Book Reviews
A fun beach novel with moments of depth.... A delightful and surprisingly compelling page turner.
Boston Globe
As always, Cook's delightful way with dialogue and her deft demonstrations of how family members manage to support one another even while driving each other crazy, make reading this book a day at the beach.
Hartford Courant
Dive into this gleefully quirky coming-of-age story centered on.... a 41-year-old. With the help of her hippie parents, Boyfriend the cat, and a shark-crazy movie crew, Ginger Walsh is finally growing up—and there's no escaping a few growing pains.
Redbook
Midlife love, laughter, sibling rivalry and self-discovery.... Goes down as easy as it sounds.
People
Ginger Walsh, 41, has ditched her job in sales and moved above her parent's garage with a cat she calls Boyfriend—despite (or because of) her casual relationship with alluring glassblower Noah. As big sister Geri gets anxious about her impending 50th, their parents decide to sell the house, and Geri's second-grader Riley lands a small role in a horror movie being filmed in their quaint New England town. Ginger babysits Riley on the set and meets a gaffer who may be charming enough to make her forget all about Noah. Cook's wit and unflagging heart save this moderately paced beach read from its anticlimactic ending.
Publishers Weekly
In this lighthearted, breezy read, Cook displays a wry sense of humor and knows how to write realistic characters.
Library Journal
Flakey younger sis tries to shake her inability to commit. Ginger Walsh has always been envious of those possessing passion and conviction. Over the years she's blindly wandered from job to job and man to man. Now 41, Ginger is back in her hometown falling into a spinster-like existence. She freeloads off her parents and earns spare cash babysitting the kids of her annoyingly composed sister, Geri. Geri and Ginger have never gotten along, with Geri always taking the straight and narrow path and Ginger opting for the road less traveled. Now Geri's 50th birthday is looming, and she feels trapped by her roles of executive, wife and mother. As for Ginger, she wonders if her restless ways have kept her from experiencing the joys of family and a fulfilling career. When a movie crew lands in their small New England town, the sisters are given a chance to shake things up. Ginger takes Geri's kids to the movie's casting call, and though Ginger doesn't get discovered, one of Geri's kids is picked for a speaking part in the movie. Since Geri is obsessed with her career, she pawns the caretaker role off on Ginger. Ginger leaps at the chance to be a de facto stage mom. Accompanying her nephew on location will help her avoid analyzing her latest flagging romance and perhaps spark some creative energy. Soon the sisters will need each other to confront disappointment and heartbreak. While their rivalry provides a few giggles, the overall effect feels forced. Cook (Multiple Choice, 2004, etc.) ably catalogues the issues facing 40-something women, but the generic settings and tepid romances prevent this book from taking off.
Kirkus Reviews