9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Funny and light romance, yet serious at the same time, June 11, 2008
This review is from: The Cubicle Next Door (Paperback)
The Cubicle Next Door is a light-hearted romance told from the point of view of Jackie Pert Harrison, a 31 year old single woman that works as a computer tech/administrator at the Air Force Academy. Her life gets turned upside down when she finds out she has to share her office with a new instructor, Lt. Col Joe Gallagher a pilot who's been grounded due to a temporary medical problem and assigned a teaching position at the Academy. Jackie is a reserved woman, used to doing things her own way, used to the routine of her life, and she is dismayed and disgruntled that Joe upsets it all. In personality he is the exact opposite of her. Outgoing and friendly where she is quiet and standoffish. He seems to not take anything seriously, while she takes everything too seriously.
At first, Jackie does everything in her power to stay away from Joe, but he is there every time she turns around. Asking her to eat lunch with him during break, moving into a house a few blocks from her own, always trying to engage her in conversation when she'd rather be left alone. Eventually, Jackie starts to like him (against her will of course!LOL), and she slowly but surely falls in love with him.
I really enjoyed reading this book. This book is categorized as Christian romance, but there is no overt displays of faith or spiritual issues touched upon. Both characters are Christian and they both attend a church service together later in the book. This book reads like a lot of mainstream chick-lit books out there, as it is told in 1st person POV, and there is a lot of funny thoughts and moments you are privy to from the narrator, Jackie.
Although there were a lot of laugh-out-loud moments, I could see the more serious undertone throughout the book. Jackie struggles with trying to accept the fact her mother abandoned her as a baby right after giving birth to her, and the fact she never knew her father (he died in Vietnam before she was born). Her fear of being just like her mother (who fell rashly in love with her father one summer, an Air Force instructor, then her mother's devastation at his death, and her subsequent abandonment of Jackie) causes her to push Joe away and refuse to acknowledge that she does have any deeper feelings for him.
In Jackie's eyes, she feels it's easy to never have loved than to love like her mother did and cause pain for those closest to her (namely, Jackie and the grandmother who raised her). However, Joe has other ideas and he continues to pursue her, trying to become friends with Jackie. Jackie gets exasperated and starts a blog to vent her frustrations about life sharing a cubicle with another co-worker. The author included Jackie's blog entries prior to the start of most of the chapters.
This book has no sex scenes or any other depiction of physical intimacy between Jackie and Joe. The most that happens is a kiss and that's not described in detail at all, oh, and a lot of hugging. =) I don't think a romance book needs the graphic sex scenes to be considered a romance book. Most women read romance books for the story, the growth in relationship between the main characters. I thought the author was very effective in showing and describing the developing relationship between Jackie and Joe. The only downside with a story told from 1st person POV is you don't get the perspective of other main characters, in this case, Joe. I could understand why Jackie was so hesitant about being with Joe, but I couldn't really see what Joe saw in Jackie, although by the end he does give a reason why he never stopped pursuing her.
Oh well, despite that negative, I still found this book very enjoyable to read. It made me smile, laugh, and cry (there were some sad parts when Jackie visited her father's grave and her thoughts on her mother). IMO, I think that's a mark of a good book. When you can laugh or be sad with the characters, and it touches you emotionally.
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5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Entertaining Light Christian Romance, June 27, 2007
This review is from: The Cubicle Next Door (Paperback)
This isn't Christan fiction of the type where there is a great spiritual revelation. Both Joe and Jackie are already Christians, but each with their own issues. Joe is career Air Force, but migranes have stuck him teaching European history to cadets (this is actually why I picked up the book...I'm a history prof...but there is VERY, VERY little history in this book). Jackie is a civilian techie who works for the Air Force. She's forced to share a cubicle with Joe and starts a blog about her problems with this. Jackie has been raised by her grandmother b/c her father died in Vietnam and her mother ran off to India right after she was born and has definite committment issues. Joe is the type never to take no - a good thing when dealing with Jackie! Jackie's blog entries are placed right in with the storyline and it works very well. It is a cute, entertaining light Christian romance. Great summer time reading!
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