Why is it that the smart girls are always the mousy, less attractive girls? Now certainly having a smart main character in a romance means that she will in the end get the guy (hope that wasn't a spoiler for any of you devoted romance readers out there) but is it necessary to always have her be outshown looks-wise by just about everyone? Why can't women be smart and beautiful? And if they are, why do they have to be insecure enough about their brains to downplay their looks by looking dowdy? Obviously I have an ax to grind over the usual portrayals of smart women and I had hoped that this book would turn that stereotype on its head. Unfortunately I was bound to be disappointed.Our heroine Emma has come back to tiny Rock Creek, PA for both of her sisters' weddings. She is a professor of sociology at a small school in Boston and her job in academia epitomizes the publish or perish mindset. While she's in town for the weddings and playing peacemaker between her opinionated sisters and her loud and vibrant mother, she intends to capitalize professionally by researching the reasons for Rock Creek's rebirth. Examining the reasons means she needs the cooperation of newcomer Jake. He has no intentions of cooperating or allowing Emma to dig into his past and the two fence verbally whenever they see each other; and since Jake somehow ends up being pressed into service as Emma's date to the weddings, they'll see each other plenty.
The fact that the two of them are instantly attracted to each other is fine. It's a little odd though that within minutes of meeting each other for the first time both Emma and Jake fantasize about what the other would look like ready, willing, and in bed. Their chemistry comes off as more the high school obsessive lust variety than anything that would lead to a lasting relationship, the only thing missing is Emma driving by Jake's house with a friend to see if he's home. The plotline concerning Emma's research, while carried through the novel, is mostly fairly light and inconsequential as is the plotline with Emma as family mediator, the sane one if you will. An okay enough book for the most part, this is a fluffy and fairly forgettable book that does nothing towards breaking a stereotype that really gets my dander up.
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