Author Janelle Brown wrote a book good enough to make my personal Top 10 Fiction list. Picking up a second book by Brown, This Is Where We Live, seemed like a good bet.

And it was.

Jeremy and Claudia buy a house. It’s looks like the next milestone for a married couple in their thirties. But there’s a catch or two.

First of all, this house is in LA. You know what that means, don’t you? Yeah, $$$$$$$$$$.

Second, there’s a foreclosure epidemic a few counties away. Claudia sees the newspaper photos of “faded For Sale signs . . . Black algae blanket[ing] the bottom of never-used swimming pools, abandoned swing sets . . .”

Third, some people are just born at the wrong time (That would be Mr. Read-Fast and me. We entered the game at double-digit interest rates). Jeremy and Claudia hit their time-to-buy-a-house moment when the banks are selling balloony mortgages.

And fourth, Jeremy and Claudia are arty types. Claudia just wrote and directed a movie. The buzz is good, so she’s already started on her next script. Jeremy is only a couple songs away from finishing his band’s album. These two would do just about anything to avoid getting steady jobs. Nurse the dream is their motto, and 9-to-5 would snuff it out.

Claudia came to LA to escape Wisconsin and her parents’ life of wieners on the barbecue grill.

Jeremy, after an neurotic girlfriend who is living the artist’s dream, finds a haven in Claudia. He loves her enough to shield her during an earthquake. He also admits to himself that this isn’t “the kind of crazy love that devours you alive.”

Can Jeremy and Claudia make a go of it, enjoying the vista out their bedroom window? Or will they only screw themselves over?

Barring some lags at the back end of the book, Brown keeps it lively. Don’t read it until after Christmas, or you won’t get those presents bought.