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A thoroughly contemporary tale that makes complete sense to the modern
woman in the age of the mod cons and modems. At a time when computers
and the Internet shorten actual distances even as they increase
figurative ones, Karla Brandenburg's "An Intimate Distance" perfectly
describes the effects of the pressures of life in the rat race on
protagonist Julianne DeAngelo. Julianne, with the typical dysfunctional family background is a couple of weeks from her wedding,
when fate, her online buddy and sister conspire to change the course
of her life.
Julianne combines life as a secretary at an ad agency and night school
getting a degree in marketing and advertising even as she copes with
an upcoming wedding to a man she seems to know a little less everyday.
Meanwhile "Jack" Gryphon Guilder, an executive at a well-known
advertising firm has been an online confidante. Her fiancé, Steve
meanwhile, only seems to be taking things for granted. Things come to head when a lucrative client needing a family-oriented firm approaches Jack, leading to a masquerade that changes both Julianne and Jack's lives. So the bearded ad-man and the
cynical and insecure Julianne whose oft-repeated phrase is "Life's a
series of trade-offs" are thrown together to discover for themselves
what matters and what doesn't.
I really liked "An Intimate Distance" as I could relate to most of
what was going on. Karla's take on the influence of family on one's
self-perception is brilliant. Equally incise is the manner in which
she has condensed what can be really any workingwoman's life and
choices. Networking, sexual harassment, emotional baggage,
difficulties in letting go, and the need for life-work balance are all
issues and experiences real enough to add to the romance. There's a
bit of ugly duckling to swan metamorphosis happening through the story
too that makes the romance all the more sweet. The hero is truly
adorable (once he transforms into the swan of course) while Julianne
learns to be as go-getting in her love-life as she is in her career.
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If there is one negative it's the heroine complete lack of confidence
in her personal life but that too is easily understandable as we meet
her mum and sis. Personally, I wouldn't be as understanding but that's where the necessity of a "nice girl" lead in the romance comes into
play. It has all the makings of an engrossing read.
Reviewed by Raakhee Suryaprakash
for The Road to Romance
May 31, 2007
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