| Keep Your Mouth Shut and Wear Beige | 
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Avg. Customer Rating:   (based on 5 reviews)
Sales Rank: 148801
Category: Book
Author: Kathleen Gilles Seidel
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Studio: St. Martin's Press
Manufacturer: St. Martin's Press
Label: St. Martin's Press
Languages: English (Original Language), English (Unknown), English (Published)
Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 288
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.9
Dimensions (in): 8.4 x 5.5 x 1.2
ISBN: 0312367740
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.54
EAN: 9780312367749
ASIN: 0312367740
Publication Date: May 13, 2008
Release Date: May 13, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
The best advice for the mother of the groom? Keep your mouth shut and wear beige! ?It?s bad enough when two mothers plan an event as fraught as a wedding, but what happens when the ex-husband?s new girlfriend elbows her way in? Keep Your Mouth Shut and Wear Beige adds the mother of the groom to literature?s rich collection of long-suffering women. When Seidel?s heroine refuses to suffer in silence, the results are both poignant and hilarious.? ---Debra Galant, author of Rattled and Fear and Yoga in New Jersey Darcy Van Aiken is doing just fine, thank you. She?s an ICU nurse with an ?amicable? divorce from her ex-husband, Mike, two great kids, and a prescription for Ritalin. Then her older son, Jeremy, gets engaged to Cami Zander-Brown---daughter of a wealthy New York family---and her world gets turned upside down. The source of her trouble, much to Darcy?s surprise, is not in the form of Rose Zander-Brown, Cami?s elegant and accomplished mother. Nor is it in the form of Guy Zander-Brown, Cami?s charismatic and wildly successful literary agent father. Instead, lurking in the shadows of Mike?s new life is the beautifully dressed Claudia, a self-described ?managed perfectionist.? The Zander-Browns have money. Lots of money. The plans for their daughter?s dream wedding grow more fabulous by the day, and loving every minute is Claudia. With her perfect taste, Claudia can?t help thinking she would make a much better mother of the groom than Darcy. This wedding is her chance to entrench herself in Mike?s life---and take credit for the two sons Darcy has worked so hard to raise right. It?s a battle of will and wits. What Darcy learns about herself---and about family and friendship---makes for a delicious, hilarious, touching read.
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| Customer Reviews:
 Witty insight hits the marks July 21, 2008
The story builds gradually, with lots of intricate layers. Just when you think you've got a character figured out, there's a small (or large) surprise. Some things you see coming, but others... well, it took a great deal of effort to put the book down sometimes. I just HAD to know what was coming!
The author nails her characters and is scrupulous in the details, making them very believable. Can't wait for her next one!
 Realistic characters in real-life situations June 28, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
Although this book started off slowly, and seemed to sit on my nightstand forever before I picked it up, once I did, I couldn't put it down. The characters are vivid and real, and the modern-day dilemmas and situtations are astonishingly real.
Betsey Shpiro, Author "Queen's Hostess"
 Bit too beige for me... June 3, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I've loved KGS for a long time and have read every book she's written. She used to write category romances, moved on to longer more complex romances and her past 2 books haven't had any romance per se in them at all. I miss the romance. I love the characters she creates, who feel so real, like friends next door. I like her dramas and dilemmas are all real world and pertinent. But I miss the romance.
So I bought this hard cover and it has a few shining moments, but I would have liked a bit more passion in it.
A terrifically smart and funny read May 28, 2008
4 out of 4 found this review helpful
WONDERFUL book! I'm tempted to reread it immediately because I like Seidel's voice so much. The narrator, Darcy, is an ICU nurse with two sons and a fairly recent, fairly amiable divorce. Then her older son, who is graduating from college and going on to med school and his similarly directed girlfriend decide to get married--and life changes.
The future daughter-in-law, Cami Zander-Brown, is really nice even though her parents have this 12 bedroom beach house in the Hamptons and tons of money. But the Zander-Browns are good people, and the family includes a medically fragile youngest child and some complicated relationships.
Darcy, as mother of the groom, finds that her ex's new girlfriend, a Martha Stewartish blogging queen, wants to take over the wedding and edit out anything that isn't in Perfect Taste, and that includes Darcy.
But that's just the basic set-up. Seidel is an absolute master of insightful relationships, and all the many characters are beautifully delineated. This is women's fiction at its best--as entertaining as it is thoughtful. Highly recommended.
deep look at the dynamics of relationships May 17, 2008
6 out of 20 found this review helpful
In Virginia ICU nurse Darcy Van Aiken and her ex spouse Mike get along reasonably well just as they did in their two decades of marriage and not just for the sake of their three kids; especially since two have left the nest. However the family dynamics are changing as their oldest son Jeremy is getting married soon to clothing designer Claudia Postlewaite.
Darcy was a bit apprehensive in meeting her future in-laws as they are wealthy and she and Mike are middle class, but she and Claudia's mom seem to get on quite well. However, Darcy is upset that her future daughter-in-law sees her nuptials as advertising to further her professional reputation and to insure she stays amongst the social upper crust. Darcy wants what is best for Jeremy, but resents paying an exorbitant emotional price.
Amusing with a light tone yet populated with fully developed characters, KEEP YOUR MOUTH SHUT AND WEAR BEIGE is actually a very deep look at the dynamics of relationships when external forces changes the internal energies. Darcy and Claudia are adversaries with Mike caught in the middle; the rest of the cast are pulled in one direction or another by the battling amazons. Kathleen Gilles Seidel uses hyperbole and humor to tell a poignant tale of how the adult child inadvertently nukes the expectations of the parent.
Harriet Klausner
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