What's a Ya-Ya?  We're betting every fiction loving girlfriend out there can answer that question.  Even if you haven't read Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood, chances are you've seen the movie or at least have heard the buzz.  The Ya-Yas are four wild and crazy Southern girlfriends who grew up as close as sisters.  While Divine Secrets focused on the soured relationship of lead Ya-Ya, Vivi, and her adult daughter, Siddalee, Ya-Yas in Bloom is more general in nature.  The book is full of crazy tales of the fab four and gives us a chance to know the girlfriends and their children even better.

 

The book begins with an intro by Vivi, who at age 68 is still going strong.  In fact she's convinced she could pass for 49.  Vivi updates us on the other Ya-Yas and then reminisces over an old photograph of her mother and baby daughter.  The photograph brings back sweet memories of one of the few happy times she can recall with her mother.

 

The next section of the book is devoted to how the Ya-Yas came to be.  First is the meeting of four year old Teensy and Vivi in the pediatrician's office.  Spoiled Teensy somehow managed to shove a very large pecan up her nose and was darn proud of it.  Vivi, there for a plain run-of-the-mill earache, was fascinated, and the two became fast friends.  Soon after, Teensy and Vivi manage to get themselves into a heap of trouble in church when their curiosity over another little girl, Necie, gets the best of them.  The two become three, and then they meet crazy little Caro whose family owns the local theater they frequent.  Way back then there was no doubt in the four little girls' minds that they would be friends forever.

 

After we learn about the Ya-Yas very early days, we are treated to tales of the Ya-Ya's children, known as the Petite Ya-Yas.  The stories primarily focus on Vivi's children and give us glimpses into the young lives of Siddalee and her siblings.  In particular, we get to know Vivi's youngest son, Baylor, much better in this book.  While Vivi's oldest son, Little Shep, is a carbon copy of his cotton farmer and hunter father, Baylor is a more sensitive soul, and it is interesting to watch him grow into his own in adulthood.  All of the stories are fun, but the best has to be Sidda's telling of how her parents took all four kids to see the Beatles.  You can feel the excitement and intensity of the experience through her eyes.

 

Woven into the next part of the book is the story of a mother and daughter who are jealous of the Ya-Yas and their children.  While the Ya-Yas have barely noticed them through the years, the religiously zealous mother and daughter have harbored much resentment toward them.  A combination of mental illness, self-righteousness and religious fanaticism leads the daughter to kidnap one of the Ya-Yas grandchildren.  Will the Ya-Yas and their families be able to forgive, and will they ever feel their world is a safe place again?

 

Despite the more serious turn of the book toward its end, Ya-Yas in Bloom is a fun, feel good read.  Although not as deep and thought provoking as its predecessor, it provides more opportunity for us to enjoy the girlfriends and their clans.  Peppered throughout the stories are religious undertones, and, in particular, Vivi's continuing struggle to be a good Catholic while still managing to have some fun.  And, of course, the deep friendship of the four women remains inspiring.  After all, every woman needs girlfriends in her life to remind her to "think pretty pink and blue thoughts" when things get tough.

 

About the author:  Rebecca Wells is a native of Louisiana and is an actor and playwright in addition to being the author of the phenomenal bestsellers Little Altars Everywhere and Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood, which have been translated into twenty-three languages worldwide.  She has received numerous awards, including the Western States Book Award for Little Altars Everywhere and the 1999 American Booksellers Book of the Year Award for Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood.