Most of us have a favorite author or two who can do no wrong, or at least write no wrong. Susan Elizabeth Phillips is one of those authors for me. I picked up Natural Born Charmer yesterday at the library. I would have finished during the wee hours of this morning if my husband hadn't leaned over to tell me it was 11:30. Yikes I stayed up late Monday to watch Montana Sky, one late night is bad, but two will leave me a zombie. So I closed the book and had to finish it this morning. Notice I had to finish it this morning, it wasn't going to wait until tonight.Vintage Susan Elizabeth Phillips.
I know my inner fangirl raised her ugly head when the first thing that came to mind when I closed the book (besides "I may have to reread this before it goes back to the library") is what the heck was Jayne thinking C+. C+! C+! C+ is what Ralphie got on his "What I Want For Christmas" theme. This was so much better than C+.
No offense Jayne, that was my inner fangirl screaming, but now in my saner moments I can see it wasn't perfect. But my inner fangirl allows me to completely look past not perfect and see almost perfect--LOL.
Now go read the Ja(y)nes' dueling reviews, I'll wait... **tapping finger nails on mouse pad** Are you back? They're probably more fair and accurate than I could ever be.
But I have to say I did disagree with some of their thoughts... Dean and Blue (our hero and heroine) both have huge abandonment issues, both had horrible childhoods that neither has dealt with. As I was reading it felt like Dean spent the summer being forced to deal with his issues, but Blue was more of a foil for him. We're given her backstory about how she was shuffled from one hippie family to another while her mother was off righting the wrongs of the world, never realising she was wronging her own child in the process--this I thought needed to be dealt with more. Jayne took issue with the overly happy ending, but I think that was part of the point of Dean's Family's Summer of Love, it was supposed to be magical and by the end I was seeing Blue's mystical art as a metaphor for this magical summer--OMG, wasn't that deep for a Fangirl of a someone writing romantic comedy.
And, one more quick thought, I didn't really notice the product/name dropping, though I knew it was going on. I guess for some it becomes annoying yet nobody name drops like Rachel Gibson, she can put Chick Lit authors to shame.
9 comments:
Shoot. I'd already decided not to buy this because it's in HB and I want the PB version to go with my collection.
Now I just want to read it.
Good review.
She guest blogged over RBTB today!
Your Fellow SEP Fangirl =)
I'm glad to hear you liked it! My copy is waiting for me at the library. I don't love all her books, but they're always at least a good read. :p
Arrgh! I totally forgot to get NBC from the library yesterday. By the time I remembered that the release date was Tuesday the libraries were closed! *BIG SIGH* Hopefully there will be a copy of NBC available at the library next week.
Holly, I'll get it when it comes out in PB too, but I don't buy very many HBs these days, so I got it at the library instead.
Amie, I'll go over an take a look. SEP Fangirls united--LOL.
Jennie, I found it very typical of her style, so hopefully you'll like it.
Erika, I was #25 in our library systems queue, but luckily #1 for our library and they're obviously stocking it, so I got it right away. I'm #14 for Sugar Daddy (Kleypas' HB coming out next month) but I don't think my library will be stocking it, so I've got a wait.
Zeek, Dear Author is probably my favorite review site. I don't always agree, but they write great synopses and their reviews are fun.
I'm a SEP fangirl I expect everyone to love her books--LOL.
Is this part of a series? I've only ever read her Chicago Stars (was that the name?) series and I really liked it.
**Lucky Charms**
Hey Jen, I don't think you'ld call it an organized series. Each books stands alone, but you can trace them back to the original with Phoebe and Dan. "Lucky Charms"--No Body's Baby But Mine--Cal and Jane, one of my favorites--:D
Yeah. I had to read that book because of all the talk of Lucky Charms at RT. LOL I was glad I did, though!
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