Crossing The Line (Red Dress Ink Novels) [Paperback]

Lauren Baratz-Logsted (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 1, 2005 | Series: Red Dress Ink Novels

The only way to come clean with everyone you've lied to -- and if you've lied to nearly everyone in your life -- is to come clean all at once. So what did I do? I threw a party, a New Year's Day party to launch my new life.

And so Jane Taylor comes clean. In fact, the new, wiser and gentler Jane tries to legally adopt the baby she found abandoned in a basket on Christmas Eve, Emma -- who happens to be black. Amid rigorous interviews with Social Services, and trying to explain to the rest of the world (namely her mother) how Emma came about, Jane decides that giving Emma a strong cultural heritage is first up on her list of mommy duties. Never one to walk the straight path, Jane navigates motherhood (and racial identity) with aplomb -- much to the surprise of her friends and family.

Satirical, sassy and sometimes serious, Crossing the Line dares to delve into the unconventional world of familial and found relationships. Here, Jane crosses the line -- between singlehood and motherhood, between black and white, between what's expected and what's due.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

The sequel to The Thin Pink Line (2003) picks up where the story left off, as Jane Taylor arrives at the house of her ex-boyfriend, Tolkien, carrying a baby she found on the steps of a church. After faking a pregnancy for nine months, fate delivered little Emma into Jane's arms. Though there's no way Jane can pass Emma off as her own--Emma is black, while Jane is white--Jane wants nothing more than to adopt Emma and raise her, but her own deception might stand in her way. She has to come clean to her family, friends, and coworkers and convince them to hide her folly from Stephen Triplecorn, the Social Service worker who seems determined to find Jane unfit to raise Emma. But as Jane bonds with Emma and starts to win Tolkien back, her fake pregnancy comes back to haunt her in an unforeseen way. Even better than the first book, Crossing the Line offers the possibility of another delightful adventure for Jane. Kristine Huntley
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

". . . chick lit with a twist!" -- Meg Cabot, author of The Princess Diaries

"Lauren Baratz-Logsted has a great voice." -- Romantic Times

"[A] terrific read -- a story that is dryly funny, brightly written and emotionally satisfying." -- Peter Lefcourt, author of Eleven Karens and The Woody

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 320 pages
• Publisher: Red Dress Ink (June 1, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0373895240
• ISBN-13: 978-0373895243
• Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 5.1 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (21 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,282,467 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

I was an independent bookseller and buyer for 11 years before deciding to take a chance on myself as a novelist. While trying to sell my books, I worked variously as a Publishers Weekly reviewer, a freelance editor, a sort-of librarian, and a window washer. My first novel, The Thin Pink Line, about a woman who fakes an entire pregnancy, was published by Red Dress Ink in 2003 as their own first-ever hardcover. They've since published two more of my books, Crossing The Line (a sequel) and A Little Change Of Face. In September they'll publish a fourth: How Nancy Drew Saved My Life, a comic gothic that's equal parts Nancy Drew, Jane Eyre and Chick-Lit. 2006 will also see the publication of two other of my novels: Vertigo, a literary novel set in the Victorian era with erotic and suspense undertones, from Bantam in October; and Angel's Choice, an earnest YA about teen pregnancy from Simon & Schuster in December. I'm also a contributor to the Jane Austen fiction/nonfiction anthology Flirting With Pride & Prejudice and editor/contributor of the anthology This IS Chick-Lit, due out from BenBella Books in the fall. I live in Danbury, CT, with my wonderful husband Greg and my equally wonderful daughter Jackie.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Hooray! Jane is back!!, June 29, 2004

By 

grannyfromCalifornia (CA, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Crossing the Line (Hardcover)

Caution: Reviewers please be careful with this one. There are so many
wonderful surprises. I do not want to spoil them for you so I will step
lightly. The first one is a laugh out loud howler and it comes in the very
beginning. Believe me, you will stop reading to think about the
ramifications of this one sentence. That is, after you stop laughing.

The second surprise will be that you will find yourself really liking
Jane and wonder why you were so upset with her in The Thin Pink Line.
We meet many new, delightful characters just as quirky as ever, but my
favorite is Stephen Triplecorn , a social worker whose main goal in life is
to give Jane a hard time. You will love him. He needs his own book.

Baratz-Logshed is an author who will have you laughing one minute and
before you know it, you are shedding a tear. This book is a keeper. Enjoy !

5 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The Perfect Sequel, September 11, 2004

By 

Roberta M. Austin (Alpharetta, Georgia USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Crossing the Line (Hardcover)

Just as a warning to the casual review reader, this book is a sequel to The Thin Pink Line and you will not want to read this review until you have read that first book, as there will be some major spoilers contained here.

Crossing the Line starts at the exact point where The Thin Pink Line ended. Jane manages to solve what to do about her fake pregnancy in a "deus ex machina" fashion as another characters aptly puts it. Jane finds a foundling on the doorstep of a church on Christmas Eve. The fly in the ointment is the fact the baby is black and Jane and her ex-boyfriend are very white. Jane finally has to have true confessions, which meets with mixed reviews. It certainly helps her book sales when her "tell-all" book is released.

Jane is still the perfect prevaricator when she decides she must learn more about the black experience for baby Emma's sake. Of course, Jane is never one to use traditional methods. She "crashes" a funeral to meet some black people since as she puts it, the publishing house she works for is "lily white" Jane must also deal with a pit bull of a social worker who has to decide through an extremely long and arduous investigation if Jane will make a fit mother.

Tolkien, Jane's "Mr. Right" is back in her life, but Jane's choices and actions may be a threat to that relationship still. Foster motherhood has made for a kinder, gentler Jane, but she still has serious issues to deal with. Jane also has to learn to deal with the changing dynamics with her family and her gay best friend, David who is busy with his own restaurant and partner.

This is a book that could not be read as a standalone, but is the perfect sequel. The reader gets a glimpse of dealing with a baby carefully broken down into the first twelve months of life written with equal parts of wry humor and heartbreak.

The first person narration once again is the only way this book could work. It makes the subtle and drastic changes in Jane that much more believable. Anyone who has ever had a child can empathize with the fierce love Jane has for Emma and the lengths to which she will go to keep the child of her heart.

Besides the characters from the first book, the reader is introduced to several new ones that play pivotal roles in the plot. Stephen Triplecorn, the social worker, is one of the most notable. He is the typical bureaucrat that you love to hate, but the ladies he has to interview don't seem to mind all his questions because his best assets are on display in his business clothing.

This book has all the British humor and pitch perfect dialog that made the first book such a fun read. There is a satisfying ending that is pure serendipity. On her website, the author writes of plans for books in the future in a variety of genres. She displays great skill and creativity in both this book and the first. I have no doubt she will have success in whatever she pursues and I eagerly look forward to her next book.

Roberta Austin

7 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Perfect Sequel, June 29, 2004

By 

Deborah C. Harbuck "Deborah C. Harbuck" (Savannah, GA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Crossing the Line (Hardcover)

How do you tell your whole world that you've been living a lie for nine months? I hope I never have to figure this out; if I do, I'll be using Jane as a role model. After reading "The Thin Pink Line" I could not imagine how Jane would ever get out of the corner she'd painted herself into. But, after reading this book, I cannot imagine any other answer. Clever and witty and all around smart - - that's what this book is; the most reading fun I've had all year.