Lisa Maria's Guide For the Perplexed — Susan Hubbard

For Lisa Maria, the decision to become a maid was simple: she was tired of nine-to-five office jobs and sick of falling for men she worked with. Performing manual labor for women seemed comparatively interesting and emotionally safe. Besides, wasn't there a certain intrinsic value in cleaning up other people's messes? Lisa Maria saw herself strolling into the lives of grateful strangers and making them over -- making them beautiful and efficient -- while turning a tidy profit for herself.

Lisa Maria Marino's been chewed up and spit out by the world once again. This time, though, she has retreated to her childhood bedroom in upstate New York to try to regroup. After all, nothing ever happens in New Sparta, NY; what better place to absorb one's losses?

After doing nothing gets old, Lisa Maria finds work as a "household assistant" (aka maid) -- although the line between who's bossing whom is hilariously blurred. And even though her own life is a disaster, she takes over as the advice columnist for a local paper, telling people what to do, with her trademark deadpan flair.

With a winning cast of characters -- the slovenly novelist who dresses up as his creations, the "good sister" gone ridiculously bad, the local mall with a sinking personality all its own -- Lisa Maria's Guide for the Perplexed is a sharp, funny, enlightening tale of one woman's quest to figure out her future by diving headfirst into her past.