The Balance Thing

Rebecca "Becks" Mansfield has a boyfriend who sets her on the edge, a job catering to the whims of a cartoon vampire, and she's shortly to be a bridesmaid in the fairy-tale wedding from hell. How could this have happened to the brilliant, brash-talking, rising star of marketing? Her three best friends tell her she's "date lazy," settling for the men who require the least effort. Maybe Becks isn't trying hard enough, but the "one" she's looking for isn't the perfect man—it's the perfect job.

Of course, you can't always get what you want—a fact that's about to become crystal clear to Becks Mansfield. But sometimes you get what you need.

"In her chick lit debut (following two murder mysteries), Dumas, a Bay Area software exec, struggles admirably to create a heroine who's lovable but empowered. Becks Mansfield is a tough software marketer walking a fine line in San Francisco's tenuous postboom economy. After yet another company's restructuring leaves her without a job (and, by her estimation, a life), 'date-lazy' Becks finally takes the advice of her trio of fashion-forward friends — sunny surfer girl Vida, obsessive-compulsive bride-to-be Connie and dermatologist/theater queen Max (he's a guy) — and applies her ambitions to the romantic realm. The fab foursome launch on a journey of designer cocktails and spa treatments, as dates and Connie's dreaded 'destination wedding' in London loom. Becks also juggles a job search with what she considers to be well-paid hackwork: recording the voice of Vladima, a goth cult hero of the animated undead. The dialogue is breezy and believable, but Becks dissects her work life in tedious detail as she gets more involved in Vladima — and her creator, Josh. When forced to decide between the job opportunity of a lifetime and her commitment to Vladima (and, natch, to Josh), Becks must stop and ask herself a pressing question: 'Was marketing cool?' (Sept.)" Publishers Weekly (Copyright Reed Business Information, Inc.)

Margaret Dumas is a technical writer and computer software executive. She lives in the San Francisco Bay Area, where she is at work on her next novel and is still in search of the perfectly balanced life.