Anny P. (wolfnme) reviewed on 7/24/2006 + 3389 more book reviews

Helpful Score: 2

Kate Jameson had a difficult childhood. Her mother died when she was young, leaving her in the care of an alcoholic father. Kate was taken in by the Horowitz family, including big-hearted, no-nonsense Mrs. Horowitz, a surrogate mother figure, and Bina, Kate's best friend. The Horowitzes and Kate's other friends, dubbed the Bitches of Bushwick, all live on the wrong side of the river for Kate, however, and embody everything about Brooklyn that she strove to leave behind. Kate made a new life for herself as a psychologist for an exclusive private school in Manhattan, developing a veneer of sophistication and a new group of polished, educated friends. From her urbane boyfriend to her new best friends, a gay couple, Kate has everything she ever wanted except marriage. She has even learned how to balance her two worlds without ever having them collide.

Then, one night, Bina shows up brokenhearted because the man she thought would propose told her he wanted space instead, and Kate's two lives begin to merge. Her gay friends, Elliott and Brice, begin showing up for baby showers and weddings in Brooklyn, and that's when they hatch their plan to bring Bina's boyfriend back to her. They want her to date Dumping Billy, a bartending, French-speaking Lothario whose ex-girlfriends always wind up marrying the very next man they date. Kate goes along reluctantly, denying the attraction she herself feels for Billy while she and her friends coldly manipulate him for their own ends. When the time comes for Billy to dump Bina, Kate makes her move and starts falling for him herself, plagued by worries that she's just like all the others. That ceases to matter when Billy learns he'd been manipulated, and he dumps Kate for her perfidy. Kate deals with her past and present, feeling bleak about the future until all is put to rights.

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