Hey Lauren Lipton, please write another novel

It's About Your Husband - Lauren Lipton
New York: 5 Spot, 2006

With the exception of some weird Twilight madness that overtook me last fall, I really don't read multiple books by the same author all at once (and by "all at once" I mean within 6 months or so). I tend to spread them out. But occasionally I make exceptions. And since Mating Rituals... apparently got to me so much, I decided to inaugurate my new library card (hello Huntington Beach!) with Lipton's earlier novel.

Let's see. Iris is a newly-unemployed transplant from the San Fernando Valley to New York. (Why oh why does everyone knock the Valley so much, btw?) Because apparently the fact that she confuses twin sisters is a sign of her awesome detective skills, she somehow gets herself hired to track Sister #2's husband, who may or may not be having an affair. And, predictably. mayhem ensues. Oh, and puppies. Two of the main characters are a pug and a Jack Russell terrier (Awww).

One thing I will say about this novel that I really needed is that there really aren't any evil characters. (Is that a spoiler? It might be.) You go through thinking, oh, well this person is a cad/bitch/psycho/whatever, and then they aren't. They're just misguided, or a little selfish, and human, and forgivable. So that's nice. In the middle of stressful life changes and moves and end-of-semester workloads, it's nice to visit a world where good things happen.

Since Lipton's second novel just came out earlier this year, I'm not expecting anything new anytime soon, but when it does come, I will read it. Ooh, and hey! she's working on her next novel. And it's going to be "literary!" Yays all around.