Claire Cook Books In Order

Must Love Dogs

Claire Cook’s beguilingly original Ready to Fall struck a vibrant chord with its ‘perky take on midlife angst’ Publishers Weekly. In Must Love Dogs she gives us a contemporary Everywoman in a big rollicking south of Boston Irish family a zany novel with the flavor of Nora Ephron, Susan Isaacs, and Jeanne Ray’s Julie and Romeo. Forty year old Sarah Hurlihy, a divorced preschool teacher whose life is her classroom, is about to meet her first date in more than a decade. It was the ‘Loves Dogs’ that hooked her in the personal ad, and now she is scanning her neighborhood caf for the man with a yellow rose. And find him she does, but he’s the last person on earth she expects to find there…
In Must Love Dogs, hilarious missteps abound. Sarah’s widowed father, Billy Hurlihy, with six adult kids, is seeing at least two women. And he and Sarah aren’t the only Hurlihys with romantic challenges. Her brother Michael, for one, has a rocky marriage that Mother Teresa, his St. Bernard, just may put over the edge. With self deprecating humor and a laugh out loud view of the way we live now, including shar pei/Labrador crosses and a transgenerational body piercing experience, Must Love Dogs is a perfect beach read that melts the heartache of dating with warmth and humor.

The Wildwater Walking Club

‘The women of The Wildwater Walking Club are a delightful trio, full of heart and determination. As they literally put one foot in front of the other, the three new friends find unlikely paths that point them toward more fulfilling lives. Their journey left me genuinely inspired and with the curious urge to go out and buy a clothesline.’
Jean Reynolds Page, author of The Space Between Before and After

‘The Wildwater Walking Club reminds of us what’s important in life the joy of friendship, the power of a brisk walk, and of course the importance of a good book. This exhilarating novel made me want to call my friends and lace up my shoes. I couldn’t put it down.’
Anisha Lakhani, author of Schooled

Just put one foot in front of the other. Sounds simple, doesn’t it? But when Noreen Kelly takes a buyout from her job of eighteen years and gets dumped by her boyfriend in one fell swoop, she finds it hard to know what that next step is never mind take it. At first Noreen thinks maybe her redundancy package could be an opportunity, a chance to figure out what to do with the rest of her life while her company foots the bill. Sure, she may have gotten high to ‘Witchy Woman’ and grooved to ‘Sweet Baby James’ back when James Taylor had hair, but she isn’t ready for her AARP card. Not yet.

But it’s the first time in a great many years that Noreen has time to herself and she has no idea what to do with it. When she realizes that she’s mistaken her resume for her personality, Noreen knows that she has to get moving, so she puts on a new pair of sneakers and a seriously outdated pair of exercise pants, and walks. She doesn’t get very far at first just to the end of her street, Wildwater Way but she perseveres, and when she’s joined by her neighbors Tess and Rosie, Noreen realizes that walking is not an extreme sport. It can actually be fun.

As the Wildwater women walk and talk, and talk and walk, they tally their steps, share their secrets, and learn what women everywhere are finding out that time flies and getting fit is actually fun when you’re walking with friends. Throw in a road trip to Seattle for a lavender festival, a career coaching group that looks like a bad sequel to The Breakfast Club, a clothesline controversy that could only happen in the ‘burbs, plenty of romantic twists and turns, and a quirky multigenerational cast of supporting characters, and the result is an experience that’s heartfelt, exuberant, and above all, real.

Ready to Fall

Beth Riordan takes a zany romp with love through wry, revelatory e mails to Thomas, her handsome neighbor, a travel writer in the middle of a divorce.

Multiple Choice

March Monroe and her daughter Olivia are going to college. Not together at the same school, of course, just at the same time. March knows that Olivia is going, naturally, since she and her husband have just made their first exorbitant tuition payment. But Olivia doesn t exactly know the arrangement…
yet. It’s not as if March plans never to tell her; she just figures she ll wait a bit until they ve had a little time to miss each other. So imagine Olivia s surprise when one day she shows up for training at a local radio station and finds out that one of the other interns is…
her mother.

Sharing an internship with her royally ticked off daughter is not March s only new challenge. Among the multiple decisions on her mind are what to do about a slightly tired marriage, a fourteen year old son who probably won t be speaking to her for much longer, and a midlife crush, not to mention Quantum Physics and You the class that just might put her over the edge. Laugh out loud funny, Multiple Choice is an effervescent novel of family life that will strike a chord with women everywhere whether they have kids in college or are just now choosing their own majors. Required summer reading!

