In my quest to fill my life with more fiction, I decided to wander through the New Fiction section at Library #2 (my card works at four; I'm extremely lucky to live in an area where so many libraries offer reciprocal borrowing privileges) and nearly punched a hole in the shelf reaching out to grab this copy of Switch and Bait by Ricki Schultz. I couldn't get enough of her sharp wit and snappy prose in Mr. Right-Swipe and knew a few chapters in that I'd follow her anywhere, literarily-speaking. Switch and Bait didn't disappoint.
By day, Blanche Carter (a girl of the south, natch) manages Literature and Legislature, a DC bookstore; by night, she's side-hustling her way to freedom from student loans by helping desperate women clean up their online dating profiles and posing as them in order to attract the right sort of guy (buzz off, douchebros). Her own dating life is a bit...emptier. There was the one-night-stand with her terminally ill best friend's delicious (but Republican!) brother-in-law Henry a few years back, but other than that, nah. Blanche is better off alone. She's seen what love can do to a gal and she's sworn it off entirely.
When she signs a new client who has all the grace of a vertigo-afflicted elephant on oiled ice, Blanche figures she's got her work cut out for her, but she's thrown for a loop when said elephant, aka ridiculously gorgeous Ansley, matches with- who else?- Henry. Hot, best-friend's-brother-in-law, entirely-way-too-shaggable Henry. Breaking her #1 rule of never getting involved in a relationship of someone she knows, Blanche forges ahead, meeting someone new in the process...but all roads, it seems, lead back to the same place, the very guy she swears she's over.
Ricki Schultz has an instantly recognizable style. Her characters teem with sarcasm, acerbic wit, and up-to-date slang, all things I absolutely adore about her books. Switch and Bait had me laughing out loud several times, just as Mr. Right-Swipe did. I enjoyed reading a story set in DC that wasn't specifically about politics (politics are, of course, mentioned, but only in a more generic sense). Blanche and Isla, the best friend who has Huntington's disease, disagree on politics but still remain friends, and I admired how Ms. Schultz handled that. Isla's failing health and Blanche's grief over it also made an intriguing side plot. As someone who suffers from chronic pain, it's gratifying to see disabilities and major health conditions represented in literature, and I hope this is something that continues, not just in Ms. Schultz's work, but in fiction in general.
Switch and Bait is a fun read that sneaks in a message of honesty, loyalty, and being true to yourself and those around you. If you haven't read Ricki Schultz yet, question every decision you've made about your life up to this point, then head to your nearest library/bookstore/electronic device with online bookstore access and grab yourself a copy of either (or both!) of her books, because she's utterly fabulous. I can't wait to read whatever she writes next.
Check out Ricki Schultz's website here.
Follow Ricki Schultz on Twitter here.
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