The Checklist

by Addie Woolridge

Overview

In an energetic debut novel about personal and professional chaos, author Addie Woolridge introduces a multicultural cast whose exploits are redefining the modern rom-com.

Killing it at work? Check. Gorgeous boyfriend? Check. Ambitions derailed by an insecure boss? Sigh—check.

Things were going a little too well for Dylan Delacroix. After upstaging her boss on a big account, she gets dispatched to the last place she wants to be: her hometown, Seattle. There, she must use her superstar corporate-consulting skills to curb the worst impulses of an impossibly eccentric tech CEO—if she doesn’t, she’s fired.

The fun doesn’t stop there: Dylan must also negotiate a ceasefire in the endless war between her bohemian parents and the straitlaced neighbors. Adding to the chaos is a wilting relationship with her boyfriend and a blossoming attraction to the neighbors’ smoking-hot son.

Suddenly Dylan has a million checklists, each a mile long. As personal and professional pressures mount, she finds it harder and harder to stay on track. Having always relied on her ability to manage the world around her, Dylan’s going to need a new plan. She may be down, but she’s definitely not out.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781542029278
Publisher:	Amazon Publishing
Publication date:	06/01/2021
Pages:	348
Product dimensions:	5.40(w) x 8.20(h) x 1.10(d)

About the Author

Born and raised outside Seattle, Washington, Addie Woolridge is a classically trained opera singer with a degree in music from the University of Southern California, and she holds a master’s degree in public administration from Indiana University. Woolridge’s well-developed characters are a result of her love for diverse people, cultures, and experiences.

Woolridge currently lives in Northern California. When she isn’t writing or singing, Woolridge can be found baking; training for her sixth race in the Seven Continents Marathon Challenge; or taking advantage of the region’s signature beverage, wine.

Editorial Reviews

03/22/2021

Woolridge’s charming debut sends methodical Dylan Delacroix back to her hometown of Seattle, where she reconnects with her quirky family and handsome neighbor. Dylan, a corporate productivity consultant, uses her borderline obsessive list-making to stay organized and on-task, her preferred way of living. Which makes her newest client, Tim Gunderson, a chaotic, often ill-prepared CEO, her worst nightmare. Dealing with the questionably sane Tim by day and her unorthodox family by night has left Dylan unnerved and forgetful. Add in her underhanded boss, condescending long-distance boyfriend, and intense attraction to her neighbor, Mike Robinson, and Dylan feels like her life is spiraling out of control. The abundance of day-in-the-life detail slows the pace and frustrates, as readers will be eager to see how all the upheaval in Dylan’s life could possibly be resolved. Love interest Mike serves as the calm in the storm, but as the story is told entirely from Dylan’s point-of-view, it can be difficult to appreciate his character and the romance gets somewhat buried beneath all of Dylan’s other issues. Luckily, Dylan’s parents and Tim’s schemes provide plenty of entertainment. The diverse cast and amusing hijinks make this an appealing pick for rom-com fans. Agent: Nalini Akolekar, Spencerhill Assoc. (June)

Publishers Weekly

2021-03-17
A corporate consultant thinks she has it all: good life, perfect partner, fast track to the placement she wants in Paris. But when she's sent on a long-term assignment to her hometown, Seattle, and must live with her parents, she realizes that she doesn’t.

Pencil-skirt– and Manolo-wearing Dylan Delacroix—a “Black Katharine Hepburn”—lives in Houston with her methodical, gorgeous, blond-haired boyfriend, Nicolas. He's just as organized as she is, and she finds the routine soothing after a childhood spent with no boundaries. But when she’s sent by her employer, Kaplan and Associates, on assignment to Seattle for a few months and Nicolas finally meets her family, her worlds collide: Her well-to-do artistic parents, Bernice and Henry, and her sister, Neale, are appalled by Nicolas’ disrespect toward her and them. And as Dylan tries to help Technocore, the troubled company with which she's been placed, founder Tim Gunderson seems ready to undercut her at every turn. Throw in her best friend, Stacy, who's Filipina; Mike, the gorgeous Latino boy across the street who's getting a Ph.D. in early childhood development; Linda and Patricia Robinson, his two moms; and Deep and Brandt, Dylan's new best friends at the office, and this story has an extremely full slate of characters who together draw Dylan back into the messy, unscheduled, opinionated, overwhelming life she thought she’d left behind. Readers ready to settle in to a long, detailed read about Dylan’s burgeoning interest in Mike, low-stakes neighborhood squabbling between the Robinson and Delacroix parents, and Dylan’s efforts to improve productivity at a “profit-sinking black hole” of a tech company that seems to have an endless supply of money will enjoy this lengthy tome. Some, on the other hand, might find its insistence on heavy-handed explanations and descriptions off-putting.

A highly organized and detailed book with a predictable storyline.

Kirkus Reviews

The diverse cast and amusing hijinks make this an appealing pick for rom-com fans.” —Publishers Weekly

“After showing up her boss, Dylan Delacroix is exiled to her hometown of Seattle in Addie Woolridge’s charming rom-com The Checklist.” —POPSUGAR

“Wit, humor, and swoon-worthy moments combine in this debut novel.” —Woman’s World

From the Publisher