33 Followers
14 Following
MuseAndRamble

Musings and Ramblings

Of a self professed bookworm and geek girl.

Fringe Benefits (The Ladies Who Lunch)

Fringe Benefits (The Ladies Who Lunch) - Sandy James It is with a bit of a heavy heart that I do this review. It's always a bit disappointing when a series ends, and this one is no different. I am going to miss Mallory, Jules, Beth and Dani. These are 4 women who become a family, and I got to peek inside their world. Right there as they cheered each other, gave each other comfort and dispensed advice as needed.

Dani has just become head of the English Department of her school. As such, she has the job of mentoring the brand new, fresh out of college English teacher, Nate Ryan. There is a bit of chemistry between the two right away, but with an eight year age gap, and being nominally his boss, Dani tries to keep Nate at a professional distance.

Nate believes that age is nothing but a number, besides he is looking for someone who he can settle down with. He is done and over with party girls and their ways. Besides, Dani shares many of the same interests with him, including reading and morning jogs. Nate has the patience to show Dani that he may be young, but he knows what he wants, and has no problem with waiting to get it.

Nate and Dani's courtship spans most of the school year, through their ups and downs as a couple and learning each other quirks and foibles. With both of them being teachers, we get more information on being a teacher and the ups and downs of the profession than we have in other books.

Overall, finishing this book was very bittersweet for me. Their growth as individuals and as a couple was by turns funny and heartbreaking - the age difference, their jobs, the ex-fiance, the surprise party. Oy, the surprise party.

If you have read Turning Thirty-Twelve, you will be pleased to see some familiar faces make appearances in this book. I love when characters from other books/series show up. It just gives me a quick thrill to recognize them and see how they are doing. This was a 5 star finish to a 5 star series.