'Actor and Housewife' an entertaining tale

"THE ACTOR AND THE HOUSEWIFE" by Shannon Hale, Bloomsbury, 352 pages, $24

Utah author Shannon Hale has had great success with her books for young adults. She is the New York Times best-selling author of five award-winning novels, including the Newbery Honor book "Princess Academy."

With the overwhelming popularity of her fairy tales, one has to wonder why she would make the jump to books for adults. The truth is, however, Hale's books for adults are really just modern-day fairy tales cast for an older audience.

As with her first novel for adults, "Austenland," Hale's latest work, "The Actor and the Housewife," takes an average woman and throws her into a situation that is beyond her wildest dreams and not as perfect as initially thought.

Mormon housewife Becky Jack is seven months pregnant with her fourth child when she is invited to Los Angeles to sell a screenplay. While there she meets celebrity heartthrob Felix Callihan.

A series of comical and somewhat embarrassing events lead to the two sharing an alcohol-free, totally platonic dinner. The two part and Becky returns to Salt Lake City and her life as a stay-at-home mom.

To Becky's great surprise, Felix shows up in Salt Lake City a month later for a brief and unexpected visit. Soon after that she gets a phone call from him. The next thing Becky knows, Felix and his wife, Celeste, are accompanying the Jacks to a Valentine's Day ball at the state Capitol.

That night it hits them — without knowing how it happened, Becky and Felix are best friends. Surprisingly, Becky's husband, Mike, is pretty OK with the friendship and so is Celeste. Of course it's the topic of neighborhood gossip, but what else is new?

But as time wears on, Becky and Felix realize that their unusual relationship may not be as easy to maintain as they initially thought.

In "Housewife," Hale takes a risk making her main character a Mormon. For many, this could be a turnoff before ever picking up the book. The religion aspect should not scare readers away, though. There's no preaching here and jargon is at a minimum. Aspects of the religion are explained enough that someone not of the faith should be able to understand what is going on.

"Housewife" spans a number of years and takes place in a number of locales around the country, with a major chunk playing out along the Wasatch Front. Readers familiar with the area will enjoy mentions of the familiar locales.

For the most part, Hale's description and dialogue move "Housewife" forward at a comfortable pace, but there are a few times where the story feels stilted and a bit long. A little more editing would smooth out rough patches and be more in keeping with the rest of the novel.

Like "Austenland," "Housewife" is entertaining and is far above many books in its genre, but it doesn't quite stand up to Hale's earlier work.

Hale should be commended for branching out — she is a talented writer who creates compelling characters — but where her talent truly shines is in the young adult field.

E-mail: jharrison@desnews.com