Serena Singh is, in her own words, "Creative Director. Badass Brown Girl. Advertising Ass-Kicker." In a new role at boutique ad agency in Washington, D.C., Serena has everything she's ever wanted: a busy and important career, a younger sister who doubles as a best friend and not much time for anything else. When the career proves a little bumpy, and the sister gets married--and then pregnant--Serena is left longing for something she can't quite identify. "What did people see when they looked at Serena Singh? A busy, career-driven woman, sure, but what else?" This is the question that teases Serena's mind throughout Sonya Lalli's Serena Singh Flips the Script.
In many novels, that "something more" would be romance, marriage, then children. But Serena is deeply mistrustful of marriage and does not want children of her own. As Serena flips the script on what happily ever after means for her, Lalli (The Matchmaker's List) turns the tables on the contemporary romance genre. The book is rife with relationship drama, but these relationships are not solely romantic ones. Instead, the novel probes the seemingly impossible challenge of adult women making--and retaining--friends. Serena also muddles through romantic ups and downs, but the central question at the book's heart is: "What did I want for myself?" It is in answering that question that the rest of the pieces start to fall into place for her: career, friendships, family, romance. But the happily ever after that Lalli has imagined in this smart, well-paced novel is not dependent on any one of those things. It is dependent on Serena herself--becoming herself. --Kerry McHugh, blogger at Entomology of a Bookworm