A Hopeless Romantic by Harriet Evans

The book's blurb:

Laura Foster is a hopeless romantic. Her friends know it, her parents know it - even Laura acknowledges she lives either with her head in the clouds or buried in a romance novel. It's proved harmless enough, even if it hasn't delivered her a real-life dashing hero yet. But when her latest relationship ends in a disaster that costs her friendships, her job, and nearly her sanity, Laura swears off men and hopeless romantic fantasies for good.

A Hopeless Romantic is the literary equivalent of comfort food. As far as genre, I think it is more romance than chick lit. There are no surprises in the plot. You know who the main character Laura is going to end up with on the last page. The writing was pleasant enough to keep me reading, anyway. Evans' descriptions of Laura's down moments were especially well done.

The only issue I had with the book was the reason that Laura kept giving for not being with the man she loved. She kept giving the same lame excuse over and over. By chapter 50, I wanted to shake her until her brains fell back into place. The length of the book may have been part of the problem. At 530 pages, this book is twice the size of the Harlequin romances I remember from my teens. I'm not sure that this plot needed so much room to spread out.

Although I called A Hopeless Romantic comfort food, perhaps a better description might be a palate cleanser. I would recommend this book as something to read after finishing something heavier.