Heather Cochran

After yet another DUI conviction, actor Joshua Reed is assigned to house-arrest under the roof of his fan-club president, Leanne Gitlin, in a small West Virginia town. Joshua isn't thrilled to be there, Leanne becomes increasingly less thrilled to have him there, and both the town and the media have them under intense scrutiny. Hilarious hijinks result!

The book desperately overemphasizes its slight themes as characters helpfully explain and re-explain everyone's motivations and conflicts, and the central romance between Leanne and childhood crush Max is perilously stupid. Perilously. I did like the interactions between Joshua and Leanne -- their initial mutual petulance eventually settles into a charmingly childish rapport.… (more)

I picked this up thinking that I would put it down at page 50. I didn't want to put it down. Even when it ended, I was sad to leave this complicated family and woman. Sasha's family is true to life dysfunctional. Not so dysfunctional that reads like a nonfiction memoir, but the dysfunction that most of us can relate to. Family dynamics are complicated. She becomes slightly obsessed with a man that she is auditing for the IRS without ever having met him, but by learning his history through tax returns and harassing phone calls. And I mean obsessed in the nice way, not in a stalky kind of way (well, not completely). Very gentle, but a good read.… (more)