Uh...this one was so bad I even permanently deleted off the kindle library so no one else on my kindle account has to suffer through. Plot synopsis attracted me to download sample and was rather funny with an engaging character. Didn't hold up for rest of book.

Cover of book misleading (for starters, this chick does not have girlfriends). The real plot synopsis -- a main character who is a doormat, irresponsible, in with a bad circle of friends (including drug dealer who crashes self and posse into her apartment rent free and uses it to deal their drugs), lets everyone catch her up in everything (peer pressure a la a bad aferschool special), ... about the only thing she did that got my sympathy/interest after the layoff I read in the downloaded sample was pull away just in time (like on the way into her apartment with his hands on her privates) from re-sleeping with horrid ex-boyfriend that harassed her at work and got her fired. Whine all the way, lotta self pity, no gumption, things she did do she was going along with everyone else...eventaully stuck crashing back home then voila new job, new boyfriend, new place, new reformed outlook so cutting monthly bills even stuff like cable in a not very believable character overhaul.

All that said, not that original and quite whiney (and really don't think that randomly tossing in some letters from creditors and potential employees that sound like came straight of the chick-lit-altarpiece Confessions of a Shopaholic added to the appeal and certainly not to the orginality other that in some of them, apparently she even offered indentured servitude and sexual favors as a way to pay off debts or get a job. Okay, I guess it was a point in the book's favor that none of the potential employers or creditors took her up on the offer so we didn't have to suffer through that plot device...ugh...barf...blech...really enjoyed deleting this one.) ( )

Jane is having an incredibly bad day losing both her job and her boyfriend on the same day. It is even more undignified that her boss is actually a company VP for the office products company firing her and had personally signed off on her termination. The resumes that Jane sends out throughout the story are the most entertaining bit as she's quite creative and unafraid of stretching the truth. But she is only half-heartedly invested in finding a new job. Really she's more focused on figuring out how to borrow money to stay in her apartment, avoiding her successful and fairly know-it-all overbearing older brother's condemnation of her life, and keeping her slacker ex-boyfriend out of her life.

Jane's father loses his job and her mother gets a job, despite his 1950's attitude towards wives working. So while Jane is trying to play mediator between her parents, she invites a woman, also fired from Jane's company to move in with her and share the rent. Inviting Missy into the mix will send everything spiralling out of control as Missy plots to get back at the company, taking Jane and another former co-worker along for the ride. When things go horribly pear-shaped, Jane will turn to Kyle, her brother's cute best friend, for help.

Lockwood tosses many balls in the air with this novel and because they are lighter than air, she manages to keep juggling them. She has multiple plot lines twirling past each other at all times. Her characters are frequently not as fleshed out as the reader might like, perhaps because there are so many of them, all of whom are fairly significant to the story. But Jane does start to grow up and act her 28 years, instead of coming across, as she did in the beginning, as a college-aged woman incapable of facing her own life.

Overall, this was a fun, frothy read. Watching as the characters plan their caper was entertaining and a good way to spend an afternoon. Ultimately the plot and the characters weren't terribly memorable and the writing, while competent, doesn't sing so this is recommended for those who enjoy a bit of chick lit fluff or who want a generally cheery, but potentially forgettable read. ( )