"The person, be it gentleman or lady, who has not pleasure in a good novel, must be intolerably stupid." — Jane Austen, Northanger Abbey

Friday, April 8, 2011

And One Last Thing ... by Molly Harper

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Summary: After humiliating her husband publicly over his affair, an ex-wife learns who she is and what she wants.

Molly Harper is the author of the terribly funny and sassy book about librarian-turned-vampire Jane Jameson. So I picked up her latest book.

Lacey Terwilliger (ridiculous name!) accidentally gets delivered flowers that were meant for her husband's mistress/secretary instead. As revenge, she sends out a scathing e-mail to her husband's client and holiday card list, berating her husband for being spineless and bad in bed. After Lacey becomes late night comic fodder, she retreats to her family cabin, isolated in the woods.

Of course, the isolated cabin is not so isolated, since there's a hunky man next door. After Lacey's few attempts at friendship, the hunk, Monroe, makes it very clear that he is NOT attracted to Lacey. Their mutual antipathy is predictable. Monroe is a mystery writer, holed up for some peace and quiet and to finish his novel. Lacey is miffed and ignores him, and then suddenly he realizes that Lacey is kinda cute. They become "friends with benefits" and Lacey starts writing her own novel, about a woman who wants to kill her husband. It works as therapy, until Lacey gets a job offer to write angry letters for other women. Monroe scolds Lacey for even considering it and that's when Lacey and Monroe have their first big fight.
"You know, maybe it's not that I don't want to be in a relationship, maybe it's that I don't want to be in relationship with you. You're always pushing and judging and trying to make me into the person that- I don't know - is worthy of you? I mean, you wouldn't even talk to me until I proved that I was low-maintenance enough for you. I don't want to be your pet project. I've already tried living with a man whose standards I couldn't meet and I'm not doing it again."
This was actually a sad book about the decline of a marriage. I felt strange laughing in the funny spots, when the death of this marriage didn't really get as much respect as it deserved. But it is well-written with characters that are nuanced and realistic.

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