| 62 year old dance instructor Caroline McSwain is happily married to Tom, a public defender that she married at the tender age of twenty. Caroline lives in Raleigh, North Carolina, where she raised four children. One evening Caroline's daughter Kay calls her parents sobbing and distraught. Although Caroline initially thinks Kay has been dumped by her rich boyfriend, Trey Bennett, Kay informs her parents that Trey has proposed to her. Caroline and Tom are both shocked because neither of them knew how serious Kay was about Trey. Also, Caroline doesn't really have a good feeling about Trey. She thinks he's too polished, handsome, rich and WASPY. That same evening Caroline's younger sister Taff calls her from Atlanta with devastating news. Taffy's husband Neddy has dumped her for a woman younger than their daughter Holden. Although Caroline has never been close with her sister, she invites Taffy to drive down from Atlanta and spend some time with her family. When Taffy arrives in Raleigh she has brought along her dog, Stamp, a cute little dog who has a biting problem. Taffy is a beautiful, well groomed and stylish woman.
Taffy announces that she wants to take some classes at McSwans, Caroline's dance studio. Caroline is shocked because as children Taffy never showed an interest in dancing. It turns out that Taffy has been taking dance classes for the last ten years and she is pretty good. When Taffy sees Caroline's son George teaching classes at McSwans she tells Caroline that her son might be gay. Caroline and Taffy talk about the past and both women realize that they were competitors on every level rather than sisters. As Caroline and Taffy bond, chaos reigns in the family. Caroline discovers that Kay has been having an affair with Jack Carroll, a D.A. that she works with professionally. Kay is torn between honoring her commitment to Trey and running off with Jack. Caroline's youngest son, George, a law school student, has fallen head over heels for the Erica, an African American nurse who's father, Woodrow, is good friends with Caroline and Tom. Meanwhile, Kay is still forging ahead with her high society wedding and inviting half of Raleigh, much to Caroline and Tom's chagrin. Neither Tom nor Caroline have the heart to tell Kay that they're experiencing money problems due to home repair issues. As Caroline and Tom fantasize about Tom's impending retirement, the two realize that they have to lay to rest all of their family's problems so that they can enjoy their twilight years. | ||
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Plot & Themes Tone of book? - thoughtful Time/era of story - 2000+ (Present Day) Romance/Romance Problems Yes Kind of romance: Family, struggle with Yes Struggle with: - Sister Is this an adult or child's book? - Adult or Young Adult Book Main Character Gender - Female Age: - 60's-90's Ethnicity/Nationality Main Adversary Identity: - Female Age: - 60's-90's How sensitive is this character? Sense of humor - Cynical sense of humor Intelligence - Smarter than most other characters Setting How much descriptions of surroundings? - 5 () United States Yes The US: - Deep South Writing Style Sex in book? Yes What kind of sex: - vague references only Amount of dialog - roughly even amounts of descript and dialog |
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