How have I missed Claire Cook for so long? She spoke on a panel at my library's Bookmania! event in January this year. I wanted to attend the panel presentation because Elaine Viets, author of the Dead End Job series set in Fort Lauderdale, was also on it, and I've enjoyed her .
I found The Wildwater Walking Club by Claire Cook on the library shelf a couple of weeks before the Bookmania! event and decided to read it in preparation for hearing her speak. Well, by the time I finished reading the book, I felt Claire Cook was channeling me. Heroine cheated out of her job by a slick corporate operator? Check - I'd been fired by phone long distance in the middle of writing a report. By the time the brief phone call explaining the company had been bought out and my services were no longer required, I'd lost my VPN access to the internal company network. A period of anger and self pity? Check. Had those in spades. Deciding to walk as a means to get moving again? Check! I didn't go for the 10,000 steps a day, but walking every day introduced me to a lot of new people (and dogs!) in the neighborhood. The only thing I didn't need was a new relationship - I already had a solid one. When I started talking about The Wildwater Walking Club to one of my friends, she told me that she had read it and loved it, but that she felt at the time that it was perhaps a little to close to what I was going through to recommend it to me, so I knew it wasn't just me that felt the connection to what Claire Cook was writing about.
On the panel, Claire talked about Must Love Dogs (#12) and the stroke of luck that led to it being made into a movie. She also did say that even though she consulted on it, that the movie and the book actually have little in common except for the title, but that was fine with her. It's taken me some time to actually get my hands on Must Love Dogs because it always seems to be checked out. (And what does that tell you?) The book follows a fortyish divorcee whose large family are trying to push to get out there and meet some men. Her sister finally writes and places a personal ad in the newspaper for Sarah to light a fire under her. Her family is so much like the ones I grew up with that the book seems real to me, but more amusing than my own life would have been in the same situation. This book didn't end the way I expected either, so that's a plus!
I think what appeals to me and her legion of fans so strongly is the warmth in her books. They aren't jaded or cynical, and there's always hope. Some may want to brush Claire Cook's books aside as "chick lit", but they have something that rings so true that they deserve a closer look and appreciation for the skill it takes to pull that off.
I signed up for Claire Cook's newsletter so I can keep track of what's coming out, plus she has great contests on line for her fans. I am counting myself as one, and if you'd like to be, too, check out her website: http://clairecook.com./
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