Bella Shaughnessy is
addicted to lipstick with names like My Chihuahua Bites and
Kiss My
Lips, an occupational hazard, since she works as a stylist
and makeup
artist for her family's small chain of beauty salons in
Marshbury,
Massachusetts, along with her four half-brothers and
-sisters. The
owner is her father, Lucky Shaughnessy, a gregarious,
three-times-divorced charmer with Donald Trump hair, who is
obsessed
with all things Italian and still carries a torch for his
first wife,
Bella's mother. After Bella's own marriage flames out
spectacularly
when her half-sister runs off with her husband, Bella
decides she has
seen enough of the damage love can do. She makes a vow: no
more men.
Then
Bella meets a cute entrepreneur at a college fair, and
despite their
bickering, they can't seem to stay away from each other. He
also gives
her a brilliant business idea, one that just might allow her
to share
her makeup expertise with the world. A small, well-tressed
dog finds
her way into her life, and her heart, and she decides to
chance that,
too. When the whole clan heads to Atlanta for a big Southern
wedding,
sparks fly--in a summer blowout no one will ever forget.
This hilarious, rambunctious novel is pure Claire
Cook: full of juicy conflict and unconditional love.