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Leave It to Cleavage
Miranda Smith isn't surprised to discover a cache of racy photographs in her husband's desk--after all, he is the president of Ballantyne Bras. But she's more than shocked to realize it's his buff, burly body encased in the red satin bustier and matching bikini panties...and he's nowhere to be found. Neither is their life savings nor the company coffers. Thus begins Miranda's hilarious, frantic scramble to unravel the mystery behind her husband's disappearance, illegal accounting practices, and penchant for wearing silky teddies and kitten heels.
368 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 2004
39 people are currently reading
703 people want to read
About the author
Wendy Wax
22 books1,580 followersI write novels that explore friendship, self-discovery and the challenges life brings us, leavened with a touch of humor. I'm proud of all my books and perhaps best known for my "Ten Beach Road" titles including the USA Today bestsellers, Ten Beach Road and The House on Mermaid Point, and for While We Were Watching Downton Abbey.
I was born in St.Petersburg, Florida and grew up on St. Pete Beach within spitting distance of the Gulf of Mexico. I went, appropriately enough, to Sunshine Elementary School where recess and art class sometimes took place on the beach, and the highlight of every school year was the annual fish broil.
It’s hard to be a type-A personality when you grow up in such a laid back environment, but I managed. Convinced that you were expected to know how to read BEFORE you showed up for school, I forced a neighbor friend to teach me to read at the age of five. I’ve been reading ever since.
Books, in all forms, are one of my greatest pleasures and best forms of escape. And they’ve had a major impact on my life.
I went to the University of Georgia after reading Gone with the Wind one too many times. For a while I re-read Margaret Mitchell’s classic yearly, saw the movie whenever it played within twenty miles, and could quote large passages from memory. Today I have a growing GWTW collection, and the time I spoke at he Margaret Mitchell House was an incredible thrill.last
After college I worked in radio, television, and film. Like Olivia in 7 DAYS AND SEVEN NIGHTS, I’ve done live talk radio. I hosted a show in the eighties called Desperate & Dateless, and while I was never locked in an apartment for a week with a webcam rolling as she was, I did fall in love. Happily, the man who swept me off my feet consults with financial types and understands the bottom line. Unlike Olivia’s nemesis, Matt Ransom, my husband has never, to my knowledge, advised anyone to ‘love the one they’re with.’ We live in Atlanta with our two sons.
I was born in St.Petersburg, Florida and grew up on St. Pete Beach within spitting distance of the Gulf of Mexico. I went, appropriately enough, to Sunshine Elementary School where recess and art class sometimes took place on the beach, and the highlight of every school year was the annual fish broil.
It’s hard to be a type-A personality when you grow up in such a laid back environment, but I managed. Convinced that you were expected to know how to read BEFORE you showed up for school, I forced a neighbor friend to teach me to read at the age of five. I’ve been reading ever since.
Books, in all forms, are one of my greatest pleasures and best forms of escape. And they’ve had a major impact on my life.
I went to the University of Georgia after reading Gone with the Wind one too many times. For a while I re-read Margaret Mitchell’s classic yearly, saw the movie whenever it played within twenty miles, and could quote large passages from memory. Today I have a growing GWTW collection, and the time I spoke at he Margaret Mitchell House was an incredible thrill.last
After college I worked in radio, television, and film. Like Olivia in 7 DAYS AND SEVEN NIGHTS, I’ve done live talk radio. I hosted a show in the eighties called Desperate & Dateless, and while I was never locked in an apartment for a week with a webcam rolling as she was, I did fall in love. Happily, the man who swept me off my feet consults with financial types and understands the bottom line. Unlike Olivia’s nemesis, Matt Ransom, my husband has never, to my knowledge, advised anyone to ‘love the one they’re with.’ We live in Atlanta with our two sons.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 69 reviews
March 13, 2015
This was a cute easy read. The female characters were strong women, especially Grams. Strangers things have happened.
July 17, 2012
I just chanced upon this novel by a less known author, Wendy Wax. I read it just not to judge the book by its cover. But due to obvious reasons, any girl will know it would be a full blast Chic Lit.
How could Miranda Ballantyne know, searching for a roll of stamps could be catastrophic and change her life as she knows it. Miranda's new year resolution was to stock a good amount stamps and she had failed to live to it. She has nearly upturned the whole house, and the only thing left was her husband's study. When she forced open a draw, all the photos in it scattered across the room. She was delighted to see all the super models in different lingerie in her husband's draw because her husband is the president and CEO of the Ballantyne Bra's a family business passed down for a whole century.
