Summer Blowout (Hardcover)

by Claire Cook (Author) "LIPSTICK IS MY DRUG OF CHOICE..." (more)
Key Phrases: best little hairhouse, wild little kids, airbrush gun, Sean Ryan, Summer Blowout, Esther Williams (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
Cook updates the themes of love and disenchantment that drove Life's a Beach and Must Love Dogs in her latest beacher. Bella Shaughnessy, a makeup artist whose solace in times of hardship is finding just the right lipstick to match her mood, gets a divorce and quits men after discovering that her husband of 10 years has been seeing her younger half-sister, Sophia. During a wedding job, she gets stuck with dog-sitting Precious (who looked kind of like a flying squirrel) and quickly gets so attached that she takes drastic measures to keep the dog. Can other kinds of attachment be far behind, as cute and easygoing Sean Ryan enters the picture? Sufficient comedy and romance keep readers entertained until the last page. (June)
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From Booklist
Bella Shaughnessy and her large extended family, including ex-wives and half-siblings, all work in her father’s chain of Boston salons as hairdressers and makeup artists. While business is up, the same cannot be said for Bella, since her half-sister Sophia is now dating her ex-husband Craig. Sophia also gets all the good clients, prepping senators for TV while Bella is stuck with ungrateful brides who leave their dogs and wild kids with her to babysit. She meets an entrepreneur named Sean Ryan at a career fair who gets under her skin as he simultaneously gives her an idea for a business venture to separate her from her crowded family of stylists. Bella struggles to find her place within her family and ease herself into the idea of a new relationship while always finding the right shade of lipstick for her mood. A brisk story, Summer Blowout is primed, like Cook’s previous novel Must Love Dogs (2002), to become a big-screen romantic comedy. --Hilary Hatton

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: Voice (June 3, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1401322417
• ISBN-13: 978-1401322410
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.6 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars See all reviews (31 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #376,992 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Claire Cook Has Done It Again, June 5, 2008

By	Violet Quill (Waltham, MA United States) - See all my reviews

Claire Cook has done it again! It seems as though she's created her own genre: wonderful. moving, and breezy summer reads. How could anyone resist Bella Shaughnessy, the newly single entrepreneur who, after swearing off men, finds herself falling for one? I've always appreciated comfort food; what I didn't know until I read Claire Cook's novels is that there was such a thing as comfort reads. She's the sort of writer who hides her great talents behind her all-too-human characters, almost all of whom operate from a profound sense of goodwill and, despite their trials and tribulations, optimism. You can't finish this book without a smile on your face and a burning desire to read more Claire Cook novels.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Summer Blowout, June 3, 2008

By	A. Foglia - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

"Summer Blowout" is about Bella, a hairdresser, in an Irish (spelled I-t-a-l-i-a-n) family of hairdressers. The story is similar to a perfectly seasoned marinara sauce; with a pinch of hope, heartache, determination, wit and love -- with an extra pinch of humor (to "boot"). For dessert there is the little dog named, Cannoli, that Bella adopts--sort of. It's a great read and even has some cosmetic tips I found useful. I really enjoyed it!!

--A Foglia

SUMMER BLOWOUT

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars From S. Krishna's Books, September 7, 2008

By	skrishna (http://www.skrishnasbooks.com) - See all my reviews

While I found Summer Blowout funny and quirky, I didn't love it like I expected to. I'm not entirely certain what it was that turned me off.

Let's start with the good things. The book is funny, there's no doubt about that. Bella finds herself in hilarious situations, and the supporting cast is equally as amusing. In particular, her father had me laughing out loud multiple times throughout the book - in my opinion, he's the best character. From his insistence on pretending he's Italian to his political incorrectness regarding his gay son ("I even have a gay of my own. Two if you count the husband!"), he is a very funny character.

Like I said before, I'm not entirely certain about what I didn't like about the book. Something just felt off. The product placement got to me a bit. I understand that Bella was a makeup artist and was just that obsessed with lipstick, but it seemed like there was a brand mention twice per page. I also thought the way that Sean changed his mind at the end after sticking to one line of thought for the entire book was a bit strange (unfortunately, I can't say anything more than that or I'll give it away!)

Overall, Summer Blowout is a fun and light beach read. It's perfect for a summer day, but if you're looking for a chick lit read with a little bit of heft, this probably isn't the book for you.