finebehavior

Teeny is all ready for her big day, with one exception…the cake. With a few ideas in mind, a great new cake decorating class paid for in full by her fiance and a few weeks to prepare she’s certain she’ll create a masterpiece. Unfortunately the class is canceled on the very first night, leaving Teeny to drive home and find her husband with two other women playing badminton in their backyard, completely naked. What starts as a wonderful evening eventually ends in the death of her soon-to-be husband and her subsequent arrest. This is not at all how she imagined her “big day” happening and she especially didn’t expect the one person who could save her would also be her first and possibly only true love who left her hospitalized many years before. Gone with a Handsomer Man falls into that “maybe not quite Chick Lit” category, but who knows? There are so many forms of Chick Lit anymore that I can’t discount any of it. What I can say is that I absolutely loved this novel. From beginning to end Teeny had me laughing and shaking my head at her antics. This pint sized Southern belle could bake a delicious cake that could not only win your heart but stop it in an instant if you got on her bad side (which rarely happened). Her character was so well written, she was shy and demur, but not annoyingly so. It must be the Southern charm or perhaps her near-constant need for an inhaler, because I felt she was perfectly balanced as was the entire novel. It’s basis is obviously a bit in the mystery genre, but there is a definite pull into the romantic Chick Lit world as well. Those who have read my reviews before, know I have a pet peeve for discovering the ending a bit too early in books. Well, when it comes to mystery novels I get even more picky, because shouldn’t they be even more difficult to figure out? With Gone with a Handsomer Man I will say I had my guesses about half of the way through the book, but West’s writing kept me plugging away at the pages without a second thought. In the end, my guess was right, but I wasn’t bothered the way I normally get. I’m positive this has everything to do with the writing and the other characters in the story who made it so enjoyable to keep turning page after page. As for the romance, well, I went in expecting a wedding perhaps and ended up with a girl being swept off her feet by a first love all over again. Teeny and Coop’s relationship was adorable and I’m truly hoping there will be an additional novel after this one to continue on their story. I’d love to see if they ever end up having their “happily ever after” and what exactly is going to happen with that incredible cliff hanger West slipped in a the last minute of the story. Whether you are a fan of mysteries or not, if you love a great Chick Lit novel then Gone withe a Handsomer Man is absolutely a novel you need to give a try. If for no other reason that it has one of the most hilarious covers ever, you should give it a try. But of course, the writing is superb, the romance has you holding on to the last pages wondering how it will end up and the mystery of who killed the fiance will have you guessing to the last pages. Oh, and I almost failed to mention, Teeny is a baker and the food aspects of this story will have you positively drooling throughout! This is definitely a book I’ll be recommending and cannot wait to see if Teeny and Coop’s story will continue on in another novel to come!

2020-12-29 08:18