DROP DEAD GORGEOUS

Author: Jennifer Skully ISBN: 0373771045 4/2006 CONTEMPORARY Publisher: HQN

Where is love when you really need it? Certain that she will depart this world at the tender age of twenty-eight, Madison O'Donnell is determined to experience breathless, passionate love in the two weeks left to her, no thanks to her stuffy boss, T. Laurence Hobbs! T. Laurence Hobbs is the perfect tax accountant, a man who likes his ducks in a row, his numbers in a column. But there is no way he will sit by while the lovely Madison throws herself at the absolute wrong man. If the only way to save Madison from herself is to make her fall madly in love with him, then it's up to T. Laurence to make it happen. And as he turns his number-crunching skills to capturing his sexy secretary, he's beginning to think that there is more to life than death and taxes.

RRAH's THOUGHTS AND PONDERINGS:

DROP DEAD GORGEOUS is adorable.

This mad-cap romp is high-energy fare, swirling with kooky characters, office intrigues, a lawsuit, even a stalker. And some laugh-out-loud scenes.

A flighty, fun loving heroine pitted against a stodgy, no-nonsense hero might be fairly cookie cutter stuff, but Ms. Skully does some interesting things with both these characters. Madison O'Donnell, for instance, survived a stroke when she was 15 (just like her father) and is sure she'll die sometime after her 28^th birthday (again, just like her father). She wants to fall in love and experience passion before her looming 28^th birthday rolls around. Kind, sweet, beautiful Madison, who tries to find the best in everyone, is a really neat character, living life as if each day was her last.

Her boss, accountant T. Laurence Hobbs, has been fond of Madison for years and discovers—to his horror—he wants to be the one who shares her passion. Hobbs comes across as being an old-world gentleman and one of the best scenes in the book involves him confronting an over-eager woman in a bar.

Ms. Skully really has a nice touch with comedy. This light-hearted tale is often hilarious, but there is another layer to DROP DEAD GORGEOUS. A layer that touches on people's imperfections and insecurities. For all Madison's attributes, she is not only afraid of dying young, but has a weak hand and a lopsided smile caused by her teenage stroke. Hobbs suffers insecurities with his masculinity because he is bald. Harriet, another accountant, is overweight but tries to imitate Madison's style, making her the laughingstock of the office. Another accountant, Zach, is tired of being invisible because he is shy. Ms. Skully handles these insecurities with compassion and humor.

DROP DEAD GORGEOUS is funny, often touching and always entertaining. Definitely worth a read.

Debbie Jett