Reinventing Mona    by Jennifer Coburn Order:  USA  Can Kensington, 2005 (2005) Paperback     Reviewed by Sally Selvadurai Jennifer Coburn's Reinventing Mona comes on the heels of her debut bestseller, The Wife of Reilly, and it continues in her own comedic but sad vein. Mona Warren appears to be the ultimate career woman – an engineer with a large San Diego firm and recently the recipient of a very large house and considerable fortune from her Grandmother. Mona is not happy, though; at almost 31 she has no life outside work ... and when the chance comes to do something about it, she goes against everything she's ever done and takes the plunge into 'early retirement'. Now Mona needs to go to work on herself – her image must be wrong – is this why she doesn't attract men? Mona has a total obsession with her family accountant, Adam Ziegler, and knows that they can live 'happily ever after' as long as she can persuade him to ask her out! She needs to find out what men want, or rather, one man in particular, and who better to ask than Mike 'The Dog' Dougherty, who writes a column in Maximum for Him. Mona hires Mike to be her 'life coach' in her quest to win Adam Ziegler and the results are often hilarious ... but read it yourself to see what, and who, turns up! The book is an easy read, very light and funny, though at times outlandish. How are we to believe that Mona has shed her past entirely and become the consummate consumer, when she grew up on a commune in Montana? And how can she be so blinkered about her oldest friend Greta's life choices? It becomes irritating when Mike keeps referring to her as 'Mona Lisa' – it somehow harkens to the film Mona Lisa Smile, and does nothing for the story, just grates because it is so obvious. But these are minor qualms. Take Reinventing Mona along on a rainy summer weekend getaway – you'll finish it easily and feel good too. Note: Opinions expressed in reviews and articles on this site are those of the author(s) and not necessarily those of BookLoons. Find more Contemporary books on our Shelves or in our book Reviews