Chamberlin, Holly 1962-

PERSONAL:

Born 1962; married; children: a stepdaughter. Hobbies and other interests: Reading, shopping, enjoying six o'clock cocktails, playing with her cats, beach walks, scrapbooking, making beaded jewelry, watching reruns of Seinfeld.

ADDRESSES:

Home—Ogunquit, ME.

CAREER:

Writer. Has also worked as an editor.

WRITINGS:

ROMANCE FICTION

Living Single, Kensington Publishing (New York, NY), 2002.

(With Fern Michaels, Virginia Henley, and Marcia Evanick) Let It Snow, Kensington Publishing (New York, NY), 2003.

The Summer of Us, Strapless (New York, NY), 2004.

Babyland, Strapless/Kensington Books (New York, NY), 2005.

(With Theresa Alan and Carly Alexander) Sex and the Single Witch (includes Chamberlin's The Trouble with Witchcraft), Kensington Books (New York, NY), 2005.

Back in the Game, Strapless/Kensington Books (New York, NY), 2006.

(With Lisa Plumley, Theresa Alan, and Marcia Evanick) I Shaved My Legs for This? (includes Chamberlin's Cleo Barnes: Worst Blind Date Ever), Kensington Publishing (New York, NY), 2006.

The Friends We Keep, Kensington Publishing (New York, NY), 2007.

SIDELIGHTS:

After working for years in the publishing industry as an editor, Holly Chamberlin became an author herself. She specializes in novels and novellas that typically feature successful career women looking for love. In her debut, Living Single, Erin Winston is a thirty-two-year-old woman working in a Boston public relations firm. Despite her career success, she longs for more, and thinks she has discovered it in a man named Doug with whom she has been working. Unfortunately for Erin, Doug is already married; her friends and family warn her against the affair, but Erin forges ahead with some predictable results. "There is no happy ending …, but the book does end on a hopeful note," reported Rashmi Srinivas on the Curled Up with a Good Book Web site. Describing Chamberlin's effort as an attempt to combine the humor of Helen Fielding's Bridget Jones's Diary with the romance of the cable series Sex in the City, Srinivas felt that Living Single "is a poor mix-and-match of both, and has the charm and appeal of neither. The greatly clichéd characterizations are mainly responsible for this." In a contrary opinion, Booklist writer Kristine Huntley believed that Sex in the City fans "will enjoy the women's romantic escapades and appreciate the roundtable discussions" among the characters.

Among Chamberlin's other works, including a number of contributions to novella collections, is The Summer of Us. The story is about three women who are all about to turn thirty. They meet each other when they become roommates, renting out a beach-side home on the Cape, where they have all decided to spend what they feel is their last youthful summer. Gincy Gannon works for a public television company in Boston and has had a series of relationships, but none have resulted in finding love; Clare Wellman has had her life dominated by the wealthy Winchester Carrington III, who now wants to marry her, but Clare feels that she has somehow lost her identity by letting others control her; and Danielle Leers has everything going for her but a man in her life and now wants to settle down. Although the situation is at first a bit awkward for the three women, eventually they come together in sharing a need to find fulfillment in their lives. Harriet Klausner, writing on the Best Reviews Web site, predicted that this "delightful buddy tale" will amuse "chick lit fans [who] will take pleasure in #x2026; the strong characterizations." "Holly Chamberlin does an exceptional job of creating what could be a simple romance [by] adding in the difficulties that any woman in that situation faces," averred Tracy Farnsworth on the Roundtable Reviews Web site, calling the novel "a great choice for your summertime beach reads."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Booklist, September 15, 2002, Kristine Huntley, review of Living Single, p. 206.

ONLINE

Best Reviews,http://thebestreviews.com/ (August 11, 2004), Harriet Klausner, review of The Summer of Us; (August 12, 2005), Harriet Klausner, review of Sex and the Single Witch; (January 15, 2006), Harriet Klausner, review of I Shaved My Legs for This?

Curled Up with a Good Book,http://www.curledup.com/ (July 4, 2007), Rashmi Srinivas, review of Living Single.

Fiction Addiction,http://reviews.fictionaddiction.net/ (July 4, 2007), Marianna Boylan, review of The Summer of Us.

Holly Chamberlin Home Page,http://www.hollychamberlin.com (July 4, 2007).

Roundtable Reviews,http://www.roundtablereviews.com/ (July 4, 2007), Tracy Farnsworth, "A Roundtable Interview with Holly Chamberlin," and review of I Shaved My Legs for This?, Sex and the Single Witch, and The Summer of Us.