Wednesday, December 30, 2009

Review: Love Under Cover by Jessica Brody



I have written this review so that it does not provide spoilers for Love Under Cover: A Novel
or its prequel, The Fidelity Files . I realize many of you may not have read either book – both are very much worth reading and I don’t want to ruin the first book for you by revealing too much in the review. If you want more plot details, you can get them here.

Jessica Brody’s sequel to the Fidelity Files, Love Under Cover, picks up approximately one year after the completion of the Fidelity Files. The favorite characters from the first novel are back – including the practical, driven protagonist Jennifer (aka Ashlynn), her friend turned Bridezilla Sophie, the acerbic Zoe, self-absorbed Charles and the charming Jamie. Jennifer continues in her chosen profession of fidelity inspections where she tests men, at the request of their wives/significant others, to see if they have the intent to cheat. As you can imagine, this profession provides for some interesting scenes throughout the novel!

As with the Fidelity Files, Jessica Brody has succeeded in Love Under Cover in writing an entertaining novel with characters that you find yourself caring about. In particular, Jennifer is very well defined and multidimensional so that her actions are not formulaic or predictable.(see my comments about Jennifer in a Tuesday Teaser here) Chick lit, although very entertaining, can often be disappointingly predictable. Love Under Cover is refreshingly different in this respect.

This lack of formula allows for some interesting plot turns, especially in the last third of the book. Again, the departure from a formula is appealing and reveals a depth within the characters. There was one plot turn, however, that I had difficulty buying into – somehow it felt too far fetched. The other turns, however, kept me reading eagerly to see what would happen next.

If you have already read Fidelity Files, definitely pick up Love Under Cover. If you haven’t read either book and are looking for entertaining reads with characters you want to get to know better, pick up both books. Speaking of getting to know the characters better, I wonder if there will be a third in this series? The ending of Love Under Cover certainly left that option open, so I can hope!

1 comment:

  1. Thanks for bringing these books to my attention. I love great characters, so they sound good to me.

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