Review
'Goldsmith's characters are wilful, robust, amusing and delightfully credible' Mail on Sunday 'Goldsmith hands out her characters' rewards and comeuppances like Jane Austen dealing blackjack... You keep licking your fingers and reaching for the next page as if it were another potato chip' Newsweek 'What a great feeling to fall into the capable hands of Olivia Goldsmith. The author of The First Wives Club and Bestseller always serves up believable characters in slightly outlandish situations in a mixture that makes highly entertaining reading...' People 'Full of wisecracks, and gossip... Olivia Goldsmith can keep you reading' Cosmopolitan
Child psychologist Kate Jameson may well pass as an uptown girl, but she's also an uptight one: with a tough childhood and some unsuccessful relationships behind her, she's mistrustful of men, but yearns for a soul mate; she's also paranoid about keeping her childhood Brooklyn clique well away from her sophisticated adult friends in Manhattan. So how on earth do Bev, Barbie and Bunny from Brooklyn and her colleague Eliot and his partner Brice all wind up together with a plan to improve Brooklyn friend Bina's love life? Bina's long-time lover, Jack, has had cold feet, just as she thinks he's ready to propose, and her friends are determined to help her out in the search for the right man. At Bunny's wedding, Eliot discovers that every woman dated and dumped by ladykiller Billy Nolan has married the next man she's dated. This is statistically so improbable that he thinks there must be something to it. Made over and made up, Bina sets out to tempt Billy in the hope the magic will work for her too. And where is Kate in all this? Dragged along against her better judgement, she is forced to examine her own makeover, while trying very hard to ignore the effect the irresistibly charming Billy is having on her, and finding out just why he speaks such beautiful French at vital moments. The details of the 'culture clash' between the two halves of Kate's life are hilarious, and Olivia Goldsmith pokes lots of affectionate fun at Brooklyn's honest vulgarity and the pretensions of uptown New Yorkers. At the same time she makes a serious point about life for the unmarried 30s and casts an observant and witty eye on the intricacies of relationships. A great read. (Kirkus UK)
Product Description
From the bestselling author of The First Wives' Club and Young Wives, a sparkling New York comedy about making plans for other people -- and then tripping yourself up in them. There's something magical about Brooklyn boy Billy Nolan. It's not just that he's wickedly attractive, it's that any woman he dates and dumps (and he dates and dumps them all) immediately goes on to marry someone else. Sassy, uptown New Yorker Kate is immune to Billy's charms - she left Brooklyn behind a long time ago, and she's not about to fall under the spell of a handsome waster from the old neighbourhood. Besides, she's dating the eminently suitable Michael. But perhaps the 'Billy effect' will work for Kate's friend, Bina, who has fallen apart because her almost-fiance, Jack, is going away to 'explore his singleness'. All Kate has to do is get Billy to date Bina and dump her - and then await Jack's return and watch the magic happen. It's a great plan and at first it seems to be working. But the one thing Kate hasn't considered is how Billy feels about it all...
