And One Last Thing ...

May 31, 2010
Harper's stab at chick lit (after her Nice Girls series of supernatural romance) starts strong before falling into a rut of predictability. After Lacey Terwilliger receives a bouquet of flowers meant for her husband's mistress, she sends a scathing e-mail about his affair to everyone they know. Mercifully, Harper focuses more on Mike's cluelessness and Lacey's wounded emotional state and epiphanies than the media whirlwind that starts up once Laceys e-mail earns her Internet fame. In an attempt to escape the withering gaze of the media and local townsfolk, Lacey retreats to a family cabin, where the neighbor happens to be Lefty Monroe, a Hugh Jackman–looking cop-turned-writer. From here on out, it's a fairly predictable bit of meeting and initial dislike melting into attraction, with awkward forays into a writing project Lacey undertakes. Though the leads and support cast are witty and well-done, the characters Lacey doesn't like—Mike, his mistress—are little more than caricatures, and the story loses much of its verve once the LaceyLefty romance kicks in.

July 1, 2010
It all started with a wrong delivery. Laceys marriage may not be exciting, but she never thought her husband was cheating until flowers meant for his mistress arrived at their house. After being sick and furious for a few days, Lacey, who writes her husbands accounting firms newsletter, decides to update their clients and friends regarding her husbands extracurricular activities. After the newsletter went viral, Lacey is facing a divorce and an anti-defamation lawsuit from her husband. Retreating to a lake cabin, she finds her solitude is interrupted by the handsome tenant next door, Lefty, who wants nothing to do with women and tells Lacey to leave him alone. She is more than happy to oblige, so naturally he starts talking to her. From friendship blooms intimacy. Harper brings her trademark humor and biting social comedy to this hilarious tale of heartbreak and romance, a novel that should be on the summer reading list of every woman who has been wronged.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2010, American Library Association.)