The Devil in the Junior League

By Linda Francis Lee

Texas socialite Frede (pronounced Freddie) Ware was certain that her husband loved her and wanted to have children with her. After several years of marriage and no babies, followed by numerous trips to the fertility doctors and lots of medical tests, Frede finds out that she has been living in a fantasy. Not only does her husband, Gordon, not want to have kids with her, he had a vasectomy before they were even married. Further, he has been having an affair with his homely secretary. And, as Frede later finds out, he has swindled Frede out of her large fortune, her house, her expensive artworks and has even replaced her fabulous jewelry with fakes. For the first time in her over-privileged life, Frede is going to have to stand on her own two feet.

Only, of course, she doesn't. She turns for help to some old friends and to some new friends and together they manage to pull her ass out of the flames. Only after being rescued does Frede finally leave her warm and cozy rich-girl enclave and set out to find herself. And that is where the story ends.

Frede Ware must be just about the stupidest rich girl there ever was. Why else would she blindly sign whatever paper her conniving husband sets in front of her, signing away her trust fund, rescinding her prenuptial agreement, and even signing over to her hubby her house and expensive artworks? This girl is just too stupid to live. But besides being stupid, Frede is one of the most stuck-up, arrogant, judgmental and all-around-stinkers of a heroine. If a woman shows up wearing a flowered print dress or, god forbid, spike heels, they are written off in Frede's book as NC: No Class. Not-One-Of-Us. This Frede is such a pill who so does not deserve her good fortune that I sort of wished the errant hubby succeeded in ripping her off at the end.
Other than the fact that Frede is a prig and a very unsympathetic heroine, sneering as she does at every little infringement she sees of her precious social code (for instance, she is shocked to see her friend is wearing animal print socks under her slacks), this story was pretty engaging. A behind-the-scenes look at the lifestyles of a particular class of society that was quite interesting. However, I did feel that Frede's husband and his complict girlfriend get off too easy. I didn't find their punishment very satisfying. And as for Frede, she's just lucky her creepy husband only swindled her.

The Ex-Debutante

By Linda Francis Lee

Carlisle Cushing is a divorce lawyer in Boston, successful in her job and engaged to be married to Phillip, a fellow lawyer at the same firm where she works. There is one tiny problem though. Everyone at work, including Phillip, thinks she is a poor Texas girl who lifted herself up by her bootstraps. Actually she comes from old Texas money and privilege. For some reason she doesn't want anyone to know that she is a rich girl.
Her mother, a wealthy Texas socialite, sends for Carlisle. She needs a divorce and who better to represent her than her own daughter. The mother, oft married and divorced, is very status conscious and worried about becoming the talk of the town as her husband is making outrageous demands on her estate, despite the fact that he signed a prenup.
It's apparent right from the start that Carlisle's pretty little life she built for herself is in peril. Not only is she taking time off from her job to deal with her mother's crisis, but she keeps her engagement secret from her family. Plus, her mom's husband has hired Jack Blair, Carlisle's old boyfriend, to represent him in the divorce and the first time she sees him, her heart leaps. An odd reaction from a woman who is supposed to be in love and ready to get married.
When she first returned to Texas to help her mother, Carlisle had planned to only stay a few days and get her mom a good divorce lawyer. But when she sees that Jack Blair is involved in the case, she abruptly decides to represent her mom herself. Does her sudden change have something to do with Jack? Of course, though she refuses to admit it, citing her mother's need as her justification.
It turns out that mom needs help not only with her divorce. She also needs someone to take over the chore of organizing the debutante ball. This ball is a huge social occasion in their community and the money raised from it supplies the funds for their local symphony orchestra and it has always been organized by Carlisle's family. Last year was her mother's first time to manage it and she messed up so badly that society's A-list strata is refusing to let their daughters make their debuts at the ball. She pleads with Carlisle to take over the debutante ball and Carlisle agrees. This means she will not be returning to Boston for more than three months which doesn't seem to bother her much, despite her claims to herself about how much she loves her life there. It also doesn't seem to bother her too much that Phillip is upset about her absence. In fact, she starts to ignore phone calls from him and her job, finding them intrusive and a nuisance. Who cares about Boston? Carlisle is too wrapped up in the debutante ball, her mom's divorce, and her exciting confrontations with ex-boyfriend and opposing counsel Jack.

Although this is a romance novel, the best and most interesting part is that of Carlisle's efforts to bring her B-list debutantes up to scratch. It is a fascinating glimpse at an event and a strata of society that most people never get to experience. I knew about debutante balls, of course, but only vaguely. It was fun to read about the girls and what was expected of them to be debs. The next best part was the story of Carlisle and her difficult, cold mother and how Carlisle comes to grips with the alienation she has always felt with her mother. The story of the romance between her and Jack was standard romance novel although without the pornographic sex scenes common to many romance novels today. There is one real sex scene in the story, but without anatomical details, which was fine by me. I usually skip over those parts. I liked this novel, though I do wish it had been more about the debs and less about the romance.

Review from Publishers Weekly.