Perfect Stranger

Lloyd is American, successful in advertising, at the cusp of the wave, more or less happy with his long-term girlfriend Betsy, neat, organised and popular. Suze is British, chaotic, messy, single, a free spirit, who also happens to be a successful career woman. In short, they have nothing in common apart from their jobs, but chance brings them together when Lloyd gets the opportunity to trade jobs and apartments with a British colleague for a while. This colleague happens to be Suze. Suze is elated: finally she gets to see the US, live in New York, paint the town red, go on a spree. Lloyd, infinitely more conservative and sedate, is exhilarated at the prospect of living in jolly old England himself. Unexpectedly, his girlfriend decides to accompany him to London, in the hopes of being able to finish her thesis on Jane Austen there. (The thesis itself is hilarious, by the way).
Suze is having a whale of a time, especially when she meets hunky Nick who becomes her hot date for a few days. Lloyd isn't quite as happy. He is falsely accused of fraud and fired. To top it all, Betsy keeps badgering him about marriage and children. Suze, however, believes in the lovely American who helped her cook over the phone, listened to her pouring her heart out and made her laugh so often.

The two don't meet until the last fifty pages of the book. This was actually the only drawback of the book. The chemistry between them is palpable, and the final meeting singes the pages without a single kiss, but all in all, the romance received short shrift.

I really enjoyed the many digs at Americans and British alike, the cultural clash theme. Sometimes the characters seemed a bit exaggerated, especially Betsy and her mother. However, there is probably some truth to all those clichés.

I would recommend the book to those who like British chick literature with a lot of humour and a good dose of romance.