"Too Good to be True" by Kristan Higgins

Okay, so another Kristan Higgins book for you!  This one had me laughing, crying, cringing a little but I blazed through it because I enjoyed it so much!

"Too Good to be True" is again written in the first person and focuses on history teacher, Grace Emerson.  Grace's ex-fiance (who calls off the wedding a mere three weeks before the big day!) begins dating her younger sister.  The whole family seems to either be tip-toeing around the subject out of pity for Grace, or being mean about her not being able to hold on to a man.

In order to save face and pretty much shut everyone up, she invents the perfect boyfriend; a pediatric surgeon who is the ultimate everything.  Unfortunately, at the same time as the make-believe man makes an appearance, a real-live one moves in right next door who is quite perfect to look at.  The only problem?  He's an ex-con.  Well, there's another problem, too.  Grace keeps hurting him physically.  This was a great thing the first time it happened (she thought he was trying to break in to the house next door) and she hit him in the face with a hockey stick but by the third time she does something, it's a little cringe-worthy.

As the story goes on, there is a lot to keep track of:  The relationship between Grace and her fake boyfriend, the relationship now developing between Grace and hunky ex-con neighbor Callahan O'Shea; both of her sister's - the one with Grace's ex-fiance (who really, I wanted to slap sometimes with her perkiness) and her older sister who is in her own marital crisis.  Grace's parents are a riot - her mother makes "erotic" are (it was originally an accident) and her father is rather mortified by the whole thing and finally Grace's grandmother who is just mean.

It's a lot to take in but it keeps the story rolling at a great pace and makes it easy to read.  It's ending is predictable with Grace having to fess-up to the make-believe boyfriend and confront the fact that she has fallen in love with an ex-con and then has to deal with the fall out of everyone else's opinion on how she's screwed up her life and be the object of pity once again.  It's a vicious cycle, really but it all ends nicely as all books should.

Another great Kristan Higgins story!