OTHERWISE ENGAGED by Eileen Goudge
Eileen Goudge's new novel OTHERWISE ENGAGED is the type of book you pick up, read the first page, and are immediately hooked. Her characters pull you into their world and manage to keep you there for the full length of their story. This is not a novel full of heavy messages and morals, but rather is an enjoyable telling of incidents in two best friends' lives.
Jessie Holland and Erin Delahanty have been best friends for most of their lives. They were raised in Willow Creek, Arizona and both had dreams for a marvelous future. Erin was going to move to New York and have a wonderful career as a chef while Jess had decided to marry local boy Mike Delahanty and raise a family. As dreams go, these never panned out. Jess ended up breaking her engagement to Mike and moving to New York to be a writer while Erin got pregnant and married Mike's brother Skip.
As the book opens both women are in their thirties. Jessie is still looking for Mr. Right while Erin knows she has found the man of her dreams and has a daughter she adores to boot. But unknown to Erin, Skip is unhappy. He announces this one day and tells her he is moving out. Meanwhile Jess is involved in a relationship that she thinks/hopes is the real thing.
With Erin's marriage falling apart and Jessie's love life a big question mark, the two women decide to swap lives for a six-month period. This "swap" is also prompted by Jessie's editor thinking this would be a great idea for a magazine article. So Jess heads west to manage the bed and breakfast Erin and Skip own, and Erin heads to New York to spend six months hunting for a career.
The way this "life swap" affects their lives and their careers makes for fun reading. It also helps that both Erin and Jessie are totally likeable women. You are pulling for both of them to find happiness and true love from the start.
This kind of writing comes as naturally to Goudge as breathing. The words flow out of her and on to the pages, creating a secure flow to the story. There is never a false step or a fake plot device. The day to day lives of these two women are shown with a naturalness that creates belief in the entire premise. If Goudge had not been as skillful a writer this entire plot could have come across as gimmicky and contrived.
So take some time to read something you can just relax and enjoy. OTHERWISE ENGAGED is a beach book you can read right now and let it carry you away. It is light, fun, romantic and entertaining. It is totally "engaging."
OTHERWISE ENGAGED is published by Pocket Books. It contains 321 pages and sells for $24.00.