Little Lady, Big Apple

In Hester Browne's "deliciously addictive" (Cosmopolitan) bestseller The Little Lady Agency, Melissa Romney-Jones transformed herself from doormat to diva as Honey, London's premier freelance girlfriend. Now, Melissa is about to take Manhattan, and its clueless bachelors, by storm!With the Little Lady Agency doing a booming business back home, Melissa joins her dashing American boyfriend, Jonathan Riley, for an extended holiday in Manhattan. But she's soon out of her depth among Jonathan's hard-charging friends and his interfering ex-wife. And while she's all for shopping and sight-seeing, a covert work opportunity is an irresistible temptation -- a project that soon lands her in the tabloids! Now, a hilarious and heartbreaking chain of events may force Melissa to choose between the man she loves and the unique man-handling business into which she has poured her heart and soul....From Publishers WeeklyAs readers of The Little Lady Agency know, Melissa Romney-Jones makes her living by offering helpless London bachelors "every girlfriend service a man could need, except sex and laundry." Her clients know her only as Honey Blennerhesket, but her up-and-coming American realtor boyfriend, Jonathan Riley, loves the real Melissa. His invitation for her to stay with him in New York for a month sets up the action in this delightful, Atlantic-straddling sequel. Melissa is initially unsure about the holiday—business is booming and her personal life is overflowing with drama—but she is soon noshing on bagels and strolling through Central Park. Jonathan begins making noise about getting engaged, but what would happen to Melissa's beloved agency? An observant and witty narrator, Melissa provides a grab bag of nifty outsider observations (Kate's Paperie is "a vast temple to stationery-based politeness"; an Upper East Side apartment building is "more lavishly appointed than most London hotel bars"), though Americans' dialogue can come off a bit stiffly British. Browne's series (a sequel is not so subtly hinted) is a bright spot in a bloated genre. (Feb.) Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. From BooklistBrowne's follow-up to The Little Lady Agency (2006) finds Melissa Romney-Jones still happily dating handsome Jonathan Riley and running the Little Lady Agency, the business she created to help socially challenged men. When her flatmate Nelson kicks Melissa out of their apartment so it can be renovated, Jonathan invites her to accompany him on an extended business trip to New York. Tempted by the opportunity to experience life in the glamorous city, Melissa agrees, only to be faced with constant reminders that Jonathan's ex-wife, Cindy, resides in the same town. While at a party hosted by friends of Jonathan and Cindy, Melissa runs into Godric Ponsonby, an English actor she knew (and fooled around with) in high school. Godric's agent immediately latches on to Melissa, hoping that Melissa can help tame Godric's bad manners, but Melissa's willingness to help creates friction between her and Jonathan. Lighthearted and full of funny moments, Browne's second novel is sure to charm fans of her first. Kristine HuntleyCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved