Lauren Baratz-Logsted has written three novels for Red Dress Ink, Harlequin’s chick lit imprint. Released today, A Little Change of Face once again displays Lauren’s gift for uniquely plotted stories.
The pregnancy plot in The Thin Pink Line has a twist: publishing professional Jane is never actually expecting. Instead, she’s gestating her first book. Although the novel deftly finishes Jane’s story with a perfect conclusion, Lauren’s second book, Crossing the Line, starts right where The Thin Pink Line left off.
Outrageous Jane is a modern Calamity, and while Lauren’s first book was funny, the second novel has even more laughs, and an added dose of pure poignancy. The twisted plot here is that lily white Jane becomes a single mom to African-American Emma. A Little Change of Face continues the tradition of twisting a normal plot into something unique: pretty librarian Scarlett decides to become an ugly duckling.
CINDY: Let’s talk about those twists. How do you take something that sounds contrived and make it true?
LAUREN: First, I’d like to say thank you for having me here, Cindy. If not for the enthusiasm of readers like you, people like me wouldn’t have careers. Now to answer your question…
In a sense, the answer is buried right within your question. My books, mostly screwball comedies or satires, thrive on their contrivances. But those contrivances are all on the surface. What lies beneath the surface is the real truth of the story. Taking The Thin Pink Line as an example, on the surface it’s about a self-involved woman who fakes an entire pregnancy; but scratch the surface and you realize it’s about a very real problem: it’s about how people, all too often in life, pursue important things – marriage, babies – more because “everyone else is doing it” than because they’ve given any thought to the thing itself. I think we’ve all known people like that. Jane Taylor is certainly not The Girl Next Door