But one photo, which drew her attention was the one in which her husband was dressed in Ballantyne's best sellers. Even worse was a hand with freshly manicured french nails on his rear. A cloud of suspicion started but she dismissed them by simply throwing all the stuff in the trash. When she retrieved those photos again, she saw words of shredder paper that registered a big shock in her. A missing husband was worse enough, but to add to things, she had just discovered that he likes to dress up in women's lingerie, and probably has a mistress, he had let down their family business which is in serious trouble now and had disappeared with all her money, leaving a note, "Dear Miranda", that he was never coming back
Ballantyne has been her family business thriving for a 100 years. It has been Truro's biggest employer and if she shares this truth with anyone, it would only leaves hundreds jobless. So, bearing the burden on her shoulder, she takes up charge on the pretense that Tom (her husband) is away to China to look for more business. She discovers talents and new ways to enrich her business. Through her beauty pageant connections, she finds a way to take her business national. Meanwhile, she falls for Blake Summers, the police chief, who is investigating Tom's disappearance after an anonymous phone call. When she finally figures her life and gets a hold of it, once again bad news comes along her way. The last few pages of the book covers her dilemmas, confusions and her achievements and how she takes her stand for everything.
Wendy Wax's style of writing is very fluid and makes us turn pages with ease. She mixes humor and romance and yet glues the reader with suspense. A very apt Chic lit with every thing from the women's world starting from lingerie to beauty pageants. One line, though seems too funny, can be related with life:
"And now I know that a good bra is like a good relationship. It lifts you up and helps you stand on your own. And it’s right there in your drawer when you need it.”
How could Miranda Ballantyne know, searching for a roll of stamps could be catastrophic and change her life as she knows it. Miranda's new year resolution was to stock a good amount stamps and she had failed to live to it. She has nearly upturned the whole house, and the only thing left was her husband's study. When she forced open a draw, all the photos in it scattered across the room. She was delighted to see all the super models in different lingerie in her husband's draw because her husband is the president and CEO of the Ballantyne Bra's a family business passed down for a whole century.
But one photo, which drew her attention was the one in which her husband was dressed in Ballantyne's best sellers. Even worse was a hand with freshly manicured french nails on his rear. A cloud of suspicion started but she dismissed them by simply throwing all the stuff in the trash. When she retrieved those photos again, she saw words of shredder paper that registered a big shock in her. A missing husband was worse enough, but to add to things, she had just discovered that he likes to dress up in women's lingerie, and probably has a mistress, he had let down their family business which is in serious trouble now and had disappeared with all her money, leaving a note, "Dear Miranda", that he was never coming back
Ballantyne has been her family business thriving for a 100 years. It has been Truro's biggest employer and if she shares this truth with anyone, it would only leaves hundreds jobless. So, bearing the burden on her shoulder, she takes up charge on the pretense that Tom (her husband) is away to China to look for more business. She discovers talents and new ways to enrich her business. Through her beauty pageant connections, she finds a way to take her business national. Meanwhile, she falls for Blake Summers, the police chief, who is investigating Tom's disappearance after an anonymous phone call. When she finally figures her life and gets a hold of it, once again bad news comes along her way. The last few pages of the book covers her dilemmas, confusions and her achievements and how she takes her stand for everything.
Wendy Wax's style of writing is very fluid and makes us turn pages with ease. She mixes humor and romance and yet glues the reader with suspense. A very apt Chic lit with every thing from the women's world starting from lingerie to beauty pageants. One line, though seems too funny, can be related with life:
"And now I know that a good bra is like a good relationship. It lifts you up and helps you stand on your own. And it’s right there in your drawer when you need it.”
December 17, 2008
This was a cute, light read. Not heavy on the romance like I thought it might be. My favorite character was Andie, the fifteen year old daughter of the police cheif. The part where she learned to walk in high heels made me smile. The female characters were strong women who went after what they wanted. Miranda was a likeable enough main character, but after awhile I found her to be a little boring. I would definitely qualify this paperback as a beach read.
June 6, 2011
The tagline, "Lingerie is her business. Seducing her out of it is his," is actually inaccurate. Blake spends a good portion of the novel lusting after Miranda while on the verge of falling in love, and the feelings are mutual. The sex is kept to a bare minimum, which I found quite soothing because it doesn't detract from the plot. There is a twist near the end that drags the story out a bit.
