Get Ready for a Trip with Your Girlfriends

I love to read. I read about a novel a week. I like ones with mature characters, some family drama, and a little bit of romance. I especially appreciate storylines where the main character is reinventing herself or is starting over—as I have had to do several times. If I really love the book, I’m always sad when it ends as I feel like I’ve lost a friend. Therefore, series are a personal favorite. I can read from one to the next. Usually, a series features a different character as the lead in each book—though this is not the case in The Wildwater Walking Club by Claire Cook. The author’s website states that she writes “Fun and inspiring books for 40-to-forever women.” She didn’t write her first book until she was 45. Now, she has 23 to her credit. Hopefully there are more to come.  

I recently finished this four-book series. As a walker myself, I have already recommended it to several of my friends. I liked it so much, I had to stop and write this review. I hope you will enjoy the books as much as I did.

The Wildwater Walking Club features three Massachusetts neighbors who, after the main character, Noreen, accepts a buyout from her stressful corporate job, become friends and start walking together. They are all at very different places in life and are facing individual challenges.

All four books are written from Noreen’s point of view. She was in brand management for an athletic shoe company. Think Nike. She’d had a romantic relationship with the guy who convinced her to take the buyout. Once she took it, he was off to the next conquest. This is where the series starts. She’s wounded and lonely. But she has some really great walking shoes.

Tess lives next door—though, due to Noreen’s all-consuming work schedule, they basically just waved at the mailbox. Tess is married and has two near-adult children (her daughter is a senior and her son is away in college). She is a third-grade teacher who is very engaged in environmental issues.

Both Noreen and Tess live in a new subdivision on Wildwater Way. The land their houses are on used to be part of a lavender farm that sits behind their homes. Rosie lives in the original farmhouse and is a landscape designer. With the intent of helping her father, Rosie moved her husband and two school age sons to the farm after her mother died.

The three women connect and begin walking together. As they walk, they talk. Thus, the storyline goes. Throughout the series, they have their own struggles and issues within the blossoming friendships. But they grow and they learn. They fall into step with each other.

Each book features a girlfriend trip—some more extravagant than others. But all will make you want to get together with your girlfriends and replicate the trip. You feel like you are taking the trip with them and, now, want to do it for real with your friends. For me, it was book four that made me reach out to the author through her Facebook page to see if she had a list of all the stops the girls made in Savannah. She told me: “All of the stops on the trips are actual places, not fictitious places, and the girlfriend trips are well-researched and accurate at the time of writing. I’ve followed the exact same itineraries myself, as have many of my readers. I’ve heard from so many readers who carry the paper book, or their Kindle, with them as they replicate the trips along with Noreen, Tess and Rosie—which I just love.” I look forward to being one of those readers.

In trying to figure out what her next step is, Noreen attends a career coaching class. There she meets a guy who plays a role, but is never the main storyline. Ultimately, in part, I believe, because of how much better she feels due to their walking, Noreen decides to become a health coach. She takes both in-person and online classes and becomes a certified health coach. It is interesting how her new-found knowledge is woven through the books. As she learns, and teaches her friends and clients, we, the readers, learn. One of my friends who is reading the books due to my suggestion said: “The tidbits are extra thoughts to ponder outside the book storyline…. And helpful.” I felt that it was like reading a self-help book hidden in a very engaging novel.

Not surprisingly, of the 23 books author Claire Cook has written, 3 are in the personal growth genre—which she calls the Shine On Series.

While being thought provoking for your own life, the Wildwater Walking Club books are an easy and entertaining read. I tend to read in bed, next to my husband—with my Kindle in dark mode. Many times, I had to stifle my chuckle to keep from waking him up. You will love the friendship and camaraderie between the women as well as their travels—you will feel like you are on the trip with them. The health coaching and life lessons are an added bonus. 

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Marita has spent the majority of her adult life working with women—helping them improve relationships, achieve their speaking and writing dreams, and being the best version of themselves they can possibly be. The author of 20 books, this Living Our Best Life Project is her newest effort—through which she hopes to challenge women to be fulfilled where they are.