Jayne Buxton, Lessons in Duck Hunting

Lessons in Duck Hunting

Jayne Buxton

Ballantine, April 2006, $13.95

ISBN: 0345486986

In London, thirty-seven year old divorcee Ally James raises her two children Millie and Jack, while her ex plays new female flavor of the month. To spend time with her kids, Ally gave up her long hours at Chanel to market marmalade. At the same time her best friend Mel begs her to help her with an assignment for a woman's magazine on the "Proactive Partnership Program"; her former husband David introduces his latest squeeze to the kids, a first for the philanderer.

Following the Proactive Partnership Program's four P's: Product, Packaging, Place and Promotion, Alley tests her new knowledge with three "Duck Decoy" dates: a fireplace installer, an electrician and her widowed neighbor, Tom. Being a great marketer she plies her skills to her package; David and Tom quickly desire what they see, but Ally feels that supermom, work, and dating should not bury alive the real person.

LESSONS IN DUCK HUNTING is a fine chick lit tale starring a likable lead protagonist who struggles with balance and harmony in her life once she adds dating to her already overfilled activity list. The dates are lighthearted fun that juxtapose against the serious theme of a woman balancing single motherhood with employment and goals (for herself that is). Jayne Buxton provides a delightful charmer, because readers know in Ally, in spite of the glimmering up, that what you read is what you get.