little bitty girl

I was a little hesitant at picking up this book at the library. First of all, the pink cover simply screams "Frivolous Chick Lit! Summer Reading! Piece Of Fluff!" I was due for a brain-dead read anyway so I picked it up.

Playing House is about a woman named Frannie Mackenzie, a Canadian girl who finally manages to make it big in the Big Apple, only to have her dreams thwarted by an unexpected pregnancy. Unfortunately, the father is a struggling jazz musician named Calvin Puddie or is it Pudhie? Hence lies the dilemna. Frannie is a thirty something woman who has been living her fabulous life as a writer in NY, sleeping with someone that she doesn't quite know and now she is about to bring forth another human being. She is quite unsure of herself and her future.

Frannie evetually goes back home to Toronto for a quick medical check up, and is then rejected from the US border due to incomplete Visa paperwork. She is forced to reconcile the fact that she will no longer be living the big city life in the near future, but in Toronto, among her family and friends. Calvin subsequently shows up (after she confesses her pregnancy) and they try to juggle a burgeoning romance during the uncomfortable phases of pregnancy and delivery.

I loved the fact that the main story line is based in Toronto. I don't read that many Canadian authors (I know, so bad) and it was nice to be able to picture distinctly in one's mind the places being described. I wouldn't really call it "Chick Lit" per se because although it was eventually a love story, it definitely did not start off as one. It was really witty and laugh out loud funny. (Trust me. I got berated for laughing out loud in the middle of the night by a boy who has a cold but thinks he is suffering from pneumonia) The characters are both so individual and different. Often cantakerous and at odds with one another, Frannie and Calvin find a mutual peace in their love for their child. Definitely light reading but certainly not fluff, this book is like a glass of pink lemonade on a dark, winter afternoon.