Wendy Markham Slightly Engaged

Slightly Engaged

Wendy Markham

Red Dress, Feb 2006, $12.95

ISBN: 037389564X

All her friends seem married except her. Instead Manhattanite Tracey Spadolini lives with her lover Jack, but he seems to suffer from commitment phobia. The worst incident occurs at the wedding of Jack's former Brooklyn roommate Mike Middleford, Tracey's boss at Blair Barnett Consulting, to nasty Dianne. Not only did Jack not want to go, he is negative about tying the knot in general. Tracey is mortified as she wants to be Jack's wife.

Tracey gains some hope when Jack's mom tells her that her son has taken out a family heirloom ring that he will surely give to her as an engagement ring. Tracey is excited because she loves Jack and wants to raise a family with him, but days turn into weeks and finally months with no ring forthcoming. Tracey has lost all hope and wonders if she must move on beyond the man she loves.

Jack's "blindness" to Tracey's concerns make for a fine chick lit tale, even though the heroine's grieving over her single status can send the audience wanting to smack her oblivious beloved, that is until the readers learn we don't know Jack. The storyline centers on Tracey's lament as the last single in Manhattan. Wendy Markham provides a lighthearted romp starring a young woman wondering why everyone but she and Jack assume she is on the verge of becoming engaged.