Review: Lukewarm and predictable
Rating: 2 out of 5
Date: 04 17, 2012
Katie McCormick is desperate: Her sister is getting married to her ex-boyfriend and has planned a wedding ceremony which is going to last for four days and the "life threatening" question is how can Katie appear at these events without a date? Her mother has made it clear that she is supposed to turn up with any man next to her and has made arrangement for her best friend's son to accompany her to the wedding. Howie isn't pleased when his mother orders him to help out her best friend's daughter and nearly coerces him to save the "damsel in distress". Howie and Katie met for the first time in their early teens but that meeting was disastrous and afterwards they lost sight of each other, however, meanwhile Katie is an attractive young woman and Howie is a successful and good-looking businessman. Together they face the "dangerous" McCormick Clan and the hilarious wedding only to find out that their mothers might finally have been right.What can I say about main characters whose descriptions is limited exclusively to their physical attributes only?! What about their characters and life experience that might have shaped their personality or attitudes? How are they as persons and how do they interact with other people? OK, I know this is an easy read but that doesn't mean that it has to be that flat. In any case, even "easy" and "flat" means that the author should be careful and consequent and with that I mean that at one point Katie had a long pony tail and the next morning she had short spiking hair! Well?!The plot was straight forward and completely predictable without any twist and turns, the romance between Katie and Howie could only be described as lukewarm. In general, the plot and love story had potential which was unfortunately not fully exhausted.The only positive highlight of the book was Katie's mother, whose dialogues were absolutely smart and funny.I didn't enjoy this book, which completely failed to keep me focused or entertained and lacked any shred of atmosphere between the lovers.(P.S. I think there's an older movie around which has more or less the same theme, except that the male date was a "rental" and not the mother's best friend's son. )