September 12, 2014
I am somewhere between it was okay and liked it. I have LOVED all the other Wendy Wax books I read. This one took me some time to get into and in the end I did enjoy it, but not as much as her others. She is always a fun read! I have one or two more of hers to read until she comes out with more :)
September 1, 2018
I picked this book up from the bookstore because it looked and sounded like fun; I wasn't familiar with the author befor reading it.
I'm not sure I'd read another book by Wendy Wax, but it wasn't till I finished reading that I took a peek at the publication date. This book is nearly 15 years old! So who knows, she might have progressed and developed in all this time.
This is one of those books that probably wouldn't exist if the main character, Miranda Smith, had just shared her problems. Talking has always been overrated in books, it seems, and this one is definitely lacking in the talking department.
Miranda Smith is only looking for a stamp so she'll at least have stuck out one of her new-year-resolutions, when she finds her husband's racy photographs. Not of other women in skimpy lingerie - but of himself, with another woman's hand on his butt.
If that wasn't bad enough - the cross-dressing in ladies' underwear and cheating - but she finds out he's been committing fraud with her family's company. He's driven them down the brink before skipping town and Miranda takes it upon herself to save not just the company, but the whole town who depends on Ballantyne for their jobs and livelihoods.
Well, she gets right on that after she's done crying her eyes out about her husband deserting her, the company and the town.
In her attempt to keep everything under wraps as questions are piling up about her husband's absence, Miranda is trying to stay afloat and make sure the company doesn't sink. She's distracted though when police officer Blake Summers starts snooping around, being alerted about possible foul play by the woman who'd been having an affair with Miranda's husband.
Miranda Smith hasn't been interested in running her family's company for years, instead keeping herself busy with charity events and pageant business. She reminds Blake of his own mother, who ran out on him and his father when he was just a kid. It's bad enough that his own wife didn't want to move with him to Truro to take care of his elderly grandfather, leaving him a divorced father of a teenaged daughter.
Andie is everything he could ask for in a daughter; tall and athletic, she's on the fast track to a basketball scholarship. He definitely does not want her to realize she's in fact a girl, or to fancy boys - he doesn't know he's already too late.
Miranda wants to avoid the sheriff and his questions, but at the same time, can't deny the attraction she feels towards him. Her husband is missing and left her anyway, so what's messing around with a guy who's into her? Of course, she forgot the part where he's investigating her husband's disappearance - and therefore, her - when she got involved.
The story became a bit too convoluted and unnecessarily long and complicated near the end, and I was sort of tired of it. It was a good read though, relatively fast-paced and a fun premise. But if only Miranda had gone to the police instead of carrying the weight of the world on her shoulders and wanting to do it alone, I might have respected her a bit more.
I'm not sure I'd read another book by Wendy Wax, but it wasn't till I finished reading that I took a peek at the publication date. This book is nearly 15 years old! So who knows, she might have progressed and developed in all this time.
This is one of those books that probably wouldn't exist if the main character, Miranda Smith, had just shared her problems. Talking has always been overrated in books, it seems, and this one is definitely lacking in the talking department.
Miranda Smith is only looking for a stamp so she'll at least have stuck out one of her new-year-resolutions, when she finds her husband's racy photographs. Not of other women in skimpy lingerie - but of himself, with another woman's hand on his butt.
If that wasn't bad enough - the cross-dressing in ladies' underwear and cheating - but she finds out he's been committing fraud with her family's company. He's driven them down the brink before skipping town and Miranda takes it upon herself to save not just the company, but the whole town who depends on Ballantyne for their jobs and livelihoods.
Well, she gets right on that after she's done crying her eyes out about her husband deserting her, the company and the town.
In her attempt to keep everything under wraps as questions are piling up about her husband's absence, Miranda is trying to stay afloat and make sure the company doesn't sink. She's distracted though when police officer Blake Summers starts snooping around, being alerted about possible foul play by the woman who'd been having an affair with Miranda's husband.
Miranda Smith hasn't been interested in running her family's company for years, instead keeping herself busy with charity events and pageant business. She reminds Blake of his own mother, who ran out on him and his father when he was just a kid. It's bad enough that his own wife didn't want to move with him to Truro to take care of his elderly grandfather, leaving him a divorced father of a teenaged daughter.
