Dating Cary Grant by Emelle Gamble

From Goodreads

A modern Manhattan fairy tale starring . . .

Tracy Connor, a New York City career woman who loves her job and classic movies.

Mike Connor, her estranged husband, a small-town Mayor who loves his wife but doesn’t seem to have enough time to see her.

The handsome stranger, Philip Adams, who lives downstairs from the small sublet Tracy has temporarily moved into. He’s charming, funny, and looks a lot like her very favorite screen icon, Cary Grant.

Dating Cary Grant is a romance all about New York city career woman Tracy Connor struggling with real issues with her real guy, her husband of six years, Mayor Mike Connor of Cukor, Connecticut. Tracy is a smart woman, but some of her problems with relationships are partially caused by her unrealistic expectations that real guys should—and can— behave like matinee idols. Mike’s problems are also caused by the fact that he’s such a great guy and overextends his heart, and his appointment calendar, to every constituent, friend, or stray animal who crosses his path.

Tracy is also being stressed by a TV reality show intent on showcasing Tracy and Mike’s personal life, as well as the imminent takeover of her employer, a small, private television station, by a billionaire with unlimited funds and no taste.
 
Dating Cary Grant considers just how selfless a man needs to be to meet his wife’s expectations, and just how honest a woman must be with herself about what she’s willing to give, and give-up. And Cary Grant is along to help prove that any woman’s search for ‘Mr. Perfect ‘ might take her to a surprising place to find him.

My thoughts  

I found this a very quirky read. At times it was hard to decide whether it was in real time, dream time or fantasy.

Tracy and Mike Connor are having problems in their marriage, she is a career woman in New York and he is a small town Mayor. Tracy finds an apartment in a house, and the apartment downstairs is already occupied and let to a Philip Adams who bears a striking resemblance to Cary Grant.

Tracy has a love of the silver screen old fashioned movies and Cary Grant happens to be a favourite of hers. Tracy would have loved to have been one of the women in the old films and expects her husband to behave in the way of the men in these films, which is completely out of character with the way modern men are.

As the edges between the past and present begin to blur due to pressures that Tracy is under, we begin to wonder what is actually happening in real time and what isn't.

Mike is a sought after individual as Myor of his smalltown he becomes the subject of a reality programme, but will he see this to it's fruition or will he reconcile his relationship with Tracy his wife?

This was a slow burner and was a a great way to escape from my real life. Well worth a read if you're looking for something different.

My thanks to NetGalley and the Publishers for a copy of this in exchange for an honest review.