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Summer will soon be coming to an end, but if you’re looking for a light,
entertaining book to close out your summertime reading-by-the-pool season, you’ll want to
pick up a copy of Wendy Wax’s latest, Leave It to Cleavage.
Miranda
Smith’s comfortable life of social functions and charity fundraisers is forever turned
upside-down when she accidentally discovers pictures of her husband of fifteen years
dressed in women’s lingerie (with a pristinely manicured female hand on his rear). In
just one day, everything becomes painfully clear—Tom’s penchant for women’s underwear,
his infidelity, and, finally, his disappearance. When she reads Tom’s “have a nice life”
letter, Miranda thinks that her life has hit its lowest point—but then she discovers that
Tom did more than just leave her. He also emptied out their bank accounts and left
Ballantyne Bras, her family’s business, in serious financial trouble.
Suddenly realizing that she’s the only one capable of saving her family’s
business (and, consequently, the entire town of Truro, Georgia) from bankruptcy, Miranda
dusts off her MBA and fills in for Tom, claiming that her husband asked her to take care
of the company while he went on an extended business trip to China. Miranda manages to
cover up her husband’s disappearance using fake emails and phone calls, but Blake
Summers, the chief of police, isn’t falling for it. Miranda can’t seem to hide from the
persistent chief—nor is she totally sure that she wants to.
The plot of
Leave It to Cleavage (a jilted woman forced to take charge and make it on her own)
isn’t necessarily a unique one, but Wax does a wonderful job of taking the plot and
making it her own. She creates characters (especially Miranda and Blake’s daughter,
Andie, the teenage tomboy turned beauty queen hopeful) that you can’t help but love. She
creates a tension between Miranda and Blake that’s absolutely electric—so electric, in
fact, that you’ll feel it. And her devilish wit only adds to the fun. From the very
first sentence, Wax will have you hooked, and you won’t be able to put down this
uplifting tale.
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