I also love that there was a surprise around every corner. I love their personalities and the crazy banter between them. Dolly and Selma, her grandmother and mother (respectively), are hilarious. I just wanted her to 'win' the entire time. Lily is easy to relate to and definitely a sympathetic character. While readers will need a suspension of disbelief for this novel, it makes for a fun 'what if,' cautionary tale.

I love that there was a conflict that weaved through the entire story, giving it a full arc. It was refreshing, honest, funny, romantic and everything else that I look for in a novel. Halpern's writing and I definitely want to read her other novels now. 'Pinch Me' is my first experience with Ms. All she knows is that she has to make him fall in love with her again, regardless of the consequences. He's married to someone else and living a different life than the one Lily knew him to have. Then she asks him to pinch her and before she knows it, she's back in her single life and Gogo doesn't even know who she is. However, instead of listening to her mom and grandmother, Lily elopes with her soul mate, Gogo. If Lily marries someone she loves, that person will suffer the consequences. He even asked her to marry him! Problem? She is cursed by her great-great-aunt who retaliated from her sister's selfish act and it has affected the love lives of all the women in her family since then.

Lily Burns has met the man of her dreams. Nevertheless, this story is definitely something I'll think about the next time I hear someone say 'pinch me.' And when I read the lyrics to that song, it made sense with the theme of the story. When I first heard the title of Adena Halpern's latest novel, I kept thinking of the Barenaked Ladies' song with the same title.

Pinch Me by Adena Halpern