Chick lit sinks to a new low.
One what?
Heart, of course—were you thinking about the other thing? You big silly! This is a Meg Cabot book (the YA Princess Diaries series; The Boy Next Door, 2002, etc.). Turn on your Blackberries and follow along as four supercute—and supposedly adult—characters eschew conversation in favor of all-electronic communication, even when they’re sitting in the same car! Jane Harris, creator of a popular cartoon kitty named Wondercat, is invited along when her best friend Holly Caputo decides to elope with Mark Levine. See Jane board the plane and find her seat without adult assistance. She is soooooo excited! She’s never been out of the country and now she’s going to Italy! She’ll have to stop mispronouncing “spaghetti” as “spisgetti,” especially since her friends also invited Cal Langdon, a sophisticated, brilliant international correspondent with a million-dollar book deal, so Jane would have somebody to play with and not get bored. But Cal is soooooo grumpy. Maybe he shouldn’t write books about grisly wars and oil politics in the Middle East. Who cares about that stuff anyway? Anyway, Jane has a million-dollar deal pending with a cartoon network—nyah, nyah! There are other conflicts. Mark’s Jewish family and Holly’s Catholic family disapprove of this wedding and get their two cents in via e-mail, like everyone else. Gee whiskers, Wondercat—maybe this book is for grown-ups: Holly and Jane gossip about Mark, and Jane is given to understand that he’s the fortunate possessor of something referred to as a Large Appendage. Will he show it to her? Not yet. Uh-oh! There’s a long wait for the special form to get married in Italy and Jane gets restless. She needs to go to the bathroom! And Holly and Mark come down with—hee-hee—diarrhea! That is so not good. . . .
Chick lit sinks to a new low.Pub Date: Jan. 4, 2005
ISBN: 0-06-008546-0
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Avon/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2004
Anyone who believes in true love or is simply willing to accept it as the premise of a winding tale will find this debut an...
True love flares between two people, but they find that circumstances always impede it.
On a winter day in London, Laurie spots Jack from her bus home and he sparks a feeling in her so deep that she spends the next year searching for him. Her roommate and best friend, Sarah, is the perfect wing-woman but ultimately—and unknowingly—ends the search by finding Jack and falling for him herself. Laurie’s hasty decision not to tell Sarah is the second painful missed opportunity (after not getting off the bus), but Sarah’s happiness is so important to Laurie that she dedicates ample energy into retraining her heart not to love Jack. Laurie is misguided, but her effort and loyalty spring from a true heart, and she considers her project mostly successful. Perhaps she would have total success, but the fact of the matter is that Jack feels the same deep connection to Laurie. His reasons for not acting on them are less admirable: He likes Sarah and she’s the total package; why would he give that up just because every time he and Laurie have enough time together (and just enough alcohol) they nearly fall into each other’s arms? Laurie finally begins to move on, creating a mostly satisfying life for herself, whereas Jack’s inability to be genuine tortures him and turns him into an ever bigger jerk. Patriarchy—it hurts men, too! There’s no question where the book is going, but the pacing is just right, the tone warm, and the characters sympathetic, even when making dumb decisions.
Anyone who believes in true love or is simply willing to accept it as the premise of a winding tale will find this debut an emotional, satisfying read.Pub Date: Oct. 16, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-525-57468-2
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: July 30, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2018
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK TO SCREEN
With frank language and patient plotting, this gangly teen crush grows into a confident adult love affair.
Eleven years ago, he broke her heart. But he doesn’t know why she never forgave him.
Toggling between past and present, two love stories unfold simultaneously. In the first, Macy Sorensen meets and falls in love with the boy next door, Elliot Petropoulos, in the closet of her dad’s vacation home, where they hide out to discuss their favorite books. In the second, Macy is working as a doctor and engaged to a single father, and she hasn’t spoken to Elliot since their breakup. But a chance encounter forces her to confront the truth: what happened to make Macy stop speaking to Elliot? Ultimately, they’re separated not by time or physical remoteness but by emotional distance—Elliot and Macy always kept their relationship casual because they went to different schools. And as a teen, Macy has more to worry about than which girl Elliot is taking to the prom. After losing her mother at a young age, Macy is navigating her teenage years without a female role model, relying on the time-stamped notes her mother left in her father’s care for guidance. In the present day, Macy’s father is dead as well. She throws herself into her work and rarely comes up for air, not even to plan her upcoming wedding. Since Macy is still living with her fiance while grappling with her feelings for Elliot, the flashbacks offer steamy moments, tender revelations, and sweetly awkward confessions while Macy makes peace with her past and decides her future.
With frank language and patient plotting, this gangly teen crush grows into a confident adult love affair.Pub Date: April 10, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-5011-2801-1
Page Count: 416
Publisher: Gallery Books/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2018
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