It is a week past Spring Break and I still don't feel like I had a break! We drove down to Florida and stopped in Savannah for the night. We stayed at The Mansion on Forsythe Park - which is supposed to have several ghosts in residence. We did not see any as much as Steve tried to pretend he was one. Let's just say his ghost moans elicit chuckles, not shrieks of fear!!

Check out the pictures: http://www.expedia.com/pub/agent.dll?qscr=dspv&flag=l&itid=&itdx=&itty=&from=f&foop=0&hwrq=&htid=1160188&spsh=&spsi=&crti=4&nfla=1&mdpcid=21187-1.ExpediaHotelImagesUS+Hotel_Review+GTEST Anyway, we stopped at the gorgeous lounge in the Drayton restaurant adjoining the hotel and chatted with lovely Breigh - yes, sounds like the cheese. She suggested we eat at the Noble Fare http://www.noblefare.com/main.html - superb food! We didn't have reservations, had to sit outside in the beautiful evening air to wait to sit at the bar to dine, but it was worth the wait. The young couple who recently opened this restaurant clearly have a following already as there wasn't an empty table and they don't advertise in the tourist mags. Supposedly there's a ghost or two in this building too but we didn't see any. We stopped back at the lounge to thank Breigh and encountered one of the "ugly people". Too bad she was all too real instead of just a nasty ghost. We were dressed very casually and she let us know from the look on her face that she didn't think we belonged there as she sat texting on her phone. There were two open seats next to her but she made it quite clear one was for her husband and she was not about to move down one, which she certainly could have so we could sit together. We were both so offended by her rude behavior that we later said we should have sat on either side of her and leaned forward and talked across her. She personified Rich Bitch to the nth degree. I'd like to think she was just a nasty tourist in town and not a local as everyone else we have encountered in Savannah have been very friendly and helpful. But isn't is amazing how we remember the "snots" we meet more readily than the nice folks?



I'll write more about the vacation and my impression of Miami drivers, but that's for another time.



Some folks who read my blog may remember when I raved about Suzanne Crowley's The Very Ordered Existence of Merilee Marvelous http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Very-Ordered-Existence-of-Merilee-Marvelous/Suzanne-Crowley/e/9780061231971/?itm=1 Such a beautifully written book - you can read my review on her site: http://www.suzannecrowley.com/a_r.html



So when I received the ARC of Suzanne's new book The Stolen One http://search.barnesandnoble.com/The-Stolen-One/Suzanne-Carlisle-Crowley/e/9780061232015/?itm=2 I was surprised to see it is historical fiction, but even the most resistant reader of historical fiction will pick this book up because of the gorgeous cover. Kat Bab is arrestingly beautiful with her wild red hair - cover art is on Crowley's web site: http://www.suzannecrowley.com/stolenone.html Kat is a skilled seamstress, embroidering copies of her own detailed drawing of the flora and fauna around their rural cottage - very far away from the intrigue of Queen Elizabeth's court, where sixteen-year-old Kat will soon find herself as one of the Queen's "pets". Kat must choose between the luxuries of the court and the love of the young pear farmer she has left behind. Crowley has weaved a lush tale of love and intrigue as elaborate as the stitches on the dress, a personal gift for the Queen, that Kat is embellishing with creatures, both light and dark. The historical figures of Elizabethan England come to life on the pages of The Stolen One as real as the author-created characters - no history lesson here as often happens with an author less skilled - who come so vividly to life that the reader's mouth waters as Kat bites into a luscious pear from her beloved's orchard and noses wrinkle in disgust along with Kat's as she is bombarded by her first breath of the putrid air of London. This HarperCollins title will arrive in bookstores in early July - just in time to take on your summer vacation. Make sure you have a tall glass of iced tea next to you as you will lose track of time while wandering country lanes or castle hallways with Kat.



That's it for tonight.