This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
Published by Soul Mate Publishing
Released on April 1, 2014
Pages: 288
Format: eARC
Source: NetGalley
The Delight
All the charm of an old black and white movie from days gone by is mixed with Now when Tracy decides to rent an apartment in New York City and ultimately away from her much loved husband. When a couple of residents of the new neighborhood seem to look like her beloved movie idols of old, she chalks it up to strain or the accident she had when one of them almost mows her down with her bike.
Review
I grew up with a mom that watched all the old black and white movies with me-back when there was only three channels and an old movie played every afternoon after school and on the weekends. I grew to love all the old matinee idols and still try to catch old movies when I can. So when I saw this book it was a total no brainer for me to read it.
Tracy is the wife of Mike Connor, mayor of a small town in Connecticut. She is also a producer for a small television station in NYC. Tracy wants Mike to move to the city with her so she doesn’t have to commute that far everyday. She’s done it his way for years, now it’s his turn or so she thinks. To that end, she rents a small studio apartment in an old unoccupied apartment building right in the middle of other affluent apartment dwellers. The character of the building harkens back to the fifties, or earlier, and she loves it immediately. When Mike doesn’t show up at the apartment even though it’s her birthday, she rents it anyway. She then stays in NYC as she is not happy with him. It’s not long before she realizes that she indeed does have a neighbor downstairs even though it’s supposed to be unoccupied and finally meets him. She’s astounded to see that he looks just like Cary Grant. No spoiler since that’s the name of the book. He befriends her and is the epitome of the debonair movie idol-one with a different name, Phillip.
Of course, that’s not all that this is about. Tracy’s tv station is probably being bought out by a horrible rich man, one that will fire all the existing employees and put on horrible reality programs. Misunderstandings with Mike ensues and through it all Phillip is there talking to her about life and love. He’s the shoulder she needs and is terribly good looking as well. To mess up matters even more, Mike has a reality show following him around as a mayor of a small town and they’ve decided that Mike and Tracy’s split? makes for good television. So Tracy is even more stressed by all the happenings in her life.
Cute. That’s exactly what I said out loud when I finished this book. I thoroughly enjoyed the whole thing. I liked the three main characters pretty equally. Tracy is a beautiful woman, smart, good at her job and she does love her husband. Mike is the kind of man that has no time for a home life, but all the time in the world for everyone else. That part I didn’t like, I must admit. As for Phillip? He was perfect as a lookalike for Cary Grant. There’s also another lookalike female character that I am going to keep for a surprise.
If you are like me, you will be questioning if there is something magical afoot here. I went back and forth throughout the book and I’m not telling! I found the story to be well written with fun banter with the lookalike celebrities. You don’t have to be a fan of old movies to enjoy this read, but it would be more enjoyed if you at least have some knowledge of Cary Grant. It may seem like I’ve told a lot about the book, but it’s mostly from the first couple of days of the story. I recommend this to romance readers that enjoy a bit of mystery or magic in their reads. Or mysterious magic? Ages 15+. FYI-this book is not about cheating.
Recommendations
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Interesting story. I have to say, I’m not a huge fan of old movies. Most of the old movies I watch are the old horrors (Dracula, Psycho, The Birds, etc). I’m glad that this one worked out great for you.
Melanie @ Hot Listens & Books of My Heart
I grew up on all those movies as well. I went and saw The Birds when it first came out. And my family all went to the drive in to see Psycho. I was pretty young but still remember looking through my dads fingers that were over my eyes during the scary parts. And anything Dracula was a given. I saw all of them. Many times.
Lorna I was so not going to like this until your disclosure about not cheating. So yes very strange premise but it looks intriguing.
It was a bit strange, but then I do like that in some of my reads. Magic as well.
I do like cute!
Me too!
It looks nice and I definitely like a bit of magic and even if I don’t really like cheating stories but I should try to see how it is
Thankfully there was no cheating in this book. I think you might like it.
Ok I misunderstood because of your last words. I thought it wasn’t about that but there was
Great find, Lorna! I love the old B&W classics (Turner Classic Movies is one of my fav channels). This cutie looks like a fun one.
Oh, it was a lot of fun, I thought anyway. I think you would enjoy it Sophia.
This one is new to me, but I love the premise and of course I need to know.
Yep, I did too. I enjoyed the whole thing.