The story begins with
thirty-year-old Sophy Metcalfe regretting bragging to her nosy mom about her
too-good-to-be-true boyfriend Dominic, as her mom badgers and manipulates her into
promising to bring him to her sister Belinda’s wedding. What’s to regret about
it, you ask? Just the fact that Dominic is a figment of Sophy’s highly fertile and
innovative imagination – in other words, there is no ‘Dominic’! What began
as a simple white lie to soothe the worries of a perennially worried mom, soon becomes a
total nightmare for Sophy as she simply can’t get rid of ‘Dominic’. This is
mainly due to the fact that telling the truth would cause Sophy’s mom to lose face in
front of her arch-rival, the totally snooty Maggie Freeman, who is and has always been the
bane of Mrs. Metcalfe’s existence. And as Sophy has known since childhood, she simply
cannot let the home team down! So, she’s stuck with ‘Dominic’.
After evaluating countless options (and discarding
them), and boring her friend to tears with the unending convoluted plots of her inventive
mind, Sophy finally decides to hire a guy from an escort service to masquerade for a day
as the elusive Dominic. And to fulfill the role, the agency sends an attractive bloke of
the name Josh Carmichael. Once at the party, situations and people compel Sophy to
repeatedly invent lies on her feet, and she’s pleasantly surprised when Josh comes to
her rescue many times and acts out his part perfectly. As she has to
perforce spend time with him, acting all lovey-dovey with him for the benefit of the
curious guests, eager parents and a disbelieving Maggie, Sophy gradually begins to realize
how easy and natural it all is. She’s reluctant to admit how much of it is because
she’s greatly attracted to Josh! Besides Josh is sure to think that she’s nuts
after the charade she’s paid him to enact, or so Sophy thinks! Does Josh return her
feelings? Does the story has a happy ending or does Sophy learn a well-deserved lesson?!
Pick a copy of this most ingenious book and find out for yourselves!
Elizabeth Young has created a fun-filled and
outrageous tale for the delight of the readers. This book comes the closest from all the
chick-lit books this reviewer has read, to recreating the magic, the tone and trend set by
‘Bridget Jones Diary’, but at the same time it has an effervescent charm
of its own! The book begins intriguingly, and maintains a sense of suspense throughout.
There is no telling how it will end, and this adds to a delicious sense of eagerness to
reading this breezy tale. This is also a story with a moral and as can be easily guessed,
the moral is not to tell lies. But in the meantime, Sophy’s lies only grow more in
number and creativity, and this is very funny and amusing to read. Josh is a bit of an
enigma – you can’t quite figure out till the end if he’s the right man for
Sophy or not. And then there is Sophy herself – uncertain, fed up and bogged down in
the pit of her own lies. Secondary characters galore add their own bit of fun and
battiness to this crazy book, and overall make it all the more enjoyable. The tale
proceeds in spurts and is a meandering. The plot is deceptively simply. It’s a bit
wordy, a bit pedantic, but then it’s basically a British tale, so its not something
very unexpected or unwanted. Overall, the book is very entertaining, and must read among
the countless chick-lit books being published these days.
Reviewed By Rashmi Srinivas for The Road to
Romance
June 27, 2003 |
