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THE GO-TO GIRL
Louise Bagshawe
St. Martin’s Feb 2005, $13.95
ISBN: 0312339917
Thirtyish Londoner Anna Brown considers herself too tall, too heavy, too muscular and has too big a nose. Her boss constantly reminds Anna that she is a lowlife assistant whose job is to fulfill her employer’s demand. At home, she feels like a giantess as her roommates are petit models. Her boyfriend of three months breaks it off perhaps because she outweighs him by at least two and a half stone. As she learned several years ago, males always humiliate her.

Anna meets award winning film director Mark Swan, who encourages her to write a script. As she falls in love with her mentor, her lack of self-esteem makes her unable to believe that this powerful handsome man who could have anyone fancies her wants her. When he refuses to help her sell her script, she knows why. Mark ponders how to persuade Anna that she is a beautiful swan who hides her best assets behind a veneer of unattractiveness and that he wants her for at least the next six decades.

THE GO-TO GIRL is an interesting chick lit romance that emphasizes that the grass seems greener in someone else’s yard. Anna is a solid protagonist though her constant declaration of being the centerfold for ugliness can become irritating. The support cast is a wonderful group as the women envy one another with each one thinking that she is a loser in the gender wars while the men who desire them including Mark struggle with understanding them. Fans will appreciate this novel that will remind the audience of John Grey’s MEN ARE FROM MARS WOMEN ARE FROM VENUS.

Harriet Klausner


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