20 Times A Lady
By Karyn Bosnak
Harper Paperbacks
256 pages
$13.95
May 2006
ISBN: 0-06-082835-8
Delilah Darling seems to be under the darkest cloud of bad luck in her life. She's going nowhere fast having lost her job and slept with lover number 20 on her list of "Not-Right-For-Me." Twenty was her maximum number of strike outs before finding Mr. Right. Now she’s convinced that if she located the 19 men before her unattractive, gross boss, it wouldn't add any more men to her list. Perhaps one of them changed and there would be a chance for a future with him.
With reunion in mind, Delilah hires her gorgeous Irish neighbor to locate the men in her life. She doesn't tell Colin why, though. Delilah plans a road trip and has high hopes that something positive will happen. As she follows her marked route of passage she begins to realize the good and bad memories of each relationship. Take Rod, for example. He paid more attention to his dog, Max, then her. Delilah envied Rod and Max's relationship because she wanted the same close bond and could never achieve it. There was Daniel who became a priest, hopefully, not because of her. And Wade who wanted to be a stuntman.
20 TIMES A LADY is a laugh a minute chick lit that you'll simply adore. I loved it so much I told my daughter to read it. The format tips off the reader with phone calls to Delilah from her Mom. It's a clever way of introducing relationships without the characters actually speaking together. FYI: Delilah prefers it that way. Like every woman these days, Delilah has lists that act as therapy to get her true thoughts and feelings to surface, such as: she can't seem to focus on anything these days, she's jealous of her younger sister, Daisy (who is beautiful and has a to-die-for body) and her guilt is rising uncontrollably. Making this book interesting is the truth: that all men are different and, yes, they have their hang ups. They can be sensitive or insensitive. Pigs or too perfect and they can live for the moment and the hell with the consequences. That last truth has Delilah waking up and growing up. In the end, you don’t just settle for love, you have to fall in love.
Five out of five adorable little Yorkies (which mama simply adores!)
© Denise Fleischer, gottawritenetwork.com
September 15, 2006
