't have something nice to say? Say it in a nice way.  Over 23 essays, Helen Ellis uses her Alabama charm to look at her life in New York city and breakdown her life heading into Middle Age. Often guffaw level funny, Southern Lady Code goes through some hilarious stories about accidentally stealing a Burberry Trenchcoat, witnessing a man fake his death, learning lessons from drag queens, and even a story about marijuana.

Helen Ellis is definitely for older readers, primarily women past their 20s, especially those with Southern family members. Her stories are highly entertaining and worded just like the traditional Southern Lady Code; if she doesn't have something nice to say, she finds a different way to say it.

Southern Lady Code is highly enjoyable and available April 16, 2019.

A hearty thanks to NetGalley and Doubleday for my e-ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I adored Helen Ellis' American Housewife and recommended it to a few people, so I had a fangirl moment when I saw that she was releasing a new work. I love her voice and Southern Lady Code did not disappoint. Right away I thought Making a Marriage Magically Tidy reminded me of Life Among the Savages, which is a high compliment.

However, as I read deeper into the essays, I concluded that Southern Lady Code was more charming and less acerbic and hilarious than American Housewife. There were some stories where I chuckled a lot - An Emily Post for the Apocalypse, Seven Things I'm Doing Instead of a Neck Lift - but others had a strange aloof tone - Today Was a Good Day, Serious Women.

I thought the theme of "Southern Lady Code" was well-woven throughout, and it was overall a pleasantly humorous read, but I was a little let down after how much I loved American Housewife.

#SouthernLadyCode #NetGalley

I've read quite a few collections of "Southern lady humor" and I have to say I would not recommend this one. The gender politics, while on the surface progressive, remain deeply antiquated under further study. The essays ramble a bit, and while I realize humor is necessarily subjective none of them made me laugh. I can't recommend a humor book that I simply did not find to be funny.

I enjoyed her earlier short stories, American Housewives. This was a delightful follow-up that had me giggling in public. Highlights include, The Topeka Three-Way, Peggy Sue Got Marijuana, and How to Be the Best Guest. I don't want to give anything away. You'll get the most out of these essays if you go in blindly. Enjoy!

Oh my goodness. First, thank you to Doubleday Books and NetGalley for an e-ARC of Southern Lady Code. I started this book in the late evening, in bed, and that might've been a mistake. I was laughing out loud just as my husband was drifting off to sleep. The big surprises 1. I'd never read Helen Ellis' books prior to this; 2. there is also heart and poignancy in her writing mixed in with the humor. It's genuine, a fun read and a little laughter is something we can all use. Best of all: I use more southern phrases than is probably wise, and I've added a few to my mix. LOVE this book.