Julie's Review: Cassidy Lane

Author: Maria Murnane
Series: None
Publication Date: March 4, 2014
Publisher: Lake Union Publishing
Pages: 342
Obtained: publisher
Genre:  Contemporary, Womens Fiction
Rating: 4/5
Bottom Line: A book to curl up with on a weekend and feel like you are with your friends
Grab, Just get it at the library, or Remove from your TBR list? Grab!

Summary: Bestselling author Cassidy Lane walks into her twentieth high school reunion with several novels under her belt, but no date on her arm, and deep down she still feels like the smart girl no one asked to the prom. Then handsome Brandon Forrester confesses his teenage crush, and soon Cassidy finds herself swept up in a modern-day fairytale romance not unlike the tales she spins for a living. While their relationship blossoms, however, the new book she’s writing isn't going as well, and for the first time in her career she considers crafting an ending that doesn't include a proverbial walk into the sunset. Contemplating the simultaneous reversal of her own romantic fortune and that of her protagonist’s is daunting, but maybe it’s time for both her writing and her personal life to take a new path. Or is it? Filled with Murnane’s trademark wit and optimism, a charming cast of secondary characters, and loads of heart, Cassidy Lane will have you cheering for its heroine down to the very last delightful word. ~amazon.com

Review: Whenever I read one of Maria's books, I always wonder how autobiographical they are. I wondered even more so with Cassidy Lane than I do with the Waverly books. Cassidy Lane is a 38 year old sucessful writer of romance novels who is getting over a break-up, when her 20 year high school reunion comes knocking. Now, Cassidy wasn't the most popular girl in high school so she's pretty much dreading the whole thing and only going because her best friend, Patti is making her.

So when least expecting it, Cassidy begins a long-distance, texting relationship with Brandon. Witty, smart and sexy as hell; she can't wait until her next visit home. However, life being life gets in the way and before their relationship can truly begin to bloom, it begins to unravel. She begins to doubt everything and most of all herself.

What Maria always does well is capturing the feelings of her heroine and in Cassidy Lane it's not different. You are elated when she is and deflated when she is. You root for her and Brandon, even though you wonder if it's truly going to work. As a reader, you want to counsel her and tell her that putting her life on hold for him isn't going to help her. Her relationship begins to consume her and delays the writing on the book she's working on. She needs to focus but she finds herself thinking of Brandon when she has idle time.

There is a nice little twist that Ms. Murnane puts in the book that had me cheering and then booing, but I totally get why she did it. Bravo!

While I didn't find this one as laugh out loud as the Waverly Bryson books, it definitely had funny moments and  is cemented in how relationships work in the 21st century. Also, the host of supporting characters is wonderful and show a different side of Cassidy.

If you haven't read any of Maria Murnane, then you are missing out. Cassidy Lane is a great read on a weekend when you want to curl up on the couch and read a good book.


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