Perhaps I'm sexist?
I have always stuck to the notion of enjoying books providing the protagonist is a person that I can connect with and their sex, it appears until two weeks ago, had been one such contributing factor.
My wrist may as well continue being slapped to the pace of your "tuts" dear reader, as I should also explain that I rarely enjoy female writers writing about females! I know, I know it's bad.. However, Not Another Happy Ending written by David Solomons ticks at least one of the above sexist boxes!
Jane Lockhart is, as the name would certainly have you suspect, a woman. She's also a struggling writer. In Not Another Happy Ending we join our hero Jane at the peak of finishing her first novel and at that exciting point of finally finding a publisher. After many a "not for us" letters, finally in the guise of publishing house Tristesse's, a somewhat small publishers with a somewhat larger reputation for being ruthless. They decide to take on Jane's book, resulting in an overnight success!
Enter antagonist Tom Duval, a tall and handsome Scott that exudes the usual charm you'd expect from a man of such power. I immediately connected with him and the pages flew over each other. Solomons has created a love story that in spite of the female protagonist, is actually quite expertly told from a man's perspective. Vanilla Sky, 500 Days of Summer and Jerry McGuire are three of my all time favourite movies that I would indulge when overcome with that never admitted but often felt male emotional fit. All three of these achieve that rare masculine love story, where passion and pride dominate. Rather than all that pink soppy nonsense!
In Tom we find a businessman that in spite of the charm, had made some bad business decisions and now rests his success on the second book in Lockhart's contracted series. Trouble is, Tom without consulting Jane changed the book's title before going to print at the last minute. Jane becomes furious at Tom and decides to change publishers. Only problem, she's stuck on the final chapter and can't finish the book. Tom decides it's down to her happiness from the success of her first novel so goes about making her life miserable.
The writing is packed with wit and all the allure you'd expect from a male Scott writing romance. I laughed out loud three times on the Tube and ended up in Cockfosters on the Piccadilly line as I was so engrossed ( I was meant to get off at Holborn)!
Not Another Happy Ending is published by Harlequin Mira and available to buy at Amazon.