Just the right read to relax into over a weekend… ~ Sheila
When Ava Nickerson was a child, her mother jokingly betrothed her to a friend’s son, and the contract the parents made has stayed safely buried for years. Now that still-single Ava is closing in on thirty, no one even remembers she was once “engaged” to the Markowitz boy. But when their mother is diagnosed with cancer, Ava’s prodigal little sister Lauren comes home to Los Angeles where she stumbles across the decades-old document.
Frustrated and embarrassed by Ava’s constant lectures about financial responsibility (all because she’s in a little debt. Okay, a lot of debt), Lauren decides to do some sisterly interfering of her own and tracks down her sister’s childhood fiancé. When she finds him, the highly inappropriate, twice-divorced, but incredibly charming Russell Markowitz is all too happy to re-enter the Nickerson sisters’ lives, and always-accountable Ava is forced to consider just how binding a contract really is . . .
In My Opinion:
A light read about two sisters that really did keep me turning the pages. I enjoyed the sister relationship between Ava and Lauren and found I could relate to each of them in different ways. While the book is clearly chick lit and the topics are somewhat serious in parts (a mother battling cancer) there were also relationships brewing for each of the sisters.
While Ava was too high strung and work focused we have Lauren who is too fun focused. Ava’s issues are she takes no personal pride in her appearance and feels as long as she is clean, that is good – where Lauren puts too much into her appearance. You can probably see where I am going here….
While the book had no wonderful message in it or even really a deep plot… it was enough to keep turning the pages and wanting to know how it was all going to come together.
About Claire:
She grew up in Newton, Massachusetts, went to Harvard and moved to LA. (Her name was Claire Scovell for a large part of all that.) She lives in the Pacific Palisades with her husband Rob (who writes for “The Simpsons”), her four kids (Max, Johnny, Annie and Will) and too many pets to keep track of.
I received my review copy from Hachette Book Group
Book Journey 
Another one I’ve been wanting to read!!
Vicki do you have this book?
I won this back in October and I am still waiting to read it.
Morning Esme – I will be watching for your review. 🙂
I’m wanting to read this book as I really enjoy these kinds of reads. 🙂
Hi Amy, I like this style of book to break up other reads. They kind of clean the mental pallet. I like a good laugh too and Claire Lazebnik did deliver. 🙂
I always think books where you can relate to at least one character are better then those books where you can’t identify with any of the characters. Sounds like a good read even if it didn’t have a particularly deep plot.
True Petty Witter, in this book I probably leaned more to Ava’s way of thinking but coulnt rule out Lauren who liked to have fun.
Sounds good, but for some reason I am not a fan of chicklit. Nice review though!
Thanks J Kaye – I dont read this genre as much as I used to but when I do I usually enjoy it.
I’m glad to read you liked it – I picked it up twice yesterday, trying to decide whether to read it (yet) and put it back down. Next time I’ll hold on to it!
rhapsodyinbooks, I thought this was going to be a breeezy read but when I picked it up I found myself following the story line and really wanting to know how it was all going to come together.
This sounds like a fun read! I’ve heard about it, and even entered contests for it (didn’t win!), so I guess I’ll have to find it somewhere and read it.
Laurel it is so good to hear from you! I had the oddest email from you this morning and it had me worried….. seriously! I left you a message on your blog!
Sounds like a fun read, and I totally love the title! Growing up, my sister was the pretty cheerleader and I was the smart one on the school newspaper! *L*
It was a fun read Alexis
I have this one (won it!) but haven’t had a chance to dive into it yet. I’m going to do a new type of challenge next year where you read a book with the letters in the name of the month. I can’t recall who is hosting it but I hope to get a lot of my TBR and review books read so I can add some more! 🙂
Great review and I look even more forward to reading this now based on your review.