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Susan McBride
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The Cougar Club: A Novel Kindle Edition

by Susan McBride (Author) Format: Kindle Edition
4.3 4.3 out of 5 stars 67 ratings
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Cougars are in! The older woman/younger man match up is no longer taboo—look at Demi and Ashton, or Courteney Cox in Cougar Town. Now Susan McBride, acclaimed author of the Debutant Drop-Out mystery series, shows us that life and romance emphatically do not end at forty in The Cougar Club. The funny and touching story of three childhood pals who discover that you’re never too old to follow your heart, The Cougar Club is an unadulterated delight which Agatha, Anthony, and Macavity Award-winning author Harley Jane Kozak calls, “can’t put it down storytelling…[that] will charm you and surprise you, right up to the last page.”

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  1. Print length
    333 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Sticky notes
    On Kindle Scribe
  4. Publisher
    William Morrow Paperbacks
  5. Publication date
    January 8, 2010
  6. File size
    440 KB
  7. Page Flip
    Enabled
  8. Word Wise
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  9. Enhanced typesetting
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Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

They are middle-aged, hear them roar. And so they do, this trio of 40-something careerists and lifelong BFFs—Kat, an out-of-work and out-of-love New York advertising exec; Carla, a St. Louis anchorwoman who's protecting her turf from an invading bimbo; and Elise, a successful dermatologist wife and mom who's undone by her empty nest and empty sex life. Kat's abrupt job loss sends her running home to St. Louis, which triggers a reunion of the three friends and prompts their rediscovery of each other and the awakening of their inner cougars. In the process, the gals rifle through a slew of good-looking young hunks in the search for love and meaningful employment. The journey is full of curves and detours, even if the destination is a foregone conclusion. McBride, author of the YA series the Debs, explores new territory with these adult heroines and puts together a good-old-girls club with characters who are smart and insatiable, and who like their men young, athletic, and accommodating. It may not be likely, but it sure is a fun fantasy. (Feb.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

Three girlhood friends are reunited at age 45 when Kat Maguire is fired from her New York advertising job, dumps her younger but wealthier boyfriend, and returns to St. Louis. Her two best friends, Carla Moss, the number-one news anchor in St. Louis, and Elise Randolph, successful dermatologist and empty nester, are facing their own issues with aging. Carla’s ex-husband, who is also her boss, is trying to replace her with his latest perky young girlfriend despite Carla’s on-air popularity, and Elise’s plastic surgeon husband seems never to come home, claiming to be spending all his time with the partner in his practice. As the three talented, attractive, vibrant women reinvent themselves, they find a slew of younger men who find them enticing. Despite some romance and a traditional romantic conclusion for one of the protagonists, this is more chick-lit than romance with brand names, designer shoes, and the power of female friendship at the forefront. --Diana Tixier Herald

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B00338QF1Y
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ William Morrow Paperbacks; 1st edition (January 8, 2010)
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ January 8, 2010
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 440 KB
  • Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 333 pages
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.3 4.3 out of 5 stars 67 ratings

About the author

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Susan McBride

Susan McBride

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Susan McBride is the USA Today Bestselling author of Blue Blood and the Lefty Award-winning, Anthony Award-nominated Debutante Dropout Mysteries from HarperCollins/Avon, including The Good Girl's Guide to Murder, The Lone Star Lonely Hearts Club, Night Of The Living Deb, Too Pretty To Die, and Say Yes to the Death. Susan has a second bestselling series with HC/Avon that debuted in May 2014, the River Road Mysteries, that include To Helen Back, Mad as Helen, Not a Chance in Helen, and Come Helen High Water. Walk Into Silence, a darker mystery featuring Texas police detective Jo Larsen, was a November 2016 Kindle First pick that reached #1 in paid Kindle in both the US and UK, and it was #3 in Australia. Walk Into Silence was the seventh best-selling Kindle title overall in 2016. Walk A Crooked Line (Jo Larsen #2) will be out from Thomas & Mercer on July 10, 2018.

Susan's young adult thriller, Very Bad Things, came out in 2014 from Delacorte Press. Publishers Weekly raved: "McBride's fast-paced plot is fueled by jumps between multiple characters' perspectives, and her rendering of the venerable yet sinister school...is as absorbing as the tightly wound mystery." She has authored several YA non-mystery novels for Delacorte about debutantes in Houston: The Debs (2008) and Love, Lies, And Texas Dips (2009). Gloves Off, the third book, will be released in 2017.

Susan has also penned three women's fiction titles: The Truth About Love & Lightning, featured in Target's Emerging Authors program, a Midwest Connections Pick, and dubbed "a poignant page-turner" by Publishers Weekly; Little Black Dress, a book club favorite and Target Recommended Read that spent five weeks on the St. Louis bestsellers list; and The Cougar Club, a Target "Bookmarked Breakout Title" and a Midwest Connections Pick. Foreign editions of Susan's books have been published in France, Turkey, Croatia, Bulgaria, and Lithuania.

Susan has a short memoir available from HarperCollins: In the Pink: How I Met the Perfect (Younger) Man, Survived Breast Cancer, and Found True Happiness After 40, which tells her tale of becoming an "accidental Cougar" and marrying a younger man, her cancer diagnosis at age 42, and finding herself pregnant at 47. In 2012, Susan was named one of St. Louis's "Most Dynamic People of the Year" by the Ladue News and was given the "Survivor of the Year" Award by the St. Louis affiliate of Susan G. Komen for the Cure. As Susan likes to say, "Life is never boring."

