THE SLEEPING BEAUTY PROPOSAL: Sarah Strohmeyer: Dutton: 2007: 312 pagesGenie Michaels has been dating a smart, good looking British professor for four years and she has always assumed it was just a matter of time before Hugh got over his commitment issues and asked her to marry him. So when his sappy, Nicholas Sparks-style novel becomes a best seller and Hugh proposes on live TV, Genie is overjoyed. Her joy soon turns to shock and distress when she learns that Hugh has actually proposed to some one else and is leaving Genie to explain the mistake to all their friends and family. Her best friend, Patty, suggests that she stop sleeping through life, waiting for her prince to find her and start enjoying life by pretending to be engaged and the perks that come with it. Genie is nervous at first to deceive the people she knows, but when she sees how interested and friendly people act towards her she soon embraces the hoax fully.
At first glance this is a predictable if still enjoyable novel, but Strohmeyer delves a little deeper into some of the issues single young women face today. For example, Genie’s parents aren’t willing to help her with a down payment on a house until she gets (pretend) engaged because they don’t believe life starts for a woman until she’s married (even though Genie is in her thirties).
AJ
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