Andie is everything he could ask for in a daughter; tall and athletic, she's on the fast track to a basketball scholarship. He definitely does not want her to realize she's in fact a girl, or to fancy boys - he doesn't know he's already too late.
Miranda wants to avoid the sheriff and his questions, but at the same time, can't deny the attraction she feels towards him. Her husband is missing and left her anyway, so what's messing around with a guy who's into her? Of course, she forgot the part where he's investigating her husband's disappearance - and therefore, her - when she got involved.
The story became a bit too convoluted and unnecessarily long and complicated near the end, and I was sort of tired of it. It was a good read though, relatively fast-paced and a fun premise. But if only Miranda had gone to the police instead of carrying the weight of the world on her shoulders and wanting to do it alone, I might have respected her a bit more.
October 11, 2019
Miranda Smith went looking for a stamp in her husband's home office and found photos of him in her family's company lingerie with another woman's hand on him. Then she discovers a note saying he's left her and sorry. She discovers he's nearly bankrupted the company, cleaned out their bank accounts, and committed fraud. She decides to finally use her MBA and take over the company. She pretends Tom is on an extended business trip to China while she investigates and comes up with a plan to revamp the company. Meanwhile, the town is getting suspicious and police chief Blake Summers starts to investigate. He and Miranda also fall for each other, but the investigation and her secrets get in the way. Eventually, the truth comes out, his daughter becomes Magnolia Queen thanks to Miranda, the company flourishes, and the two FINALLY get together.
Fun, wacky story with the serious message to always fulfill your dreams.
Fun, wacky story with the serious message to always fulfill your dreams.
September 9, 2017
I guess I didn't enjoy this one as much as I enjoyed 7 Days and 7 Nights. I simply think that the relationship between Blake and Miranda was not fully developed. I didn't feel their chemistry much. I felt something was missing. And I also think what happened to Tom (Miranda's husband) had been an "easy way" out. If you could say it that. Perhaps another thing should have happened to him instead of that? I don't feel that it's fully resolved.
I was hoping for another 7 Days and 7 Nights but I was disappointed. Wonder how her other books are?
I was hoping for another 7 Days and 7 Nights but I was disappointed. Wonder how her other books are?
January 25, 2018
I will be brutally honest here. I only finished reading this book because I finish all books a read bad or well written. This is one of those books I had to force myself to finish. It was grueling. The plot was all over the place. The twist and turns never allowed for much of a suspense build up, and the romance was even a bit juvenile. I'm sorry that I don't have anything good to say. I'm definitely not a fan of this book.
January 11, 2019
I’ve been in a mood lately with everything going on in the world. I’ve only wanted to read fluffy fiction because anything more taxing is just too much to deal with right now.
For that, this book delivered.
There were a few side comments (some fat shaming, etc) that I really didn’t care for. But overall, for what I needed (the equivalent of a pint of ice cream versus a fine dining meal), it worked.
For that, this book delivered.
There were a few side comments (some fat shaming, etc) that I really didn’t care for. But overall, for what I needed (the equivalent of a pint of ice cream versus a fine dining meal), it worked.
November 29, 2020
After weeks of mystery and suspense novels, I was looking for something light-hearted. Of course, the title drew me in, and I knew it had to be entertaining. It's basically the story of a bra/under garment company, it's successes and problems. One of said problems is that the CEO has disappeared (after being seen wearing "ladies' lacies".
Can he be found? Can the company be saved? I don't want to give any more of the plot away, but it was a fun read.
Can he be found? Can the company be saved? I don't want to give any more of the plot away, but it was a fun read.
January 1, 2018
I have enjoyed Wendy Wax's novels and was glad to find this one in a used bookstore, one of her earlier books. I finally got around to reading it. It was a quick read, but I didn't enjoy it as much as her others. The characters were ok, and I liked them, but just wasn't a better rating than this. I'd say more of a 2.5 stars than 3.
June 17, 2019
This book is sort of a cozy mystery-adjacent. It's got the murder mystery, with a light side of relationship tension. It was a fun little read, perfect for reading in a swinging hammock after doing yard work in the heat. I enjoyed it far more than I expected to. It was a great fluff/summer/beach read.
December 16, 2019
This was a quick, silly read. I was looking for something like Stephanie Plum from Janet Evanovich. It wasn't that funny, but it was pretty good. I did not like the ending. I liked how it was ending about 10 pages before the end, but then not the actual end. I liked the idea of a strong, independent better.
