Jane Sigaloff The Romancipation of Maggie Hunter

The Romancipation of Maggie Hunter

Jane Sigaloff

Red Dress Ink, Jul 2007

ISBN: 0373895496

Maggie Hunter feels she is living her dreams. Her career is on the rise and she has a caring boyfriend Max French. Perhaps the only problem in her idyllic life is Max who demands more of her while she wants to give less of her. He wants her to move in with him; this sounds like a commitment to someone who prefers to go to her home and he to go to his at the end of the night. Beside which where would she place her shoes.

Maggie's best friend Eloise wants to move in with her boyfriend Jake, but he prefers separate homes though he is willing to share a weekend with her; he thinks sharing a place 24/7 means commitment and he is not ready for that. Maggie wonders if she and Eloise could exchange boyfriends so the commitment duo can commit and the commitment phobias can keep the distance. She knows soon she and Max, and Eloise and Jake will have decisions that she hopes to put off, but boyfriend swapping is apparently not one of the options.

This entertaining chick lit romance stars a confused woman who does not want to hurt anyone, yet is not ready to commit to a deeper relationship with her boyfriend of three years. Maggie's description of Max is terrific and enables audience to focus on her issues as she realizes boys want to pay for his drinks and girls would willingly give away their virginity for a night with him, so why does she have doubts. Although somewhat padded (the story line not the bra), this modernizing of the escapades of Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice make for a fine look at the dating scene fifty years after the Lycra revolution.

Harriet Klausner