Tamara Leigh, Stealing Adda

Stealing Adda

Tamara Leigh

NavPress. Mar 2006, $12.99, 464 pp.

ISBN: 1576839257

New York Times best selling romance writer Adda Sinclaire suffers from an author's worst illness, a severe case of writer's block, which she wonders if is partially caused by her hate of her ex husband Richard "don't call me Dick" Demarco and the Stick Woman. Dick ran off with Adda's rival Birgitta Roth, whose sales have been much lower, but her deals much better than Adda's has been.

Adda meets her new publisher Nick Farnsworth and finds she is attracted to him, but since she was burned in marriage, she thinks never again, even though Nick likes Adda. However, both try to adhere to the maxim of not mixing office romances with real romances. When Stick Woman accuses Adda of plagiarizing her work, Nick assumes the worst of the first woman that has interested him in years. Though she knows the truth, Adda is upset by his rejection and the accusations, so she hides trying to regroup. While recovering her balance, she receives a gift, a copy of the Bible, and soon turns to Jesus for solace and begins to consider turning the other cheek when it comes to Stick Woman, make that Birgitta.

Chick lit readers will appreciate this fine look at an author struggling with stress caused by deadlines and writer's block. Adda's asides about her nemesis, her ex, her publisher, and ultimately Jesus, showcase her metamorphosis from a prideful soul into a caring believer. The changes in her makeup seem genuine, as evident of Stick Woman becoming Birgitta Roth, but the religious elements seem more like an overlay on top of a fine contemporary romance.