The Tiara Club

by Beverly Brandt

Book Overview

Grab your sparkliest tiara, blend your favorite fruity drink, and get ready to laugh and cry with the women of the Tiara Club. Georgia Elliott grew up in a small Gulf town full of Southern charm---and... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0312341229
• ISBN13: 9780312341220
• Release Date: July 2005
• Publisher: St. Martins Press-3PL
• Length: 368 Pages
• Weight: 0.65 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 5.7" x 8.3"

Customer Reviews

4.5 stars

This one's All About Secrets. Heroine Georgia is an ex-beauty queen and secret inventor. She and her friends call each other the Tiara Club, as they're all veterans of the beauty contest circuit--all except one. On the day everything changes, Daniel, the host of a TV cooking show reads a letter from Georgia's friend Callie praising the Miracle Chef and he announces a cook-off to test it. The problem is, Georgia invented the Miracle Chef and the reason why nobody can find another is that Georgia only had two made--one for herself and one for Callie. When Daniel shows up on her doorstep wanting to speak to the inventor, the fabric of all their lives starts unraveling. It's funny and poignant, examining family and friendships, and asking the question whether secrets keep people apart or allow them to remain friends. Oh, and there's a nice, steamy romance, too. My only complaint is that I had a hard time swallowing the mother's rationalization.

Fabulous, in every way

I couldn't put this book down after getting through the first two chapters. I laughed out loud, cried and being a true southern belle myself could really relate to Georgia, the main character. Where can I sign up for my own Tiara club?

Wonderful Southern Belle Book

Georgia Elliot has lived in her beloved small southern hometown, Ocean Sands, Mississippi all her life, as her momma and family before her. Though it's a bit like living in a fish tank, everybody knows each other's "people" and life's history, Georgia feels safe. Vivian, her mother, lives just across the street from her in the house where Georgia grew up. Georgia has tried hard to live up to being the epitome of Southern genteel womanhood: she is a former beauty pageant winner, works in a fine gift shop and had a short marriage (well divorce is the norm nowadays) to the man who is now the mayor of Ocean Sands and who is going to marry Georgia's closest friend Callie. But Georgia has a deep dark secret - she's not just a beauty, she's an intelligent woman who has invented a cooking gadget that can save time and effort for harried mothers and housewife's the world over. It's called the Miracle Chef. But as her mother taught her, it's not proper for a woman to be too brainy to have done something so crass as to be an inventor, so in order to keep her mama happy, Georgia needs to keep her invention a secret. But that becomes a big problem when a popular TV kitchen show receives a letter touting the Miracle Chef and sends its famous and fabulously good-looking host, Daniel Rogers, son of Hollywood legendary stars, to find out more about the product. Sparks fly when Daniel meets Georgia. Afraid that her secret will be outed, breaking her momma's heart and will to live (though no one is certain why Vivian has such deeply ingrained feelings) Georgia cooks up a plan to keep Daniel out of her kitchen, by entertaining him in the bedroom. Georgia and her circle of close friends all belong to the Tiara Club, a group made up of former Southern beauty pageant queens, and one Yankee woman who's new to town and in dire need of friends. At the same time, Georgia's oblivious to the fact there are others in town who also have secrets hidden from everyone - or so they think. In turns wacky and slapstick, or sometimes poignant and heartfelt, and at moments heated with simmering passion, The Tiara club is the Southern literary equivalent to TV's Desperate Housewives! Though the theme of the story is all about secrets not so well or necessarily kept, the heart of this book is the loving relationships between these ladies and their lifelong respect and affection for their town, their way of life and their families. The Tiara Club lets the outside world in to the southern belle's club, permitting the rest of us to get some understanding of the mindset of the women who would never dream of walking outside without their nails done properly, their bags matching their outfits and their inner lives very much secreted inside their always politely smiling faces.