Limelight

The stirring latest from Poeppel (after Small Admissions) is a fast-paced, smart look at life and all its unpredictability. Allison Brinkley is excited about moving her family to New York City from Dallas after her husband lands his dream job at a law firm. Once they’re in New York, an incident at Allison’s son’s school leads to Allison visiting musician Carter Reid’s penthouse, and she stumbles her way into a job as his personal assistant. As a mother of three and former high school teacher, Allison feels confident that she can keep Carter on track and get him to complete his run in the upcoming Broadway production of Limelight, a show he’s strongly uninterested in. But Carter has run off other assistants before, and she deals with plenty of obstacles, including an illegal pet turtle, a one-night stand who lingers, and Carter’s inability to learn his lines. The prose is smooth and clever, making for a page-turning, charming novel full of laughs and tears.[em] (May) [/em]