This month’s ChickLitPlus challenge is The Thing About Jane Spring.

Thirty-one year old Jane Spring is a rising star in the Manhattan DA’s office. She’s smart, driven, has great legs- all in all, she should be a great catch. But no matter the first date, there’s never a second. Jane can’t understand why.  It certainly can’t be her self confidence and acerbic assertiveness, or can it?

After spending a night snowed in with a bottle of wine and a Doris Day movie marathon, Jane realizes that Doris Day always got her man. Jane decides to become more like a Doris Day character and see what happens- can being ultra-feminine really make life that much better for Jane and find her true love in the process?

I liked this story, but at the same time, I struggle with some of its message.  I hate to think that being anything other than ourselves is truly the way to find happiness. Yet at the same time, I get the point of the story.  I’m the only woman working in my office. We talk football and technology. And cars. Well, the guys talk cars. Me, not so much.  We don’t really talk about shoes unless we’re talking about Metro Jeff’s latest finds.  Unless I’m seeing clients, I usually wear jeans to the office.  Throughout my day, when I leave my office, I’m relatively unnoticed, just going about my business.

But on the days that I wear a skirt to the office, I notice that I get noticed more when we go to lunch or if I go downstairs to get my coffee. So whether or not I want to admit it, I think there is something to Sharon Krum’s point.  Now, I’m not sure any of us would go to the full extent of being Doris Day that Jane Spring does; she really goes all out. But it is an easy to read story that does make you think about how putting your best self forward may impact your life in completely unexpected ways.