Wildwater Walking Club, The (Hardcover)

by Claire Cook (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
The lives of a suddenly jobless corporate executive, a teacher navigating a difficult relationship with her daughter and a young lavender farmer intertwine in Cook's straightforward novel. When a generous compensation package gives Noreen "Nora" Kelly-whose career defined her identity-18 months salary to forge a new path, she realizes she has little in common with her former work companions and strikes up a friendship with next-door neighbor Tess Tabares, who's struggling to connect with her college-bound daughter. The women begin taking daily walks and soon Rosemary "Rosie" Stockton, who owns her family's lavender farm, joins in. Despite their very different-yet all very prickly-personalities, the three women soon form a tight bond. With her easygoing style, Cook (Must Love Dogs) engages readers, drawing them into the daily lives of these new friends. Geographical inconsistencies-the novel is set in Massachusetts but has a distinctive Southern flair-may bother some readers but most will be satisfied with this breezy beach read.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist
The rest of your life starts with one step. Noreen Kelly learns this the hard way when she takes a buyout offer at her small shoe company and wakes up the day after—jobless, dumped by her slick co-worker, and wondering who she is and what she wants. She becomes tentative friends with Tess and Rosie, and together the women form a walking club, each step bringing them closer together and closer to the life solutions they all seek. Cook creates likable female characters with realistic flaws. The plots are marked with Gilmore Girls–type dialogue and settings, utterly charming from beginning to end. There’s plenty of laughs, anger, sorrow, and rage to keep the story moving along at a breezy pace; and all the subplots involving the multigenerational characters and their kooky suburban antics are tied up nicely. There’s a little more edge here than in a typical “gentle” novel, but more softness than in an edgy “hen-lit” novel. Miss Julia would be proud to be friends with these women. --Stover Kaite Mediatore

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: Voice; 1 edition (May 5, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 140134089X
• ISBN-13: 978-1401340896
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.8 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #12,617 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Friendship, Laughter & Determination, May 19, 2009

By	Sharona Duran "florida yaya" (Naples Florida USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

How do you turn a golden handshake into a series of wonderful, touching and life altering adventures? Read "Wildwater Walking Club" for the answer. I loved, loved, loved this book. I have friends with the same friendship as Tess, Rosie and Noreen and I had to call them and share this book with them. I enjoyed it on so many levels. The way these three women started walking, set a goal of 10,000 miles per day and accomplished it was motivational. When one didn't feel like walking the other two pushed her out the door. They had a great support system among the three which was based on commitment to each other and their cause. I loved the character development in the three women, but also in teenaged Hannah, and the senior lovebirds. Also greatly enjoyed their activism and the comic method of their first protest. "Wildwater Walking Club" was pure fun from beginning to end.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Just put one foot in front of the other and walk, May 11, 2009

By	Peters365 (Hampton, VA) - See all my reviews

I enjoyed this book, funny and inciteful. The author was the typical workaholic, had not even been in backyard since she moved into her house. I was looking for something light, fast and motivational and this served me well. The author finds new friends, a new love, an earthy hobby and a new life when she is 'tricked' into taking a buyout from her longterm job. The thee women (Noreen, Tess, and Rosie) couldn't be more different, all with different issues that they resolve when they start walking together. Bonus--Romance still exists well into old age, you can still be a rebel and a housewife and (not so shockingly) animal print thongs come in many sizes and appeal to the mature set too. The author concludes you have to live your life in full--now. She is soooooo right!! It reminded me of my husband;s favorite saying... 'jobs are man-made, make the money, don't let the money make you'. Great summer reading. I ordered two of her previous novels as well, Multiple Choice and Ready to Fall.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars WILDWATER WILL WALK ITS WAY INTO YOUR HEART, May 5, 2009

By	Bingo-Karen Haney "Reader, Reviewer, and BOOK... (Florida) - See all my reviews

I am thrilled to be reviewing Claire Cook's newest book, THE WILDWATER WALKING CLUB just out on May 5. Watch out Ya-Ya Sisters, Wives' Clubbers, and Sweet Potato Queens because the WALKERS have arrived! Claire Cook's new book THE WILDWATER WALKING CLUB and the walkers are taking over!

In THE WILDWATER WALKING CLUB, Claire Cook gives us three wonderful women who are neighbors on Wildwater Way and at first don't even know each other. It all starts when Noreen Kelly's "boyfriend" convinces her to take a buyout from her corporate position in a shoe company, and she thinks she has made the best choice. However, she soon realizes that her love wasn't just working for the other company but was working her, and Noreen is dumped by the boyfriend and the company. In a fit of frustration and shock, she uses her actually void company ID and buys up every shoe in her size at the corporate shop for 50% off. With that, Noreen takes her shoes and heads home to Wildwater Way to try and figure out what is left of her life.

Sure that her life is over, Noreen sees nothing around her but what she is missing. Not until she makes friends with Tess, her next door neighbor, does Noreen start to realize that maybe her life isn't over after all. Tess, the school teacher who is off for the summer, dealing with a college-bound daughter who isn't speaking to her mom, and Noreen start walking together and they start to talk to each other about life. A third member living on Wildwater Way comes to the group as they meet Rosie. Rosie knows she was doing the right thing moving into her parents' home after her mom died, bringing her family with her, and taking over the lavender farm on her parents' property, but it isn't what she had hoped for. In her friendship with Noreen and Rosie, she literally is able to walk into a different life.

The three women begin to walk their way into a friendship that will turn out to be more than they ever expected. They walk and talk and even start to keep track of their steps using pedometers that Noreen also picked up at the "last shoe buy" she made. Sharing some of the shoes she bought with Tess and Rosie, is not the only thing that Noreen begins to share with these women. Their steps go from being more than just exercise as they take to new directions walking and in life. Noreen attends a career coaching group for unemployed people in her company and sees things through others eyes. She begins to build a better relationship with her own mother thanks to her friendship with Tess and watching Tess's relationship with her daughter. Hanging a clothesline becomes a political issue only found in real life in real writing like Claire Cook's. The walkers take a road trip to Seattle for a festival about lavender and along with all this there are the twists and turns, romances and families, characters and settings that make for a great read that only someone like Claire Cook can come up with. This might be called a `good beach read' but believe me, you will not want to be sitting in a chair after reading this!

The story is a fast and fun read, but also a learning experience. From this book have grown, and will continue to grow, groups of walkers who will see the value in what these women did and how it changed their lives. How Claire Cook could have known that this book would hit home with so many of us in these economically changing times is anyone's guess. I think that people who read this book will all take away something from it. For most it will definitely be a really good read but for others is will be even more. It may be another way of looking at our neighbors, or like me, it may be a realization that walking is more than just exercise. When everyone can get their hands on THE WILDWATER WALKING CLUB on May 5th, we may find our streets more crowded with walkers than ever before...at least there will be happier and more satisfied walkers, that's for sure! This is a book that celebrates friendship and teaches us what Claire Cook intended and that is if you are going to walk the walk, then go ahead and take that first step to talk the talk and make the changes in your life that you can and need to do. As it says on Claire's website "Just put one foot in front of the other"!
Submitted by Karen Haney, May, 2009