When Katie Met Cassidy

Perri’s flimsy latest (after The Assistants), set in New York City, follows lawyer Katie Daniels as she questions her sexuality and becomes smitten with fellow attorney Cassidy Price, a go-getter with a reputation as a player. When her fiancé Paul Michael leaves her for her best friend, 28-year-old Katie hopes to drink away her sorrows. She runs into Cassidy, the lawyer who intrigued her at a closing earlier that day. Cassidy, 30, takes Katie to her local hangout, the Met, a lesbian bar that’s slated to be closed and turned into condos. Cassidy’s pals are wary of her new crush, though Cassidy feels optimistic, even monogamously inclined, as the pair’s relationship turns physical. Perri doesn’t do much to turn the book’s minor characters into real people: Paul Michael is little more than a list of traits to avoid in a boyfriend, and Cassidy’s friends are all interchangeably sassy. A run-in with Katie’s ex tests their relationship, but even at this point nothing really feels at stake. Areas of conflict are hinted at with no follow-through, culminating an overly sweet, unsatisfying ending. Though the love story at the center is solid, readers will be disappointed by the narrative’s slapdash feel. (June)