Mari Passananti

Brendan and Zoe were college sweethearts and have been together for 10 years. Yet a month before their big wedding, Brendan decides to come clean with Zoe; he’s gay. Not only is he gay, but he’s found someone else.
Zoe is heartbroken. How could she not see the signs? How could she not know? She and Brendan were perfect for each other, or so she thought. She dreads the New York City dating scene. Especially after all these years. To top it off, she’s not sure she’s still in love with her job as a headhunter. Her boss, Carol, is psychotic. Zoe and her colleagues have learned to gauge their boss’s moods by her makeup. The wilder and uneven the makeup, the more out-of-control Carol is.
With her desk practically in the office’s front window, Zoe tries to function on everyday tasks. One day, a bouquet of roses arrives with a note: “You’ve been looking sad lately. Drink? P.S. I’m across the street, one floor up from you.”
Enter Oscar Thornton. He could easily be the guy to pick up the pieces, but Zoe isn’t sure. He sure seems to be the man that all women want: romantic, sensitive, smokin’ hot, drop-dead gorgeous, and rich. But Zoe isn’t sure he really is all those things. There’s no way he could make the money he’s spending working in marketing, even it is in Manhattan. Zoe decides she MUST find out before she gives him her heart. How far will she go to prove to herself that Oscar isn’t what he seems?
Hazards is a quick read. I think it fits comfortably into the chick lit/romance genres with a toes in women’s lit and contemporary fiction genre. It’s a different take on the boy meets girl plot structure. A great beach read; or stuck in the airport read.… (mais)

While I am no stranger to a good romance novel, I must admit that Passananti's Hazards of Hunting while Heartbroken threw me for a loop. The thing is, I misread the blurb or misunderstood it at the time I came across the novel. The book blurb references a New York City headhunter and a loose reference to the plotline. When I finally started reading it two weeks later all hope was lost for me. Too much time had passed for me to have any chance at detail oriented factual remembering.. In rereading the blurb after the fact I have NO IDEA WHAT I WAS THINKING.. I am laughing at myself, not with myself ;)

My brain instantly made the misguided leaps as follow:

1) I remember this book was about a Female Headhunter.. That is super strange for a protagonist profession. I wonder how many references to Dog the bounty hunter will be slopped into this.

2) love story with a head hunter? Wtf? This will be just strange enough to justify the reading.

3) What a strange cover. I suppose a NYC female head hunter would try to be very well dressed, especially if she is Manhatten based.

As you can see, I made my first wrong turn immediately and was oblivious to all reality.

This is a novel about a Corporate Headhunter, helping place highly skilled people with primo jobs in a rough market... She falls in love while still trying to get over her recently torpedoed engagement after she learned her fiance is gay. The man she starts dating seems too good to be true, and as we have learned in post year 2000 Disney America, it is ok for prince charming to have flaws.

Imagine my surprise when I found myself embroiled not with an action filled seedy detective style plotline, but instead a white collar office environment filled with angry bosses and trips to the opera.

Sigh, I did it to myself. Good thing I really loved the book.

Cover to cover read found this book to be well written and highly enjoyable. The twists were not terribly surprising, but it is a love story, so it is appropriate. I could have done with fewer angsty teenage emotional responses from the 30+ age group characters, but besides that, this was a damn fine novel.

I know i know. What the hell kind of review is this. Why should others pick this up..

Simple answer?
Because I was dead wrong.. It is a very good book that does not need a justification for reading as, no surprise to other readers, it is not about Dog the Bounty Hunter. Except for main character Zoe, As far as I can tell the other characters are too 'well to do' even to reference Dog at a drunken socialite party. Zoe however, I am sure she has binge watched a few episodes while drips of Ben and Jerry's congeal on her rumpled sweat pants.

Hope you enjoy it as much as I did ;)… (mais)

If you are hooked (like I am) on the new FX TV series The Americans, about Russian spies embedded in the Unites States in the 1980s, then Mari Passananti's political/spy thriller novel The K Street Affair is the perfect companion piece.

The setting is today's Washington DC, where the book opens with a bang- literally. There have been underground explosions in several DC Metro stations, killing hundreds. A terrorist attack is suspected, and corporate lawyer Lena Mancuso is still shaken walking home after the attack when two FBI agents show up at her door.

