Love, Suburban Style

When Meg's daughter Cossette gets suspended for bringing a gun to school, which coincides with the struggling Broadway performer losing a role to another much younger actress, the Tony winner decides it might be time to return to her roots in upstate New York to provide a more wholesome upbringing for her Goth daughter. When she returns to her hometown, it's nearly unrecognizable, as the yuppies have swarmed in and brought up the property values. The only home she can afford is a haunted fixer upper next to the boyhood home of her high school crush, Sam Rooney. Unknown to her, widowed Sam lives in the home with his two children, working as a physics teacher at the local high school and coaching youth soccer. Both are immediately drawn to each other - particularly when things go bump in the night and Sam finds himself performing ghost buster duties. As a music and drama coach, she is tapped to help put on the high school production of "Sunset Boulevard," and has to deal with the fancy mom's who want their budding thespians to get the lead. Markham is the alter ego of romantic suspense author Wendy Corsi Staub. Markham's latest romantic comedy has a little ghostly whimsy, similar in plot to her wonderful novel "Hello, It's Me." She creates realistic characters (both kids and adults), and manages to keep the momentum of the story progressing. I thought she missed the boat in keeping Cosette's absent father in the background, but I loved the characters, particularly how Meg could relate more to Meryl than her own daughter. It's a cute and quick read and one of Markham's most endearing.

The fatal day that everything fell apart, Meg Addams decided to leave Manhattan for the wholesome suburban, small-town lifestyle of Glenhaven Park where she grew up. She assumed that moving out of the big city wasn't going to be a problem for either her or her 15-year-old daughter Cosette. Well, other that re-adjusting their lives from the rhythms of the city that never sleeps, to those of small town living. However things Meg hadn't expected were making that transition a less-than-easy experience. Glenhaven Park had changed in Meg's absence. Many of the inhabitants were wealthier than the blue-collared inhabitants Meg grew up with, and the main street has been invaded by upscale boutiques and posh eateries. On top of everything else, Meg had not expected her house to be truly haunted (although it had that reputation when she was a kid). She also did not expect her next-door neighbor to be her high school crush. Neither did she expect the fact that he was a hunk and that she still found herself attracted to him. What follows is a wacky story of homecoming, romance and finding ones place in new but familiar surroundings. Meg and her daughter bump into each other (teen conflict combined with the added stresses of moving), their home has un-earthly co-inhabitant, and then there's their new neighbor, Sam and his two children. While Meg and Sam try and figure out their attraction to each other, Cosette and Ben (Sam's eldest), find themselves attracted to each other and in a fledgling relationship of their own. Wendy Markham has written a contemporary romance that will please the older chick lit fan with a quick-paced and movingly funny plot. This book has a quirky and funny look at life as a single mom, dealing with major life changes, a teenage daughter who is testing her limits, a ghostly inhabitant who may or may approve of sharing a house with Meg and Cosette, and a growing attraction to her neighbor Sam. Armchair Interviews says: A great light-hearted romantic story for a relaxing summer's day reading.

Meg Adams knows that she is yesterday's news when it comes to her acting career as the former Tony Award winner Aster Hudson is considered a has been at thirty-four. However, her hopes for a major juicy Broadway role take a back seat to when her fifteen years old daughter Cosette gets kicked out of school for carrying a gun in her backpack. She decides to take her offspring to her hometown of Glenhaven Park to live. She buys the allegedly haunted Duckworth house, which is next door to single father of two her former high school crush Sam Rooney. Soccer coach Sam is concerned with his attraction to Meg and that his daughter is very fond of her; he fears he and his daughter will be hurt once Meg leaves for the bright city lights especially with an apparent resident ghost wanting her gone from the premises. The kids make this second chance at love into an interesting tale as their issues are realistic bringing freshness to the up and down romantic relationship of the adults. Readers will enjoy Cosette's antics on and off the soccer field and feel for the angst of Sam's children. Meg already knows you can't go home and the WC Field's adage of not co-starring with children as they make LOVE, SUBURBAN STYLE into a fine fun family frolic. Harriet Klausner