Book: Mim Warner's Lost Her Cool (CL)

Lynn Messina's Mim Warner's Lost Her Cool was slow to start, but had a fabulous emotional payoff.

Meghan Somebody (it took me several chapters to find her first name) is a coolhunter working for Mim Warner. "Coolhunting" is trend forecasting: their organization interviews teenagers about what the kids think is cool so they can advise companies whether the market is ripe for their products. Mim has been doing this for fifteen years and seems almost clairvoyant in her ability to predict what consumers will want, yet a series of Mim's serious miscalculations leaves Meghan reeling as she begins to reconsider her values and her relationships.

It seems strange to have a book focusing on a boss's downward spiral as a impetus for an employee's character arc, yet much of the novel does just that. However, this premise eventually allows Meghan to revisit a relationship with an ex-boyfriend whom she loved but left.

A year after the breakup, Meghan still thinks of him. Her family loved him and her roommate is convinced they should get back together, but Meghan still can't get over his betrayal: the villain of his first novel is a bitchy coolhunter who looks just like Meghan. When Mim starts doing Something Very Weird, Meghan begins spending time with Ian as they try to solve the mystery of Mim's behavior. They end up having a conversation that left me sobbing (much like Bridget Jones's break-up speech in the film version of The Edge of Reason). I'll stop before I give anything away.

This story started off slowly and didn't give a strong sense of Meghan's character at the beginning, but that's because SHE doesn't really have a strong sense of herself, either. Even though the circumstances of the novel are just odd, the author weaves them together to allow Meghan to face some personal issues and experience real growth. The writing was taut and funny, and I will be checking out this author's backlist very soon.

Despite the slow beginning, I highly recommend this story. Grade: A-