New York City, N.Y. - Present Day

Emily Haxby is sure she’s right in breaking up with Andrew, her boyfriend of two years. After all, she shouldn’t be married; to be so would just make her a fraud. Emily senses that Andrew is ready for that step, and Emily cannot picture herself with anyone, not even Andrew. It’s definitely Emily’s problem. Still, breaking up was harder than she thought. And the doubts set in almost immediately, but Emily refuses to feel sorry for herself -- after all it was her decision. Work as a fifth year lawyer in one of the biggest firms in the city has never been more time consuming, especially now that Carl McKinnon, the most hated partner of the firm, assigns her to work with him on a huge case. The timing couldn’t be better, really. Working twenty-hour days won’t give her much time to think about Andrew. Even if the work is tedious, the client represents everything she knows is wrong, and Carl is a lecher and a pedantic tyrant who revels in making her life a living hell.

Emily is slowly unraveling. At twenty-nine, she is hitting a mental brick wall and is using every defense mechanism in the book to keep on going. But life keeps throwing those unexpected curves at her. Her beloved Grandpa Jack, happily ensconced in a retirement home, is getting Alzheimer’s and her father is absent as usual. His busy political job has given him the perfect excuse to be physically and emotionally unavailable since Emily’s mother died fifteen years earlier.

So something has to give, and Emily has to start taking control of her life or life will ultimately control her -- and no matter how many barriers she keeps putting up to prevent the wall from falling down, it’s starting to crumble. Emily’s journey is at times painful, at times funny, but always a learning and poignant experience. Part of that experience is exploring the definition of love and what the opposite of love means and trying to apply it to her failed relationship with Andrew, as well as to her various other relationships and the choices she has made.

I really like Emily Haxby; that is partly why I think THE OPPOSITE OF LOVE is such a successful debut. Unexpectedly, I found myself relating to her -- understanding her dilemmas, her pain, her choices, her sense of humor and her denials. I’m almost twenty years older and hopefully past that part of my life, but I really got her. Emily Haxby is a universally appealing heroine, and I truly think most women, regardless of their age, will also like and relate to her. I will chalk up the rest of the success of the novel to the excellent writing, with smooth and flowing descriptions that made me feel there, and to the smart, snappy dialogue that was never stilted or awkward, whether it came out of the mouth of a eighty-something retired judge or a twenty-something woman. The secondary characters were perfect, but they didn’t steal the show. This is Emily’s story, and it is such a good one, it should not be missed.

Astrid Kinn