Chapter two of my dissertation: “You Can Meet All Sorts of Interesting People at the Mall.” Don’t talk to them though, as this just encourages them to talk back to you. Talking leads to trouble. Most wars, divorces, and political elections happen after a lot of talking. When at the mall, it’s best to pretend you’re mute. Or from another country. A country of mutes, for example.
Charlotte has learned a lot from working at the mall. From her position as the “perfume-lady”… the person who spritzes pointless perfume on people… she can see half way across the entire mall. She’s learned that “Relationships with guys are a lot like shopping.” She’s learned to tell who is depressed and who’s planning to win the lottery to get by in life… just by what they buy at the mall.
She’s also learned that her best friend Brianna’s boyfriend is cheating on her.
Charlotte goes and tells her friend, and at first it looks like it’ll all end out well enough. Brianna will dump the jerk, and Charlotte with be hailed as a hero.
Uh… until Bryant (the cheating boyfriend) somehow convinces Brianna that it was all just a big misunderstanding.
Suddenly, Charlotte’s the enemy, but she’s not about to just sit there and let Bryant get away with it. Why would she? She knows the truth. She’s going to get the moral high ground… no matter what.
The problem is, everyone seems to be against her. Evidence keeps piling up in both her favor, and Bryants, and with Bryant’s best friend, Colton, aiming to keep Charlotte from finding out the truth, the job’s harder than she thought.
Luckily, Charlotte’s prepared.
Colton leaned toward me across the table. “Yes, we know what service projects are,” he said, “because you keep making us do them. This year alone we’ve bought books for the library, done a canned food drive, and volunteered at a soup kitchen, where-I might add- some homeless women tried to hit on me.”
“She was a harmless old lady,” I said.
“She told me I was the reincarnation of her dead husband, kept calling me Phil, and tried to follow me home.”
This book had the most stupid premise ever. I picked it up at the library and went, “wow. That sounds stupid.” But I had read My Fair Godmother, by Janette Rallison, and even though it was going against my better book judgment, I brought it home.
And wow, I’m glad I did.
This book, although it didn’t have the most promising premise, was funny, witty, and interesting. (As my mom would say, “Good writing makes up for a bad premise.”) I would give this book five stars, and definitely recommend it to a girl who needs a laugh. 🙂