Cyber Bride has what sounds like a cute plot. The hero and heroine meet on line in a chat room and get to be good friends. They actually live in the same building, and each figures out the identity of the other. It's not unlike You've Got Mail, or so you would think. Unfortunately, most of the book is overwhelmed by a Big Misunderstanding plot that basically ruins the book.

Kate Delaney is an artist who is something of a recluse. She works at home, and for company she turns to her chat room friends. She calls herself "DaVinci" and her favorite chat buddy is "Cyber Scribe." Cyber Scribe is actually Edward Tucker, the man who owns Kate's building, and he knows exactly who she is. Kate wasn't very careful with her Internet profile, so it's easy to find out her identity. Edward strikes up a friendship with Kate, but he's hesitant to tell her that she's already known him for a year as Cyber Scribe. Then Kate goes to a party in his home, sees his screen saver flashing "Cyber Scribe", and the cat is out of the bag. But on line, Kate continues to pretend that she doesn't know who Cyber Scribe really is.

Up until this point, the book is okay. Not riveting, but not horrible either. And then it happens. Kate's agent, a slimy, conniving kind of guy, doesn't want Edward near Kate. He lies and tells Edward that Kate is married to a man named Harry - a man who is actually Kate's grandfather. For the entire rest of the book, which is most of it, the characters dance around this dumb misunderstanding. They are deliberately vague at every opportunity. Conveniently, Kate always calls her grandfather Harry. He comes to visit her, and Edward still believes they are an estranged couple. When Kate introduces her grandfather to other people, Edward has always just left the room. Not to be outdone, Kate decides that Edward is in love with a woman named Claire, whom Kate thinks is Edward's best friend's wife, although she is actually his sister. Kate and Edward have multiple conversations about this, both on and off line, and they always misunderstand each other.

To be honest, I rarely like Big Misunderstanding plots, but this one is in a class by itself. Usually the couple still manages to have some sort of relationship, and there are other subplots going on in the book. Not here. After the Big Misunderstanding is initiated, it takes on a life of its own, and there are no scenes in the book that don't relate to it. The author tries to play it for laughs, but it just ends up sounding like a bad, elongated episode of Three's Company. Halfway through the book I had lost all interest in the characters, but I kept reading out of a morbid curiosity to see how long the misunderstanding could be sustained. The answer? Seemingly forever.

I did like the initial premise of the book, which was fun while it lasted. That is the only thing that saved this book from a failing grade. My only other consolation is that I read the book for free rather than paying $18.95. Not everyone will be so lucky.