Crossing The Line

Rating:
Summary: Hooray! Jane is back!!
Review: Caution: Reviewers please be careful with this one. There are so many
wonderful surprises. I do not want to spoil them for you so I will step
lightly. The first one is a laugh out loud howler and it comes in the very
beginning. Believe me, you will stop reading to think about the
ramifications of this one sentence. That is, after you stop laughing.

The second surprise will be that you will find yourself really liking
Jane and wonder why you were so upset with her in The Thin Pink Line.
We meet many new, delightful characters just as quirky as ever, but my
favorite is Stephen Triplecorn , a social worker whose main goal in life is
to give Jane a hard time. You will love him. He needs his own book.

Baratz-Logshed is an author who will have you laughing one minute and
before you know it, you are shedding a tear. This book is a keeper. Enjoy !

Rating:
Summary: Witty sequel.
Review: For nine months everyone believed Jane Taylor was pregnant. She even went so far as to make herself look as though she had been gradually increasing. In fact, she wrote a book on about it, due to hit the stores in a few more months and the publisher was begging her for more! When Jane decides to come clean, she throws a New Year's Day party to gather everyone she knows and tell them all at once. Then let the chips fall where they may.

Things get completed when Jane finds a black baby abandoned. Since Jane is white, this causes a stir. Jane is determined to adopt the infant that she names Emma. Her gay neighbors, David and Christopher, offer to babysit. Her family is in a tizzy. Her ex-fiancé, who should know better (he's with Scotland Yard), and a few friends are determined to help Jane keep Emma so the baby would not end up in an uncaring foster home. Yes, it means bending the law a few times, if not totally breaking it.

A caseworker from Social Services is watching her closely and interviewing everyone about Jane to see if she is mommy material. With Jane's well known shenanigans and slightly sociopathic behavior, there is no telling what everyone is saying!

**** This is the fun and witty sequel to "The Thin Pink Line". The antics within these pages are on the border of outrageous! There are a few words or sayings that will make Americans raise an eyebrow, but they are easily understood due to the way they are used in the story, such as paying for things in "pounds" instead of "dollars". All-in-all, this book will have you giggling aloud and wondering what in the world could possibly happen next! ****

Reviewed by Detra Fitch of Huntress Reviews.

Rating:
Summary: A worthy sequel.
Review: Great good fun. I enjoyed The Thin Pink Line and was looking forward to continuing the story--I was not disappointed. Once again Baratz-Logsted provides entertainment on every page. Some absolutely hilarious lines, had me laughing out loud all too frequently. And yet, as in the first book, there is a serious side to this novel. Jane grows and learns as the year passes--with the help of her new baby--and as she does she becomes aware of problems that had been completely outside her selfish orbit.

Highly recommended to anyone who likes to laugh yet wants the humor to be within the lines of a well-written book that does not ignore serious issues.

I'm looking forward to the next one!

Rating:
Summary: Even Better Than the First
Review: I was so impressed with the cleverness of a THIN PINK LINE that I doubted the author could surpass herself. But she has! This is a wonderful summer read, and I really found myself rooting for Jane this time around as she makes her transistion from singleton to mommy.

Rating:
Summary: A great follow-up!
Review: In this sequel to THE THIN PINK LINE, we see Baratz-Logsted as a more fluid, more subtle writer, though the wit is as good as ever. Jane may be more grown-up in this one, but she's just as irrepressible, still taking on the world in her own bizarre and charming way. If you missed the first book, take a look -- you won't want to miss any of the wonders of Jane!

Rating:
Summary: sweet chick lit motherhood tale stars a maturing likable nut
Review: Jane Taylor knows it is time to tell the truth to her family, friends, and co-workers, who believe she is nine months pregnant (see THE THIN PINK LINE). The infant she has been carrying is actually a bundle of rags. However, it could only happen to Jane to find an abandoned baby just before her pronouncement. The real infant she insists is hers although Emma, as she names the child, happens to be black while Jane is white.

Her boyfriend, Scotland Yard CID Donald Tolkien is the first to know the truth and handles it reasonably well as if he expected nothing less from zany Jane. He also informs Jane she must notify Social Services about Emma. At a New Year's Day Emma hosted, she breaks the news to all that she faked the pregnancy, but has a child anyway.

The hard thing remains the same problem that detracts from the first book which is a woman shamming a pregnancy. The story line is fun to follow as Jane explains to everyone what she did, but also shows maturity as she tries her best to do the right thing for Emma as well as gain custody of the newborn. Readers will especially like the accepting ethical Donald who will assist Jane as long as it is legal and in his opinion the right thing for Emma. This sweet chick lit motherhood tale stars a maturing likable nutcase (that is going around a lot lately).

