This disappointing contemporary from Jump (Pretty Bad
) tells the story of a young woman returning to her despised hometown, where she endured years of emotional torture as an overweight teenager. Now thin and passingly glamorous, Allie Dean (formerly Allison Gray) is an aspiring screenwriter working on low-budget horror flicks when her condescending boss offers her the opportunity to make a movie in Tempest, Ind., the one place she’s desperate not to go. Resolving to get the last laugh, Allie accepts the job and returns to Tempest incognito, begging her family to keep her true identity secret—especially from Duncan Henry, the boy who broke her heart. After an engaging first half featuring Allie and Duncan’s steamy, burgeoning romance, the plot begins to spin out of control, as unbelievable scenarios with even more unlikely resolutions—Allie succeeds, for example, in changing the entire outlook of Duncan’s despondent, paralyzed sister in a matter of days—start piling up. Though it provides some fun diversion, Jump’s latest will strain all but the most generous reader’s suspension of disbelief. (Dec.)
