The Tiara Club

July 18, 2005
Southern beauty queens and dark secrets rule Beverly Brandt's whimsical fifth novel. Georgia Elliot grew up in the small town of Ocean Sands, Mississippi, where everyone knows a little about everyone. A former beauty queen who runs a gift shop and has a secret life as an inventor, Georgia finds solace in the Tiara Club, a small group of recovering beauty queens. They help conceal her identity as inventor of the hottest new kitchen gadget, the Miracle Chef, from her controlling, appearances-are-everything mother when Daniel Rogers, a TV show host, comes to Ocean Sands to tape a segment about the Miracle Chef. Intrigued by Georgia, Daniel looks into her past and uncovers hints of everyone's darkest secrets. As the love grows deeper between Daniel and Georgia, she begins to make amends with her past, while the Tiara Club survives an explosive wedding and sees its only Yankee member win the Shrimp Queen Crown. Though it does little to break out of the genre's constraints, Brandt's novel is as breezy as they come and consistently entertaining.

July 11, 2005
Southern beauty queens and dark secrets rule Beverly Brandt's whimsical fifth novel. Georgia Elliot grew up in the small town of Ocean Sands, Mississippi, where everyone knows a little about everyone. A former beauty queen who runs a gift shop and has a secret life as an inventor, Georgia finds solace in the Tiara Club, a small group of recovering beauty queens. They help conceal her identity as inventor of the hottest new kitchen gadget, the Miracle Chef, from her controlling, appearances-are-everything mother when Daniel Rogers, a TV show host, comes to Ocean Sands to tape a segment about the Miracle Chef. Intrigued by Georgia, Daniel looks into her past and uncovers hints of everyone's darkest secrets. As the love grows deeper between Daniel and Georgia, she begins to make amends with her past, while the Tiara Club survives an explosive wedding and sees its only Yankee member win the Shrimp Queen Crown. Though it does little to break out of the genre's constraints, Brandt's novel is as breezy as they come and consistently entertaining.

Copyright 2005 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

May 15, 2005
Georgia Elliot belongs to the Tiara Club, so named because the members are former pageant winners. All live in the small southern town of Ocean Sands, Mississippi, where everyone not only knows everyone else but also their entire family histories back to the Civil War and beyond. Nothing is secret, except that in her hidden attic laboratory, Georgia is an inventor. Now her Miracle Chef, created for a Tiara Club member who has no time to cook, works so well that the host of a cooking show, Daniel Rogers, challenges the Miracle Chef to a cook-off. Then, when he shows up in Ocean Sands looking for the inventor, Georgia's world begins to spin off its axis. She has no intention of ever revealing she's an inventor, but even as she tries to sabotage the cook-off, the attraction between her and Daniel can't be denied, and eventually all kinds of secrets are exposed. Funny and touching and full of wonderful characters, Brandt's inventive romance is as irresistible as a mint julep.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2005, American Library Association.)