TALES OF A DRAMA QUEEN

What's a pampered 20-something to do when her rich fiancé goes on a business trip and comes back married to someone else? That's the dilemma facing Elle Medina in Nichols's delightfully silly, vivacious debut. True to type, the novel begins with a self-absorbed, ill-starred narrator with a case of logorrhea—yet it's actually funny. Clever lines tumble over one another as Elle quits D.C. for Santa Barbara, Calif., where she must find a job, a car, an apartment and a man. Getting the car isn't too hard, despite her gargantuan credit card debt, and the apartment is affordable, even if it's a converted trolley. Finding a job spotting shoplifters is easy, too. So it's too bad about the hottie who pretended he was stealing, sued and got her fired—and what about that architect who keeps catching Elle at her worst moments? Misadventures pile on misadventures, and Elle's haplessness begins to grate—that is, until she finds success as a phone psychic and starts growing up. Best friends, difficult parents, a bad boy and a good one—the necessary ingredients—are here, plus a clever plot, an over-the-top climax and a grab-a-hankie-even-though-it's-happy side-story about Elle's adoption of a mangy boxer named Scab. Agent, Nancy Coffey. (July)

Forecast: This good-natured, irrepressible fairy tale is better than a box of bonbons; Shopaholic fans may have a new heroine.