Window Dressing

Here is another wonderful selection in the NEXT series line of books. WINDOW DRESSING is the story of a woman who finds herself in a bind. Lauren Campbell has lived in the same house since she was married to her husband Roger, but they have been divorced now for 10 years. Her son Gordy has started college, and she is informed that the stipulation of the divorce was that the money originally coming from Roger to support Gordy was now to going to a trust fund, and that the house she’s been living in all these years now reverts to him. He has asked her to move out, as he's already hired a Realtor and is putting the house up for sale.

Lauren, always living in a fantasy world, did not anticipate this day. What had she been doing these past 10 years? She had been living as she had before, being a full time housewife and mother. She never once thought of learning a trade so she could support herself. Lauren's excuse: she thought she had four more years. She didn't really plan for her future, content in the way things were, pretending that life had not changed once Roger moved out and hooked up with someone much younger.

Now, Lauren is desperately trying to earn a living. She has no skills, no experience in working in an office. She tries a temp agency, and all she can do is dress up in silly costumes and try to push products at grocery stores and restaurants. But when a temp job lands at her feet where she can decorate Xmas trees at Grant's department store, she gets very excited. Christmas was one of the only happy memories she has of her ex-model mother, the mother who never really was maternal material, and constantly berates Lauren no matter where they are or what she does. It is Lauren’s chance to bond once more with her mother.

In the mean time, Gordy is going through a phase and Lauren feels he's drawing away from her, and the once close bond they had is deteriorating. On top of that, Lauren finds herself attracted to the man she has hired to redo her kitchen. It is her best friend’s idea to have an affair with this young man, who is only a few years older than her son!

This reviewer can't say nor have enough of these NEXT books. For fans of women's fiction, this series is wonderful! The stories all are well written, with stories that the older romance reader will relate to. In WINDOW DRESSING, Lauren is a forty-something woman who is dealing with a new life without the support of a man, and it’s a big change for her. She’s a woman with faults, a woman who has made many mistakes. But she is willing to put herself on the line to make those changes in her life, and learn to stand on her own two feet.

WINDOW DRESSING was very enjoyable, and while one may shake their head at Lauren's denial and the way she lived after her divorce, the reader will not dislike her for her need to hide from what is in front of her. She’s a character that grows and evolves, and for this the reader will want to root for her, and hope that she does learn to stand on her own two feet. Those around her are surprised at how little life experience she has had outside the home, especially knowing that she’s been divorced and a single mother for ten years. But this doesn’t get Lauren down. She knows she has no choice but to grab life and do what it takes to learn to make a living, no matter how embarrassing or denigrating it can be at first.

But as the reader will sympathize with her, so do all those that she comes in contact with at her new job at Grants. There is a wealth of characters that the reader will enjoy meeting, especially her co-workers at her new temporary job at Grants, including her new boss Dora, a worldly woman who is a contemporary of her mother’s, a young man who could possibly be gay, and a young woman who dresses in Goth clothing. And then there is Jack, a man that Lauren continuously bumps into, a man that Lauren is very curious about and would like to get to know.

The reader will not be disappointed with WINDOW DRESSING. It’s a definite feel-good story, and this reader is looking forward to her “NEXT” book.

August 2006