Lana Fray and the Grand Plan

by Maren Higbee

Just one month before her 30th birthday Reality TV Producer, Lana Fray makes a life-changing decision: she’s done with all the gimmicky dating games that just don’t work. Convinced she can do better, Producer Girl Who Never Sleeps jumps in with both feet. She sends an email blast to 100 people, offering a five thousand dollar finder’s fee, payable on her wedding day, to the person that introduces her to Mr. Right before her 30th birthday just 30 days away.

Sure enough, her calendar is quickly filled. But (surprise!) the men who step up to the plate bring all kinds of entitlement-style attitude and, even worse, most of them turn out to be smelly, crazy, creepy or rude. Blindly focused on her goal – she only needs to find one, right? – Lana fails to see the fatal flaw in her thinking until an unlikely father figure opens her eyes.

Genres: Fiction, Chick Lit

234 pages, Paperback

First published July 30, 2014

About the author

Maren Higbee is an Emmy-nominated producer and awarding-winning author. She has worked on such shows as Deadliest Catch, Oprah’s Big Give, and Jockeys. Her work in the reality TV industry inspired her first novel Lana Fray and the Grand Plan which won the 2015 IndieReader Discovery Award for Chick-Lit. After ten years in the hustle and bustle of LA, Maren returned to her hometown of Seattle, WA, where she met her beloved husband, Brandon. Less than five years into their marriage, Brandon was diagnosed with inoperable lymphoma. Maren's newest novel A Cancer Patient’s Wife is a fictionalized account of their journey through cancer treatment and, very happily, remission. To help others through the rigors of cancer and treatment, Maren (and a team of amazing volunteer creatives) produced an award-winning video series on cancer à la Drunk History called Confessions of a Caregiver, available on YouTube. To learn more about Maren visit marenhigbee.com.

Reviews

[Samantha March]

Oh my gosh, was this a fun story! Get ready for a wild ride with Lana Fray and the GRAND Plan, because this is a highly enjoyable, comical and also endearing chick lit read. We follow Lana Fray, a reality TV producer who is on the brink of turning thirty. With the milestone looming, Lana suddenly has the itch to find her Mr. Right. Her brilliant plan of offering her friends $5000 if they can find her future husband seems genius at the time. She immediately has a social calendar full of potential suitors but not everything goes swimmingly with the guys. On top of the dates, her workplace is suddenly a crime scene, with someone targeting her boss. At first the pranks seem harmless, but they slowly turn more sinister and Lana is stuck in the middle of trying to figure out who’s behind them. And let’s not forget her group of friends, all also trying to figure out their loves lives.
Put it all together and you have a comical and fast-paced book that I quickly read over my Thanksgiving vacation, including on a plane battling motion sickness because it was so fun. I read that there will be more coming from Lana and her friends, and I would definitely be interested in reading another book with the cast. Maren Higbee has a writing style I love, putting readers directly in the drama and rooting for the characters to get their lives together. I also loved the ending and how it really tied back to Lana being a strong female lead. Highly recommend!
5 stars
Reviewed for Readers Favorite for an honest review

[Christina]

I wasn't sure what to expect from a plot where Lana, about to turn 30 and still single, offers $5000 to anyone who can find her a suitable husband through an email. This book could have gone many ways, but it turned out to be fun. We follow Lana on her dates and her journey of self-discovery. She learns not to be desperate for a man but to follow her own desires for her future, whether that involves a husband or not. Two things held me back slightly: I didn't need to hear about every outfit change, and it seemed odd that a woman learning to stand up for herself would also jump into bed with someone she just met. Despite this, the book loaded with laughs and enjoyable.

[Jennifer]

$5000 for a husband. Lana gives herself 1 month to find the perfect birthday present. Lana’s core group of friends help with her grand plan which twists and overlaps with a work mystery. Following her plan, Lana grows personally and professionally in more ways than she might have expected over the 30 day experiment.
I received this as a promotion from Goodreads.

[Cheryl]

Imagine a woman sending out a mass email to 100 people offering $5,000 to the person who introduces her to her future husband before her 30th birthday, which is about a month away. That’s exactly what Lana does in Maren Higbee’s Lana Fray and the Grand Plan. What could go wrong with such a grand plan, right? As you can imagine, a lot can go wrong. To her surprise, she meets some very strange, smelly, outrageous guys, yet she continues on her mission to find Mr. Right. After all, they can’t all be insane, right? Will her grand plan work and help her find the love of her life? Or will she come to a very unexpected realization along this crazy journey of hers?

Even though I expected more romance, I was pleasantly surprised by this book. Everyone knows how ridiculous Lana’s grand plan is, except her. While I wanted to strangle her sometimes, I have to admire her determination. It was also nice to read about a dynamic main character who clearly changes by the end of the book. Some of the men she meets along the way were over-the-top crazy, but they definitely made me laugh. I also enjoyed Lana’s loving, sometimes dramatic, friends and family, who made the story for me. Humorous with a lot of heart, Lana Fray and the Grand Plan is an entertaining read that I recommend to fans of chick-lit. I hope to see more by Maren Higbee, who is obviously a talented writer.

Reviewed by ME for Readers' Favorite

[Martina Dalton]

I thoroughly enjoyed this romantic comedy from beginning to end! Lana is a smart and funny protagonist--she has so much going for her. Why then would she have such an awful track record finding the right kind of man to date--and eventually marry? I don't know about you, but I know many women who are just like her. That's why I couldn't put this down...from the crazy office shenanigans to each loser Lana schedules to date--I had to know if she finally gets the right guy. The story does not disappoint. Ms. Higbee will have you laughing out loud, and cheering for Lana every step of the way.

[Judy A. Ptacek]

The Grand Plan

When Lana sends out her Grand Plan email offering $5000.00 to the person who introduces her to whom she marries. What follows is a lot of dates as she meets many non matches. She is a TV Producer trying to sell a new reality show and working for a hard boss. She has adventures, drama and a bit of danger on her dates. A fun read.