Rexanne Becnel, Leaving L.A.

Leaving L.A.

Rexanne Becnel

Harlequin Next, September 2006, $5.50

ISBN: 037388107X

In Los Angeles, thirty-nine year old rocker Zoe Vidrine is stunned to learn she is pregnant. Knowing the party lifestyle would prove hard to resist, and not wanting to harm the life she carries, Zoe decides to leave L.A. and her hedonistic druggie ex behind and return to her Louisiana roots, though she left there without a look back over two decades ago to escape her ditsy hippie mom.

Her widowed sister Alice does not welcome Zoe back, though she allows her to stay at her farm. Zoe detests the holier than thou attitude of Alice, whose late husband was a minister. However, Alice fears her wild sibling's influence on her teenage nephew. Meanwhile, newspaper editor Joe Reeves is attracted to Zoe, but though she reciprocates, she trusts no one; not even her sister, let alone a guy wanting her body, though she admits he seems to desire her even though she is pregnant.

LEAVING L.A. is a fascinating family drama starring estranged sisters whose outlooks on life are dramatically opposite. Zoe, in spite of her sister's constant anger, which seems unfair and misplaced, is the more intriguing of the siblings, as Alice is prim and responsible. Their relationship makes the tale, as each sees the other as the great sinner, with Zoe disgusted with the pious in your face religion of her sister, while Alice detests her sibling's loose behavior influencing her son. Though the ending is way too simple for this family feud, Rexanne Becnel provides an interesting tale of two sisters.