Maybe Charlotte by Louise McBain came out December 10 from Bella Books. For full disclosure, a review copy of this book was sent to The Lesbrary for a possible review, but honestly this book was a great time, and I'm glad it came to my attention. This book is also apparently a sequel, but that made no nevermind to my reading experience, so feel free to jump right in.
What caught my interest from the get-go was the summary and general set-up: Charlie Kincaid has moved to DC from Maine with her twin brother, in part, to escape the range of her ex-girlfriend Madison, with whom breaking up never seems to stick. She's also trying to escape the range of Madison's trendy bakery and their hit marketing win, the Charlie Pie. What no one else except Madison knows is that the Charlie Pie is named after Charlie's vagina, and hearing radio commercials about it is the straw that drives Charlie, now going by Charlotte, to move. Charlotte and her twin move into the guest house of their Great Aunt Wellesley, who is an extremely famous but also extremely reclusive artist. At a piano bar to with her brother, Charlotte meets Lily, and she feels an instant connection, but will it have a chance to grow when there are constant hijinks happening with her twin and the charity gala he's organizing, Great Aunt Wellesley, her job, and of course, Madison, who contrives to insert herself in Charlotte's life even from states away. From a manipulative ex to the casual decadence of Great Aunt Wellesley, this book was packed with action and drama.
There was a lot I really liked about this book, but perhaps what I liked most was just what a general good time it was. There's no possible way to describe all the twists and turns crammed into the plot, but at several points I gasped in delight. I guess when your starting baseline is a baked good named after a vagina, you have to go big to elevate the tensions, and there's multiple characters determined to do their part in keeping things interesting. For one thing Madison, the creator of the Charlie Pie, isn't deterred by her ex crossing state lines, and her shenanigans just don't stop. For another, Charlotte's twin brother Daniel is determined to live his most dapper gay life now that's he in DC and not in Maine, and for another he is arranging a huge charity benefit, which is always good for drama. And finally there is Great Aunt Wellesley, who is perhaps my favorite character. More books should feature eccentric older lady artists and their harem of older gentlemen, I feel, because she added a delightful layer of commentary and experience to the whole mix. It's a great mix of characters and wildly entertaining circumstances, and I was pretty much enthralled the whole time.
Charlotte and Lily are also a cute couple, once they get together. They go through a few bumps before they do, but they can't really compete with the constant low boil of drama that is the rest of Charlotte's life. Luckily for Charlotte, Lily seems willing to overlook all of that and take a pragmatic view of things. I really enjoyed how solid they became once they got together, and how even the height of Madison's manipulations never seemed to faze Lily. Between her twin and her great aunt, I felt like it was really good for Charlotte to fall for someone like Lily, and for Lily to have the opportunity to draw her hidden artistic side out from where it had been hidden in the more normal professional life she'd built up for herself.
In conclusion, this came to my attention via a review copy, but I would not have been sad or disappointed to have bought it for myself. Maybe Charlotte is out now, and I recommend it if you want a fun, distracting read for your holidays. Come for the romance and a plot summary featuring a pie named after a vagina, stay for Great Aunt Wellesley living her best life.