My Take in Brief: I loved it, but you should click to one of the other reviews listed below for a more traditional review. In this post, I mainly explore feminist themes in the book.
Hero and Heroine: Both workaholic, intelligent, great looking, successful junior litigators at a large Chicago law firm, both hoping to make partner any day. J.D.’s the wealthy, conservative, golf enthusiast son of an admired judge. Payton’s the vegetarian feminist daughter of a single mom communist PETA loving hippie (and yes, I thought this an oddly WASPish name choice for this character, too). Thanks to their differences in worldview and the competitive environment of the firm, they’ve been antagonists trying comically to one up each other for 8 years.
Plot: The book is pretty light on plot, but as the novel opens, Payton and J.D. are in the final stretch of their 8 years bids to becomes partner. Long time rivals and antagonists, their boss asks them to team up to court an important client. Sparks fly as the two ditch their prejudices and get to know each other as human beings, not just walking political slogans.
Excerpt here.
Word on the Web:
Babbling About Books, Katiebabs, A
Book Smuggler, Ana, 8
Book Binge, Rowena, 4.5 out of 5
Thrifty Reader, Ames, A
Romance Novel TV, Buffie, 4.5
All About romance, Ellen, B
Amazon.com, 4.5 stars after 6 reviews
Fun Factoid: This book feels a lot like a farcical romantic comedy — kind of like the one with George Clooney and Catherine Zeta Jones, or the one with Renee Zellweger and Ewan McGregor. It turns out the author is a former screenwriter, and herself viewed PMP in these terms.
Sad factoid: James’ next book has a suspense subplot. Sigh.