Testing Kate

This is an interesting book about 30 year old Kate who leaves her life in Ithaca, New York to go to Law School in New Orleans and learns some life lessons while there. Some very interesting characters, (including a law professor from hell) and great plot make this a very good read.

A friend passed on one of Gaskell's novels to me "Pushing Thirty" so I found myself online trying to buy as many as her other novels as I could. Some were average "Good Luck" but others like "Testing Kate" show that Gaskell is going to be a force to be reckoned with in the chick lit genre. The novel centers around Kate Bennett who left behind her life and boyfriend in upstate New York to go to law school in the Big Easy. There Kate meets a new group of friends that are also itching to get through there first year of law school unscathed. I loved the pace and writing of this novel. Gaskell's descriptions of law school and also New Orleans will draw you into this book, a must read for fans of chick lit.

Kate Bennett chucks her staid fiance Graham and heads to Tulane University Law School in the Big Easy. She doesn't really want to be a lawyer, but strives for the security she's sure a law degree will provide. Bad luck on the way down causes her to miss orientation, which in turn makes her unprepared for her first day of Criminal Law with the obnoxious and egomaniacal Professor Hoffman. He singles her out and proceeds to make her first year at Tulane grueling. She finds solace with her study group which includes her sexy neighbor Nick. An attraction between them is instant, but she doesn't want to get involved so soon after breaking up with Graham. When Graham returns to the picture and proposes, Kate has to decide between playing it safe and going for her dreams. Along the way, she meets eccentric author Armstrong who provides additional enlightenment and comic relief. Gaskell's fourth novel is another great character study of a woman on the verge of 30 in search of her own destiny. Secondary stories such as hook ups among the study group and an attempted suicide give added depth, though the character of Nick could have been more fleshed out. Gaskell has a keen eye for witty dialogue, which moves her stories along, making the reader feel like more than an observer.

I loved this fourth book by Whitney Gaskell. It offers up more of the fun, relatable characters and clever dialogue of her previous books. Kate Bennett is a first year law student who must face the realization that playing it safe isn't always playing it best. Though a law career and a long time boyfriend may offer Kate the security she craves, she soon discovers true happiness likely lies elsewhere. With the help of her new friends--especially handsome, sweet Nick--and her hysterically quirky boss, Kate finds the courage to leap from safety to her real dreams. Taking place at Tulane Law School, Testing Kate is sprinkled with fun pre-Katrina New Orleans flair. This is another must read from Whitney Gaskell.

I really enjoyed this book. It wasn't all cheesy and all fluff like some chick lit can be. This bordered more on a fiction than a romance. I liked how realistic it was and how the main character, Kate Bennett, handled her situation. I've read this authors previous books and have liked most of them. I look forward to reading more tfrom this author.