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A few weeks ago, I found myself at Borders with a coupon and some Borders Bonus Bucks burning a hole in my pocket. I walked up and down the romance aisles searching for a book to buy. Finally, I stumbled upon Christie Ridgway. I’m always on the lookout for new-to-me contemporary authors. I recognized her name from the 2010 RITA nominee list, so I figured she must be good, so what the hey?

The beachside knitting shop Malibu & Ewe is the perfect place for L.A.’s hip young crowd to enjoy colorful yarn and intimate conversation. For personal chef Nikki Carmichael, it could be the softest place to land if her new job falls through. Working for magazine writer Jay Buchanan has come with some strange conditions—like pretending to be his girlfriend. As for Jay, he finds himself drawn to the kitchen, where he’s intrigued by his sexy cook’s ability to withstand the heat between them. And now he thinks it’s time to turn up the flames.

I bought How to Knit a Wild Bikini because it was the first in the trilogy. I’m a sucker for a series. Apparently, I’m not alone based on the sheer number of them on the market. The premise intrigued me as a reader. As a writer, I was ready to glean any knowledge I could on how to write a single title. One of my 2011 goals is to write one (more on this Friday).

Reader self: I enjoyed the book. Ridgway successfully lured me in to wanting to read the last two books in the trilogy. The book was funny and sexy, which is the best combination in my opinion. There was a running joke from the first meeting between Jay and Nikki that Ms. Ridgway keeps going the whole book, and it had me laughing.

My one gripe was that, especially in the first part of the book, Nikki kept complaining she needed the job because she was broke. However, it was never explained why she had no money. Did she not know how to budget? Did she not have (adequate) health insurance and all her money went to paying medical bills? Who knows?  

Writer self: It seems to me that one of the keys to single title is the use of subplots. Ms. Ridgway upped the ante by having three subplots. Obviously, the main plot was the relationship between Nikki and Jay, but there were subplots involving Nikki’s connection to the knit shop and its owner, the next door neighbor (an older Paris Hilton), and Jay’s teenage cousin. That’s a lot.

My problem with subplots is that a lot of time I feel they take attention away from the main focus of the book. That’s something I’ll definitely be mindful of when I write my book.

In a nutshell: Reader self, overall happy. Writer self, learning more each time I read a book.

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