Josie Lloyd & Emlyn Rees, the now married-with-children authors of 1998's Come Together and The Seven-Year Itch (among many others) used this switching narrator technique to great effect, with Lloyd writing the woman's point-of-view and Rees, the man's POV.
Given their genders, Lloyd and Reese convincingly wrote as their characters with credible ease. Although Stupid and Contagious has a bit of a rough start (think of it as someone learning to drive a manual transmission), author Caprice Crane manages to slip into Brady's and Heaven's voices effectively.
By the time the reader understands that these bickering neighbors are actually quite alike, the issue of the similarity of their voices becomes, well, not an issue.
The couple meet in the proverbial "cute" -- She gets his mail in her mailbox, which she opens (it becomes a running gag throughout the novel), even borrowing $10 his grandmother has sent him. Naturally, this doesn't sit well with Lloyd, and it begins a superficially contentious relationship between them.
Both of them are dealing with the aftermath of a toxic relationship - Brady with the mentally unstable Sarah, and Heaven's slick ex, who runs a more successful (than Brady) indie record label.
Heaven finds some solace in the adoption/doggy rescue of a fat Pug, while Brady has high hopes for his "invention" (Cinnamilk, which he is certain will rival chocolate milk in popularity).
Eventually, despite the barbs and mishaps, they grudgingly realize they don't mind the other. When Heaven gets fired for the second time in the novel (she starts off as a PR exec-turned waitress), she's got more time on her hands than money and offers to join Brady on a band-scouting trip to Los Angeles, and then Seattle, Pug in tow.
Brady chooses Seattle because a meeting with the head of Starbucks becomes his grail, but hides his "invention" from Heaven initially. She jumps on the bandwagon and conspires to help Brady meet the man. Her PR and marketing skills are revived in the process. Inevitably, misunderstandings and confusion block the path to togetherness.
Crane's fond of her characters and this depicted in how she presents both Brady and Heaven. They are clearly flawed - Heaven tipples on the edge of annoying -- but it makes them all the more authentic. Crane has a great grasp of life in Manhattan, and when the duo hit Los Angeles, Crane's descriptions of the denizens and locations are on the mark.
These are people who are the on cusp of "making it," not to fame and fortune, but to maturity. Their fears are real, and credible, and for Crane's audience, relatable.
Readers of rom com know what this is all leading to, but Crane, daughter of TV's iconic "Ginger," Tina Louise, has a breezy style that's entertaining and makes this novel engaging.
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