The Boy Next Door: A Novel

by Meg Cabot

Overview

To: You (you)
From: Human Resources ([e-mail])
Subject: This Book

Dear Reader,

This is an automated message from the Human Resources Division of the New York Journal, New York City’s leading photo-newspaper. Please be aware that according to our records you have not yet read this book. What exactly are you waiting for? This book has it all:

• Humor
  
• Romance
  
• Cooking tips
  
• Great Danes
  
• Heroine in peril
  
• Dolphin-shaped driftwood sculptures

If you wish to read about any of the above, please do not hesitate to head to the checkout counter, where you will be paired with a sales associate who will work to help you buy this book.

We here at the New York Journal are a team. We win as a team, and lose as one as well. Don’t you want to be on the winning team?

Sincerely,
Human Resources Division
New York Journal

Please note that failure to read this book may result in suspension or dismissal from this store.

*********This e-mail is confidential and should not be used by anyone who is not the original intended recipient. If you have received this e-mail in error please inform the sender and delete it from your mailbox or any other storage mechanism.*********

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780061828867
Publisher:	HarperCollins Publishers
Publication date:	03/17/2009
Series:	Boy Series , #1
Sold by:	HARPERCOLLINS
Format:	eBook
Pages:	384
Sales rank:	109,633
File size:	504 KB

About the Author

Meg Cabot was born in Bloomington, Indiana. In addition to her adult contemporary fiction, she is the author of the bestselling young adult fiction series, The Princess Diaries. More than 25 million copies of her novels for children and adults have sold worldwide. Meg lives in Key West, Florida, with her husband.

Hometown:

New York, New York

Place of Birth:

Bloomington, Indiana

Education:

B.A. in fine arts, Indiana University, 1991

Website:

http://www.megcabot.com

Read an Excerpt

Boy Next Door

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By Meg Cabot

HarperCollins Publishers, Inc.

Copyright © 2005 Meg Cabot
All right reserved.
ISBN: 0060845546

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To: Mel Fuller [e-mail]
From: Human Resources [e-mail]
Subject: Tardiness

Dear Melissa Fuller,

This is an automated message from the Human Resources Division of the New York Journal, New York City's leading photo-newspaper. Please be aware that according to your supervisor, managing editor George Sanchez, your workday here at the Journal begins promptly at 9 AM, making you 68 minutes tardy today. This is your 37th tardy exceeding twenty minutes so far this year, Melissa Fuller.

We in the Human Resources Division are not "out to get" tardy employees, as was mentioned in last week's unfairly worded employee newsletter. Tardiness is a serious and expensive issue facing employers all over America. Employees often make light of tardiness, but routine lateness can often be a symptom of a more serious issue, such as

• alcoholism
• drug addiction
• gambling addiction
• abusive domestic partner
• sleep disorders
• clinical depression

and any number of other conditions. If you are suffering from any of the above, please do not hesitate to contact your Human Resources Representative, Amy Jenkins. Your Human Resources Representative will be only too happy to enroll you in the New York Journal's Staff Assistance Program, where you will be paired with a mental health professional who will work to help you achieve your full potential.

Melissa Fuller, we here at the New York Journal are a team. We win as a team, and we lose as one, as well. Melissa Fuller, don't you want to be on a winning team? So please do your part to see that you arrive at work on time from now on!

Sincerely,
Human Resources Division
New York Journal

Please note that any future tardies may result in suspension or dismissal.

This e-mail is confidential and should not be used by anyone who is not the original intended recipient. If you have received this e-mail in error please inform the sender and delete it from your mailbox or any other storage mechanism.

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To: Mel Fuller [e-mail]
From: Nadine Wilcock [e-mail]
Subject: You are in trouble

Mel, where were you? I saw that Amy Jenkins from Human Resources skulking around your cubicle. I think you're in for another one of those tardy notices. What is this, your fiftieth?

You better have a good excuse this time, because George was saying a little while ago that gossip columnists are a dime a dozen, and that he could get Liz Smith over here in a second to replace you if he wanted to. I think he was joking. It was hard to tell because the Coke machine is broken, and he hadn't had his morning Mountain Dew yet.

By the way, did something happen last night between you and Aaron? He's been playing Wagner in his cubicle again. You know how this bugs George. Did you two have another fight?

Are we doing lunch later or what?

Nad :-)

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To: Mel Fuller [e-mail]
From: Aaron Spender [e-mail]
Subject: Last night

Where are you, Mel? Are you going to be completely childish about this and not come into the office until you're sure I've left for the day? Is that it?

Can't we sit down and discuss this like adults?

