Having been emotionally pole axed by Enduring Love I then found that the next book from Elaine's Personal Challenge pile was The Book Thief. Twenty pages in and, though I could see it was going to be compulsive reading, I suddenly felt totally overwhelmed by more despair and doom than I could cope with, having just spent a stressful weekend with my mother being rushed to hospital (she is now fine and home again). It was, therefore, with a feeling of relief and pleasure that I turned to Stage by Stage by Jan Jones, another of those lovely Transita authors who have been sending me books to read (thank you all who have sent me books so far and please, don't stop...).
Beth's husband Alan walks out on her after 25 years of marriage and leaves her high and dry and in need of a cash injection into the household exchequer, so she becomes a landlady and starts doing Bed & Breakfast. With two stage mad children, it is not long before she takes in lodgers from a touring acting group, one of whom is Owen Pendragon, who is dangerously attractive and emerges one morning from the bathroom with 'his dark hair curled damply......in his midnight blue towelling bathrobe' and wafting Aztec for Men all over the landing. Beth has always found clean, wet men pretty arousing and there are copious mentions of Colin Firth/Darcy/Pride and Prejudice/manservant pouring can of water over Darcy/diving in the lake at Pemberley and walking across the grass in THAT t-shirt, all of which kept this reader very happy. Owen has avoided commitment all his life, but that of course was before he met Beth and there are no prizes for guessing what happens next and how the story ends which is all very satisfying and fun.
This is a sparkling, witty book and very amusing. I read it through in one sitting and found it the perfect antidote to the Ian McEwan and any imminent psychosis that had been lurking was chased away. I gather that Jan has nearly finished writing her next book and I look forward to reading it with great pleasure.
I am now cheered up and feeling strong and back to The Book Thief which I am finding totally engrossing. I was very surprised to find myself so caught up in it. Perhaps this Contemporary Reading lark is not so bad after all....