Harriet Klausner

Rating:
Summary: sweet chick lit motherhood tale stars a maturing likable nut
Review: Jane Taylor knows it is time to tell the truth to her family, friends, and co-workers, who believe she is nine months pregnant (see THE THIN PINK LINE). The infant she has been carrying is actually a bundle of rags. However, it could only happen to Jane to find an abandoned baby just before her pronouncement. The real infant she insists is hers although Emma, as she names the child, happens to be black while Jane is white.

Her boyfriend, Scotland Yard CID Donald Tolkien is the first to know the truth and handles it reasonably well as if he expected nothing less from zany Jane. He also informs Jane she must notify Social Services about Emma. At a New Year's Day Emma hosted, she breaks the news to all that she faked the pregnancy, but has a child anyway.

The hard thing remains the same problem that detracts from the first book which is a woman shamming a pregnancy. The story line is fun to follow as Jane explains to everyone what she did, but also shows maturity as she tries her best to do the right thing for Emma as well as gain custody of the newborn. Readers will especially like the accepting ethical Donald who will assist Jane as long as it is legal and in his opinion the right thing for Emma. This sweet chick lit motherhood tale stars a maturing likable nutcase (that is going around a lot lately).

Harriet Klausner

Rating:
Summary: The Perfect Sequel
Review: Just as a warning to the casual review reader, this book is a sequel to The Thin Pink Line and you will not want to read this review until you have read that first book, as there will be some major spoilers contained here.

Crossing the Line starts at the exact point where The Thin Pink Line ended. Jane manages to solve what to do about her fake pregnancy in a "deus ex machina" fashion as another characters aptly puts it. Jane finds a foundling on the doorstep of a church on Christmas Eve. The fly in the ointment is the fact the baby is black and Jane and her ex-boyfriend are very white. Jane finally has to have true confessions, which meets with mixed reviews. It certainly helps her book sales when her "tell-all" book is released.

Jane is still the perfect prevaricator when she decides she must learn more about the black experience for baby Emma's sake. Of course, Jane is never one to use traditional methods. She "crashes" a funeral to meet some black people since as she puts it, the publishing house she works for is "lily white" Jane must also deal with a pit bull of a social worker who has to decide through an extremely long and arduous investigation if Jane will make a fit mother.

Tolkien, Jane's "Mr. Right" is back in her life, but Jane's choices and actions may be a threat to that relationship still. Foster motherhood has made for a kinder, gentler Jane, but she still has serious issues to deal with. Jane also has to learn to deal with the changing dynamics with her family and her gay best friend, David who is busy with his own restaurant and partner.

This is a book that could not be read as a standalone, but is the perfect sequel. The reader gets a glimpse of dealing with a baby carefully broken down into the first twelve months of life written with equal parts of wry humor and heartbreak.

The first person narration once again is the only way this book could work. It makes the subtle and drastic changes in Jane that much more believable. Anyone who has ever had a child can empathize with the fierce love Jane has for Emma and the lengths to which she will go to keep the child of her heart.

Besides the characters from the first book, the reader is introduced to several new ones that play pivotal roles in the plot. Stephen Triplecorn, the social worker, is one of the most notable. He is the typical bureaucrat that you love to hate, but the ladies he has to interview don't seem to mind all his questions because his best assets are on display in his business clothing.

This book has all the British humor and pitch perfect dialog that made the first book such a fun read. There is a satisfying ending that is pure serendipity. On her website, the author writes of plans for books in the future in a variety of genres. She displays great skill and creativity in both this book and the first. I have no doubt she will have success in whatever she pursues and I eagerly look forward to her next book.

Roberta Austin

Rating:
Summary: Even better than the first one!
Review: This book is the sequel to The Think Pink Line. It is even funnier and more capitvating than the first! The book takes you on an emotional roller coaster with the main character, and you find yourself laughing out loud at some of the situations she finds herself in! This book is about every kind of love, and you find yourself falling in love with the characters and not wanting the book to end! The end is definetly a cliffhanger, so hopefully we can look for more from this author about the crazy Jane Taylor!!

Rating:
Summary: Smart and funny
Review: This is a smart, funny book about a woman who finally grows up when a baby comes into her life. If you like your humor sharp-edged and your heroines complex and not totally admirable, you'll enjoy 'Crossing the Line.' The book deals with motherhood, romance, friendship, race, family relationships, and integrity -- all the while offering laughs on each page. I am far outside the demographic that 'Crossing the Line' seems most likely to appeal to, and I found it a rollicking good read.