MANLESS IN MONTCLAIR

Suburban New Jersey mom hopes that love is just as sweet the second time around.

When Isabel loses her husband, Michael, to a sudden illness, she’s ill prepared to manage her grief and move forward. For a short while, Isabel puts her energy into caring for her two daughters and managing her publicity business. But she can’t run on autopilot forever. When one of her daughters confronts the grieving widow and asks when the family will get a new daddy, Isabel is forced to ponder her options: Go it alone or throw herself back into the dating pool and risk drowning. Refreshingly, flashbacks to Isabel’s marriage to Michael reveal flaws and sources of tension. But while it may not have been a perfect union, Isabel ultimately finds herself believing in marriage and hopes to recreate a traditional family unit for her kids. Of course there’s a catch. Single men aren’t easy to find in her sleepy suburban neighborhood, and at age 42 Isabel has a rough road to the altar. She subjects herself to the indignities of dating: Internet frauds, disastrous blind dates, frustrating encounters with professional matchmaking services. Thinking like a publicist, she comes up with an inventive solution to facilitate her search and in the process proves to be a joy to root for. The novel, based on the author’s own experience, reads like a memoir, and is packed with sincerity and frankness.

Tell-it-like-it-is tale of love and loss in the ’burbs.