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Thirty-one year old Emma is ready for the next step, moving in with her boyfriend of eight months, Jack. Her life seems to be heading in a somewhat forward direction with her job, and her friends relationships are moving on as well, but her life with Jack seems to be stalled. He’s a busy architect and even though he takes moments to remind Emma that she’s his girl, Emma still feels discontented with the way things are.
When he gets called away on her birthday for an emergency trip to Boston with his buxom boss, Claire, Emma begins to fret over whether or not Jack is having an affair with Claire. Before she can get too involved in her own sad love life, her friend’s relationships seem to be spiraling out of control, and she’s the go to girl. In the midst of her perpetual counseling, her British suffragette icon Great Aunt dies, leaving her an iron phallic fence final, and some very strange requirements for receiving the rest of her inheritance.
Hoping to fulfill her Great Aunt’s desires for her to demonstrate the courage of her convictions, show a commitment to others, and triumph in the face of adversity, Emma joins HUSSI, Hoboken United Sisters Suffragette Institution. What starts out as an attempt at community awareness, turns into relationship disaster. Unexpected pregnancy, feuding homosexuals, conniving mother-in-laws, a boss with boobs, and telemarketers all threaten to lay Emma to waist in her quest for her one true desire, Jack.
Written in the first person, CALL WAITING is the continuing story of Emma and Jack, the main characters from Michelle Cunnah’s first book, 32AA. In typical chick-lit fashion, Ms. Cunnah delivers a sweetly funny story of a 30-something woman coming to terms with real life. The character Emma is a consummate list maker and Ms. Cunnah uses that in the format the book. I found it to be a bit distracting but it certainly goes along with the quirky feel of the story. The story itself was entertaining and many of the secondary characters were where most of the humor came from. I was somewhat disappointed that Emma seemed superficial, and that her many attempts at good deeds were only to keep Jack’s interest in her or attain the illusive inheritance. Jack was also a good character and a busy yet dotting boyfriend, which I felt was given very little “page time”.
All in all, CALL WAITING is entertaining chick-lit and worth the read. Michelle Cunnah is a wonderful and imaginative writer and I look forward to more from her.
Reviewed by Tina Burns
for The Road to Romance
January, 5, 2005
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