AFTERMATH OF DREAMING

A troubled Louisiana beauty comes of age in L.A., with the help of a Warren Beatty–esque superstar.

Yvette Broussard wakes up screaming in the middle of the night—often. Otherwise, things are looking up for the 29-year-old: Her older sister’s wedding (and the psycho bride-to-be’s demands) will soon be over. Her jewelry designs are beginning to appear in the right boutiques. Michael, the boyfriend who couldn’t commit last year, is back. And she finds herself obsessing only intermittently about Andrew Madden, the 50-something perennial bachelor Hollywood heartthrob she had a secret affair with. For seven years she was the one constant among his many affairs, and he was the (other than being a practitioner of great, prolific sex) the wise daddy she lost when her father walked out; the caring momma she lost when her mother failed to survive the desertion. Yvette left Andrew four years before, when she finally realized she would never be “the one.” But now, as her bad luck would have it, she spies him seated three rows ahead of her at a theatrical performance with his wife. The only one she can tell is her best friend Reggie, who stiffly informs her that to resume their affair would be disastrous. Then, Michael reverts to his “all about me” behavior; the national department store Yvette worked so hard to be displayed in plays hardball; Reggie rushes over the line between best friend and unwanted suitor; her sister assumes full Bridezilla mode; and the scream dreams increase in frequency. What’s Yvette to do when her phone rings and she hears Andrew’s sexy baritone on the line? Told from Yvette’s point of view, this first novel entertainingly nails the power-playing endemic to living in Los Angeles. But the narrative voice is flat, and Andrew never emerges from behind his silver-screen persona.

A promising debut with room to grow.