Description:
At the height of the boom, ambition is easy --love is the real gamble
It's the year 2000--dot-coms, Bush v. Gore, and sky-high San Francisco rents. But while the country swoons with irrational exuberance, Chelsea Lefevre's life is deflating faster than a tech bubble.
She'd had everything she thought she was supposed to want: a house on Boston's North Shore, exquisite wedding china, a Waspy mother-in-law. A safe, steady marriage.
But after a mortifying slip-up, Chelsea finds herself heading into the 21st century alone. Her lifeboat? A new job advising tech execs, taken to escape the misogyny she endured as a software engineer--only to discover she has a surprising knack for spotting the next hot thing.
Determined just to stay afloat, Chelsea doesn't have time to wonder if anything beyond safe and steady is possible.
Then, on a West Coast assignment, she meets Seth Murphy, a magnetic sales executive at one of the country's hottest startups. Professional boundaries make him off-limits, but she can't resist his pull. What begins as a secret, casual affair soon jeopardizes Chelsea's career, her newfound independence--and her heart.
Witty and warm, Engineering a Love Story questions how much a smart woman can risk when she's the only female in the room.
Brief description: Kathleen Reidy is a writer and public librarian based in Concord, Massachusetts. She holds a master's degree in library science and spent more than a decade in the tech industry. Her short fiction has been published by Puddingstone Press and WayWords. She lives with her husband, daughters, and fluffy best friend. Engineering a Love Story is her first novel.
Review Quotes: "In Reidy's novel, a young professional facing major upheaval finds her life further complicated when she falls for a hotshot executive...a layered, nuanced, and ultimately riveting story of one woman's attempt to find herself. A messy but thoughtful take on romance, work, and making good compromises." --Kirkus Reviews