Party Girl

When life hands her lemons, she makes a French martini.

Life is one big party for event planner Isabel Serranti. Armed with cell and laptop, shes game to field any fete–including her next nearly impossible gig: an impromptu themed party. Five hundred guests? (No problem.) On a country estate? (Lovely!) Near her girlhood home and hosted by her infamous childhood tormentor Simon Monkwell? (Uh-oh. . . .)

Luckily, Simon is away for most of the planning, which leaves Izzy to cope with his kindly, eccentric family and their curious secrets. But when Simon–looking good enough to eat–makes a surprise visit, hes not quite the wretched oaf she remembers. And he needs her help to pull off something daring that requires clever planning, devious imagination, and a lot of panache. Naturally, theyll be working together very, very closely. . . .

“Hilarious and touching.”

–Romantic Times, about Playing James

"At the start of Brit Mason's amusing latest (after Society Girls), Isabel 'Izzy' Serranti is newly dumped, plumped and certain that her future as an event planner is in danger. Family connections net her the bash of a lifetime, but the big event — a swank charity ball — is set to take place at Pantiles, the ancestral estate of her childhood best friend turned tormentor, Simon Monkwell, England's hottest financier. Everything gets turned on its head, though, when Simon confesses that the estate is a financial disaster; he needs Izzy's help to spruce up Pantiles to reassure his American investors. Mason borrows from Helen Fielding: Izzy frets over her weight, her ill-conceived outfits and her clumsy shenanigans; much like Mark Darcy, Simon is disciplined, dangerously handsome and enamored with a clumsy, pudgy girl. Mason's creativity comes through in her winningly eccentric cast of secondary characters, but there are too many of them and their attendant complications: Izzy's parents fly in from Tokyo to explain an old family scandal, Pantile's housekeeper's estranged husband stops by for a pint and Izzy's best friend admits he's shagging her sister. Kiss Simon, Izzy, and get on with it! Eventually she does, in this fun if familiar story. Agent, Kathy Anderson. (Dec.)" Publishers Weekly (Copyright Reed Business Information, Inc.)

Event planner Isabel Serranti can field any fte as long as she's armed with cellphone and computer. When she finds herself planning a party for 500, hosted by her childhood tormentor--who's now looking good enough to eat--she realizes the wretched oaf might not be so bad after all.