Hit Reply

Wow...what a great book. Zoomed through it in three days. Lost a lot of sleep and missed my train stop one day, but the book was emotionally satisfying to the last page. Rocki St. Claire really nailed it with this book about two women and their relationship that we, the reader, get to view voyeuristically through their e-mails and instant messaging. I felt like I had hacked into someone's computer and was reading all of their personal e-mail, reading things I shouldn't getting all of the delicious office gossip, who was zooming who and what was going on in these character's lives...but I couldn't stop myself. An excellent read and worth every minute spent on it. Put it in your cart...NOW!

Written in total email and IM format Hit Reply tells the story of two friends, Amber and Stephanie. The story opens with Amber joining a class reunion group so she can attempt to hook up with Gray, the man that got away back in high school. He contacts her shortly after, and they begin an affair over the internet. Amber learns that Gray is living with someone and he is very committed to the womans child, so she is trying very hard not to get her hopes up about a future with him but it is not working. They have a real connection with each other. When Amber comes down with a form of cancer, she must make a decision about whether or not to involved Gray. Stephanie used to work with Amber before she married a hotel executive and moved away from Boston to Miami. Now Stephanie is in a marriage that is not fulfilling her life as much as she thought it would. Her husband Brent is always away and she has reason to believe that he is cheating on her. Tom, a married man that Stephanie was involved with before she hooked up with Brent contacted her about rejoining the advertising agency on a project that would be perfect for her. She could work at home and have a purpose to her life instead of just being a wife and mother. Through the constant contact with Tom, they too begin a relationship that Stephanie calls e-dultery and begins to wonder where the lines end from having some fun and actually committing adultery. Don't let the cover, title, and genre fool you. Hit Reply is much more than your average chick lit novel. It deals with some serious issues like cancer and adultery that will leave you laughing and crying. The friendships and relationships between these people are very realistic and make for a great read. I would also like to add that even though the entire book is written in email and IM format (which I normally no not like reading) somehow works with Hit Reply.

When I sat down to read this book, I didn't think I'd enjoy it that much because, to be perfectly honest, I don't like reading novels that consist of emails, instant messages, phone conversations, etc. Usually I find these books leave a lot to be desired, as often one character's voice doesn't sound very different than the other. However, this book was amazing. Not only did each character have their own distinctive voice, but the characters were hilarious, amusing, and realistic. The story line itself was absorbing and fun. "Hit Reply" tells the story of many different characters in different states of their lives. There is Amber, the sarcastic yet hilarious woman living in Boston, who works at Milennia Marketing and has just reconnected with an old flame from high school. Gray, Amber's "old flame" is living in another state with another woman and her child, but is soon trading loving, tender and sweet emails and Instant Messages with Amber. Stephanie, now living in Florida, is a happily-married, stay-at-home mother of two, but lately her marriage has been on the rocks. So she accepts an outside consulting job Millenia Marketing (the same company that Amber works at). She also suspects her husband is cheating on her with a leggy beauty from his office with whom he's taken many business trips with. Tom also works for Millenia Marketing, and is married, but suddenly finds himself confessing his feelings for Stephanie via email/IM. What with the four of them emailing and IM'ing each other, sparks soon begin to fly. Add in a disgruntled boss who is after Tom's job and determined to cause trouble as she does, a sweet, motherly assistant who is having a sort-of email romance with an old flame, a sudden secret that Amber is hiding from nearly everyone, and much more, you have yourself an irresistably funny story. So how is it that a book of emails and instant messages can be so darn good? Well, I think it's a combination of the author being able to tell a story (or as it is, many stories) and keeping the reader hooked, filling the story with memorable characters and surprising plot twists, and causing the reader to either laugh, cry, and/or get a smile on their face that just doesn't go away until hours after they've finished the book. Overall, this is a book not to miss!

Has Mr. Wrong ever invaded your life? Has the Mommy track lost its appeal? And what happens when you reach the end of that track and your kids are grown and on their own? The main characters in HIT REPLY face these questions and more in a new release from Rocki St. Claire. Amber Fleece is moving up at a Boston ad agency. Still looking for Mr. Right, she registers with an online site to get the email address of the guy who stole her heart (among other things) on prom night. Should she email him? Ignore his instant messages? Does the hip, urban woman really want to get involved with a guy who paints houses for a living and writes country music, and is living with another woman? The Harvard grad she's dating seems like the perfect man (at least to her friends and family) but sometimes out-of-your-league is preferable to Ivy League, especially when something more serious than the identity of Ben Affleck's current squeeze invades your life. Stephanie Hilliard was Amber's boss at the ad agency. But Stevie traded suits for sweats, legal pads for coloring books, and the rat race for motherhood. She adores her children, but hugs, kisses and finger paintings on the fridge are beginning to lose their luster. Combine that with her husband's heavy travel schedule and suddenly Stevie begins to think she's probably as interesting as gum on the sidewalk. And when he starts traveling with a beautiful brunette assistant, she feels threatened and scared. A job offer from left field shakes things up a bit, especially since it's from her old agency and a man she'd had a pre-marriage attraction to. She's tempted - both to take the job and renew the attraction with her old flame. But she soon has to ask herself if sexy emails are any different than what she suspects her husband may be doing. Our third player is Julie, Amber's admin assistant. Her marriage is over, her son has left for college and she's sure that motherhood can translate into a paying job. Add in the old beau she's found via the Internet, and this once-shy woman begins to blossom and exude a self-confidence that's quite marketable. Written completely in the format of emails and instant messages, HIT REPLY is a story first and foremost about friendship. It explores the various chapters in our lives and deals with the influence of the World Wide Web, that seemingly never-ending source of information for many people. It allows instant communication and shrinks the world to the size of a 17-inch flat-screen monitor. For every question that it answers, HIT REPLY raises another. Rocki St. Claire is the nom de plume of romantic suspense and category romance author Roxanne St. Claire, who Publishers Weekly considers a star on the rise. HIT REPLY is cleverly written, witty and flirty without going over the top. While billed as chick lit, it's unlike the rest of the genre, which is often full of self-dithering and endless angst. The characters' ages span three decades, so this bo

Twenty-eight years old Bostonian Amber Fleece is doing well at work but her personal life is lower than the Big Dig. Desperate and bored with the Ivy League crowd she has been seeing for eons, Amber decides to go back to her happiest moment with males: her prom night. She registers with classrunion.com seeking Gray McDermott though she learns he is blue collar. Stephanie "Stevie Wonder Woman" Hilliard used to be Amber's boss, but became an Orlando mother of two. She loves her darlings, but is bored especially since her husband Brent is never home always traveling with his young beautiful assistant. When she receives an interesting email from Tony Markoff, a blast from her past, Stevie begins an on-line affair, but wonders if that is cheating and if so is that equal to her husband's seeming fling. Amber's administrative assistant Julie Desmond is recently divorced while also suffering from empty nest syndrome as her son has left for college. She becomes independent as she grows on the job and meets a former boyfriend via the Internet. HIT REPLY is a powerful character study that looks at three women in varying phases in their lives yet with similar problems and the influence of the Internet on their relationships. The audience gets a first hand look at the prime trio through predominately their email exchanges. Fans will enjoy this instant communication winner that provides focus on what the Net is doing to people as well as asking psychological questions as to whether it fosters closeness and communication or isolationism and hiding. Rocki St. Claire has provided a fabulous look at the impact of the communication revolution on her three likable protagonists. Harriet Klausner