NEW RELEASE
Wallflower in Bloom - Claire Cook (2012)
Deirdre works as assistant to her new age guru brother, Tag, and lives on the family compound. One day, after her ex announces he's having a baby with his new partner, Deirdre gets so fed up with her brother that she quits and drowns all her sorrows in vodka. Using Tag's extensive online following, she gets herself voted in as a last-minute replacement on Dancing With the Stars. Partnered with professional dancer Ilya, Deirdre steps out of her brother's shadow and into the limelight. This is a heartwarming story and Deirdre is quite a sassy heroine despite her shrinking violet status. There is not much DWTS stuff though and at under 300 pages, the story ends on the night of the first performance.
Wallflower in Bloom, by Claire Cook, is about a woman who emerges from the shadow of her overbearing family to take a leap into the spotlight. The summary says: "Deirdre Griffin has a great life; it's just not her own. She's the round-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 Deirdre he never wanted. While drowning her sorrows with Tag's vodka, Deirdre comes up with an idea. She'll use his massive online following to get herself voted on as a last-minute replacement on Dancing with the Stars. It'll get her back in shape, mentally and physically. It might even get her a life of her own. Deirdre Griffin's fifteen minutes of fame has begun." Wallflower in Bloom is out in June. Check out the author's website for an extract.