Laugh and Love: Romantic Comedies

Life’s a Beach
Claire Cook

At age 41, Ginger Walsh is unemployed and still living in an apartment above her parents' garage. She dabbles in making jewelry but realizes that her cat has more artistic ability when it accidentally creates a sculpture out of her beach glass materials. When a movie crew comes to her small Massachusetts coastal town, Ginger and her precocious nephew audition to be extras. The director loves the kid, and Ginger jumps at the chance to act as his on-set guardian. After all, she can't wait to get away from her boyfriend, who is so noncommittal he doesn't even know her phone number; her sister, who is having a mid-life crisis; and her parents, who are arguing about whether or not to sell the family home--and Ginger's apartment--out from underneath her. In this lighthearted, breezy read, Cook (Must Love Dogs) displays a wry sense of humor and knows how to write realistic characters.
Library Journal Review; May 2007.

Agnes and the Hitman
Jennifer Crusie

Food writer Agnes Crandall knows how to use a frying pan to create delicious meals and to deal with difficult men. It's that second skill that gets her into trouble. When a masked intruder tries to take her bloodhound Rhett, Agnes whacks him with a frying pan full of hot raspberry sauce. The teenage dognapper ends up dead; but before the police arrive, Shane, the nephew of an old family friend, turns up at Two Rivers, the faded southern mansion Agnes calls home, to offer his professional services. Shane quickly discovers that while Agnes certainly seems capable of taking care of herself, she could use a little help dealing with a two-timing fiance, a local crime family determined to kidnap Rhett, and a long-lost fortune. A southern, Mob- flavored, flamingo-motif wedding provides the richly comic setting for the second literary collaboration between the highly entertaining team of Crusie and Mayer. Generously seasoned with an acerbic wit and graced with a wonderfully original pair of protagonists and a wickedly amusing cast of secondary characters, Agnes and the Hitman is fabulous fun.
Booklist Review; July 2007.

Second Thyme Around
Katie Fforde

This sixth novel by British author Fforde (Life Skills) is a good-natured and utterly charming romance about Lucas, a handsome, talented, somewhat prickly chef, falling back in love with his ex-wife, Perdita, whose small produce operation supplies fresh vegetables for his restaurant. Lucas and Perdita struggle to keep the past, and their increasing attraction to each other, under wraps. Various subplots and characters make this novel stand above run-of-the- mill romantic comedies. Thus, the elderly Kitty, who virtually raised Perdita, is losing her struggle to remain independent a predicament Fforde handles with candor and authenticity, as doctors, hospitals, home healthcare aides, and even greedy relatives appearing at the last minute cause Perdita and Kitty undue strain. The courtship between matchmaking Janey, one of Lucas's assistants, and William, an employee of Perdita, adds depth and a bit of suspense to the story.
Library Journal Review; June 2001.

Olivia Joules and the Overactive Imagination
Helen Fielding

More than anything, freelance journalist Olivia Joules wants to write serious news stories, but because of her 'vivid' imagination, Olivia instead finds herself relegated by her editors to the style section. While in Miami covering the launch of a new face cream, Olivia meets mysterious, sexy Pierre Feramo, the scientist responsible for developing the cream, and once again Olivia's imagination takes over. Is Pierre really a cosmetics-developing, movie- producing international playboy or could he be an al-Qaeda agent in disguise? Olivia, who knows a thing or two about changing one's identity, can't decide if her suspicions about Pierre are correct or merely a product of her fertile imagination. What is even worse is that if Olivia turns out to be right about Pierre, it means she might be falling in love with a terrorist! The author of the phenomenally popular Bridget Jones's Diary (1998) gifts readers with another endearing, irrepressible heroine, who, armed with her lists and survival kit, discovers in this deliciously fun novel that she has a natural talent for spying. Fielding's latest has all the ingredients of a good thriller--exotic locales, a resourceful heroine, intrigue, and a touch of sexy romance--but the book is also electric with Fielding's wry wit, and the combination is simply delightful.
Booklist Review; July 2004.

