Author: Emelle Gamble
Publisher: Soul Mate Publishing
Publication Date: April 2014
Genre: Contemporary Romance / Women’s Fiction
Buy the Book: Amazon
Description: A modern Manhattan fairy tale starring . . .
Tracy Connor, a New York City career woman who loves her job and classic movies.
Mike Connor, her estranged husband, a small-town Mayor who loves his wife but doesn’t seem to have enough time to see her.
The handsome stranger, Philip Adams, who lives downstairs from the small sublet Tracy has temporarily moved into. He’s charming, funny, and looks a lot like her very favorite screen icon, Cary Grant.
Dating Cary Grant is a romance all about New York city career woman Tracy Connor struggling with real issues with her real guy, her husband of six years, Mayor Mike Connor of Cukor, Connecticut. Tracy is a smart woman, but some of her problems with relationships are partially caused by her unrealistic expectations that real guys should—and can— behave like matinee idols. Mike’s problems are also caused by the fact that he’s such a great guy and overextends his heart, and his appointment calendar, to every constituent, friend, or stray animal who crosses his path.
Tracy is also being stressed by a TV reality show intent on showcasing Tracy and Mike’s personal life, as well as the imminent takeover of her employer, a small, private television station, by a billionaire with unlimited funds and no taste.
Dating Cary Grant considers just how selfless a man needs to be to meet his wife’s expectations, and just how honest a woman must be with herself about what she’s willing to give, and give-up. And Cary Grant is along to help prove that any woman’s search for ‘Mr. Perfect ‘ might take her to a surprising place to find him.
My Thoughts: This story was an interesting tale of a woman who is struggling with the issues she is facing in her marriage. She wants to live and work in New York City but her husband, Mike, is a mayor of a small town in Connecticut. They are both good people, committed and dedicated to their careers but neither one seems to be willing to make a compromise to keep the marriage intact. Though I understood and empathized with Tracy’s position, this really frustrated me. How can anyone expect to find a resolution to the problems in their marriage if they are living in separate states? Tracy says she needs time and space to think so she signs a six month lease without telling Mike. I understood Tracy is fed up with feeling like she comes second in Mike’s life with the demands being a mayor requires and though I understood, I didn’t feel like she was being flexible either.
Adding to the chaos in Tracy’s life is the news that the television station she works at is likely to be bought out and she will be out of a job before her lease runs out so I was quite perplexed at the logic behind her decision.
Tracy meets the downstairs neighbor, Phillip Adams, who is quite a charming individual and who is the spitting image of Cary Grant at the height of his fame. The interesting thing about this man is nobody else seems to actually see him besides Tracy. It got me thinking that he must be a figment of her imagination so I kept reading this book just so I could find out what is going on.
My Final Verdict: Dating Cary Grant was an intriguing read with an unusual premise, and the mystery surrounding Phillip Adams definitely kept me turning the pages. While I struggled with some of Tracy’s choices and found it frustrating that neither she nor Mike seemed willing to truly compromise, I still appreciated the story’s exploration of marriage, ambition, and expectations.
Overall, this was a thought-provoking contemporary romance with a touch of whimsy that will likely appeal to readers who enjoy relationship-driven stories with a slightly magical twist.
Thank you to the publisher, Soul Mate Publishing, who provided an advance reader copy of this book via NetGalley.
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