June 16, 2020
A saucy romp of a book that is a quick read. Tells the tale of a woman down on her luck with a tramp of a husband who up & leaves taking all her money with him. Stealing from her family company, she is left to pick up all the pieces & make things right... I tore through this book in two days! The pages flew by.
June 7, 2017
Certainly not great literature, but it was fun!
August 15, 2017
Great beach read! Perfect pace and not overly fluffy
August 22, 2017
Very slow starting out and it takes a while for anything fun to happen, but the ending is good.
March 7, 2018
n/s
quick, easy, chic-lit read. very good
quick, easy, chic-lit read. very good
May 2, 2018
A great fun read! I read this a few years ago! It is funny and an easy read!
July 16, 2018
Cut story...
January 27, 2024
Cute. I love most of what Wendy Wax has written.
December 4, 2024
Nice easy read. I really enjoyed the main character’s ability to reinvent herself and a side of some nice Romance.
February 9, 2017
How would you feel if you find out your husband likes wearing sexy lingerie and doesn't look bad in it? LOL.. that's what this book is about. Miranda was only looking for a postage stamp so she could send her bill in on time only to discover photos of her husband's butt in lingerie. Now, she is furious because she had no idea and who's hand is on his butt? She discovers that their is more going on then meets the eye when she finds shredded audit documents in his trash as well. Now its up to her to save not only herself, her company and her town. I loved this book. I laughed so hard because really the wives are almost always the last to know.
April 10, 2012
It was a quick and easy read. I felt like there was a lt of back and forth between the chief of police and Miranda that was bordering on my yelling "enough already!" but I manage to keep it at bay. One thing that bothered me though was the scorn the town held for Miranda regarding the disappearance I her husband? I think sh should have been more forthcoming of those details because her protecting his so called reputation was really bugging me. Overall it was quick and easy and just the way I lie my books these days.
June 23, 2012
This is old-school romantic-comedy with a heavy helping of cheese, which makes for a breezy read. Wendy Wax's earlier works remind me of Jennifer Crusie's old slapsticks, and I just couldn't resist. Yes, it was predictable in the relationship department--her writing has evolved a lot as evidenced by Ten Beach Road--but I'm a big fan of word candy. Those of you looking for something profound or intellectual: this is NOT it. But it was fun!
July 28, 2012
By necessity, I must keep my late 2012 reviews short. However, for a book of this particular genre, this novel is decent. It certainly contains the bare bones of a writer with some talent--the book is a combination of mystery, romance, coming-into-one's-own, etc..., so that immediately set it apart from others in the genre. Of course, this is no literary novel, but one ought to know that upon glancing a bra on the cover. Overall, an enjoyable "fluffy" read.
September 3, 2015
This was a fun, easy to read book. My only problem was the last few chapters seemed rushed and jumbled up in a hurry to finish it up by page ##. I would have thought that having knowledge of each other from school days past, that more info about their interactions or antics could have been interspersed along the way. At times, they seem to not have known each other in their past? Otherwise, the chemistry is a good build up between the two characters.
July 3, 2018
This was a very cute and light hearted read with a mystery thrown into the mix.
Very tame, and to the chagrin of my husband, definitely not a smut book despite its title (I was looking for a romance book, and he thinks that all romantic books are smut, lol). It's a very sweet romance with comedy thrown in. The bee references were dorky, but adorable at the same time. If you like the movie, Sweet Home Alabama, you'll love this.
Very tame, and to the chagrin of my husband, definitely not a smut book despite its title (I was looking for a romance book, and he thinks that all romantic books are smut, lol). It's a very sweet romance with comedy thrown in. The bee references were dorky, but adorable at the same time. If you like the movie, Sweet Home Alabama, you'll love this.
August 18, 2011
The plot line -- deserted wife steps in to rescue failing family-owned bra factory -- was reminiscent of the British movie Kinky Boots, and just as enjoyable.
Stock characters, a homely small-town setting, no unexpected surprises, and a few plot holes didn't detract from the fluffy good-natured atmosphere of the story.
Solid, well-written mainstream chick-lit.
Stock characters, a homely small-town setting, no unexpected surprises, and a few plot holes didn't detract from the fluffy good-natured atmosphere of the story.
Solid, well-written mainstream chick-lit.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 69 reviews