I had seen this book at Borders several times and was interested in it, not just the $15.00 price tag. Unless it is an author I absolutely love and confident I will not be dissappointed in, I don't like paying full price.
So I was excited when I found it last week at the used book store in town for $4.00! I took it home and started reading it.
Here is the overview from the back:
Laura Foster is a hopeless romantic. Her friends know it, her parents know it - even Laura acknowledges she lives either with her head in the clouds or buried in a romance novel. It's proved harmless enough, even if it hasn't delivered her a real-life dashing hero yet. But when her latest relationship ends in a disaster that costs her friendships, her job, and nearly her sanity, Laura swears off men and hopeless romantic fantasies for good.
With her life in tatters around her, Laura agrees to go on vacation with her parents. After a few days of visiting craft shops and touring the stately homes of England, Laura is ready to tear her hair out. And then, while visiting grand Chartley Hall, she crosses paths with Nick, the sexy, rugged estate manager. She finds she shares more than a sense of humor with him - in fact, she starts to think she could fall for him. But is Nick all he seems? Or has Laura got it wrong again? Will she open her heart only to have it broken again?
With her life in tatters around her, Laura agrees to go on vacation with her parents. After a few days of visiting craft shops and touring the stately homes of England, Laura is ready to tear her hair out. And then, while visiting grand Chartley Hall, she crosses paths with Nick, the sexy, rugged estate manager. She finds she shares more than a sense of humor with him - in fact, she starts to think she could fall for him. But is Nick all he seems? Or has Laura got it wrong again? Will she open her heart only to have it broken again?
To me it sounded great. A chic-lit book that I can read while snuggled under a blanket drinking a cup of tea.
But just a few chapters in I had to put it down. It just didn't grab me. I found it boring. I kept asking myself, why should I care about Laura? I found myself not caring what happened to her, and that ins't a good sign when you have 400 more pages to go.
Yep, at 500+ pages it is a long book.
And what really turned me off is the language. While I am not a total prude, I can deal with some language, I don't like books that contain gratuitous cursing. And this book has it all! Some pages had as many as 3-4 F-words alone.
I guess I am not a hopeless romantic after all. I need a book with more substance.
Widget by Css Reflex | TutZone
I love when they write books with the obvious intent of drawing in those who would read such books. Anyone who regularly reads romance would relate to a character who does the same, right? Sadly, that alone doesn't make a book good!
ReplyDeleteGood thing you didn't buy it full price!
I can't blame you for putting it down. I really don't think I could tolerate 3-4 f words per page either. I really don't see how that much cursing could contribute to the storyline.
ReplyDeleteThe most common thing that makes me put down a book is when the author is too descriptive and it makes it hard to pay attention to the story. You know, the "It was a dark, dismal night, and the silver moon shone in the sky like a dire warning of something yet to come. The highway was as deserted as a small town store after Wal-Mart moves in down the road and as the car putters along like a mottled green turtle, the gray concrete of the road seemed as dreary as a cloudy day"...When the only important bits were "In the dark of the night, a car traveled down the highway." Too many descriptive words make it seem like the author is trying too hard. Especially when every sentence is like that.
It also drives me nuts when an author insists on using a ton of five dollar words. I'm an intelligent woman with a pretty decent vocabulary, but when I have to read the book with a dictionary next to me and look up 5-6 obscure words per page, it's going too far.
I agree with Ronnica, I'm glad you didn't buy it full price!
I always put the book down if it contains a lot of offensive language. It just isn't my style.
ReplyDeleteYikes! I don't put a book down very often, but I just put down two in a row. One that was too ridiculous to even mention. The other had a review calling the author an "artist of words." Sure, maybe at the local street fair. And the bits that had pretty words could not redeem the complete lack of compelling content.
ReplyDelete