Wednesday, January 17, 2007

Tiara Club by Beverly Brandt

The Tiara Club is about of group of Southern women who have spent their lives being pinched, taped and paraded through beauty pagents. These women have decided to form a support group to share experiences and to compete--willingly or reluctantly--each year in the Ocean Sands Shrimp Queen Festival. Two weeks before Georgia's ex-husband is going to marry her bestfriend, a cooking show descends on the town and the show's host sets about finding out the secrets so many of the people in Ocean Sands are hiding. Why won't Georgia tell anyone that she is the inventor of the fabulous Miracle Chef? And why does she want it to fail in the competition against the professional chef? How does she really feel about her bestfriend's upcoming wedding and why does she drop everything to be at her mother's side whenever she calls saying she's lonely? And why does Georgia's mother hate her sister so much?

All this and more lies hidden behind the sleepy facade of Ocean Sands.