Caught my eye because one of her lives was set in Phoenix and the other in New York. ( )

Loved this book. Made me crack up SO much. However, I seriously wanted to kill the future mother-in-law and wish someone had told her off. That is the only suggestion I have to the author – totally frustrated me.

Kept me engrossed, laughing, smiling… Love her books! ( )

I loved this - a quick, entertaining read with an ending that managed to surprise me and tie things up in a way that didn't feel cheesy at all (and easily could have felt cheesy, what with the subject matter). I love chick lit with that additional element of something beyond romance - be it the supernatural, a mystery, whatever. Just some extra spice, which this had in spades. Highly recommended! ( )

In this book, the heroine, Gabby is on the eve of moving to New York City for an awesome new job producing a nightly news program when her long-time boyfriend, Cam proposes to her. Now, Gabby loves Cam and they’ve got a really good thing going on. But Cam has made it clear that he will not be living anywhere but Arizona, where his family lives and where he practices law, and that he does not want a long-distance relationship. So Gabby knows that accepting Cam’s proposal means turning down a dream job in New York. It’s one or the other. And so, painfully, she turns down Cam’s proposal. Only, maybe she doesn’t. Because she wakes up the next morning, in his arms, with the engagement ring on her finger. And so begins her double life. One in which she lives each day twice, once in New York and once in Arizona, seeing how both her options are playing out. And so it goes. The author provides no explanation for how or why this is all happening. Is this science fiction? There’s no science to back up the fiction. It’s more like fiction-fiction. This requires much suspension of disbelief, but once I decided to play along, this was a good read.

Gabby’s own personality develops differently in her two universes. In New York, she learns to be assertive and confident, as she faces new challenges with very little support from outside herself. (Perhaps the reason she is able to surmount so many of these challenges is that she doesn’t really have to deal with her break-up, since she spends alternate days with Cam in Arizona.)

Meanwhile, Arizona Gabby, whose had a bit of a clue about Cam’s attachment to his family and especially his mother, is hit hard with the reality of her future mother-in-law’s dominant style, as she intrudes into every aspect of wedding preparations. Now, since Gabby isn’t really getting married in her alternate reality and thinks it all isn’t so real, she lets things slide initially. Until so much has slide, that she loses her entire spine and finds herself following Cam’s and his mother’s lead about not only the wedding but also buying a house.

At some point, halfway through the book or so, Gabby observes that she likes herself in New York a lot more. As far as I’m concerned that’s when the deal is sealed. Her initial decision was to turn down the proposal and move to New York and after a couple of months, when she observes that she likes herself better in New York, it becomes a no-brainer, to me.

But the author keeps going with the alternate reality. In New York, Gabrielle shines at work but has a difficult roommate, a married, older boss who begins sexually harassing her, and no real interest in dating as she finds she is not ready or able to feel that way about any man but Cam.

Finally, on two days before her wedding in Arizona, she decides it’s time to take control again. She affirms herself to Cam and requests that they elope on the eve of their wedding. She’s willing to go through with the wedding as planned but she wants to elope in addition to having the big, gaudy wedding his mother wanted. Cam tells her she’s crazy. She asks several times and explains herself quite clearly but Cam refuses to elope. And so she leaves him. The Gabrielle who stayed in Arizona leaves for New York.

And this is when the second live ends. Gabby wakes up to her New York life. Only she finds she still has her engagement ring in her purse.

It’s already a pretty happy ending as Gabby has reassurance that her first decision was the best decision for her. New York was the way to go, as painful as it was to part with Cam.

But then, the real happy ending occurs when Cam shows up, repentant and malleable. He’s realized how much she meant to him, and is now willing to move to New York to be with her.

One point I didn’t mention and that I didn’t really get was that in New York reality, several months after having left Cam, Gabby learns that he’s started dating her former roommate and closest friend and becomes really upset with both of them. This just didn’t make sense to me within that context. She’d been taking the break-up really well (too well, in my opinion) but the idea of her ex dating her friend is somehow too much for her to bear. I understand not being pleased about it, but I just didn’t get the level of her discontent.

And, as I previously alluded to, I found it difficult to buy into this whole double life weirdness without any sort of explanation. ( )