October 20, 2008
Bodine's contemporary romance has strong bones, but the execution is marred by stock characters. Media mogul David Sumner buys the Chicago Mail
and immediately moves gossip columnist Rebecca Covington to the home and food section, replacing her with young, aggressive Shannon Forrester. Rebecca enlists her gay best friend, Harry Grant, to cook while she spices up her columns with gossip. Bodine (author of several series romances as Lynn Leslie and Leslie Lynn) drowns her characters in cliché: big-spending divorcée Rebecca's endless label-dropping (“ hiked up her black Carolina Herrera skirt... not caring if the expensive Wolford fishnets got bigger holes”), Harry's immaculate home, widower David's vow to never love again, Shannon's endless jealousy. Even good chemistry between Rebecca and David can't diminish the sense that the real star is Rebecca's Juicy Couture cashmere jogging suit.
November 1, 2008
When fortysomething Chicago gossip columnist Rebecca Covington is banished to the home pages to make way for a younger replacement, she is determined to show the papers new owner that he has made a mistake. But first she has to learn how to cook. By lacing each published recipe withjuicy stories, Rebecca has the city talking againand catches the attention of the handsome CEO, David Sumner. Soon she is entertaining a dream offer from the rival newspaper while embarking on a possibly ill-advised romance with her boss. Rebeccas efforts to balance career, love, and getting older will resonate with many readers, while her lifestyle of charity balls and designer duds will serve as escapism. Chicago author Bodine, who penned traditional romance novels as Lynn Leslie and Leslie Lynn, is now writing what she calls lady lita more mature take on life as a career-driven, romance-seeking woman.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2008, American Library Association.)