"A Candle Loses Nothing By Lighting Another Candle" - Father James Keller


Wednesday, October 6, 2010

Meredith Cagen ‘s Review of “Detectives Don’t Wear Seat Belts” by Cici McNair


Detectives Don’t Wear Seat Belts by Cici McNair

Review: 
Cici McNair is one of few female detectives.  After living a seemingly exciting life in Europe, and recovering from a divorce, Cici decides she wants to be a P.I.  Like any other American girl, she opens the New York Yellow Pages and telephones all the detective agencies until she finds one that would want to meet her in hopes of hiring her.  Vincent Parco was the lucky man that answered her phone call and began her journey.  Detectives Don’t Wear Seat Belts is her real life story.

Cici’s path to become a detective is interwoven with details of her upbringing in Mississippi, her dysfunctional family and the life she led before embarking on a career as a P.I.
I kept turning the pages wanting to know more.  More about her private life, more about the cases, and more about the type of independent woman who can mix it up with criminals and harden detectives. 

Ms McNair deglamourizes the life of a detective.  There weren’t any exciting car chases or dangerous uncover work - only boring grunt work, and creative thinking.  As I was reading the book, I was thinking how Hollywood would sensationalize her story with Jimmy Choos and Chanel clutches.

I’m looking forward to reading her next book.

Detectives Don’t Wear Seat Belts by Cici McNair Book Info:
Hardcover: 368 pages
Publisher: Center Street; 1 edition (September 23, 2009)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1599951878
ISBN-13: 978-159995187

REVIEWED BY:
Author: Meredith Cagen
Meredith Cagen’s Author Bio:
Meredith Cagen is a working wife and mother living in New York City.  She works as a freelance writer and registered nurse.  Her family has awarded her the “Queen of the Multi-taskers” title.  In her free time she goes to the gym and out to eat.

Meredith returned to school to obtain a Bachelors of Science in Nursing.  Finding the subject dry, technical and boring, she had a difficult time focusing on her studies.  Easily distracted, and prone to daydreaming, she wrote Size Eight in a Size Zero World.  

A Size 8 in a Size 0 World by Meredith Cagen Blurb:
Meet Lindsay Chandler--a 32 year-old New York City working wife and mother with old-
fashioned values who thinks she's living a fairy tale life (she's not). She's too busy navigating
between her job, husband, home, children, friends and other obligations to acknowledge her
loneliness. Then an unexpected friendship with her upstairs neighbor (he is smart, successful,
sophisticated and sexy-- she's not) unleashes her passion and re-ignites her sparkle.

This liaison causes her to realize what she is missing. Yearning for a storybook ending, she
decides to make changes in her life, embarking on a quest for self re-invention in this hilarious, witty, heart felt story. 

In the tradition of Sex and the City, Size Eight in a Size Zero World, is a modern-day story of a
good girl trying to do the right thing and the wrong thing simultaneously, while remaining true to herself, whoever that is. 

With the help of a believable cast of characters, Lindsay embarks on a plan to better herself and plight. This novel is a wickedly funny social commentary on the lives of average women in New York City's posh Upper East Side

What happens when the road to happily ever after takes an unexpected detour?

A Size 8 in a Size 0 World by Meredith Cagen Book Info:
Genre: Women Contemporary Fiction/ ChickLit/NYC ChickLit
ISBN: 978 1440169748
Copyright: 2009

A Size 8 in a Size 0 World Reviews:
This book is everything Sex and the City 2 should have been -- smart and witty with a lot of heart! I've already bought a bunch of copies for so many friend who could relate to Lindsay. 

This is Meredith Cagen's debut novel and I hope she writes more. A LOT more! 
As soon as I read the first page, I knew I would love this book! Size Eight in a Size Zero World: A Novel by Meredith Cagen is written in a voice that resonated with me. The author's smart, witty style moves along at a good pace and it kept me turning the pages. I could relate to the conflicted heroine and I kept hoping she would wake up and smell the coffee. 

Lindsay Chandler is thirty-two, a working wife and mother, who lives in
New York with her family. In the highfalutin' Manhattan society, she's an oddity, a woman who has a real day job, does not have a nanny and does her own cooking and cleaning. Lindsay's life looks perfect on the outside, but she's miserable on the inside. Her husband Grant, a divorce attorney, treats her like a servant, ignores their two kids and is an overbearing jerk. 

One day Lindsay gets into the elevator of her building and meets a man who gives her goose bumps. They strike up a friendship. He appreciates her, asks her for advice and befriends her kids. Lindsay falls hard. She loves the way they interact; he seems to accept her, perceived flaws and all. The more she sees him the more she realizes all that she's missing in her marriage. She questions her life with Grant and decides to reinvent herself and make some changes. It all leads to a satisfying conclusion. 

A wonderfully witty social commentary on the
New York scene, this is also an endearing story of relationships, love and infidelity. The characters are believable and many women will be able to see themselves in Lindsay. Sometimes I wanted to scream at her and sometimes I wanted to cheer her on, but always she kept me reading. I highly recommend it. 


Authors By Authors Review  Size 8 In A Size Zero World of http://authorsbyauthors.blogspot.com/2010/08/review-of-size-eight-in-size-zero-world.html


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In accordance with the new FTC Guidelines for blogging and endorsements, Kiki Howell of An Author's Musings, would like to advise that in addition to purchasing my own books to review, I also receive books, and/or promotional materials, free of charge in return for an honest review, as do any guest reviewers.