Kristin Billerbeck
What a Girl Wants (2004)
Author: Kristin Billerbeck
Genre: Chick Lit (American/Christian)
Plot Summary:
Ashley Stockingdale is a 31 year old, single, patent lawyer with a taste for designer shoes and handsome, single, Christian men. She has no trouble finding the former, but the latter seem to be rare in the Silicon Valley. A dating dry spell has Ashley doubting her chances of marriage and her appeal. The singles group at her church offers little chance of Ashley’s idea of romance. Most of the guys in the group are science fiction loving, coupon clipping, nerdy, engineers. Just as Ashley realizes that her long time friend in the group, Seth, has boyfriend potential she learns he is smitten with Arin, her fellow choir member. However, when Ashley begins dating Kevin, a gorgeous doctor, Seth starts sending her signals that he is actually interested in her. The search for Mr. Right really becomes complicated when Ashley discovers that Kevin is not a Christian. Ashley’s anxieties increase when her best friend, Brea, cuts back on their girl-friend time together to be with her new husband, and it becomes apparent, at his engagement to a great girl, that Ashley’s younger brother will beat her to the altar. SPOILER: In the big finish Seth and Ashley kiss. He tells her he adores her and he plans to stay in Palo Alto to be close to her instead of taking a Vice President’s job in Arizona.
Geographical Setting: Palo Alto, CA. (The Silicon Valley)
Time Period: Contemporary (2004)
Series: Ashley Stockingdale (Book 1)
Appeal Characteristics:
Told in first person, Ashley Stockingdale is the main character and focus of What a Girl Wants. The story moves at a leisurely pace as it details the different areas of Ashley’s social, home, work, and church life for the reader. In this first book of the series, Billerbeck leaves the secondary characters sketchy but interesting enough to make the reader want to know more about them. The story ends with a romantic moment but some storylines, like Kevin’s place in Ashley’s life, remain open ended. Billerbeck injects religious encouragement in this humorous, episodic look at contemporary romance through a Christian lens. Set in California, this lighthearted title provides snapshots of the Silicon Valley where all the important people in Ashley’s life live. The combination of designer name-dropping and Billerbeck's conversational tone make this easy read.
Read-alikes: Readers who enjoyed the leisurely pace and humorous tone of What a Girl Wants might enjoy Tamara Leigh’s Splitting Harriet. Both main characters, Ashley Stockingdale and Harriet Bisset, are contemporary characters that wrestle with finding the correct balance of religion and fun in their lives. Although Harriet, a preacher’s kid, once embraced her wild side, she now tries to avoid temptation. This gets difficult when the new consultant hired at her church is a hot guy with a tattoo and a motorcycle. In What a Girl Wants, Ashley’s California home base is important to her because of the friends, family, and memories it holds. Elle Garvey, in Love Starts with Elle, loves Beaufort, South Carolina for the same reasons. Elle receives the perfect proposal from the extremely handsome pastor Jeremiah Franklin but accepting it means she will have to marriage leave the coast. Elle is torn between her feelings for Jeremiah and a new member in the community, Heath McCord, a widowed lawyer with a small daughter. This story seems a bit more realistic than What a Girl Wants, but it shares the contemporary setting and the humor, albeit without Billerbeck’s cynicism. Those who enjoyed the characterization of the quirky Christian singles group in What a Girl Wants might like to experience Melody Carlson’s version in These Boots Weren’t Made for Walking. In What a Girl Wants, the changes in Ashley Stockingdale are in character and spirituality. Cassidy Cantrell, the 31-year-old protagonist in These Boots Weren’t Made for Walking changes on the outside as well as the inside. Cassidy has an intense run of bad luck when she loses her job, her boyfriend dumps her for younger woman at church, and someone steals her charge cards and ruins her credit. She leaves Seattle and heads back to her hometown to live with her mother. Cassidy down shifts to the rural pace of Black Bear, Washington, finds a job, slims down, and is pursued by more than one handsome man. Carlson’s Cassidy is similar to Billberbeck’s Ashley: a likable character that the reader cannot help but root for. Readers who relished the overall spiritual atmosphere and message in What a Girl Wants might want to try Emily Ever After by Anne Dayton and May Vanderbilt. The protagonist, Emily Hinton, is a twenty-something professional woman trying to hold on to her faith in a NY publishing firm even more treacherous for a Christian woman than Ashley Stockingdale’s technology company. Emily dates a handsome Christian man from work, named Bennet, but she wonders at his definition of Christian since he’s always trying to get her to sleep with him. Emily is also in constant contact, via E-mail, with her long time friend from home, Jacob, who suddenly seems funny and charming, quite different than she remembered him. Like What a Girl Wants the story moves at a leisurely pace as the authors introduce the reader to Emily and her world. Another 31-year-old single, Christian, chick, Whitney Blake, in The Whitney Chronicles offers a similar contemporary and lighthearted look at the pursuit of love. This first book in the Whitney Blake Series by Judy Baer is similar to a Christian-friendly, American version of Helen Fielding’s Bridget Jones's Diary, but the parallels with Billerbeck’s title include the detail of the main character’s obsession with finding someone to marry and the humor the author uses to articulate it.
Red Flags: Miscarriage
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