Accidentally Engaged (Paperback)

~ (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Carter's second novel (after She'll Take It) follows a thrice-divorced tarot card reader possessed of questionable psychic prowess who is drawn into the strange dealings of a wealthy family. Despite three failed marriages, 32-year-old Clair Ivars is still "in love with love," so she's not exactly thrilled about her first encounter with Rachel Morgan, a manic bride-to-be who bullies Clair into predicting a miserable married future. Rachel leaves her three-carat diamond engagement ring with Clair, along with instructions to return the pricey piece to the groom-to-be, wine and vodka mogul Jack Heron. Hilarity and mishaps ensue as Clair travels to the Heron Estate and meets Jack and his family. While pretending to be Jack's fiancée (to please Jack's grandmother and a group of investors), Clair finds secrets in every corner of the mansion and meets her dream beau. The sitcom-caliber humor hits its mark, and the trove of mini-mysteries will keep readers guessing. (Mar.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

When psychic Clair does a tarot-card reading for doubting bride-to-be Rachel, it's the beginning of a bizarre adventure. Rachel leaves behind her engagement ring and her fiance Jake's business card, and Clair decides to take a pilgrimage to the Heron family winery to return the ring. Somehow she ends up agreeing to impersonate Rachel at a giant engagement party while simultaneously trying to get to the bottom of the strange circumstances that have driven Rachel away--and keep at bay her lust for Jake's best man, Mike. There are plenty of twists, turns, and secrets to be revealed that make Carter's romance stand apart from more predictable fare. Plus Clair, a thrice-divorced fortune-teller, is not exactly the prototypical romance heroine. Carter, the author of She'll Take It (2006), shows she has a knack for creating odd but likable characters, and readers are sure to take notice. Aleksandra Kostovski
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Paperback: 304 pages
• Publisher: Kensington (March 1, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0758215398
• ISBN-13: 978-0758215390
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.5 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #459,942 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fun and Distinctive Mix of Comedy, Romance and Mystery, July 23, 2007

By	Lauren Sophie - See all my reviews

This book was a very nice surprise for me. A lot of chick-lit-type novels try too hard to blend humor, mystery and romance, resulting in a book that's never truly witty, with characters that seem much more like caricatures than people you might actually know or be. But "Accidentally Engaged" is definitely an exception, deftly blending wit that makes you laugh out loud (I'm still laughing over a cute paragraph of internal dialogue after Jack asks Clair "What up?"), with an appealing, original lead character and a bit of supernatural suspense that never feels hokey.

Clair Ivers is a real psychic, and it's definitely to the author's credit that this ends up being completely believable. Clair reads Tarot cards (in the beginning we get a very clear and funny explanation of the meanings of the different cards) and occasionally does private readings. She both appreciates and loathes her gift, which she inherited from her grandmother. One day she is forced to do a reading for Rachel, a woman who is about to marry Jack, a wealthy business owner who manufactures vodka under the family name. Rachel comes with her Jack's sister, Susan and each woman has an agenda: Rachel wants a reading that warns her in absolute terms NOT to marry Jack, while Susan wants a reading that convinces Rachel that marrying Jack is the right thing to do. In the end, Clair ends up giving in to Rachel. There's only one problem: when Rachel exits the reading, she leaves behind her engagement ring.

Now feeling guilty and determined to confront Jack with the ring and with the truth of the reading, Clair sets off to Jack's estate. She also sees a picture of Jack and feels an undeniable attraction and connection to him. Yet before she can meet him in person, she experiences a car crash, runs into a bunch of men she thinks are the estate gardeners (and shares a mind-blowing kiss with one of them), and finds herself mistaken for Rachel by Jack's grandmother.

It's hard to summarize the plot because there's truly so much going on at any given point. But the main drama concerns Clair grappling with her attraction to the man she kissed, as well as her feelings for Jack. The supporting characters are well drawn, with the exception of Jack and Rachel, both of whom I never quite got. By the end, there are all sorts of intriguing threads-- who is Clair fated to be with? Was there ever really a car accident? What was Rachel really up to when she went to have her cards read? What is the deal with Madeleine, Jack's mother, and Anderson, the butler? Mary Carter makes sure to give satisfying answers as she ties up all loose ends. There's also a great ending.

This novel deserves a lot of attention, in my opinion. It's very well crafted and engaging; the writing is also definitely more assured than your average chick lit novel. The style reminded me of a mix of Beth Kendrick and Jennifer Crusie, and if you like those authors, I think you'll enjoy Mary Carter, too.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Psychic tale., March 7, 2007

By	Little D (California) - See all my reviews

I've really enjoyed reading this book. It wasn't anything like I expected it to be. From reading the back description I didn't realize Clair, the main character, was a psychic. I just assumed she was a little intuitive and read tarot cards. I was pleasantly surprised to find out how psychi Calir really is and it mae me enjoy it so much more! That spin on this book made it much better than your average chick lit book.

I will definitely read more of Mary Carter's books in the future.

5.0 out of 5 stars Accidentally Engaged, May 14, 2007

By	Melissa Carter "Melissa Newman, book lover" (Los Angeles, CA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This book is a page turner -- I loved it as much as Mary Carter's other book "She'll Take It!"