Hating Valentine's Day

January 31, 2005
Rushby channels A Christmas Carol into this Valentine's Day tale about one Liv Hetherington, a single wedding photographer whose distaste for February's signature holiday prompts a spectral intervention-of the Dickensian kind. Though her father, her roommate and her boss all disapprove of Liv's no-time-for-dating lifestyle, this Valentine's Day our heroine is determined to lay low-that is, until she's visited by the Marley-esque ghost of a deceased co-worker. (A true horror for single women, Rushby's ethereal guide is an old lady who devotes all her affection to cats.) Thereafter, Liv greets a trio of ghostly visitors with little skepticism as they show her Valentine's Days past, present and future. Because Rushby narrates the novel from Liv's point of view, she often repeats the salient plot points several times: that Liv was abandoned by her ex-boyfriend, that she's living in dreams of the past, that her new suitor is genuinely a nice guy. The book's humor is similarly over-explained. When Cupid calls a woman's skirt "materially challenged," Liv repeats his observation a few sentences later: "her skirt's not quite as long as it could be." It's as if the author doesn't trust her readers to get her jokes or her narrative arguments. (She also hammers home the Dickens connection with frequent, heavy-handed references to the tale.) The repetitions drag down the book's momentum and smother much of its humor, dulling what might have otherwise been a clever remake of a classic tale of transformation and self-discovery.

January 1, 2005
After years of valiantly enduring the Valentine's Day matchmaking efforts of her family and friends, crack wedding photographer and Charles Dickens fan Liz Hetherington is overjoyed when she learns that the matchmakers have finally given up on her. But Cupid has other plans, and when, a la A Christmas Carol, the ghost of a late workaholic wedding photographer materializes and tells Liz to expect visits from three spirits, her life takes on a hilarious, sometimes poignant twist. A sassy chick-lit tale with a warmly romantic cast that will appeal to fans of the genre and, because of its paranormal Dickensian bent, may attract other romance readers as well. Rushby (It's Not You, It's Me) lives in Brisbane, Australia.

Copyright 2005 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

February 15, 2005
Many singletons will likely find themselves sympathizing with wedding photographer Liv Hetherington, who can't stand cherubic cupids and blind dates. Liv is still recovering from being dumped two years ago by her boyfriend, Mike, who broke up with her on Valentine's Day to go back to his ex-wife. She is thankful when her friends and family decide that this year they won't try to set her up for the big day. Despite her reluctance, she may have found a man all on her own--Drew, a charming friend of her flatmate Justine. But Liv isn't sure she is ready to trust another guy after Mike, so enter the ghost of Liv's deceased coworker, Mrs. Batty-Smith, who tells Liv that she is going to be visited by three spirits, ghosts of Valentine's Day past, present, and future. Anyone familiar with Charles Dickens' " A "Christmas Carol can probably guess where the story is going, but Rushby does offer a funny, charming twist on a well-known tale.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2005, American Library Association.)