Book Review--While You Were Out

I'm not generally a reader of chick-lit, but I recently read a novel of this genre and thoroughly enjoyed it. While You Were Out by Christina Hamlett and Jamie Dare earned 5 stars from me by the time I'd finished reading. 

Mystery, romance, and humor are all rolled into one delicious journey following Henny Tinker in modern day London. Having lost her job at a large bookstore, Henny is hired by Geoffrey Bond, whose business is art acquisitions. Henny, from a middle class family, is awed to have been asked to be Geoffrey's executive assistant. She narrates the story, and we see the place where she works and the people in the building through her eyes. We're also treated to her thoughts about her new boss and the crush she has on him that keeps building despite her reservations about his many absences, his liking of period costumes, and an antique clock that keeps time perfectly but backwards. 

Henny's crush grows along with her suspicions that her handsome hunk of a boss may be a time traveler and he might be dealing with art fraud, too. She pokes and prods these suspicions while falling more and more for him. 

Henny lives with her parents. Her mother is a terrible cook but bound to fill her family's stomachs with her concoctions. Henny has a comeback for each piece of advice her mother offers. She and her dad get along well, love to watch movies on tv together. Dad is wont to back out of a room when a conversation becomes a bit uncomfortable. Add  exotic Aunt Henny, for whom Henny was named, and Noah, a strange cousin who comes to stay, and a friend who is overseas, but always in touch, and Henny's life is filled with enough to make any young woman question her life. 

Henny leads us through her investigation of Geoffrey's business deals while she organizes his office and attends various social functions with him, dressed to the nines in the clothes he has selected for her, sometimes period costumes and sometimes exquisite evening dresses. Her observations are filled with wit and humor, pathos and concern. Hamlett and Dare, the authors, keep the reader guessing and include enough twists and turns to make this book a page turner. 

This experienced writing duo has come up with a delightful read that found me rooting for Henny, wondering about Geoffrey and his good friend, Dobby Trowbridge, and warming to the characters in Henny's middle class family. The humor throughout the book in Henny's observations brought chuckles and smiles. Humor is not easy to write, and this book accomplishes it with a flare. 

Chick-lit books are usually aimed at the younger generation, but this senior citizen found it a good read, and you probably will, too. Find it on Amazon.