THE THIN PINK LINE

The world is a kinder, gentler place for pregnant women, or so discovers Jane Taylor, the heroine of Baratz-Logsted's debut novel, upon learning that she's expecting. So when her pregnancy turns out to be a false alarm, Jane impulsively decides to keep up the ruse. She invents details about her OB-GYN and fakes a growing stomach, among other increasingly inventive tricks. Jane is single (her live-in boyfriend didn't appreciate her deception), almost 30, an editor and British. Sound familiar? Baratz-Logsted is refreshingly self-conscious about following the chick-lit trend. As Jane laments, "Sometimes it felt as though you could no longer turn around in a bookshop or at an editorial meeting without being confronted with yet another pink-covered book whose pages told about the wacky adventures of yet another 20-something Londoner who labored in publishing." Jane's own adventures are more daring than many of her fellow single-female heroines, and Baratz-Logsted's premise is hilarious and original. Soon Jane's pregnancy threatens to ruin a budding romance and a project at work. She wishes she could come clean, but she's been offered a book contract about her farce by a colleague who catches her in the act. Jane doesn't start out as the most likable of characters, but she changes so much over the course of the novel, and is so charmingly audacious, that readers will be rooting for her—and wondering what she'll do at the end of the nine months. (July)

Forecast:A substantial ad/promo campaign—this is Red Dress Ink's first hardcover—and the book's own merits should make this a serious contender for summer chick-lit sales.