What A Girl Wants

February 1, 2004
Hayley Jane Smith, the heroine of Maverick's charming debut novel, is horrified when she discovers the dead body of her colleague in the next cubicle. But when she sees Grant Hutchinson, the police detective sent to investigate Fred's death, she finds herself putting the moves on him inches away from the corpse. Mortified, she takes her job and guy woes to her friends: studious Diane, ambitious Audra, and sex maniac Suz. Unfortunately, they don't have things figured out any better than Hayley does, and, in a series of sometimes annoying sequences after she's unceremoniously fired, they try to help her find a new job and meet a guy. Luckily, Grant is still in the picture, and even though Hayley chickens out of asking him on a date, he calls her. Though her inept friends might get on readers' nerves, Hayley and Grant are likable, and it's fun to watch Hayley try to figure out what she wants and how to get it.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2004, American Library Association.)