CHICK LIT

Read 'em and steep
Books in the popular chick lit genre provide a much-needed respite from the demands of our increasingly busy lives; they're like a warm bubble bath. Here are three new relaxing reads.

Small-town wit and wisdom

Bertie Byrd drives a tow truck for a living as her father's sole employee at Thomas Byrd and Sons' Garage. The two sons long ago abandoned the family business, yet the name remains. "I think he still hopes they'll change their minds and come back," says Bertie, the heroine and narrator of Big Hair and Flying Cows, a first novel by Dolores J. Wilson.

Bertie never gets around to complaining, which goes to show just how common such indignities have become in her life. Her boyfriend of three years has run off to marry another woman. The residents in her small town of Sweet Meadow, Georgia, are always calling for rides to the doctor or the beauty salon. She rents her house from an elderly man who's been committed to a nearby nursing home—only he keeps coming back to re-stake his claim. Naked. And at 32, Bertie's convinced she's fated to spinsterhood, in spite of a string of overtures from unlikely sources—the church choir director, her now-married ex-boyfriend and even the male stripper hired to perform at her best friend's bachelorette party.

Big Hair and Flying Cows is kind of a grown-up version of the children's classic Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day, and it's full of dry, small-town wit. Truthfully, this is not a book likely to linger in your psyche. But it is funny, (mostly) unpredictable, and written with a sense of levity and spontaneity that's almost catching. —ROSALIND FOURNIER


Feminism gone awry

More than 30 years have come and gone since the inception of the women's movement. In a complete role reversal, some women are now bringing home more income than their partners are. Author Jane Heller explores this issue in her romantic comedy, An Ex to Grind.

After her divorce from ex-pro football star Dan Swain, successful financial planner Melanie Banks seethes about the court-ordered alimony that lets him continue to live the high life and forces her to rent a meager apartment in Hell's Kitchen. There's one loophole: Melanie is off the hook if Dan cohabits with another woman for 90 days, so she employs a high-end matchmaker to get Dan off her payroll. After a series of failed matches, Dan falls for a gorgeous veterinarian and undergoes a complete transformation: toning up, partying less and searching for a coaching job. Melanie can't believe how much he's changed, and soon finds herself attracted to Dan all over again. But is it real love, or nostalgia?

Witty, romantic and insightful, Heller's latest offering is a true delight. Readers of all ages will identify with Melanie as the woman scorned who searches her soul to find true purpose in her life. —SHERI MELNICK

Serving the glitterati

When Cassie Ellis graduates from Columbia University, her first task is to dig herself out from a mountain of student loans. She needs a job—and fast—but worries that a 9-to-5 schedule won't leave her with enough time to pursue her dream of becoming a screenwriter. So Cassie takes on a few shifts as a bartender at a Soho pub and finds herself quickly seduced by the nightclub lifestyle and all it offers. When someone dangles a summer job at a Hamptons hotspot in front of her, Cassie jumps at the chance.

From her place behind the bar, Cassie marvels at the heretofore unknown world of sex, drugs and money parading before her. But she soon finds that even a thick wooden bar is not enough to keep this new world at bay. Partying until dawn every night, she's raking in the dough and having the time of her life, but finds herself floating dangerously far from reality and her writerly aspirations.

In the midst of a slew of roman à clefs written by lowly workers employed by the glitterati, The Perfect Manhattan manages to set itself apart with its quick pace and sharp social commentary. The authors, real-life bartenders Leanne Shear and Tracey Toomey, met while working the party scene from Manhattan to the Hamptons and are well-acquainted with the jet-setters they write about. The Perfect Manhattan is guaranteed to go down smoothly paired with a sunny beach afternoon and an ice-cold cocktail. —IRIS BLASI

 

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