Review: Fun romantic comedy!
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 11 26, 2012
Mercury Lauren's neurotic need to get notice and recognition for her work despite commercial success drives the action in this novel.  Her antics become madcap and screwball, walking a thin line between funny and annoyingly offbeat.  But even while I sometimes wished she would act more rationally, I sympathized with her and her single-minded goal.  Especially because she seemed to have such an unsympathetic family.  But I loved the this novel's reflective nature on the chick-lit genre and how Mercury's motivations were more complicated than her seemingly all important goal to get a review in the Times.I loved quietly realizing the parallels between Pride and Prejudice and this story - the character and plot similarities and how the author reinvents them into a contemporary story.  Mercury is not nearly as level-headed as Elizabeth Bennett but she does have a sarcastic, if self-deprecating, wit, and Frank D'Arcangelo is just as intellectually devastating as Darcy, but shows a little more warmth early on and it is easier to tell that he likes Mercury's directness and challenging views.  And in addition to the romance and the comedy, the author works in interesting and thought-provoking commentary on the plight of authors and reviewers, the contradictory attitudes and unrealistic expectations put on commercial and literary authors, with some great insights on being an author.  All of this is wrapped up beautifully by a scene in a bookstore where Mercury encounters a rude and disgruntled reader - I don't want to spoil the scene, but I loved how it tied up the ideas behind this novel and the romance.Although I wanted to shake some sense into the characters at times, this is a really fun read, and I can see authors and bloggers learning from Mercury's adventures, as well as any reader enjoying the romantic tension between Mercury and Frank.(a copy was provided by the author in exchange for an honest review)