More Like Her

Frannie Reid is a thirtysomething speech therapist at a private school in Los Angeles, where her biggest problems include seeing her ex-boyfriend—a coworker—each day, dealing with a new boss, and deflecting her best friend Jill's constant matchmaking efforts. Frannie's bad luck with men continues as she stumbles into a relationship with Sam, an architect working on a team renovating the school. As the fall semester progresses, though, she and the new headmistress, Emma Graham, are forging a friendship, and things with Sam are heating up. The funny, sharp tale takes a dark turn when Emma's husband arrives at the school armed with handguns. What would have been a perfectly enjoyable chick lit novel is transformed as Palmer (Conversations with the Fat Girl; A Field Guide to Burying Your Parents) deftly shows the characters dealing with the aftermath of the shooting while navigating their continuing relationships and work issues.