They ask Lena to help them prove that her boss is covering up for some international clients- a Russian oil tycoon, a government lobbyist and a Saudi prince- whom they believe are behind the bombings. Lena is stunned by this revelation, but she reluctantly agrees to help by looking for information in the files of her law firm.

It is a decision she will come to regret as she is dragged deep into a byzantine plot, where her life and the lives of people she loves become endangered. She is kidnapped and ends up in Russia, where her life depends on trusting the right person. Does she trust the FBI agents who got her into this mess or Mikhail, the Russian mobster's right hand man who has kept her alive and tells her a different story?

The part of the story set in Russia is most interesting. Lena is dragged from place to place, from hotel to the mobster's casino to his mansion to the Russian criminal underground. She has to use her gut instincts and smarts to keep her self alive and to get the one piece of information she needs to put the puzzle together.

There is plenty of political intrigue, with the Vice-President of the United States involved in a plot to control a new oil pipeline for a company he used to head up, and the usual FBI/CIA infighting and intrigue, complete with double-and-triple agents. There are also a lot of nail-biting action scenes which ratchet up the tension. The car chase scene was particularly well done, and the nuns were a nice touch.

I did find myself lost a little bit at times, trying to follow the conspiracy. If you don't trust lawyers or your government, The K Street Affair will have you saying "See, I told you so".

Lena is a gutsy, smart main character, and I liked her even if I did not agree with some of the choices she made. Fans of John Grisham's The Firm will enjoy this book, as it has a similar tone. It's very cinematic as well, and would make a great movie. Maybe Jennifer Lawrence as Lena?… (mais)

The Hazards of Hunting While Heartbroken, by Mari Passananti, is a funny, chic, and poignant novel about a modern day woman searching for her Prince Charming. Zoë lives in New York and has a complex job that is nowhere close to what her College degree is in. Still, things seem mostly perfect in her life. She is planning the wedding of the year, lives in a terrific apartment, and has two best friends that have been with her since her freshman year in college. However, Zoë's world is turned upside down when she is dumped by her fiancé. After a good deal of wallowing in self-pity, her best friends, Angela and Kevin, are determined that Zoë put down the ice cream, take a shower, and not become the deranged Cat Lady everyone knows. Things start looking up for Zoë when she finds herself with a secret admirer. On the outside Oscar seems like the perfect man...or is he?

I thoroughly enjoyed Passananti's, The Hazards of Hunting While Heartbroken. It is the perfect beach, vacation, or 'I need to escape reality' read. The 3-diminsional characters felt real, as did their individual situations. Passananti did a great job in weaving the lives of Angela, Kevin, and Oscar around her main character, Zoë. Ultra chic Angela has a great job in the fashion world and is on all of the up and coming lists. Smart and charming Kevin runs the mayoral campaign for a popular candidate. Oscar, Zoë's rich boyfriend, has a past he keeps hidden, an ex-wife that keeps showing up unexpectedly, and secrets that Zoë finds hard to ingnore. Top it off with Carol, Zoë's boss from Hell, and you have a hilarious, romantic, and edge of your seat read.

Angela, Kevin, and Carol all went through major changes throughout the book. However, the character that went through the biggest change was Zoë. Zoë started out as a woman who found her self worth in men. She always had a significant other and did not know who she was without one. When she found herself alone, Zoë became depressed and helpless. All of the day to day chores seemed pointless and complicated. Throughout the book Zoë starts to transform into an independent women who realizes that she has to be happy with herself before she can be happy with a significant other. This is a great lesson for all women today.

Passananti did a great job in creating and breathing life into her New York high society world. Everything felt real from the fashion, restaurants, clubs, parties, and even the New York landscape. Passananti was also able to create a world for Zoë and her friends to reside in that resonates with what I actually believe New York living to be like. However, my favorite parts of the book came when Zoë was at her job. I found myself laughing out loud at the situations Zoë and her colleagues found themselves in. Furthermore, there were more than a few times that I had to pick my jaw up from the floor after I read about some of Carol's antics.

Passananti's, The Hazards of Hunting While Heartbroken is a book that I will definitely recommend to all of my girlfriends. If you are looking for a light, funny, quick read, The Hazards of Hunting While Heartbroken is for you!… (mais)