Author: Claire Cook
Version: ebook
ISBN: 978145167787Voice: First Person
Published: June 5th, 2012
Publisher: Touchstone
Number of ebook pages: 272
Genre: Contemporary Fiction
SYNOPSIS: Meet Deirdre Griffin a middle aged woman who has what seems the perfect life. She has a world wide following, so many followers on Twitter and Facebook she can hardly count them and a loving supportive family. Only problem? It's not her life, the followers aren't hers and her family has a hard time remembering who she is. All the glory belongs to her guru brother Tag. Tag is the wonder boy, voice of hope and a brighter future for the masses. Deirdre manages Tag's Twitter account, Facebook page, ticket booking, hotel reservations, and anything else that he needs. Basically she is his personal slave on call 24/7.
When Deirdre meets Steve Morretti in Austin she is in a rather compromising position, standing in old underwear in a hotel room. So naturally she gets annoyed and angry to cover her embarrassment. When it turns out that Steve is an old friend of Tag's, Deirdre is forced to spend more time with him and things take a turn for the interesting. One thing leads to another and Steve and Deirdre find themselves alone and kissing. When Tag catches them he goes a little crazy and starts going off on Steve for trying to get closer to him through Deirdre. Losing it Deirdre quits Tag for good and runs away, runs all the way back home to her little sheep shed. She crawls into bed and proceeds to get very, very drunk. In her inebriated state Deirdre uses her brother's influence to get voted in as a last minute replacement on "Dancing With the Stars."
Waking up to a relentless pounding Deirdre finds out just how powerful Tag really is because she finds out that all of his followers have indeed voted her on. Her sister Joanie comes waltzing in explaining to her what happened and promising that when she decides to take the challenge on Joanie will be able to step in and help Tag. Even though Deirdre is frightened and offended that Joanie is only encouraging her to get her job Deirdre says "what the hell? I'm gonna grab adventure and go for it." And so her life finally begins in a dance studio in LA where she begins to take her very first step-step-stepstepsteps all on her own.
REVIEW: I hate to admit this but I had never heard of Claire Cook until we found each other on Twitter. She asked me to like her Facebook page and when I saw she was an author I of course went in search of her books. I had seen "Must Love Dogs" the movie but I never realized it was based on a book, already knowing I liked the story I figured I would try that first. But for some reason that is one of the most difficult books to find so I went in search of her other titles. Wallflower in Bloom wasn't due out for awhile yet so I tried Best Staged Plans. I thought it was good but wasn't all that excited by it but I wanted to try again. When Wallflower in Bloom finally came out I went into it slightly nervously. I wasn't sure what to expect, whether or not her writing would speak to a younger generation or not. Well I ended up really liking it!
It was a smart, fun, truly feel good story that I really got into. Deirdre is a character that you as a reader can really get behind. I found myself rooting for her again and again. The rest of the characters are great as well, they each have these little totally human qualities that make them jump off the page. Tag is the perfect amount of needy and annoying, her parents are perfectly clueless and her sister Joanie is everything an annoying little sister should be. I found myself getting a kick out of all of them.
Claire Cook may not have started writing until later in life but I think she found her calling. The writing was free and funny, witty and very modern. She didn't try too hard or become lazy with any of it, it all seemed as if everything just flowed naturally. I recently read a book where the use of the Facebook name was forced and awkward but Claire Cook's usage of both Facebook and Twitter seemed easy and perfectly in sync with the story. All in all this was very well written.
My one little complaint was that no one ever stood up for Deirdre. No one ever seemed to be on her side which I didn't like, I wanted someone to refuse to laugh at the jokes Tag made or to tell him off for making a jab at her. I did like that the DWTS team seemed to really like her and made her feel good about herself. I felt that she should have been more secure in her decision to be a contestant, that things should have started getting better once she got to LA. But those are small little personal things that I had complaints about. The book was really good and it is something I definitely recommend. If you are looking for a feel good story about a regular woman finding happiness on a ballroom floor this is a book to go in search of. It's a fun, sweet, funny, quick read that is sure to put a smile or two on your face.
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