Cyn Fishbein’s job as a copyright for a prospering ad agency means a lot to her.  When she comes up with a smashing idea for a new low-calorie donut, she can’t wait to wow the client.  Unfortunately, one of her co-workers, Chelsea, steals the idea and presents it first.  Cyn is usually pretty easy-going, but she’s not about to let this slide.

Chelsea ends up injuring her back and winds up in the hospital.  Cyn realizes this is her chance to be bad.  Cyn poses as Chelsea and continues her ad campaign.  One question remains:  Can Cyn keep up the ruse or will she get caught and lose her job?

Meanwhile, Cyn continues her weekly group therapy sessions meant to help her become more assertive.  It is in one of these sessions that she meets a gorgeous man, Joe, who is in the group because he is afraid of commitment.  The pair finds themselves falling head over heels, but can it last?  Will Joe realize how close they are becoming and split?

This is the setup for Sue Margolis’s ORIGINAL CYN.  There are minor plots that add to the overall feel of the book.  Cyn’s brother and girlfriend become engaged, so the family is busy planning a wedding.  Cyn is currently babysitting a co-worker’s mouthy Mynah bird.  Cyn’s friends Hugh and Harmony also add humor to the story.  Harmony’s humor is due to the fact that she is forty and suddenly her “internal clock” is going off in blaring fashion—yet she has no man in sight.  Meanwhile, Hugh has lost his job, accepts the role as wedding planner for Cyn’s family, and has finished a screenplay that he is desperate to sell. 

ORIGINAL CYN does have humor; Hugh’s job as a wedding planner and Cyn’s Jewish family prove to be riotous!  The mimicking Mynah bird, who desperately needed a “shag”, also cracked me up.  However, I found the rest of the supporting characters to be lacking. They were there, but lacked the spark that the others added to the story.

I enjoyed the romance between Joe and Cyn, but when the typical “misunderstanding” occurs I felt Cyn was a bit of a hypocrite.  Joe’s real job is announced, and Cyn is upset that he lied to her.  Thought I understand why she's upset, I still had minor issues with her complaint—she’s posing as her co-worker so she's not the most honest person on the block either. 

Regardless of this pet peeve of mine, ORIGINAL CYN is still a quirky novel.  I did have a hard time walking away from the story.