Caprice Crane, Stupid and Contagious

Stupid and Contagious

Caprice Crane

5 Spot, May 2006, $12.95

ISBN: 0446695726

In New York twenty-six-year-old Heaven Albright has failed as a public relations executive; she is currently a waitress who hates her job. Twenty-nine-year-old Brady Gilbert has failed as an independent music producer; he currently is out on the street since his girlfriend tossed him out of their apartment.

Brady moves next door to Heaven, who does not believe in privacy. She opens his mail and enters his apartment without knocking or waiting for an invite. Still, Brady though he wants to kick himself, finds her fascinating. When she loses her waitressing job, Heaven demands Brady take her on his business trip to the West Coast. Unable to say no he agrees. He stops in Los Angeles planning to sign a talented high-school rock band; his rival Heaven's ex. From there they go to Seattle to sell Brady's concept of Cinnamilk to Starbucks, but end up arrested during a Kurt Cobain homage gala.

This basic romance is hipped up by the attitudes of Heaven and Brady. She seems like an MTV Holly Golightly, while he is a dreamer, sort of like the professor of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang meets the video age. Their antics are inane, but so much fun, as they spin a fine contemporary romance that will amuse readers with its modernization of the classic gender battle turning to love.