One of my favorites of her's. Normally she is either AMAZING or what the heck am I reading. This is up there as one of her best. ( )

Cornelia Case (am I the only one who kept reading this as "Cordelia Chase"?) has been in the public eye for nearly her entire life--first as the daughter of the Vice President, then as the First Lady. And now that her husband has been assassinated, she thinks she'll get some privacy.

Think again. Her husband's Vice President, the new President, is single, and everyone (except Cornelia) thinks she'd be the best person to continue to fill that role. So she tries, but finally she can't take it anymore, and she escapes, disguised as an old woman.

Mat Jorik is a burned-out tabloid journalist who needs one good real news story to recover his integrity and his career. What he gets are his recently deceased ex-wife's daughters: a teenager named Lucy and a baby known only as Butt. When he discovers they're living alone, he loads them into their mother's ancient Winnebago--they won't fit in his sports car--to take them to their grandmother in Iowa, where they'll stay once he gets the paternity issue straightened out.

Mat and Nealy meet when her car is stolen, with all her money and belongings inside, and he offers her a ride in exchange for a loan and helping him out with the girls.

Everyone, except perhaps the baby, is concealing something. Nealy is hiding her identity and a Very Big Secret. Mat is hiding his profession. Lucy is hiding the baby's name and her vulnerability and another Very Big Secret. Despite that, they all become very close and form a family during the trip... a family that could fall apart at any moment.

A lot of the reviews called this an unusual story for SEP, but it seemed pretty usual to me--maybe we see different things in SEP's books. It has the humor and the rich emotional depth I've come to expect from her, as well as an impossible pairing. The characters were all very real--Nealy was absolutely convincing as a widowed First Lady, someone raised to public service, but for whom it's become just too much. Mat and Lucy were likewise very real. These were characters I could believe in. ( )

Normally like this author's work, but I didn't care for this one. It just didn't interest me. I believe I skimmed 50% of it until the end. ( )

This was an author whose books I've always wanted to read and for the first time, I was not disappointed. Good storyline. interesting snippets about past First Ladies tricks in diplomacy, character development was absorbing to read. It was very funny too. Nealy's longing for the normal life as she sampled Nell Kelly's life was sweet. ( )

Could NOT finish it. BORING, got to pg 41 and put it away.
0/10