Otherwise Engaged
A Novel
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2.8 • 6 Ratings
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- $23.99
Publisher Description
“This is the smartest romantic comedy I've read—and it's compulsively readable!” — Julia Fierro, author of The Gypsy Moth Summer and Cutting Teeth
Life is sweet for New Yorkers Molly and Gabe: They're young, in love, and newly engaged.
But when Gabe sells his first novel—a thinly-veiled retelling of his wild love affair with ex-girlfriend Talia—and it becomes a national sensation, Molly can't help but feel like the third wheel. To make matters worse, Talia reappears in Gabe's life, eager to capitalize on the book's success and to rekindle what she had with Gabe... at least, that's how it seems to Molly. But of even more concern? Gabe doesn't seem concerned at all. Instead, he's delighting in his newfound fame and success.
Jealous, paranoid, and increasingly desperate, Molly starts to spin out of control. Her social life, work life, and love life all go to pieces. As fact and fiction, and past and present, begin to blur, Molly realizes the only way out of this downward spiral is to fight her way back up. But what—if anything—will be left of her life and her relationship when she arrives?
Perfect for fans of Liane Moriarty and Jennifer Weiner, Otherwise Engaged explores the life we seek when the life we have... suddenly goes down the drain.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Palmer (Pretty in Ink) sustains a heady level of emotional tension throughout her novel of love and ex-lovers. Thirty-year-old Molly Stone, a successful human resources associate in New York City, has been waiting for her boyfriend, Gabe Dover, to propose. When it finally happens, she's blissfully happy until Gabe's book about his ex-girlfriend Talia is published and becomes popular. The sexy and flirtatious Talia reinserts herself into Gabe's life and baits Molly, who's learning that her lack of trust in Gabe might reach beyond the apparent rekindling of the relationship revealed in his novel. Molly's friends attempt to help her through her doubts about Gabe and encourage her to resist new interactions with her ex from high school, Charlie Ashbury. Curiosity about who Molly will choose if anyone turns the pages as much as the other elements of her life, whether it's her connections with friends or her psychological and emotional drama her disconnection from her own sense of strength, her emotional stability, and eventually, her job. Love, jealousy, and friendship are explored in well-crafted prose that is sometimes bright and sassy, at other times maudlin. Nevertheless, this novel is fun and consistently satisfying.
