Claire Cook

Life's a bit of a beach these days for Ginger Walsh, who's single at forty-one and living back home in the family FROG (finished room over garage). Geri, her BlackBerry-obsessed sister, is also nearly off the deep end about her pending fiftieth birthday (and might just drag Ginger with her). Toss in a dumpster-picking father, a Kama Sutra T-shirt –wearing mother, a movie crew come to town with a very cute gaffer, an on-again, off-again glassblower...

Bella Shaughnessy is addicted to lipstick with names like My Chihuahua Bites and Kiss My Lips-an occupational hazard, since she works at Salon de Paolo, her family-run beauty salon, 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. After Bella's own marriage flames out spectacularly when her half-sister...

When Noreen takes a buyout and gets dumped by a boyfriend in one fell swoop, she finds herself with nothing but time to notice everything that's missing in her life. Tess is the teacher next door who thought she'd be spending the summer with her college-bound daughter, but now that daughter isn't speaking to her. The Wildwater Walking Club is complete when they meet Rosie, the dutiful daughter who moved her family onto her parent's farm after her...

Sarah Nolan is divorced, demoralized and dateless - until her sister posts her profile on perfectmatch.com. Now she has a lot of dates, mainly with weirdos, weepers, lechers and jocks. Then she meets Jake, a soulful boat builder whose idea of true love comes straight from the movies. Jake is attractive, smart and maybe a bit too intense for Sarah, so she passes him by. But in passing him up, she may be passing up a real chance for love.

The story of a woman who emerges from the shadow of her overbearing family and finds herself voted on as a last-minute replacement on "Dancing with the Stars."