cover image Life Over Easy

Life Over Easy

Margo Candela. Kensington Publishing Corporation, $14 (314pp) ISBN 978-0-7582-1572-7

Natalya thinks she's got her whole life together, but when live-in boyfriend (and would-be fiance, though he doesn't know this) Rick tells her he needs more space, things fall apart. Rick sputters through his cliche-heavy reasons for moving out of Natalya's apartment (he needs space, and it's not her, it's him), and Natalya deals with this development by making lists (among others, why she's better off without Rick, the pros and cons of taking him back, goals for self-improvement and a matrix summarizing the men she encounters), a cutesy device that takes away more than it adds. She's reluctant to tell her overbearing family why Rick isn't with her and tries to heal herself with self-help books, a makeover and an overactive dating life. But there are several false notes: a pregnancy scare isn't quite convincing, and the urgency behind her romantic adventures is so she can pick one guy to bring to her family's Thanksgiving dinner. It's pretty standard fare as far as chick lit goes.