Overview
What's funnier than true love? Dumb love, that's what. Kathleen Jeffrie Johnson offers an exuberant romp — somewhere between a screwball comedy of errors and a modern fairy tale.
In the tiny town on Brewerton, the minister needs an assistant for his Loney Hearts advice column, someone with a sympathetic, open heart and a confidential, closed mouth. Who better, Carlotta decides, than a Love Expert like herself. In fact, once Pete, her soon-to-be boyfriend — he just doesn't know it yet — gets a look at her, she'll be the syrup on his pancake, the cream in his coffee, the crabcake at his clam bake! All she has to do is get rid of her competition: Bernice, Andrea...and Fate.
Synopsis
What's funnier than true love? Dumb love, that's what. Kathleen Jeffrie Johnson offers an exuberant romp — somewhere between a screwball comedy of errors and a modern fairy tale.
In the tiny town on Brewerton, the minister needs an assistant for his Loney Hearts advice column, someone with a sympathetic, open heart and a confidential, closed mouth. Who better, Carlotta decides, than a Love Expert like herself. In fact, once Pete, her soon-to-be boyfriend — he just doesn't know it yet — gets a look at her, she'll be the syrup on his pancake, the cream in his coffee, the crabcake at his clam bake! All she has to do is get rid of her competition: Bernice, Andrea...and Fate.
Publishers Weekly
As in her The Parallel Universe of Liars, Johnson again creates a cozy world of offbeat characters, including a pleasingly plump star, with humor at the forefront. Carlotta, a blustery young woman of "blessed flesh," recently moved to a small mountain town with her mother and her mother's boyfriend, Franklin Thomas. They are attempting to cure his alcoholism with "fresh, clean mountain air." When her mother goes on a business trip, Carlotta fears she is reconnecting with the girl's real father. Meanwhile, Carlotta schemes to win cute Pete (since he's Italian, she decides that "lov[ing] large women" is in his genes). The story culminates in a hilarious group date, which includes a dog, a bag of mail for an advice columnist and Franklin Thomas as chaperone. During the date, Carlotta finally realizes who she really is meant to be with; she also learns that her family is "turning out okay-with absolutely no help from her." The dialogue between teen characters is a bit sketchy, and readers may wish there was more about Carlotta's new job assisting the local advice columnist (with a secret identity hinted at early in the novel). But they will take a shine to these characters, particularly sweet and charmingly eccentric Franklin Thomas, who calls Carlotta his "daughter-of-heart." In the end, this is a small-town story big on funny moments, details and big-hearted characters. Ages 12-up. (Sept.) Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.