I don't know much about the South (I live in the middle of the U.S.), but one of the things I loved about this book and the first was the setting, plus the mood and the atmosphere. It gets your senses and imagination going!
Oh, I've lived in California for close to 20 years, so I wouldn't know anything about the South, but my mental image of it is so vivid...if that makes any sense. I think it's highly romanticized, but it's such a beautiful mental image, that I'll keep it in any case :)