Boy Next Door
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Overview
To: You (you)
From: Human Resources ([email protected])
Subject: This Book
Dear Reader,
This is an automated message from the Human Resources Division of the New York Journal, New York City’s leading photo-newspaper. Please be aware that according to our records you have not yet read this book. What exactly are you waiting for? This book has it all:
- Humor
- Romance
- Cooking tips
- Great Danes
- Heroine in peril
- Dolphin-shaped driftwood sculptures
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Synopsis
To: You (you)
From: Human Resources ([email protected])
Subject: This Book
Dear Reader,
This is an automated message from the Human Resources Division of the New York Journal, New York City’s leading photo-newspaper. Please be aware that according to our records you have not yet read this book. What exactly are you waiting for? This book has it all:
- Humor
- Romance
- Cooking tips
- Great Danes
- Heroine in peril
- Dolphin-shaped driftwood sculptures
If you wish to read about any of the above, please do not hesitate to head to the checkout counter, where you will be paired with a sales associate who will work to help you buy this book.
We here at the New York Journal are a team. We win as a team, and lose as one as well. Don’t you want to be on the winning team?
Sincerely,
Human Resources Division New York Journal
Please note that failure to read this book may result in suspension or dismissal from this store.
*********This e-mail is confidential and should not be used by anyone who is not the original intended recipient. If you have received this e-mail in error please inform the sender and delete it from your mailbox or any other storage mechanism.*********
Publishers Weekly
In her debut adult novel, Cabot (known for her extremely successful young adult fiction series the Princess Diaries, published under the name Meg Cabot) relies entirely on highly amusing e-mails to tell a fetching meet-cute story. New York City gossip columnist Melissa Fuller is known for being obsessive about Winona Ryder, dating the wrong men and being tardy for work. Arriving particularly late one morning, she explains to her colleagues at the New York Journal that she was detained by the attempted murder of her elderly next-door neighbor, Mrs. Friedlander, who is in a coma. Always the good girl, Mel has volunteered to take care of Mrs. Friedlander's many pets until the neighbor's nephew Max, a famous fashion photographer, can be reached. Her co-workers warn her about Max, a notorious lady's man. Contrary to the gossip, when she meets Max he is down to earth, funny and kind. Despite the strange fact that he likes to be called John and appears to be between photo shoots, she begins to date him and learns that he shares her love for Stephen King novels and natural disasters. It doesn't take long for her to fall head over heels, or for Mel's mom to write, "Get a ring on your finger before you uncross those legs, sweetie." When a mysterious e-mail arrives explaining that there is more to her beau than meets the eye, she is duly upset and uses the power of her pen to get even. But when Mrs. Friedlander's attacker returns, will Mel and Max be able to put their differences aside to catch a killer? Full of clever e-mail banter and tongue-in-cheek humor, this cheeky novel should be enjoyed in one sitting. (Oct.) Forecast: The leap from teen diaries to adult e-mail is a short one, and Cabot should carry along some of her young fans and their mothers, too so long as the name change doesn't confuse them. Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information.
