Changes in Attitude

by: Kathleen Shaputis

Published by: Clutter Fairy Publishing

Reviewed by Anne-Gigi Chan

Allie Thompson has built a successful career in producing educational software in Southern California. She was content with her life until she realized something was missing: a baby. Not having the right man to share this desire, Allie decided on artificial insemination and headed to the Internet in search of a father for her child.

With more help than she bargained for from her best friend, Soozi, and her business assistant, Gillian, Allie was ready for her pregnancy and beyond. That was until she met, Jack. Allie never expected to meet Mr. Right, after she got pregnant.

The plot of this book is sure to touch many people's heart as more and more women focus on their career these days and may decide to have children when they are older. It is also not uncommon that these women become very particular about who they want to father their child (and rightly so) and end up doing what Allie did.

A story revolving around a self-centered main character looking for something or someone to enrich her life, her alcoholic best friend and her gay and vain assistant certainly has a bit of chick lit quality to it. However, I found the writing style to be much more of the romance genre. The writer was so keen on repeatedly giving very detailed description of the physical appearance of the characters (which, in my opinion, had nothing to do with plot or character development) that it was a bit overdone; after all, how many times do readers have to be reminded of Allie's flat stomach or Gillian's manicured hands?

Some of the dialogues in the books were fairly well done in the sense that when I read the conversation between Allie and her friends in restaurants, I could absolutely imagine myself stuck sitting next to a bunch of loud women gabbing and laughing, totally oblivious to the diners around them. On the other hand, a lot of the times, I could not help but laugh at the lines some of the characters had--for example, when one of them said, 'Just hold me', I had to wonder: who talks like that?

If you are looking for chick lit and like the works of Helen Fielding, Jennifer Weiner, Jane Green or Sophie Kinsella, you might be a tad disappointed.

Armchair Interviews says: This book is definitely a summer beach reading targeted at people who enjoy romance novels.