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Review: "Life's a Beach" by Claire Cook


From Goodreads:  Cook returns with another sparkling romantic comedy that's reminiscent of Must Love Dogs in all the right ways, but very much its own animal—about a relationship-challenged single woman, her quirky-to-put-it-mildly extended family, and the summer the shark movie came to town.
Life's a bit of a beach these days for Ginger Walsh, who's single at forty-one and living back home in the family FROG (Finished Room Over Garage). She's hoping for a more fulfilling life as a sea glass artist, but instead is babysitting her sister's kids and sharing overnights with Noah, her sexy artist boyfriend with commitment issues and a dog Ginger's cat isn't too crazy about. Geri, her BlackBerry-obsessed sister, is also nearly over the deep end about her pending fiftieth birthday (and might just drag Ginger with her). Toss in a dumpster-picking father, a Kama Sutra T-shirt-wearing mother, a movie crew come to town with a very cute gaffer, an on-again-off-again glassblower boyfriend, plus a couple of Red Hat realtors, and hilarity ensues. The perfect summer read, Life's a Beach is a warm, witty, and wise look at what it takes to move forward at any stage in life.

My Thoughts:  I mainly picked this book up because it is by the author of Must Love Dogs.  Must Love Dogs is one of my all time favorite chick flicks so I figured I might like this book (also it was free nook download so that was added encouragement to read this book).  Unfortunately it kind of fell flat.  It follows a formula similar to Must Love Dogs:  a forties woman looking for love and direction.  I thought Ginger was super immature, needed to get over herself and was overly dramatic.  Her father and her nephew were the saving grace of the book.  I kept hoping that she would reach an 'aha' moment regarding her career but not a lot happens in that area.  The father character was ridiculously funny and scatterbrained and Riley, her nephew was adorable and precocious.  The book was short and super easy to read but if you are looking for something new and exciting, this isn't it.  3 stars.
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