Monday, August 20, 2012

WALLFLOWER IN BLOOM (CLAIRE COOK)



Story Description: 

Touchstone|June 5, 2012|Hardcover|ISBN: 978-1-4516-7276-3 

From the acclaimed bestselling author of Must Love Dogs comes a winning and witty new novel about a woman who emerges from the shadow of her overbearing family and finds herself “dancing with the stars.” 

Deirdre Griffin has a great life; it’s just not her own.  She’s the around-the-clock personal assistant to her charismatic, high-maintenance, New Age guru brother, Tag.  As the family wallflower, her only worth seems to be as gatekeeper to Tag at his New England seaside compound. 

Then Deirdre’s sometime boyfriend informs her that he is marrying another woman, who just happens to be having the baby he told Deidre he never wanted.  While drowning her sorrows in Tag’s expensive vodka, Deirdre decides to use his massive online following to get herself voted on as a last-minute Dancing With The Stars replacement.  It’ll get her back in shape, mentally and physically.  It might even get her a life of her own.  Deirdre’s fifteen minutes of fame have begun. 

Irresistible and offbeat, Wallflower in Bloom is an original and deeply satisfying story of having the courage to take a leap into the spotlight, not matter where you land. 

My Review: 

Chick-lit at its best! Claire Cook’s Wallflower in Bloom makes for an easy, fun, quick, beach or vacation read. 

This story is the best example of one I’ve read where a woman totally loses herself in the service of others, mainly her family.  How many of us women are guilty of this very thing?  Completely losing ourselves, putting our desires, needs, wants, and wishes aside for the sake of everyone else.  I myself am guilty of this obligatory commitment I feel to ensure everyone else is okay and has what they need at the risk of in the end being too worn out and tired to fight for myself because I feel I don’t deserve it.  My service is to others. 

In Wallflower in Bloom, Deirdre literally runs her famous, New Age Guru brother, Tag’s life.  She is on call twenty-four-hours-per-day.  She lives in a converted sheep shed on his large New England seaside compound. 

Deirdre one day decides she is sick and tired of living in Tag’s shadow, being his personal assistant and decides to change things by signing up for ‘Dancing with the Stars’!  She’s just had enough, and more than her fill of being his personal assistant, his social media guru, and managing both his personal and business lives. 

After a night of drinking very abnormal cocktails made with Tag’s very, very expensive liquor, she hops on his social media site and encourages Tag’s thousands of followers to vote for her as the wildcard replacement on ‘Dancing With the Stars’.

Soon Deirdre finds she’s really not cut-out to be a dancer, carries a bit too much weight but can’t stop indulging herself in some of her favourite fattening foods when she gets frustrated or put down by Tag.  However, Ilya is a marvelous, professional dancer who is able to help her learn.  He has the patience of a saint.  Deirdre realizes with five to six hours of practising the same dance steps over and over and over every single day that she must somehow forget the “wallflower” part of her personality and really “bloom!” or make a total laughing stock of herself. 

The term “chiasmus” is used a lot in the story and if you don’t know what it is now, you will completely understand it by the end of the novel. 

Claire Cook has always had a great sense of humour and it shines through bright and glittery in Wallflower in Bloom!  I can’t wait to share this one with my friends.




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