Review: Had Potential But Tanked
Rating: 1 out of 5
Date: 10 28, 2012
****WARNING - SPOILERS INCLUDED IN THIS REVIEW***I'm going to approach this from a 'Pro and Con' angle.Reasons to like this book:1) George the dog...and Pete was okayReasons I did not enjoy this book:1) Gracie (main character) is a doormat with a martyr complex2) Gracie's family is selfish and irritating3) Very slow beginning4) Nell (extremely selfish middle sister)5) The ex Marine father is portrayed as an offensive stereotype, e.g.- non communicative except when angry...which seems like most of the time6) The story reads like a 16 year old's idea of what 'grown up life' is like7) Riley (milquetoast fiance of Nell)8) Gracie's trampy best friend, Celeste9) Gracie's tramp-in-training little sister, Chloe10) The story amps up about the same time Gracie starts wearing pants "...with a lot of pockets on the sides" and tank tops with no bra.  Unfortunately, from then on we are 'treated' to an unnecessary amount of sex scenes and descriptions of the state of Gracie's nipples.  This made me long for the slow beginning11) The use of the term 'hooked up' - spare me, PLEASE12) Again, Nell13) Pot smoking, 'vegetarian' future in-laws who sleep in the backyard and steal pork products (Ummm, yeah...they have the munchies so of course they're gonna swipe your food)14) Wendall - another Marine stereotype, e.g.- dumb as a box of rocks15) Once more...Nell16) When Gracie isn't having sex she's thinking about it...which gives us yet another opportunity to hear about her nipples, just in case we've forgotten she has them17) The Big Misunderstanding - which actually wasn't very big...or interesting18) The bachelorette party description - yuck19) Gracie talking to some skeeve at a strip club about the possibility of him dating her little sister.  That's classy20) I'm sure you saw this coming...Nell21) The rehearsal dinner description22) The fact that it takes Gracie almost the entire book to tell her obnoxious family to shove it23) The mix up with the phallus shaped 'wedding' cake.  Really?  If we're going with this level of maturity why not throw in some 'Pull my finger' jokes?24) I could come up with more points as to why I really disliked this book, but I'll just end on this one: I cannot believe that the wedding actually took place after the way Nell treated her sister and fiance.  They just forgive her and everything is all hunky dory?  YEESH.  In *my* fantasy version of the ending, Riley and Gracie both tell Nell to take a hike and turn the would be wedding reception into a 'Hooray, We're Not Spineless Weenies Any More!' party.Also, there would be a wonderful epilogue where we learn that Nell has been convicted of insider trading and since she chose to attack the arresting officers with her Manolo Blahniks, causing serious injury, she is sentenced to the maximum time allowed in a high security women's prison where she is now the miserable girlfriend of a humongous, foul smelling inmate.Obviously I am in the minority where this book is concerned.  Based on this reading experience, however, I would not choose to read another work by this author.