Esther Friesner is all over the place in speculative fiction. She writes short stories and novels; she edits anthologies, and has been involved in different conventions and societies. A Vassar and Yale graduate, she used to teach Spanish at the latter before she started writing full-time. Ms. Friesner has won two Nebula Awards, both for short stories, and has been nominated for several other awards. Currently, she lives in Connecticut, with her husband, two kids, two cats, and however many hamsters she has at the moment. Her most recent novel is Nobody’s Prize, the sequel to Nobody’s Princess; expect a review before the end of the week.

Ilana Newhouse, sixteen or so, needs a summer job, and now. If not, her parents will send her to music camp. Also, her sister Dyllin is getting married at the end of the summer, and any excuse to get out of the house is a good excuse. Unfortunately, she’s got a bit of an attitude, and that isn’t going over so well when she tries to get a job at most of the places in her small, East-Coast-tourist-industry hometown. However, she discovers the D. R. (Divine Relief) Temps Agency, and they seem to think that all the weirdness that makes Ilana unsuitable for other jobs is exactly what they need! She starts her job temping the next day for some . . . interesting women. Who are they? And, uh, ‘Divine Relief?’

This book, reprinted by the Speak imprint of Penguin, has a cute teenybopper cover and is fairly short, but it’s really funny and surprisingly warm-hearted. Ilana’s family is quite interesting; Dyllin’s wedding is pushing the entire family close to the breaking point. There are some old issues, though, that resurface as well; the family minus Dyllin spent a couple years in Africa, and while there, Ilana caught smallpox and nearly died. Her parents still feel guilty over this, and Dyllin and Ilana have tension between them because of it. They all love each other, of course, but between Ilana’s attitude and Dyllin’s Bridezilla nature, I can understand why Ilana thought spending as much time as possible somewhere else was a good idea.

I thought the characters were excellent. Ilana, of course, is perfectly endearing, and I can understand her attitude completely, when presented with some of the people in her town. Dyllin proves to have surprising reserves of strength. Ilana’s best friend, whose name might be Heather, is completely a stereotype (gorgeous blonde cheerleader-type) turned on her head (she builds volcanoes made out of French fries and is not-so-secretly a nerd). Corey and a couple other of the temps are also fantastic; while I wouldn’t say they’re excitingly unique character types, they’re definitely fun to have around and do manage to add a good deal of humor to the story.

It’s a fun, light read; I wouldn’t exactly call this material of strong depth, but it’s really a lot of fun. Everything happens as it should, although it often takes quite a while to get there. The humor is probably the strongest factor in the book, and a good deal of it is related to the nature of the Divine Relief Temps Agency and Ilana’s gradual discovery of what exactly her employment entails. Fans of the tone of the physical-humor type of chick lit that became insanely popular after Bridget Jones would enjoy this, although the subject matter is slightly different. It’s humorous contemporary fantasy, certainly, and should be decidedly appealing to teen readers with a sense of whimsy. 4/5 stars.