Editorials
From Barnes & Noble
Using the clever medium of email transmissions from character to character, Meggin Cabot -- author of the popular young-adult Princess Diaries series -- crafts a hilarious story of a New York gossip columnist with journalistic aspirations, romantic complications, and one very large problem: what to do with her comatose neighbor's Great Dane. For Melissa Fuller, the path to true love is riddled with a pretentious ex-boyfriend, a best friend who's marrying into a crazy Italian family, nosy coworkers, and a boss who might fire her at any minute. If that's not enough, there's the mystery of who bonked her elderly neighbor on the head, and whether the neighbor's nephew is the man of her dreams or just a bad nightmare. This zany romantic caper is truly a novel for the 21st century!Publishers Weekly
In her debut adult novel, Cabot (known for her extremely successful young adult fiction series the Princess Diaries, published under the name Meg Cabot) relies entirely on highly amusing e-mails to tell a fetching meet-cute story. New York City gossip columnist Melissa Fuller is known for being obsessive about Winona Ryder, dating the wrong men and being tardy for work. Arriving particularly late one morning, she explains to her colleagues at the New York Journal that she was detained by the attempted murder of her elderly next-door neighbor, Mrs. Friedlander, who is in a coma. Always the good girl, Mel has volunteered to take care of Mrs. Friedlander's many pets until the neighbor's nephew Max, a famous fashion photographer, can be reached. Her co-workers warn her about Max, a notorious lady's man. Contrary to the gossip, when she meets Max he is down to earth, funny and kind. Despite the strange fact that he likes to be called John and appears to be between photo shoots, she begins to date him and learns that he shares her love for Stephen King novels and natural disasters. It doesn't take long for her to fall head over heels, or for Mel's mom to write, "Get a ring on your finger before you uncross those legs, sweetie." When a mysterious e-mail arrives explaining that there is more to her beau than meets the eye, she is duly upset and uses the power of her pen to get even. But when Mrs. Friedlander's attacker returns, will Mel and Max be able to put their differences aside to catch a killer? Full of clever e-mail banter and tongue-in-cheek humor, this cheeky novel should be enjoyed in one sitting. (Oct.) Forecast: The leap from teen diaries to adult e-mail is a short one, and Cabot should carry along some of her young fans and their mothers, too so long as the name change doesn't confuse them. Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information.School Library Journal
Adult/High School-An entertaining romp told entirely through e-mails. Melissa Fuller, celebrity-gossip columnist for the New York Journal, lives a relatively shallow existence until her elderly neighbor is attacked and sent to the hospital in a coma, leaving behind her Great Dane and two cats. Melissa gets help in caring for them from the man who is supposedly Mrs. Friedlander's playboy nephew Max, but who is actually his college buddy doing him a favor, and it all becomes a bit complicated when Melissa falls in love with "Max." Every loose plot thread comes into play in the highly satisfactory conclusion, with just enough twists on the way for a fun ride. The format fits perfectly with the gossipy nature of the book and moves the story along; readers are privy to all of the e-mails, but the characters only get the bits addressed to them. This book has the same breezy style as Cabot's "Princess Diaries" series (HarperCollins) for younger readers. Teens who enjoyed Helen Fielding's Bridget Jones's Diary (Viking, 1998) will flock just as quickly to this lighthearted romance.-Jamie Watson, Enoch Pratt Free Library, Baltimore Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.Kirkus Reviews
Gossip columnist falls for gorgeous guy.Melissa Fuller, 20-something scandalmonger for a New York newspaper, is nicer than most Manhattanites, since she hails from a small town in Illinois. She actually likes her parents, has never attempted suicide, and is sincerely interested in the celebrities she writes about. Her woes are on the wee side: pesky workplace rules about punctuality, a grumpy boss, a nervous about-to-be-married girlfriend. Her boyfriend, reporter Aaron Spender, just dumped her for a luscious foreign correspondent, to Mel’s chagrin. But she has more important things to think about when Helen Friedlander, her neighbor, is whacked on the head by an unknown intruder and left for dead. Apparently the old lady’s only relative is a famous male model and photographer on assignment in Key West. Gee whiz, how is Mel ever going to find Max Friedlander? If she can’t, she’ll have to walk Helen’s Great Dane and take care of those crazy cats all by herself until the old lady is out of the hospital. Ooh! Looks like Max just came back and he is soooooooooooo handsome, even though he has a playboy reputation. If only Mel knew that he was really John Trent, total dream dude, responsible human being, and scion of a wealthy midwestern family. John is returning a favor he owes his scurrilous buddy Max by pretending to be him while Max romps in the surf with a silly supermodel. Mel is smitten, though her girlfriend frets, parents cluck, and grumpy boss sounds off in the e-mails that comprise this cutesy romance. All counsel caution, as Mel begins to suspect that her new boyfriend just might be Helen’s attacker . . . or a transvestite killer . . . or a copycat criminal. As chick sleuths go,she hasn’t got a clue.
Clean-scrubbed, girlish romp from the author of the Princess Diaries YA series—as well as seven historical romancers under the pseudonym of Patricia Cabot.