DOUBLE-DECKER DREAMS

A high-flying American management consultant working with a London-based oil company develops a crush on a man who rides the top floor of the bus by her home office window.

Kat has dreamed of being a CEO since she was a child, and now that she’s 31, she can feel how close she’s getting. She's confident that she’ll make partner soon, and after that becoming CEO is just a hop, skip, and a jump away—and then she’ll be able to change the system into one she values. Working a hybrid schedule with a home office that faces the street, she develops a love-at-first-sight crush on a commuter who frequently passes by her window. Her crush knows no bounds, and she develops an entire British backstory for this person. But after she screws up the courage to get on the bus and meet this commuter of her dreams, she finds that instead of being Prince Alexander, as she fantasized, he’s Rory, an American from Kalamazoo, Michigan, just like her. Rory, a teacher, is in love with his hometown ex-girlfriend, who wants him to get a higher paying job and break out of his routine. He's teaching in London in an attempt to do this, and the pair will reassess their relationship at Christmas. As the story wends its way through Kat and Rory’s friendship and—eventually—burgeoning romance, Kat begins to second-guess the value of being an aspirational businesswoman. Author MacMillan spends much time postulating—through Kat’s thoughts—on theories of love, happiness, motherhood, and the importance of a quiet life and a strong nuclear family unit; many readers might find the tone preachy.

An alternate fairy-tale love story in which quiet love and routine are held up as best of all.