Kirsty Greenwood

I tried to like this one, but ultimately the character of Natalie worked my nerves. The premise of her getting hypnotized to tell the truth was truly hilarious in a couple of places, but I don't think the author did enough with it. And in the end, she wasn't that great IMHO considering that she went from being a doormat to just being a jerk about things and not discussing them. I did like the ending with her choosing herself though, and we do get a nice HFN.

Natalie is slated to marry her boring, but nice fiancee. She is troubled though by him saying that she's almost perfect (talking about her weight). And it doesn't help her mother and sister chose her wedding dress (she looks like a bedazzled ice skater). And she has a job she hates with a boss who talks down to her. When she and her best friend go out to a pub to meet a hypnotist, Natalie wakes up to find that if she is asked a direct question she has to tell the truth. Trying to track down the hypnotist has Natalie traveling back and forth to Little Trooley while trying to make amends with her fiancee and family.

Natalie is kind of a beige character. I didn't feel for anyone who just lets everyone walk all over them. Natalie's reasons are that her father left her mother, so she now has to be close and do whatever she says. Same issue with her sister forcing her to dog watch, and her eating food she doesn't like and having boring 5 minute sex with her fiancee. She is just passive to her own life. When Greenwood has her telling the truth, I did crack up a few times. But it just got old after a while. Natalie apparently can't be anything but blunt and rude when telling the truth so you go from feeling sorry for her, to feeling sorry for the people she's talking to.

The other characters read as wafer thin in this one. Natalie's two love interests, interested me not at all. Especially since one of them had a girlfriend and that whole thing turned into a mess that had me not liking anyone.

The writing was okay, I wish that we had spent more time on Natalie's love of cooking. When the author went in that direction I found myself more interested. The flow was not good though. Natalie runs away from Little Trooley I think like three times. I was tired of her going back and forth there (to look for the hypnotist) and it wasn't plotted very well.

The ending was good with Natalie setting out to do something for herself, but she gets a nice surprise and a HFN ending.… (mais)

"Big Sexy Love" could have been so much better. I think in the end too many absurd things were happening and Greenwood lost the plot. And I liked the idea behind the plot so much. I also wish we spent more time with Birdie. Birdie was a great character, and we only get glimpses into her. I wish that Greenwood had included more scenes/dialogue with Birdie and Olive. I found myself loving the letters in the end and that Olive didn't just run after a dude. Other than that, I felt that this was an okay book to pass the time with.

"Big Sexy Love" has Olive Brewster going to New York to track down her best friend Birdie's ex who was her big sexy love. One wonders why Birdie can't do it, but you quickly find out that Birdie is dying, and it really will be up to Olive to track down Birdie's ex and give him a letter from her to him. Only issue is that Olive loves her routines (works at the fishmonger and goes home to watch Big Bang Theory with her brother and his pain the butt girlfriend) so traveling to New York isn't going to be an easy thing for her.

Olive meets a cast of thousands it seems, but she manages to shake up her routine and pushes through in order to make sure she keeps her promise to Birdie.

Olive was not a sympathetic character at times. We find out her parents separated and acted like jerks. So now she is living with her brother in their childhood home. the girlfriend is a nasty jerk, but she was still saying little truths here and there about Olive and her inability to take care of herself. I think if we didn't keep jumping from absurdity to absurdity the book would have worked better for me. Olive is almost arrested, arrested, and just running from scene to scene. We don't get to see her really take in New York except for here and there. I didn't like her love interest because guys who act like assholes are not my thing.

The secondary characters are merely there to prop up Olive or be an impediment. The only one who is there and shines in this is Birdie. I do wish that Greenwood had worked with what she had more. The best friendship of Birdie and Olive are really the only parts of the book that worked.

The writing was so-so. I think that happening each chapter start with a text from someone in Olive's life didn't work that well. Also including twitter messages from one tertiary character was too much. The flow was pretty awful though. We just have ebbs and flows and nothing really works until the last 10 percent or so.

The setting moving from London to New York felt a bit blah to me. I just needed more color. Greenwood does at times have Olive pay attention to her setting. But it felt like a weird New York where everyone (mostly) is super helpful and things are apparently cheap as hell.

The ending was a surprise and I honestly think the epilogue was written very well.… (mais)

This book..I don't even know where to start. I absolutely loved it. It had me laughing so much (even during my lunch break at work!).
I have to admit I wasn't a huge fan of Jess in the very beginning, but despite that I was hooked from page 1.
I first read about it on a blog back in January and I just knew that I needed to buy it. I was intrigued and couldn't wait to see how Jess and Matilda would prove that those 1950's tips could still apply in such a modern setting. I wasn't disappointed (although Jess improvised quite a bit lol).

When it comes to reading I'm the type of person who HATES having to put a book down until it's finished, but sometimes I happen across a book that is so good I don't want to finish it right away. This was one of those books. I just didn't want it to end.

The only thing that could have made it better would have been Summer's show flopping! Aside from that, the ending was great. This book was everything I thought it would be and more.

Definitely can't wait to read more from Kirsty Greenwood!… (mais)