Family Affair-Debbie Macomber

Family Affair
Debbie Macomber
Morrow, Jan 4 2011, $16.99
ISBN: 9780061997129

In San Francisco, Lacey Lancaster knows she is in the midst of a self pitying and self cursing fit for being a coward afraid to tell her boss Mr. ”take credit for her designs” Sullivan she deserved a raise and accolades. Her listener is her Abyssinian cat Cleo who understands abandonment as her two siblings were bought two weeks before Lacy saw her look pitiful in the pet shop window. Unlike her cheating lying ex Peter, she knows Cleo would not hurt her. Still though her dream of a family is temporarily shattered, Lacey, thanks to her feline friend, remains hopeful that one day she will meet her mate, an honest soul.

The other irritants making her life miserable are the man in the next door apartment Jack Walker and his rogue womanizing cat Dog. Jack drives Lacey crazy with his non-stop insistent raging at his beautiful girlfriend; demanding she move in with him. His beast is the neighborhood’s worst womanizer trying to get into Cleo’s purr. When Lacey realizes Cleo is off her feed, she learns why. Her cat is carrying and the absentee dad lives next door. Lacey goes next door confronting Jack and Dog; both listen with exasperating male bonding grins. Confusing Lacey further is when she learns who his girlfriend Sarah is and what their fighting like cats and dogs is about.

This is a fun throwback contemporary romance in which boy meets girl; girl dislikes boy; girl and boy fall in love. The entertaining novella stars two delightful protagonists supported by their cats and Sarah as love is in the San Francisco air.

Harriet Klausner