DOUBLE HAPPINESS

Two workaholics meet at a professional and personal crossroads.

Thirty-six-year-old Mei Li is planning her wedding to a fellow New Yorker from Queens while working long hours in the marketing division of a lifestyle startup. As the elder daughter of a hardworking divorced mother, Mei is a go-getter focused on upward mobility—but she’s coming to realize that Joey DiGiacomo, her affectionate but immature fiancé, isn’t a good match for her. Their incompatibility becomes more obvious after she gets to know Alexandre Brodeur, her sister’s brother-in-law, a biology professor who’s returned to New York after failing to get tenure in Oregon. He’s now teaching at a local college, where he won’t be focusing as heavily on research. As Mei makes changes in her romantic life, she starts to think about mirroring Alexandre’s new work-life balance. But it’s not easy to abandon her professional dreams, and her growing closeness with Alexandre and their prospective happiness are soon threatened by both their careers. This debut romance spends too much time on Mei’s relationship with Joey, which has passed its sell-by date; on her marketing job; on Alexandre’s academic life; and on capitalist egomaniacs who pay lip service to diversity and environmentalism. As a result, Mei and Alexandre’s chemistry gets short shrift, and the zing that makes a romantic couple lovable does not quite appear. The time they spend together after he rescues her from a storm-interrupted corporate retreat and later during a family vacation have potential, though it’s not fully realized. The characters feel realistic, though, and their professions are well researched. Descriptions of New York and its surroundings show a deep familiarity with the area that roots the story in its setting.

A romance about millennials opting out of the rat race.