Mating Rituals of the North American WASP

February 23, 2009
Lipton's second effort (after It's About Your Husband
) is a feast of standard genre fare redeemed by the author's wit. After a night of partying in Vegas, Peggy Adams wakes up married to a stranger. Her new husband is Luke Sedgwick, scion of an old Connecticut family who manages the dwindling family fortune and cares for his elderly aunt Abigail in the crumbling ancestral manse. When Peggy arrives in Connecticut to sign the annulment papers, Abigail intervenes, unwilling to let the last living Sedgwick get divorced on her watch. She poses a deal: if they stay married for a year, Abigail will allow them to sell the Sedgwick estate and split the proceeds. Since Peggy needs a windfall to save her faltering business and Luke wants to pursue his dream of becoming a writer, they agree, but married life brings plenty of familiar obstacles and a foregone romantic conclusion. Lipton's skewering of WASPy “culture” is reliably entertaining, and her perfectly mismatched leads are sturdier than most. It won't change your life, but it'll help kill a couple hours at the beach.

May 15, 2009
Peggy, the co-owner of a Manhattan soap boutique, discovers that what happens in Vegas doesn't always stay in Vegas. It's bad enough that she wakes up in a stranger's hotel room, but it gets worse when said stranger calls her a few days later from rural Connecticut to explain that they are now legally wed. Luke, her new husband, is Old Money, meaning that he doesn't really have any. However, the family house goes back to the Revolutionary War era and is worth a fortune. His doddering aunt has rewritten her will, giving the house to Luke and Peggy. One catchthey need to stay married for one year in order to lay claim and sell it. Peggy decides to go through with the sham marriage because it will allow her to save her store and push her boyfriend into a lavish wedding. Lipton ("It's About Your Husband") fleshes out a familiar Vegas story to create a full, satisfying novel laced with truly funny dialog. For all readers of women's fiction.Rebecca Vnuk, Glen Ellyn P.L., IL

Copyright 2009 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

April 1, 2009
A night of drunken Las Vegas passion results in a quickie marriage for an anxious Manhattanite and a laconic preppy she would never have seen herself with.

Opposites may indeed attract, but the harsh light of morning brings nothing but regrets for Peggy Adams, who flees Luke Sedgwick's sleeping form wondering how on earth she ended up in his bed. Things get even trickier when he tracks her down from his small New England town to say that while they may not have technically consummated it, they are indeed man and wife. Thing is, Peggy already has a guy, handsome commitment-phobic cameraman Brock Clovis, whom she has been dating for seven years. Recalling very little of her"wedding" to Luke, Peggy hightails it to New Nineveh, Conn., to dissolve their unlikely union. They agree to an annulment, but complications ensue as Luke's elderly Great Aunt Abigail finds herself over-the-moon at the prospect of her beloved nephew finally settling down with a nice girl, whom she mistakenly takes to be one of them. Luke and Abby are actually roommates, and the last of their blue-blooded kind, with Luke looking out for her and ministering to the family's dwindling estate, which includes a stunning mansion in desperate need of repair. Her health failing, Abby helpfully revises her will, giving the house to both Luke and Peggy—provided they stay married for a year. Realizing how the proceeds from the house could really help her struggling small business, Peggy agrees to a part-time marriage-of-convenience, visiting Luke on weekends while Brock travels for work. Intrigued by Luke's Yankee customs, Peggy fights her growing attraction, while Luke, in turn, writes secret love poems that a snooping Peggy assumes are for another woman. Not a chance. The usual obstacles mount up, and Peggy makes a fateful love choice, one that she might not be able to get out of this time.

Lipton's second novel (It's About Your Husband, 2006) does little to distinguish itself from the competition, but the Connecticut scenes provide some funny moments. Peanut butter and bacon on crackers, anyone?

(COPYRIGHT (2009) KIRKUS REVIEWS/NIELSEN BUSINESS MEDIA, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.)

April 1, 2009
Like many outlandish stories, this one begins in Vegas. At a friends bachelorette weekend, Peggy wakes up with a stranger. She considers it a one-time failing and guiltily returns to New York and her long-term boyfriend. Soon after, though, she hears from Luke, her mystery man, who reveals thatthey were married. Rather than annul the marriage, Luke and Peggy strike a deal. If they stay together one year, Lukes great-aunt will allow him to sell the family estateand theyll split the proceeds. Peggy can save her struggling shop, and Luke can break free from his obligation to his familys dwindling assets. What begins as a marriage of convenience becomes much more as Peggy and Lukes lives intertwine and she becomes close to his great-aunt. Lipton, the author of Its about Your Husband (2006), writes a predictable yet appealing romantic comedy.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2009, American Library Association.)