Isabel Sharpe, Women on the Edge of a Nervous Breakthrough

Women on the Edge of a Nervous Breakthrough

Isabel Sharpe

Avon, Feb 2007, $13.95

ISBN 0061140554

Glamorous Lorelei Taylor's murder trial was sensational headline news as it had everything the press would want except a conviction. She was tried in New York City for killing her lover, a publishing giant. She was acquitted in court, but hung by the media. Needing time away from the spotlight, Lorelei flees to her late grandmother's home, Kettle, Wisconsin.

Two neighbors welcome the notorious Manhattan siren for differing reasons. Sarah Gilchrist knows on the outside everything is perfect, but inside the mouse wants to roar as her marriage stinks. She ignores the widely held opinion that Lorelei got away with murder because of her looks and welcomes her to town. On the other hand Erin Hall believes she has found a "sister"-mentor who will help her with a terribly abusive marriage as she knows in her gut Lorelei killed her lover. Lorelei sees the two worshippers as losers who need some loosening up, but then she meets the third neighbor, widower Mike, who makes the small town appealing though he rejects her New York style advances. Not long after her self-imposed exile begins, Lorelei wonders who is nudging whom to modify their behavior.

This is a delightful, lighthearted, comedic romp starring WOMEN ON THE EDGE OF A NERVOUS BREAKTHROUGH when the outsider arrives as a catalyst of change. The storyline will remind the audience of a gender-changing version of Bob Hope's Bachelor in Paradise as Lorelei, like Hope's A.J. Niles, shakes up the residents of this town. Though the ending is too neat, contemporary readers will enjoy this fun bachelorette tale set in a Midwest paradise.

Harriet Klausner