NEW RELEASE
Crossing Washington Square - Joanne Rendell (2009)
This is one of those books that I am so happy I read. The day I was browsing the bookstore, I remember picking it up off the table and putting it back down two or three times. My hesitation was more about spending money on another book than it was on the story itself. But something about the description just stuck with me and I had to have it. This book has what I consider the perfect elements of a chick lit novel - a New York City setting, strong, intelligent women wrestling with their lives (and each other), and of course, a love interest or two. The fact that these women are English professors referencing centuries of women's fiction was the icing on the cake for me. Diana Monroe and Rachel Grey are both English professors at Manhattan University with completely different areas of study. Diana is a tenured expert on Sylvia Plath and Rachel has just moved to New York to teach contemporary women's fiction. They clash from the get-go and things between them become further strained when visiting Harvard professor Carson McEvoy vies for the affections of them both. When they agree to co-lead an undergraduate literary trip to London, they are forced to interact on a new level and end up learning about themselves, and each other, in the process. An engaging, smart story showing you can't always judge a book by its cover, especially when it comes to people. (LEK)
