Ask Again Later

by Jill A. Davis

Couldn't wait to read this one, especially after I saw the cute red cover and read some decent reviews on Amazon.com and in Publishers Weekly. Emily is a lawyer in NYC, but she decides that her job is taking over her life so she works as a receptionist in her father's office instead. She's in love with perfect Sam, a recently divorced lawyer who works in her old office but she's always pushing him away. She fears commitment since her dad ran off with another woman when she was young but he recently reappeared at her doorstep after her mother was diagnosed with breast cancer.


The first two pages of the book were good and I liked Emily's observation that "Home is a place you can never leave behind." Sadly, it was all downhill from there. The next chapter is all about how her desk is behind a plexiglass wall and she wants to test it to see if it will really protect her so she contacts both the manufacturer and a local shooting range. This seemed strange. She also says things like, "Jesus is coming and I haven't a thing to wear." Also strange. Maybe an attempt to be quirky or hip or something?


For me, the final straw was the way Emily's mother's cancer diagnosis was handled. Despite the fact that it is stage I with a lump the size of a pea, and that her prognosis is extremely optimistic according to her physician, the mother starts calling every phone number in her roladex to announce that she is dying. Then she demands that Emily go on health drink fasts with her and move back home, even though her apartment is only a few blocks away. I know a scary diagnosis can make people do crazy things but this woman is the most unsympathetic cancer patient in history. For me, it felt almost like an offensive and failed attempt at humor. Cancer is not funny. Anyway, Emily immediately quits her job as a lawyer and starts working for her recently returned father. She spends alot of time talking to her therapist. I felt like I needed to see one too after reading this book. It was that annoying.