review: wallflower in bloom by claire cook

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As the middle child, Deirdre feels a little overlooked.  In her younger years, she frequently punished herself in an attempt to separate herself from her siblings.  For example, Deirdre loved her dance classes, but stopped when her younger sister enrolled in the same class.  Decades later Deirdre is still wrapped up in the family drama.  Her brother Tag has become a charismatic self-help guru who employs the entire family.  When Deirdre finally gets fed up with Tag for what she deems the last time, she uses her position as his public relations person to land a spot on Dancing with the Stars.

Wallflower in Bloom is hilarious and Deirdre was relatable on a few levels.  Although her age is never given, I frequently imagined Deirdre to be my age although she could’ve easily been a decade or so older.  Deirdre’s motivation to change was a bit weak, but it seemed likely the frustrations had been building and so it only took a small thing to cause her to explode.  One thing though:  Having studied chiasmus and other rhetorical devices during my undergrad years, I found the not-quite-chiasmus sayings that Deirdre claimed as chiasmus to be a bit distracting.

4/5

Review copy provided by the publisher, Touchstone.