Tallulahland [Paperback]

Lynn Messina (Author)

Book Description

Series: Red Dress Ink Novels | Publication Date: January 1, 2004

Welcome to Tallulahland. Population: Growing.

Tallulah West thinks she's got everything figured out, from her interrupted career path to the men in her life. (Career path = anything to displease Dad. Nick = trusty best friend. Dad = see career path.) But when her world is turned upside down (again), not everyone acts accordingly and nothing goes as planned.

Once upon a time Tallulah was happy to follow in her father's footsteps. But then her mom died. Now she'd rather toil away for a hack designer than work on her own designs and lay claim to all that comes with being the only daughter of furniture-designing royalty. Which is a shame -- because Tallulah has so much talent.

Nick knows the truth -- that she's a little too good at making bad decisions -- and has no qualms about interfering in her life. But only after she finds the deed to a plot of land in North Carolina, an unexpected final gift from her mother, is she propelled into action. Accompanied by Nick and an excitement she hasn't felt in years, Tallulah heads south. She's following her mother's dream, but somewhere in the underbrush of an undeveloped plot of land, she finds her own.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Messina's debut, Fashionistas, offered readers a delightful romp through the world of fashion magazines, but her second novel, in which a self-defeating young industrial designer struggles to recover from the death of her mother and find happiness, is more like a shuffle. Tallulah, known as Lou, is the daughter of a famous designer ("every modern art museum in the world has something of his on display"), but rather than employ her own considerable talents at the family firm, she's an office drudge for a second-rate designer of trash cans. This, she reasons, will punish her father for falling in love with another woman so soon after her mother's death ("imagine: Joseph West's daughter working as a gofer for an obsolescence-monger"). When Lou gets fired, her spunky friend Hannah, who's crashing on her couch while plotting her way into a former classmate's movie, is there to cook delicious food and preach optimism and organization. During a cleaning sweep, Lou discovers that her mother has left her land in North Carolina. Now's her chance to make her dreams come true: she sells the land for a pile of money and uses the cash to start her own design business, Tallulahland. Meanwhile, Lou's slowly falling in love with her best friend, Nick, a web developer from a family of diplomats. "As a baby, he suckled on the milk of conciliation and was swaddled in tact," Lou thinks. Such self-consciously clever and distancing language-which Messina uses throughout-detracts from what might otherwise be a sweetly comic story of love and healing.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

Tallulah West, the loveable heroine of Messina's second novel, is in a rut. The daughter of famed designer Joseph West, she works for the unimaginative Marcos Medici. Her father offered her a job, but she can't bring herself to work for him, or to forgive him for moving on so quickly after her mother's death. Even with the encouragement of her friend, Nick, the sexy, sweet son of a diplomat, she can't bring herself to ask her father for a loan to start the design company she's always dreamed of. When Marcos unexpectedly fires her, Tallulah's friend, Hannah, a wanna-be actress, encourages her to organize her life. She does, and discovers a deed to property her mother owned in North Carolina. Excited by the prospect, she convinces Nick to go with her to see the property. There, Tallulah finds something she hasn't felt in a long time: hope. Readers should take a trip to Tallulahland; this funny, engaging novel is even better than Messina's first. Kristine Huntley
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 304 pages
• Publisher: Red Dress Ink (January 1, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0373250444
• ISBN-13: 978-0373250448
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 4.8 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,181,214 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Lynn Messina grew up on Long Island and studied English at Washington University in St. Louis. She has worked at The Museum of Television & Radio (now the Paley Center for Media), TV Guide, In Style, Rolling Stone, Fitness, Self and a host of wonderful magazines that have long since disappeared. She mourns the death of print journalism in New York City, where she lives with her husband and son. She is author of five novels, including the best-selling Fashionistas, which has been translated into 15 languages and is in development as a feature film.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars witty, wonderful follow-up to Fashionistas, January 8, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: Tallulahland (Paperback)

Lynn Messina need not worry about the sophomore slump. Her second novel, TALLULAHLAND is a superb novel -- it is witty and utterly engrossing. All of the characters are so true-to-life and engaging.

I've recommended TALLULAHLAND to all of my friends, and now I urge you, too, to get a copy. You won't be disappointed!

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Hang out..., January 7, 2004

By 

Shamontiel L. Vaughn "Message from Montie" (Chicago) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Tallulahland (Paperback)

I wonder if Lynn Messina is anyting like her characters, because if she is, she'd be one of the few females that I'd love to hang out with. Tallulah can't find her backbone but she's become best friends with her sarcasm, indecisiveness, and regard for friendship. Nick was the annoying know-it-all who sounded cute and made me want to read about him on every page because I enjoyed his presence. He WAS literally Tallulah's backbone and the camp scene was so fun, I wish I was back in my girl scouting days.
Hannah was Tallulah's extravagant, vindictive side and Tallulah's father, Lou, is her cool, even-tempered side. Altogether they make a very entertaining person. And apart? They frustrate me. Just like Fashionistas (her first book), I didn't want the book to end and would've thoroughly enjoyed the article on Marcos.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars It had potential, February 19, 2006

By 

Book Junkie (Bay Area) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Tallulahland (Paperback)

For the most part, the story was smartly written and renewed my faith in Red Dress Ink. My main gripe was that she tried too hard to be clever; it made me too conscious of the writing, which pulled me out of the story too many times. One of the cardinal rules of being a writer is that it shouldn't look like writing.