Toehold
Stephen H Foreman

The Alaskan wilderness provides a formidable backdrop for Foreman's detail-rich though meandering first novel. In Toehold, with a population of 200, an Arctic 'bush village,' a collection of surly characters have their quirks, but this is no quaint Northern Exposure hamlet. Subsisting on a diet of moose, caribou and the beer down at the Pingo Palace, the town's citizens see simply surviving the winter as a source of pride. Like many residents, fiery Mary Ellen 'Mel' Madden, originally from Mudsuck, W.Va., came to Toehold with 'just no place left to go.' But thanks to Cody Rosewater, the town's taxidermist and 'go-to' guy, Mel soon learns how to track, hunt and trap. She puts her new skills to work by hanging out her hunting guide shingle. But her first client, a smarmy Hollywood producer, may prove to be more dangerous than the golden grizzly they set out after. Plenty of shots get fired, and somewhere in the harsh landscape love starts to bloom.
Publishers Weekly Review; July 2007.

Cross My Heart
Carly Phillips

Escaping her abusive uncle's clutches in the only way she could, teenager Lilly Dumont staged her own accidental drowning--with the help of fast friends Tyler Benson and Daniel Hunter--and headed for New York to be reborn as Lacey Kincaid. Now, ten years later, Lacey's uncle is going to have her declared legally dead in order to claim her substantial trust fund, so Ty must give Lacey the unwelcome news. Unwilling to let her uncle steal her parents' legacy, Lacey reluctantly heads back to Hawken's Cove, but if someone has his way, Lacey will go back to being dead--this time for real. Sizzling sexual chemistry, fast-paced action, and a few unexpected twists will keep readers turning the pages of this sassy, upbeat story.
Library Journal Review; August 2006.

Match Me If You Can
Susan Elizabeth Phillips

Annabelle Granger has no idea why rich, gorgeous, and successful sports agent Heath Champion needs a matchmaker, but she is more than happy to take the job. Annabelle, who recently inherited her beloved Nana's matchmaking business, sees Heath as the key to her economic future, so she uses a connection with a friend to set up a meeting. It only takes a few minutes with bold, brash, and work-obsessed Heath for Annabelle to understand exactly why her new client might have had trouble finding the woman of his dreams. With a wicked wit and saucy charm, RITA Award- winning and best-selling Phillips fashions a deliciously fun romance between a testosterone-rich, irresistibly sexy hero and a sweetly endearing, yet feisty-to-the-core heroine who proves to be more than his match. A secondary romance between rival matchmaker Portia Powers and Heath's business associate, Bodie Gray, adds another measure of sexy humor, and readers familiar with the Chicago Stars series will especially enjoy the appearances of characters from those books in Phillips' latest dazzling contemporary romance.
Booklist Review; May 2005.

The Cinderella Pact
Sarah Strohmeyer

With her double chin and double-XL wardrobe, it's doubly appropriate that Nola Devlin leads a double life. In reality, she's the overworked, underappreciated editor of 'Sass!' a sleazy celebrity tabloid whose most popular columnist is sexy, slender, saucy Belinda Apple, Nola's alter ego. Nola, however, soon finds she's too clever for her own good when one of Belinda's columns on weight loss inspires her two equally overweight best friends to coerce her into following this diet-to-end- all-diets, a 'Cinderella Pact' they hope will transform their lives into a Belinda-like orgy of physical, romantic, and career success. Meanwhile, Belinda's popularity soars to the point that 'Sass!' management decides it's time to meet their star attraction in the flesh, as it were. As Nola slims down, the quest to find Belinda heats up, causing Nola to jump through more hoops than any personal trainer could possibly dream of. As a discerning observer of cultural folderol, Strohmeyer nonetheless softens her trenchant satire with obvious compassion for her lovable characters.
Booklist Review; June 2006