Thursday, July 28, 2011

Book Review: Mixed Signals

Mixed Signals. Liz Curtis Higgs. 1999. Multnomah. 384 pages.

Rainy days and Mondays never got Belle O'Brien down. Not when her radio listeners were waiting. 

Mixed Signals is the second contemporary romance novel I've read by Liz Curtis Higgs. I enjoyed both Bookends and Mixed Signals, but I think I definitely liked Mixed Signals more.

The heroine of this one is radio personality, Belle O'Brien. When the novel opens, Belle's having a really bad day. She's just learned that her oldies station--the radio station that she works at--has been bought out. It is now sports radio. (Oh the horror!) She's the only one who hasn't lost her job--and it's not because Belle is a sports fan. No, they've 'creatively' imagined ways to still use her voice on air. (Think Betty Boop).

So when Belle gets a phone call a week or so later, a call from her first boss, Patrick Reese, offering her a job at his brand new oldies station, well, she's thrilled. She counts Patrick as one of her closest friends. And when she worked for him, well, she had a HUGE crush on him. She's not moving just because she's hoping for a romance between the two of them. She's moving because any job (almost) has to be better than her current one. Even if it means moving from Chicago to Abingdon, Virginia.

Belle is very excited about her new job, and she makes an almost instant connection with her landlady, Norah. Who wouldn't love Norah? She's a Christian woman with a big, big, big heart, and she is a GREAT cook. Her home is always inviting and welcoming. And spending any amount of time with Norah makes you want to set your burdens down to share. And Belle confides with Norah about her past with Patrick, which isn't the easiest for Norah to hear since she has a crush on him now.

Patrick may be the most vocal about his interest in Belle, but he's not the only man in town impressed by her. No, David, the radio engineer can't stop thinking about her either. And Christmas may just be an enlightening time for everybody...

I liked this one. I really liked it. I thought the characters were great. It was just very fun, very satisfying.

© Becky Laney of Operation Actually Read Bible

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