Nancy's Theory of Style

Coopersmith's chick lit debut is appropriately witty and zany, but without much substance. Her heroine, Nancy Carrington-Chambers, is a Bay area socialite whose perfect wedding hasn't resulted in the perfect marriage. Three years in, she decides to take a sabbatical from the increasingly boorish Todd and concentrate on her burgeoning event-planning business, Froth. Todd agreeably arranges an assistant for her: Derek, the gay English assistant she's always dreamed of having. Nancy's neat and orderly existence comes to an end, though, after she is conned into caring for her flighty cousin's four-year-old daughter, Eugenia, and things further spin out of control when she begins to fall in love with Derek. Coopersmith's deft hand with humor works best with the purposeful malapropisms peppered throughout Nancy's dialogue, which she refers to as “errant nitwittery” but her attempts to deepen the story can't compete with the comic tone. The book is more icing than cake, but Nancy does grow up as a result of parenting Eugenia, becomes more decisive and substantial as a person, and the neat little bow that ties up the story will satisfy most readers. (June)