Aaron Spender
Senior Correspondent
New York Journal

Continues...

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Excerpted from Boy Next Door by Meg Cabot Copyright © 2005 by Meg Cabot. Excerpted by permission.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.

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Editorial Reviews

In her debut adult novel, Cabot (known for her extremely successful young adult fiction series the Princess Diaries, published under the name Meg Cabot) relies entirely on highly amusing e-mails to tell a fetching meet-cute story. New York City gossip columnist Melissa Fuller is known for being obsessive about Winona Ryder, dating the wrong men and being tardy for work. Arriving particularly late one morning, she explains to her colleagues at the New York Journal that she was detained by the attempted murder of her elderly next-door neighbor, Mrs. Friedlander, who is in a coma. Always the good girl, Mel has volunteered to take care of Mrs. Friedlander's many pets until the neighbor's nephew Max, a famous fashion photographer, can be reached. Her co-workers warn her about Max, a notorious lady's man. Contrary to the gossip, when she meets Max he is down to earth, funny and kind. Despite the strange fact that he likes to be called John and appears to be between photo shoots, she begins to date him and learns that he shares her love for Stephen King novels and natural disasters. It doesn't take long for her to fall head over heels, or for Mel's mom to write, "Get a ring on your finger before you uncross those legs, sweetie." When a mysterious e-mail arrives explaining that there is more to her beau than meets the eye, she is duly upset and uses the power of her pen to get even. But when Mrs. Friedlander's attacker returns, will Mel and Max be able to put their differences aside to catch a killer? Full of clever e-mail banter and tongue-in-cheek humor, this cheeky novel should be enjoyed in one sitting. (Oct.) Forecast: The leap from teen diaries to adult e-mail is a short one, and Cabot should carry along some of her young fans and their mothers, too so long as the name change doesn't confuse them. Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information.

Publishers Weekly

Adult/High School-An entertaining romp told entirely through e-mails. Melissa Fuller, celebrity-gossip columnist for the New York Journal, lives a relatively shallow existence until her elderly neighbor is attacked and sent to the hospital in a coma, leaving behind her Great Dane and two cats. Melissa gets help in caring for them from the man who is supposedly Mrs. Friedlander's playboy nephew Max, but who is actually his college buddy doing him a favor, and it all becomes a bit complicated when Melissa falls in love with "Max." Every loose plot thread comes into play in the highly satisfactory conclusion, with just enough twists on the way for a fun ride. The format fits perfectly with the gossipy nature of the book and moves the story along; readers are privy to all of the e-mails, but the characters only get the bits addressed to them. This book has the same breezy style as Cabot's "Princess Diaries" series (HarperCollins) for younger readers. Teens who enjoyed Helen Fielding's Bridget Jones's Diary (Viking, 1998) will flock just as quickly to this lighthearted romance.-Jamie Watson, Enoch Pratt Free Library, Baltimore Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.

School Library Journal

Gossip columnist falls for gorgeous guy.

Melissa Fuller, 20-something scandalmonger for a New York newspaper, is nicer than most Manhattanites, since she hails from a small town in Illinois. She actually likes her parents, has never attempted suicide, and is sincerely interested in the celebrities she writes about. Her woes are on the wee side: pesky workplace rules about punctuality, a grumpy boss, a nervous about-to-be-married girlfriend. Her boyfriend, reporter Aaron Spender, just dumped her for a luscious foreign correspondent, to Mel’s chagrin. But she has more important things to think about when Helen Friedlander, her neighbor, is whacked on the head by an unknown intruder and left for dead. Apparently the old lady’s only relative is a famous male model and photographer on assignment in Key West. Gee whiz, how is Mel ever going to find Max Friedlander? If she can’t, she’ll have to walk Helen’s Great Dane and take care of those crazy cats all by herself until the old lady is out of the hospital. Ooh! Looks like Max just came back and he is soooooooooooo handsome, even though he has a playboy reputation. If only Mel knew that he was really John Trent, total dream dude, responsible human being, and scion of a wealthy midwestern family. John is returning a favor he owes his scurrilous buddy Max by pretending to be him while Max romps in the surf with a silly supermodel. Mel is smitten, though her girlfriend frets, parents cluck, and grumpy boss sounds off in the e-mails that comprise this cutesy romance. All counsel caution, as Mel begins to suspect that her new boyfriend just might be Helen’s attacker . . . or a transvestite killer . . . or a copycat criminal. As chick sleuths go,she hasn’t got a clue.

Clean-scrubbed, girlish romp from the author of the Princess Diaries YA series—as well as seven historical romancers under the pseudonym of Patricia Cabot.

Kirkus Reviews