The Husband Habit (2009)

Thirtysomething Albuquerquean Vanessa, heroine of The Husband Habit, the sixth novel by chica-lit queen Valdes-Rodriguez (The Dirty Girls Social Club), can't seem to stop falling for the wrong kind of men — specifically, men whose ring fingers are taken. When the proudly liberal chef develops an unlikely crush on her parents' new neighbor Paul, a strapping, crew-cut military man, her self-imposed dating moratorium begins to fall by the wayside. But is Paul just another bad choice in a new suit? Even though Valdes-Rodriguez's style — dotted with New Age aphorisms and loopy, almost beatnik cadences — can be distracting, her storytelling pulls you along. B