Review: A fun read
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 03 11, 2012
The Other Boyfriend by Sylvia Massara is a light hearted chick lit/romance. The main character, Sarah is on the cusp of forty and her biological clock is ticking. She wants to get married and start a family but her boyfriend Jeffrey still hasn't managed to leave his other girlfriend Moira.The book is set in the far east among the ex-pat community. Sarah is involved in "network marketing" which as an American I hadn't heard of but assume is some sort of direct sales sort of job. She works in the UK, Hong Kong and Taipei. Jeffrey and Moira both work for the same company. Jeffrey claims that he and Moira have a loveless and platonic relationship but their business is heavily intertwined and "it's complicated" for him to move on.Sarah asks her friend Monica, who is an investment banker in Hong Kong for help. They hatch a scheme to set Moira up with a new love interest. They figure if she had a new boyfriend she would let Jeffrey go. Enter Mike Conner, a devastatingly handsome banker from Hong Kong whose recently been dispatched to Taipei.Sarah is immediately attracted to Mike but he rubs her the wrong way. He suggest that they should also make every appearance to be dating, in hopes of making Jeffrey jealous. The plan quickly becomes increasingly convoluted and uncertain as Sarah struggles with the twin questions: Does Jeffrey in fact ever plan on leaving Moira? and why does Mike want to spend time with her?I liked this book. It's funny and light hearted. I really, really did not want to like the main character. She is, for all practical purposes, dating a married man. She should have more self respect than that. She should have more respect for Moira than that. I didn't want to like her. But I did. She's lovable and lost. She seems to have a good heart.As an outside observer I can see through Jeffrey's excuses, but I can also see why she buys into them. She frequently misinterprets Mike's actions and feelings and again as an observer you can see this. You end up rooting for her, wanting her to wise up before it's too late. You want her to end up with the right boyfriend.The Other Boyfriend is an easy read. It's light hearted and fun. It's not a life changing drama by any stretch of the imagination but it would be a great book to have on your ereader on a long trip, or to curl up with at the end of a stressful day.