Customer reviews

4.3 out of 5 stars
4.3 out of 5
67 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Maria E. Geraci
5.0 out of 5 stars Warm, fun women's fiction!
Reviewed in the United States on December 12, 2010
Verified Purchase
The Cougar Club centers around three life long friends- Kat, Carla and Elise. They've just turned 45 and each of them is facing changes in their lives. Kat gets canned from her ritzy Manhattan advertising firm and simultaneously dumps her going no where relationship with a younger man. She moves back to her home town of St. Louis where she reconnects with Elise, a dermatologist, and with Carla, a prominent local TV anchorwoman. Carla is in danger of losing her job to a younger woman and Elise's plastic surgeon husband might be having an affair. I really loved the friendship among the women and how they dealt with turning "older" in a youth obsessed society. I have to admit, Carla "Car" was my favorite. This was a fun, fast paced read with a happy ending that I didn't want to end!
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ITZME
4.0 out of 5 stars FUN BOOK
Reviewed in the United States on June 27, 2010
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This is a fun book involving three 45-year old women friends in crisis. Kat is an advertising exec in NYCity, Elise is a married St Louis MO mother of an 18 year old and she is also a dermatologist, and Carla is a STL newscaster. Their lives all take a turn for the worse. Good advice ito be gleaned from this book.
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Marilyn W.
5.0 out of 5 stars A Well-Written, Humorous Novel!
Reviewed in the United States on March 8, 2010
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McBride has done a wonderful job on this novel, crafting it with wit, sophistication and heart. The three heroines of the story (Kat, Elise and Carla) are very different from each other, but they're each struggling with their lives as forty-somethings and they're at a place where they need to reevaluate what's working and not in their relationships and careers.

I think any woman who's lived long enough to deal with aging beyond thirty and society's expectations and misperceptions of what our lives "should" look like, will greatly enjoy this humorously written novel and will appreciate the insights and character growth of these three friends.

A delightful and fun book!
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JerseyGirl
3.0 out of 5 stars Older women, younger men
Reviewed in the United States on April 10, 2012
This is about 3 women in their 40's who all have life changing events in their lives. One loses her job, another her marriage, and another is on the verge of losing her job as St. Louis Missouri's leading female anchor on the evening news. They also are involved with men who are in their twenties.

I sometimes felt as if the women were teenagers because they talked about younger men in such a giddy fashion. If you like to read about women of a certain age dating men in their twenties, then this book will suit. It is not exactly my taste and I found the story and the writing to be somewhat juvenile.

The story may be worth your while if you enjoy reading the older woman, younger man genre. This one just did not draw me in. Not bad but not much substance.
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Akincl
5.0 out of 5 stars good storyline and a fun, easy read
Reviewed in the United States on August 19, 2012
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The title was a little deceiving. This book was even better than I'd expected. It's a must-read for 40-something women. The characters are strong, modern women who are easy to relate to.
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Phyllis Huerta
4.0 out of 5 stars Four Stars
Reviewed in the United States on November 18, 2014
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Good story.
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Blue North
5.0 out of 5 stars A Sparkling, Bubbly Novel with the Bite and Roar of a Tiger
Reviewed in the United States on May 2, 2010
Susan McBride's "The Cougar Club" is humorous and at times, so serious you want to cry for Carla, Elise and Kat. These three women grew up in Missouri. Then, each one followed their particular destiny. Now, after hitting their forties, the women come back together in St. Louis to share where they've been, what they've been doing and most importantly what has been done to them by "men" and society. Each woman's emotional pain was so deep I could not choose one as the most victimized. I did wonder about how much control we allow or must allow men to have over our lives. I do believe it is easier for a man to turn forty and older than it is for a woman.

What I liked about the book is the reality of the situations.The Cougar Club is about a woman's fear of aging, the strain to prove ourselves as still and always necessary parts of society and always making time for women who are facing the same obstacles. Becoming "catty" is not the wise way to gather strength to your heart and soul. In "The Cougar Club" Susan Mcbride tells just what is needed to get through this narrow tunnel in our lives. These women needed one another, friendship. Honest friendship allows for tears, anger and plain out runaway, wanna-quit fatigue. Thomas Wolfe wrote a book titled "You Can't Go Home Again." How beautiful when just the opposite is true, and you can go home again.

I like a book when all of my emotions are rubbed raw. Susan Mcbride took me out of my home and put me in the homes of other women. I felt like a woman listening to some parts of my past all over again. Boy, I asked myself hard questions. I laughed about not knowing how to dance with the boy I most wanted to impress at the party. Still, I won the masquerade party prize for the best costume. My mother made that costume. It was lovely. So, I would like to thank Susan McBride for a bit of nostalgia. "The Cougar Club" also reminded me of Erma Bombeck's famous words or a book title. "If Life is a Bowl of Cherries-What Am I doing Down in the Pits?"

Is it possible Susan McBride can read minds or is she just so in tune with a woman's spirit? Because at the end of the book Susan writes "Susan's Five Fabulous Rules for Forty-Somethings." Since I'm well past forty, I tend to think her words of wisdom are useful to any woman at any time.

By the way, through the wonders of the virtual world, I had the chance to meet Susan. What a lady! Remember to cliche "he or she doesn't meet a stranger?" That is a good description of Susan McBride. She is not false. She is a woman made to befriend other women through her books or just sipping a glass of lemonade at a cafe and sharing a heavy conversation.
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Renee Haley
2.0 out of 5 stars Just couldn't finish it.
Reviewed in the United States on August 10, 2010
I can usually make it through a book, even if it's not that great. We get attached to the characters and need to see them through. I just couldn't finish this book. The dialogue is so predictable. The story is predictable. The author tries to hard to get the point across. No credit is given to the reader. Things are over-explained. This was a boring read with shallow characters. Well, at least half of the book is..... I don't know about the last half.
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