Review: Incredibly fun and fast read - good to the last page!
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 04 27, 2011
I think Josephine "Josie" McMaster may be my new hero! I knew going into this book that it would be a light fun read and it did not disappoint me. There were a lot of great things about this book. First of all, the characters. Of course you have Josie, who basically is comfortable in her day to day routine and obviously doesn't believe in fairy tale endings in life. I think she probably tried to blend into the background because of all the humiliation she has suffered throughout her life; if she doesn't draw attention to herself, she can't do anything embarrassing that other people might see. I saw so much of myself in Josie. I was that klutzy girl growing up that was constantly tripping over my own feet and getting into embarrassing situations. I learned to just laugh it off and pretend it didn't bother me, but it was still mortifying, to say the least. Luckily for Josie (even though she doesn't feel it at the time) her mom enters her into the Bridesmaid Lotto, to be a bridesmaid for a socialite. That is the main prize, but another big perk to the job: getting to meet Jake Hall, the hunky famous movie star that has all of the girls drooling. Josie secretly has a mega crush on him, but like most of us we don't flaunt it around. I mean, what is the chance that we'll ever meet the person of our fantasies? (ATTENTION: Hugh Jackman if you are reading this, you could make my dreams come true! Also, Bradley Cooper! Call me!) Much to Josie's surprise, and believe me she is surprised since she never entered the contest, she wins a coveted spot along with three other girls. And that's where the shenanigans begin, as Josie tries to balance her old self and her new status as an it-girl bridesmaid.Now I must tell you about the fabulous secondary characters. My favorite? Mattie of course! Mattie is Josie's gay co-worker, and they get really close as he helps her prepare for her role as bridesmaid. He is hilarious! There were so many times his comments had me giggling to myself - and had my family looking at me like I was crazy! Even though they hadn't really hung out much previously, he stood by her side and helped her fit into to the glitzy Hollywood crowd.Calla, Josie's roommate, entered the lotto as well and was just as surprised when Josie was picked. She played the caring, loyal friend, but you know she had to have been annoyed that Josie won, when Josie didn't even want it in the first place. Calla wanted it more than anything, wanted to meet Jake Hall; it was bad enough losing, but having to live it through someone you know is almost worse. Knowing they are doing something you desperately want to do.I loved Josie's mom too. She was the typical over-bearing parental figure that was constantly harping on Josie for something she was or was not doing. She, of course, thinks she knows what her daughter needs so she enters her into the lotto without Josie knowing. And throughout the ordeal leading up to the wedding, she constantly called Josie saying things like "What are you trying to do to me?". But maybe mothers do know best, because the one thing Josie didn't think she needed was the thing that brought her out of her shell.And then of course there is Jake Hall, the mega celebrity that everyone has a crush on, but you know he's probably a jerk in real life. Or we tell ourselves that to make us feel better about he fact that we'll never meet him! As Josie soon found out though, Jake is like a typical guy, very down to earth and easy to talk to. Except of course that he has paparazzi watching his every move. He's like the perfect guy: handsome, attentive, caring...oh and what the heck, he's rich!One of my favorite parts of the book is the "disaster diary". Every time Josie felt like her ego was getting the best of her, she thought about a time in her life when she was extremely humiliated and wrote it in the diary. I thoroughly enjoyed reading these diary entries, they were all pretty hilarious. Especially one particular story about a pair of underwear. You'll need to read this book to find out the whole story, but let me tell you, it actually happened to me in high school! I about died when I read that part I was laughing so hard! I'm so glad I can laugh about it now, I thought about crawling in a hole to die after it actually happened.I really did enjoy this book. It was a nice change of pace after some of the heavy reading I've done lately and I breezed through it in about one day. The only thing I wish would have been included is some sort of description about what the characters looked like. I made up my own mental images of course, but it would have been nice to have some sort of base description to go off of. While I was reading, I realized the story, in a small way, reminds me of the movie Win A Date With Tad Hamilton. Different circumstances of course, but an unassuming girl getting to meet her celeb crush because of a contest. So if you happened to like that movie you should definitely read this book! And now all I can say is...when does book #2 come out?