Photo courtesy of Harper Collins The Cougar Club by Susan McBride was a hell of a fun ride for me last November when I read it. I enjoyed spending time with this book very much, not only because it sent me on a trip down memory lane (I dated a boy from Clayton, MO – a borough of St. [...]
Photo courtesy of Harper Collins
The Cougar Club by Susan McBride was a hell of a fun ride for me last November when I read it. I enjoyed spending time with this book very much, not only because it sent me on a trip down memory lane (I dated a boy from Clayton, MO – a borough of St. Louis, and where this book takes place.) but because it was funny and sassy and exactly what I needed in my life at the time. The Cougar Club is about three women and friends in crisis. The first character we meet is Kat Maguire, who loses her advertising job, then her boyfriend, as she caught him cheating on her. Kat flees New York City without even really thinking about it and shows up to her old bedroom at her parents house in St. Louis. She reconnects with old friends, Carla Moss and Elise Randolph, who both have their fair share of problems. Carla is the hottest news anchor in town, until the station hires a hotter (and younger) one; and Elise is a dermatologist, married to a doctor, who has no idea how troubled her marriage really is because she is so busy at work. Yes, these ladies do manage to have some enjoyable cougar moments, as they all end up in cougar situations throughout the book.
The Cougar Club is much more than just a fun cougar ride, or what some would call chick-lit; it deals with love, life and relationships while aging gracefully, as well as survival and the power of true friendships. Susan McBride (my new writer BFF, who I met thanks to goodreads.com, and who also was generous enough to send me a copy of this book) has managed to write a novel with real heart, telling a delightful and compelling story of three real-world characters who deal with tough issues and crisis in their lives that we can all relate to.
I love a book like this that can take you out of your own painful world and can make you laugh. It has dark moments as well, such as breast cancer, and touches on any subjects most women over 30 can relate to. I can definitely see this book being made into a movie. This is the first book I’ve read by Susan McBride and it won’t be the last.
Photo by Suzy Gorman
I had a chance to interview writer Susan McBride via email, and here are our Q & A’s:
1. How similar is The Cougar Club to your own life? Would you say that The Cougar Club is semi-autobiographical? I know you are a self-admitted cougar yourself, and that you live in St. Louis, but have you ever worked in advertising? Susan, may I mention that you are a breast cancer survivor, and would you like me to mention any charity work or have me link to any breast cancer websites?
I wish I could say The Cougar Club was based on my life, but it’s really not. I’m sure there are little pieces of myself in the book, which my family and friends will far more easily than I can! I haven’t had to live my life in the public eye the way that anchorwoman Carla Moss does, and I didn’t marry my high school sweetheart and have a son like Dr. Elise Randolph. Kat Maguire is a lot braver in her romantic life than I’ve ever been so she isn’t exactly me either. Then again, I do live in St. Louis and I married a St. Louis guy, so I finally got to write about the city that’s now my home. I also put plenty of hockey in The Cougar Club, because my husband’s a hockey player and fan so that’s become a big part of my life. The fun thing about writing a novel though is making stuff up. So I credit most of The Cougar Club to my overactive imagination! And, no, I was never employed in advertising like Kat in Cougar, but I did major in public relations and took marketing and advertising classes. I wanted Kat to have a creative job, but also one that’s very competitive. Advertising seemed a perfect fit!
As far as my Cougar prowess goes, I’m actually an accidental Cougar, having not really dated younger guys before I met my husband when I was a St. Louis Magazine “top single” in 2005. I went into the relationship just thinking, “Hey, he’s smart and really fun, so we’ll see what happens. Maybe we’ll just be great friends.” Only I knew I’d fallen for him about two or three months in. That’s when I started realizing what a double standard there is for women who are with younger dudes. My dad is six years older than my mom, and my brother’s about that much older than his wife. But no one cares about that. I’m 9 years older than Ed, and that’s a huge topic of conversation. I’ve talked to friends with younger husbands, and they’ve dealt with the same issue for years. It doesn’t seem fair, especially when there are so many women in their forties and fifties who take fabulous care of themselves. They look good, feel good, and have achieved a comfortable level of success. It felt cathartic writing about three contemporary women who realize that you’re never too old to find love, because it’s so very true.
I am a breast cancer survivor of three years, and it was a really hard thing to go through. I think I took my health for granted before, and I know I won’t ever do that again. I do try to get out there and speak to breast cancer survivors and their co-survivors whenever I can, as it’s such a widely shared experience (unfortunately). I feel like I’m part of this big Pink Army, and I always enjoy talking to other women and hearing their stories, too. They’re my heroes! I wanted to include a bit of this part in my life in The Cougar Club, so there is a scene when Carla speaks at a breast cancer survivors breakfast. My kick-off event for Cougar in St. Louis will be a fundraiser for our local Susan G. Komen affiliate, and I’m so excited to be working with them again!
2. Have you heard of The Cougar Sex Club? They have a website, www.cougarsexclub.com. Has anyone gotten your book mixed up as their manual yet? There are also so many cougar themed websites, www.gocourgar.com, www.dateacougar.com, etc. Any thoughts on these websites? Do you plan on starting your own Cougar Club like author Jill Conner Browe and her Sweet Potato Queens. Do you see a Million Cougar March in the streets of St. Louis someday?
