Changes

Much changes when she meets Sam. They have much in common, as he's also Jewish and running multiple jobs so he can pay for his studies. He has several things working against him, however, as he's only on a student visa which limits his earning capacity and he suffers various physical ailments, including cancer. He also has a tragic past, with his parents meeting nasty accidents and a former girlfriend committing suicide. Despite warnings from various people, Maxine is determined to try and make a go of things with Sam.

What endeared me to Maxine, and the book as a whole, was that we see so much of her life. There are none of the huge jumps over the boring parts that often happen in the genre. We see Maxine at work and her studies and when she's rearranging her flat. She fails to see Sam's attraction to her at first and vacillates over whether to give him money he seems to need. Her suspicions that all isn't well creep up on her slowly and she has moments of doubt when mutual friends don't immediately agree with her point of view. Such natural events and feelings, but so often missing from chick-lit novels and they help to balance out the stranger events like misplacing her car and spending hours messing with lamps when she should be sleeping.