Life as I Know It

September 28, 2009
In Brit Rose's pleasant debut, single career girl Jessica Taylor experiences love at first sight shortly before being struck by lightning. She awakens in the hospital in the body of Lauren Richardson, an unhappily married, materialistic mother of four who was also hit by lightning. While in Lauren's body, Jessica bonds with Lauren's neglected children and with Lauren's down-to-earth sister, Karen, who has sensed the change in her sister from the very start. After Jessica confides in Karen, the two attempt to make sense of why the switch happened. Rose's narrative initially uses all the old chestnuts of chick lit, pitting the life of a career girl against married motherhood; finding the perfect guy at the wrong time; the dubious current love interest (in this case, Lauren's questionable husband). As the story progresses, Rose's novel evolves into a statement about the pitfalls women encounter and the deals they make with themselves in order to make life livable. Rose's light tone packs a punch as the decidedly somber ending looms, taking the story to a foreseeable but still bittersweet conclusion.

October 15, 2009
Rose's U.S. debut employs a lightning strike to relocate her heroine in another woman's body.

Strolling with her terrier near her flat in Epsom Downs, 28-year-old Jessica Taylor is instantly drawn to fellow dog walker Dan Brennan. Seconds later, she's hit by a thunderbolt of a different kind, and revives at the hospital in the flesh of Lauren Richardson, wife of orthodontist Grant and mother of four. Jessica is even more bewildered when Lauren's body goes to sleep and Jessica finds herself in another hospital, greeted by her own name. Both women, she learns, were struck by lightning at approximately the same time several miles apart, but while Jessica's injuries were minor, Lauren's heart stopped and it took doctors 40 minutes to resuscitate her. Her consciousness appears to have vanished, leaving Jessica's to alternately occupy two bodies. When Lauren sleeps, Jessica wakes up back in her own life; night for Lauren becomes day for Jessica and vice versa. (Confused yet? The bizarre logistics somehow read plausibly.) As Lauren, Jessica quickly discovers all was not well in the affluent Richardson household. Her two daughters and twin boys, including learning-disabled Teddy, were consigned to various nannies and led strictly regimented lives; the old Lauren was a fastidious fashionista. Horrified by Grant's increasingly menacing amorous overtures, Jessica/Lauren learns that Lauren is about to put Teddy in an institution and leave with her lover. (The lover, baffled by the change in plan, begins stalking her.) She finds herself growing attached to the children, who in turn appreciate their"new" mummy's child-friendly household: She allows fries for lunch, a sandbox, playground equipment, a rabbit and a guinea pig. Meanwhile, back in her own life, Jessica realizes Dan is"the one." But how can she tell him about her other identity, particularly when his late mother suffered from multiple-personality disorder?

Ignore the junk science and enjoy the pleasing conceit that ends with a genuinely surprising twist.

(COPYRIGHT (2009) KIRKUS REVIEWS/NIELSEN BUSINESS MEDIA, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.)

December 1, 2009
When Jessica is struck by lightning on a walk in the park, she awakens to find herself in another womans body, that of Lauren, a wife and mother of four. Jessica alternates between the two lives, trying to figure out what has happened to her, while feigning amnesia as she tries to navigate Laurens home life. She discovers that Lauren isnt exactly a model mother, sister, or wife, and works to repair her relationship with her family. Meanwhile, back in her real life, Jessica is falling in love with the man who rescued her in the park, but shes not sure which life shes destined to live permanently. Although the ending falls flat with a too-convenient solution to Jessicas predicament, British author Rose makes a fantastical premise seem realistic and compelling as she delves into a womans day-to-day struggles.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2009, American Library Association.)