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    Review of MY HEART MAY BE BROKEN, BUT MY HAIR STILL LOOKS GREAT by Dixie Cash (see their website)

    William Morrow, November 2005

    Paige McBride has attended six colleges--and majored in party in all of them. But as she nears her twenty-fifth birthday, her father suddenly cuts her off from the family wealth. She's got to make it on her own. But what's a girl to do if her only talent is looking like Barbie? Paige applies for receptionist jobs, lands a short-lived position at McDonnalds, and finally realizes that she needs help. Her father's help--sending her to Saltlick, Texas. At least she'll be working with horses. If she can constrain the accidents that seem to keep happening whenever she gets too close to hot-vet, Spur Atwater.

    Spur Atwater has staked his savings, plus everything he can borrow, into buying out the veterinarian shop in Saltlick. The last thing he has time for is a woman--even though the roommate in his boxers disagrees. And if he did want a woman, the last woman he would want would be a high maintenance rich-girl like Paige McBride. But despite her running into his truck, ruining is outfit, and stomping on his instep with shoes that should be registered as concealed weapons, he can't argue with the attraction.

    Saltlick, Texas may be in the middle of nowhere, but that doesn't mean nothing happens there. Paige discovers a social world that centers around the combination hairdresser shop/private detective agency. With older horses vanishing, and possibly being butchered for European tables, the detectives want to solve the case--and they turn to Paige to help. But while she wants to help the women of Domestic Equalizers, Paige runs the risk of ruining what just might be the relationship she's been waiting for all her life.

    Author Dixie Cash writes a breezy, fast-paced story filled with memorable characters and plenty of laughs. MY HEART MAY BE BROKEN, BUT MY HAIR STILL LOOKS GREAT is one of those books that you'll be tempted to read in a single sitting. Occasionally, however, Cash tries too hard on the humor. The throw-away scene with the 'effeminate' dog-owner came close to poking fun at gay stereotypes--but in a laughing at way. Similarly, I found the use of the term 'Mexican' to describe local residents and shop-owners of Hispanic descent to be inappropriate. HEART is intended to be a youthful story, but these references make it feel dated. (Note: this review was written from an Advanced Reader Copy. We can hope that an editor will catch these problems and point them out to the authors).

    Although these dated and stereotypical usages do serve to tear the reader out of the story, great characters, sense of place, and the breezy style definitely make HEART worth the read.

    Three Stars

    Reviewed 2/11/05

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