For what it is, this book isn’t half bad. Now, what do I mean by that decidedly backhanded compliment? Accidentally Engaged is wacky (ugh), zany (double ugh), cutesy-poo (triple ugh), but, on the other hand, not without its smarts either. If you like MaryJanice Davidson – and you know who you are – this book has your name written all over it.

The plot is really too zany to describe in any coherent detail, but it involves a 32-year-old professional tarot card reader who’s been married three times and given up on men. Following a series of wacky and zany antics, she comes into possession of a three carat diamond ring that really belongs on the hand of a society bride who’s gotten cold feet about the wedding.

A hundred or so cutesy-poo pages later, she winds up staying at the mansion of the society groom and participating in a lot of wacky and zany fun, while at the same time, hooking up with a sexy guy who works for the family but who also has secrets of his own.

More wacky antics ensue. Warm sex ensues. Ghostly adventures ensue. Many jokes ensue. And ensue. And ensue. And…well, you get the picture. This girl – and the book is told in first person – is a laugh-a-minute kind of woman. Or, more accurately, an attempted laugh-a-minute kind of woman since the majority of her jokes fall flatter than the proverbial pancake. It’s definitely quantity rather than quality here.

Still, the heroine isn’t TSTL for the most part – even if she does seem unable to resist even a single wacky impulse – and I did chuckle once or twice, but, considering that there must be 1,000 jokes at a minimum here, that isn’t much to write home about. As for the hero, well, he’s Cardboard City due to the fact that the first-person POV doesn’t allow the reader any chance to get inside his head and the chick lit-y tone of the narration doesn’t go even remotely more than skin deep.

But, to be honest, this kind of book Just Isn’t My Thing and if I’d known how wacky and zany and cutesy-poo it is, I would never have picked it for review. The bottom line, though, is that readers who enjoy an MJD-style voice and an MJD-style story, might well find that Accidentally Engaged works better for them than it did for me.