Susan Hubbard, Lisa Maria Takes Off

Lisa Maria Takes Off - With the dreaded thirtieth birthday coming soon, symbolized by two unwelcome gray strands, distraught American Advice Columnist Lisa Marie Marino goes to London to spend time with her boyfriend Robert McCallister. He is in England researching a novel on Lady Jane Grey. Lisa Marie believes Robert is lovable, dependable, and trustworthy until she catches him with his beautiful editor Felicity Ashford-Foxcroft sneaking into a hotel; Lisa Marie assumes that Robert is the other type of guy, a promiscuous cad.

Lisa Marie leaves Robert to Felicity and moves in with her new friend Grace. She begins to Americanize the British culture though Grace's Aunt Pru tries to Anglicize the Yank. However, in spite of Lisa Marie swinging in the upper reaches of London's in crowd, she misses McCallister. Her dreams of spending a lifetime with him remain in the center of her heart.

This is a fun chick lit tale, though the tension between Lisa Marie and McCallister seems unnecessary if she took the time to talk to the man she loves (and previously trusted). Still, in spite of the lack of any seemingly real conflict, Lisa Marie swinging through London makes for an amusing novel. Lisa Marie and McCallister are likable lead characters and though Felicity is colder than a corpse, much of the support cast enables readers to see a glimpse of London albeit filtered through the eyes of the invading colonist. Sub-genre fans will fully appreciate Lisa Marie's real female rival for the affections of McCallister in this fine romp.

Red Dress, Apr 2005, $12.95, 272 pp.

ISBN: 0373895178

Harriet Klausner