Sandy M’s review of News Blues by Marianne Mancusi
Contemporary Chick Lit released by Love Spell on 26 Feb 08
While Chick Lit is not my favorite to read, I have to admit that I had fun with this book. I didn’t have quite the connection I do with characters in historicals or paranormals that I love to read, but I still enjoyed Maddy and her on again/off again screwed-up life.
All Maddy really wants is a job as a producer with Newsline, sitting right next to her idol who inspired her to study journalism in school. And she wants a man in her life. Her goal for the job of her dreams is still well in sight, but it’s the man of her dreams that’s still eluding her. She gets through her quirky days at News 9 trying to do a good job on crazy and lame assignments from people who no longer care about truth in journalism.
With the appearance of a sexy photographer, Jamie Hayes, who’s all hers to work and play with, her luck seems to have changed. At the same time she gets a lead on a story that will definitely make her career, if it doesn’t kill her first, she’s falling head over heals for Jamie. Her happiness is short lived, however, when her parents announce they’re divorcing: her father is marrying a younger, pregnant woman; her mother is gallivanting around the globe. And her out-of-control younger sister has landed on her doorstep. Then she finds out even her man is too good to be true.
Maddy has attitude. She’s tough. She’s also realistic, sensitive, and she bucks up when she has to and tries to do the right thing. She’s clever too, as she shows when she one-ups her boss to do what she knows has to be done, the consequences be damned. The romance in this story is much more than I’ve found in other chick lit books I’ve read. I liked Jamie, a man in a huge pickle when it comes to women, but he knows what he wants and goes for it, good or bad. And he’s sensitive. As much as I like a macho guy, he has to have some sensitivity and Jamie pulls it off with his masculinity intact.
There’s also plenty of crises in this book and they’re each handled with all the parties holding their heads high and continuing to plow through life. Sort of like we all do every day.
Grade: C+
From the back cover:
TUNE IN All 27-year-old Maddy Madison wants is a cute guy, a designer handbag and to work at Newsline. What she has is a dead-end job at News 9 San Diego, a psycho boss and a counterfeit Kate Spade. One with a badly glued-on label. Oh, and no guy.
TURN ON Just when Maddy’s sure her days of producing sensationalistic puff pieces will never end (“Perilous Pets!” “Deadly Dishwashers!” “Clay that Kills!”) she’s offered a promotion. She’s now an investigative producer—and that’s not all; she’s also partnered with the station’s newest photographer: sexy, motorcycle-riding bad boy and former moviemaker Jamie Hayes. But every silver cloud has a stormy lining. Her new job is with News 9’s narcissistic anchor, Terrance Toller; Jamie’s getting married (not to her); and reporting the truth is about as easy as watching your divorced parents get remarried (not to each other).
TAKE OFF So, how does Maddy get to produce real news, bag her boss and win her man? Stay tuned. It’s the story of a lifetime.
Read an excerpt.