Whoa! No, I didn’t realize there was a Cougar Sex Club, but I’m not surprised. So far, no one’s mixed up my novel with a sex manual (and I don’t think anyone will be confused after reading The Cougar Club!!!). I have seen some of the Cougar dating sites…and I have to say that pretty much ALL dating sites make me glad I’m married! I think it’s hard finding true love today, especially with the Internet making relationships more impersonal. Nope, I don’t plan on starting a Cougar Club in St. Louis, but if someone else decides to do it…hey, more power to ‘em!
3. I’m thinking this book is good enough to be made into a movie. Did you know that there was already a film titled The Cougar Club, and it was released in 2007?
Aw, thanks, Ghetto Girl! 
4. Have you seen Courtney Cox Arquette’s show Cougar Town? If so, do you like it, or have an opinion of it? I haven’t seen it, but my 15 year old step-daughter has and she loves it.
I’ve caught some of “Cougar Town” on a few occasions, and I thought it was really cute. I know my mom-in-law watched the first episode, which I didn’t see, and she emailed to say, “Yuck!” I think Courteney Cox is fabulous in whatever she does, and I’ve been keeping my fingers crossed for her series since it debuted. If “Cougar Town” had tanked, it probably wouldn’t have boded well for “The Cougar Club.” So I’m very happy the show’s a success.
5. Why, in your opinion, has the phenomenon of “The Cougar” become so popular and so appreciated? I can barely even remember the time before women of a certain age weren’t called cougars. The Urban Dictionary says this about Cougars – “An older woman who frequents clubs in order to score with a much younger man. The cougar can be anyone from an overly surgically altered wind tunnel victim, to an absolute sad and bloated old horn-meister, to a real hottie or milf. Cougars are gaining in popularity – particularly the true hotties – as young men find not only a sexual high, but many times a chick with her shit together.” On your own cougar adventures, did you see any or all of these types of women? Do you agree or disagree with this definition? If you had to define the word Cougar, how would you define it, what would you say?
I have to say that I didn’t really have many Cougar adventures. I sort of fell into it, although my older sister (who looks fabulous and can stay up WAY later than I can!) is a true Cougar and has the stories to prove it! I really hate stereotypes of any kind so I’m not very fond of some of these Cougar descriptions. I feel like they’re slamming women over forty in general. Plenty of women who end up with younger men aren’t Botoxed-to-death nymphomaniacs or pathetic wrinkled hags. The women I know who are over forty – and the women I write about in The Cougar Club – are so many things: confident, vulnerable, sexy, loving, wise, and wonderful. But that doesn’t make for a very cool media sound bite, does it? The idea of older women pursuing younger men is such a empowering fantasy – and we women haven’t gotten much of a chance for empowerment with the Good Old Boys’ Clubs running everything for centuries – so that’s probably one reason why there’s this continuing fascination with Cougars. We’re just so afraid of aging in our society (and so hard on women who age gracefully), and we need to get over it. My philosophy is right in line with Kat Maguire’s in The Cougar Club: Aging gracefully isn’t about aging gratefully. It’s about living life with your engine on overdrive, making love with all the lights on, trashing your diet books, and diving into the chocolate cake!
Photo courtesy of Susan McBride
What is Susan working on next?
Susan was kind enough to send me a Christmas gift this year, and it was two of her Young Adult (YA) books, The Debs and Love, Lies, and Texas Dips. I had expressed an interest in reading them, as I have been facinated with debutantes and high society my whole life, but especially since I saw Donna Martin perfect her Texas Dip on 90210. I have worked on my own dip since my teens, as I had been practising walking with books on my head, and doing curtesies my entire life. We were ghetto in my house, but yet, we still knew our manners. I read both of these books back to back Friday night, and they were a lot of fun. I’m just mad because I can’t read the next book in the series because it isn’t published yet! Although, I’m happy to tell you that Random House is publishing her third Deb book, Gloves Off, sometime in the future, hopefully this year, as the release date just got pushed back. Susan is also writing a fourth YA novel for Random House, but it is a non-Deb book. Susan also has a popular Debutante Dropout Mystery series and has written five books -Blue Blood, The Good Girl’s Guide to Murder, The Lone Star Lonely Hearts Club, Night of the Living Deb and Too Pretty to Die, as well as having another fiction book in the works.
Photo courtesy of Susan McBride
Readers can check out Susan McBride’s website here for up-to-date book news, events, and contests. She’s got a great sense of humor, check out the photo she sent me to show off her 70s barette look after seeing my own. She is also a cat person and has rescued three cats, and has a fancy for my own cat Beatrice, which makes her a great person in my book!
Speaking of contests, Susan McBride is giving away five free copies of The Cougar Club here at The Girl from the Ghetto, so all you need to do is click here and comment by February 1st. Don’t forget to tell your favorite cougar story here in this post as a comment for an additional chance to win. Good luck!
To purchase The Cougar Club, click here.
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