And One Last Thing...

Harper's stab at chick lit (after her Nice Girls series of supernatural romance) starts strong before falling into a rut of predictability. After Lacey Terwilliger receives a bouquet of flowers meant for her husband's mistress, she sends a scathing e-mail about his affair to everyone they know. Mercifully, Harper focuses more on Mike's cluelessness and Lacey's wounded emotional state and epiphanies than the media whirlwind that starts up once Laceys e-mail earns her Internet fame. In an attempt to escape the withering gaze of the media and local townsfolk, Lacey retreats to a family cabin, where the neighbor happens to be Lefty Monroe, a Hugh Jackman–looking cop-turned-writer. From here on out, it's a fairly predictable bit of meeting and initial dislike melting into attraction, with awkward forays into a writing project Lacey undertakes. Though the leads and support cast are witty and well-done, the characters Lacey doesn't like—Mike, his mistress—are little more than caricatures, and the story loses much of its verve once the LaceyLefty romance kicks in. (July)