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Best Staged Plans

Best Staged Plans, June 2011
by Claire Cook

Hyperion
256 pages
ISBN: 1401341179
EAN: 9781401341176
Hardcover
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"A fun, summer read perfect for the beach or pool"

Fresh Fiction Review

Best Staged Plans
Claire Cook

Reviewed by Jennifer Vido
Posted May 11, 2011

Women's Fiction Contemporary

Sandy Sullivan is on a mission. Tired of living in her 1890's Victorian home, she convinces her husband to put their house on the market in order to move on to their next season of life. With just a few minor cosmetic improvements, the house will be saleable and ready to go. If only it were that simple...

As a highly talented home stager living on the outskirts of Boston, Sandy has made a successful career out of sprucing up other people's homes in order to snag a premium price tag. Despite the tanked economy, Sandy uses her flair and finesse to bring out the best in even the dreariest of homes. From painting accent walls to accessorizing with bargain-hunted finds, Sandy stops at nothing to get the job done.

Yet when her lovable hubby Greg takes a snail's approach to making the change, Sandy gets fed up and accepts a three month staging job at a boutique hotel in Atlanta. As luck would have it, her newly married daughter and son-in-law happen to live in the area, making the design challenge a welcome reprieve. Fully anticipating recharging and then reloading, Sandy comes to learn that change is not as easy as she had initially envisioned.

BEST STAGED PLANS is the eighth novel by the bestselling author Claire Cook. As her readers have come to expect, she delivers a fun, summer read perfect for the beach or pool. What sets this novel apart from the others is her no- nonsense personal advice peppered throughout the storyline. From paint color recommendations to yummy menu ideas, it feels as if Cook has welcomed the reader right into her home.

Learn more about Best Staged Plans

SUMMARY

As a professional home stager, Sandy Sullivan is an expert at transforming cluttered rooms into attractive houses ready for sale. If only reinventing her life were as easy as choosing the perfect paint color. She's eager to put her family's suburban Boston home on the market, to downsize, and to simplify her own life. But she must first deal with her foot-dragging husband and her grown son, who has moved back home after college to inhabit the basement "bat cave."

After reading them the riot act, Sandy takes a job staging a boutique hotel in Atlanta recently acquired by her best friend's boyfriend. The good news is that she can spend time with her recently married daughter, Shannon, in Atlanta. The bad news is that Shannon finds herself heading to Boston for job training, leaving Sandy and her southern son-in-law, Chance, as reluctant roommates. If that's not complicated enough, Sandy begins to suspect that her best friend's boyfriend may be seeing another woman on the side.

Filled with characters who are fresh and original, yet recognizable enough to live in your neighborhood plus plenty of great tips and tricks for fixing up houses, and lives this is a wise and witty story of letting go and moving on.


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