Life’s a Beach

By the bestselling author of Must Love Dogs, the story of two grown up sisters who fight like cats andd dogs but call each other at least twice a day When Must Love Dogs was published, the Chicago Tribune called it ‘pitch perfect’ and the Washington Post declared, ‘Readers will hope that Claire Cook will be telling breezy summer stories from the South Shore of Massachusetts for seasons to come.’ Luckily for her legions of fans, Cook returns with another sparkling romantic comedy that’s reminiscent of Must Love Dogs in all the right ways, but very much its own animal about a relationship challenged single woman, her quirky to put it mildly extended family, and the summer the shark movie came to town. Life’s a bit of a beach these days for Ginger Walsh, who’s single at forty one and living back home in the family FROG Finished Room Over Garage. She’s hoping for a more fulfilling life as a sea glass artist, but instead is babysitting her sister’s kids and sharing overnights with Noah, her sexy artist boyfriend with commitment issues and a dog Ginger’s cat isn’t too crazy about. Geri, her BlackBerry obsessed sister, is also nearly over the deep end about her pending fiftieth birthday and might just drag Ginger with her. Toss in a dumpster picking father, a Kama Sutra T shirt wearing mother, a movie crew come to town with a very cute gaffer, an on again off again glassblower boyfriend, plus a couple of Red Hat realtors, and hilarity ensues. The perfect summer read, Life’s a Beach is a warm, witty, and wise look at what it takes to move forward at any stage in life.

Summer Blowout

Bella Shaughnessy is addicted to lipstick with names like My Chihuahua Bites and Kiss My Lips, an occupational hazard, since she works as a stylist and makeup artist for her family’s small chain of beauty salons in Marshbury, Massachusetts, along with her four half brothers and sisters. The owner is her father, Lucky Shaughnessy, a gregarious, three times divorced charmer with Donald Trump hair, who is obsessed with all things Italian and still carries a torch for his first wife, Bella’s mother. After Bella’s own marriage flames out spectacularly when her half sister runs off with her husband, Bella decides she has seen enough of the damage love can do. She makes a vow: no more men. Then Bella meets a cute entrepreneur at a college fair, and despite their bickering, they can’t seem to stay away from each other. He also gives her a brilliant business idea, one that just might allow her to share her makeup expertise with the world. A small, well tressed dog finds her way into her life, and her heart, and she decides to chance that, too. When the whole clan heads to Atlanta for a big Southern wedding, sparks fly in a Summer Blowout no one will ever forget. This hilarious, rambunctious novel is pure Claire Cook: full of juicy conflict and unconditional love.

Seven Year Switch

A high spirited novel from the bestselling author of Must Love Dogs and Life’s a Beach that will have you planning a girlfriend getaway in no time! Just when Jill Murray s finally figured out how to manage on her own, her ex husband proves that he can t even run away reliably. After seven long years missing in action, he s back crashing into the man free existence Jill and her ten year old daughter have built so carefully. And what s a good mother to do To a child, even a deadbeat dad is better than no dad at all. Jill s life just hasn t turned out quite the way she planned. By now, she d hoped to be jetting around the world as a high end cultural coach. Instead, she s answering phones for a local travel agency and teaching cooking clas*ses at the community center. Enter free spirited entrepreneur Billy, who hires Jill as a consultant for an upcoming business trip. Is their relationship veering off in a new direction And what about her ex Jill couldn t possibly still have feelings for him…
could she Suddenly, her no boys allowed life is anything but. They say that every seven years you become a completely new person, but Jill isn t sure she s ready for the big change. It takes a Costa Rican getaway to help her make a choice not so much between the two men in her life, but between the woman she is and the one she wants to be. Praise for Seven Year Switch A perfect beach read. Claire Cook once again demonstrates that she s a master in creating funny, warm, relatable characters you root for from the very first page. Allison Winn Scotch, New York Times bestselling author of The One That I Want and Time of My Life With wit and tenderness, Claire Cook sweeps us into the life of Jill Murray, a feisty single mom trying to stitch together a future after being abandoned by her husband. This is a delightful story of love, loss, and the surprising events that healed her heart. I cheered for Jill the entire way. Beth Hoffman, author of Saving CeeCee Honeycutt Claire Cook s well traveled protagonist is smart, truly hilarious, and entirely sympathetic. Like a hot bubble bath or a holiday at the beach, you won’t want it to end. Cecily Von Ziegesar, New York Times bestselling author of Gossip Girl and Cum Laude