BOOK REVIEW: The Little Lady Agency by Hester Browne

Title: The Little Lady Agency
Author: Hester Browne
Published: 2005
First Line: "My name is Melissa Romney-Jones, but you can call me Honey."

Is she really Melissa ... or Honey? This is an entertaining and fast reading British chick lit book about a young lady who is skilled in social etiquette and loves to organize, organize, organize! What Melissa lacks though is confidence in herself. A bit on the shy side, she allows others to use her and is too nice for her own good. After meeting her family, you can see why Melissa prefers to take care of others and deflect attention from herself. Dad is a womanizing Member of Parliament who criticizes Melissa mercilessly; Mom is in denial about her husband's infidelities and mollifies herself through shopping and valium; and the sisters are self-centered.

Her succession of office jobs fail to work out so Melissa decides to market her social and organizational skills, as anything from girlfriend-for-hire to personal wardrobe consultant, through her newly created Little Lady Agency. The problem though is that Melissa doesn't have the confidence to do these things as herself and, therefore, needs to create an alternate persona. Enter Honey ... Melissa's alter ego. The beautiful and buxom honey-blonde Honey draws all eyes to herself through her beauty, social graces and extraordinary competence.

The rest of the book follows Melissa/Honey as she tries to keep her personal life as Melissa and her professional life as Honey separate ... especially from her dashing American client, Jonathan Riley. Melissa finds herself falling in love with Jonathan, but Jonathan doesn't know Melissa and Honey must keep the relationship professional in order to retain the integrity of The Little Lady Agency.

From the beginning of the book it appears that the reader will be treated to a comedic ending as both Melissa and Honey must be present at the same wedding. **SPOILER ALERT**The author does not choose to use this device though and rather disappointingly wraps up the story with a trite little drama between Melissa and her father, which ultimately serves no purpose, and a quick revelation that Jonathan is in love with Melissa, not Honey. Mmchwaa. The end.**END SPOILER ALERT**

Despite having what I thought was a weak ending, I liked The Little Lady Agency and wouldn't hesitate to read future installments. It is full of witty and entertaining dialogue with a British accent. If you're looking for a fun read I highly recommend The Little Lady Agency.

BOOK REVIEW: Austenland by Shannon Hale

Shannon Hale's newest book, Austenland, is a fun take on Jane Austen's Pride & Prejudice. The main character, named Jane (of course), is a young woman with a Mr. Darcy obsession; most particularly a Mr. Darcy obsession that closely matches the Darcy of Colin Firth fame. [Pause for a collective dreamy sigh.] Jane is continually disappointed in the men she meets because they never measure up to her Mr. Darcy expectations.

Jane must confront her Darcy obsession when an elderly aunt dies and leaves her an inheritance that is quite specific -- a three week trip to an English resort that caters to Austen lovers. After a brief "should I stay or should I go," Jane decides to take the trip and indulge her Darcy obsession one last time before putting it to rest for good.

While at Pembrook Park, the guests mingle with actors who represent Austen characters. Each guest is assigned a name and a role to play. The characters must maintain the charade wearing only Regency attire and following Regency etiquette right down to the bows, curtsies, and class divisions. Reality and fiction blur for Jane while at Pembrook Park and this creates more confusion for her as she finds herself simultaneously attracted to the gardener and Mr. Nobley (aka Darcy). While Jane is looking for love, she realizes that the gentlemen at Pembrook Park are merely actors. Or are they? Who is the cad and who is the gentleman? Just like Austen's Pride & Prejudice, Ms. Hale keeps the tension high until the end.

Overall I had a lot of fun reading Austenland. While I think Ms. Hale's young adult books (The Goose Girl, Enna Burning, etc.) are better and deal with deeper issues such as the nature of friendship, Austenland serves as an amusing diversion filled with Austenisms and wit. Definitely for Austen lovers.

Author Signing
I met the author at Changing Hands Bookstore in Tempe, Arizona. By the way, if you're ever in the Phoenix area, you really must visit this bookstore. It is a marvelous blend of new and used books that are interfiled on the shelves. The store is quite a bit larger than I anticipated and features a bakery that opens right off of the store. Anyway, back to the signing .... I found Shannon to be a delightful person who entertained us with a few stories and insights before the signing. One of the stories she shared with us was a conversation she had with her husband after he read Austenland. Apparently, her novel reminded him of a movie that she had never seen ... Westworld. Westworld is a kind of high-tech Disneyland where visitors can act out their wild west fantasies. While Pembrook Park has real people acting alongside the guests, Westworld uses human looking robots. Apparently, said husband couldn't get the Westworld connection out of his head and thought it would be a good idea if Shannon included a robot in her story. She told the audience to "look for the robot suit" in her novel.

Getting to hear the stories behind the writing are what makes author signings so much fun. Oh, and getting your picture taken with:



Also reviewed at:
A Girl Walks Into a Bookstore
The Written Word
Maw Books Blog

Taunting the Muse

My muse is still on vacation so I thought I'd cause some trouble while she is away. I'm writing blog posts minus her input. Maybe I can embarrass her sufficiently to cut her vacation short and get back here where she belongs.

If you read my post "Waiting for the Muse", you will see the current state of my brain. It is absolute insanity in there right now. And to make matters worse the hormones are about to kick in and make their contribution to the general mayhem. I apologize in advance to anyone that will be having dealings with me for the next week.

So, what does one read when one is in the midst of gray-matter-madness? Weeeellll ... how about this:


This is "That Girl! meets Miss Marple."
This is a "Murder A-Go-Go Mystery."
This is a book for a brain being held together by Dippity-do.
This is It's a Mod, Mod, Mod, Mod Murder by Rosemary Martin.

Our main character is Bebe Bennett (aka Elizabeth Bennett for you Jane Austen aficionados) and she works for Rip City Records in New York City circa 1964. When she's not working as a secretary or going out to "fab" night clubs in her go-go boots, she's solving murders with her friend Darlene. First murder up is Philip Royal of the Beefeaters (think Beatles-esque) and he has been electrocuted with his own guitar. Yes folks, those electric guitars are DANGEROUS! But I have faith that Bebe will solve this who-done-it without even mussing her wonderful Marlo Thomas hair flip.

Yup. This is all my brain can deal with right now. No Trollope or Dostoyevsky for me. And don't even suggest poetry. I can barely deal with prose at the moment let alone any metered or (heaven forbid) free-verse-see-if-you-can-figure-it-out wordage.

HEY, MUSE! Are you embarrassed yet?