Another strong showing

Lucy Parker has earned herself a spot on my preorder list with this one.  It’s not as magnetic as Act Like It, but it still was a pleasure to read.  I dropped the new Lisa Kleypas halfway through to pick this up instead, finished it, and then went back to the Kleypas.  This says SO much about both books.

Lily Lamprey is a soap opera star who wants to break in to the theater world.  Through a family friend she gets the opportunity to audition for a new play with a renowned director, Luc Savage.  Lily is gorgeous and Luc expects her to be an empty, pretty face, but bows to the pressure of his shareholders to audition her.  He is surprised to find real talent and thinks that that she could be amazing with the right direction and some voice coaching.  There is also an immediate spark between the two of them.

I was so in the mood for an easy-going contemporary, and this just hit the spot.  First off, this is a story about grown ups.  They each have some baggage and they also deal with the outside pressures of their lives – just like real life and without too much drama.  This is how I prefer my stories.

Yes, Luc is Lily’s boss.  This is normally a situation I HATE in books, but it’s handled well here.  It helps that they are not in a corporate setting and seem to have a lot more leeway than a corporate hierarchy or code of conduct would allow.  The real issue is the tabloids and their peers judging them and thinking the relationship is how Lily got the job.  This was resolved more smoothly than I ever would have expected based on the build up of the conflict.

Next issue was Luc being 40(ish) and Lily only being 26.  As it should be with two consenting adults (who actually act like adults) this is not a big issue.  Yay!  Luc is slightly concerned, but more about how it appears to the outside world than what it means between them.  The level of concern was appropriate and not blow out of proportion, which I appreciated.  Lily is the one who needs to figure her self out and take the time to decide what she wants, and I liked that.  I really hate the middle aged man-child trope, so having an actual adult show up was nice.  That’s what I kept coming back to over and over – grown ups acting like grown ups.  It doesn’t bring the angst or the drama, but is just a pleasure to read about two likable people figuring themselves and their relationship out.

I don’t have much more to say about this one, it was just fun and sweet all the way through.  With two very strong outings I am willing to try anything else that Lucy Parker puts out.  I hope it doesn’t take another year for her next book, but I’m willing to wait if it’s as good as these past two have been.