Review: A lot of fun!
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 01 14, 2013
I don't often read what most call 'chick-lit' but I saw some reviews of this one and I'm pretty much always willing to give something a try so when the author offered me a copy for review I decided to accept.  It's always good to read outside your preferred genres just to shake things up a bit.  And I'm very glad that I decided to give this one a try cause it really was a riot!Mercury was a very crazy character, but for the most part I really loved that.  She made some ridiculous and over the top decisions and was prone to overreacting as well as being a bit self absorbed at times but I found myself loving her and her crazy personality.  I felt like I should like her less when she was constantly absorbed in her own affairs or how others situations were affecting her, but I didn't find myself disliking her at all.  And while some of her choices, decisions and overreactions were a bit unrealistic and over the top it fit with the story and I really wouldn't call it a negative at all.  Just be aware going in that this book is like that.  Just a bit silly.  And for me some silly can be awesome!  And in this case it was.Mercury keeps making a fool of herself around the Editor in Chief of the New York Time Book Review.  And she can't seem to stop herself!  Words spurt out of her mouth before she can help it.  But she's desperate to get her books reviewed and she'll do anything to get his attention.  And we start to see these two develop some sexual tension and we get the feeling these two may actually like each other, even if they are in denial.  I loved the interaction between the two as they constantly had witty banter bouncing back and forth.While I thoroughly enjoyed this book and it was loads of fun, I do have a couple issues.  The first thing is the sex scene.  There's a pretty descriptive one in the book (makes this definitely adult) but when it comes to be it caught me totally by surprise.  There was no leading up to it.  These two people hadn't so much as kissed and suddenly they are hot and heavy.  I think I would have had a bit more warning, or some talking between them or something before it was suddenly sex.  And while they have known each other for awhile and stuff, it was just how it all happened that didn't work for me.  I felt like she must be having a dream or something.  I was so sure that I skimmed ahead to check and nope, not a dream.  The sex scene itself was fine, it was just how it so suddenly started that threw me.The other thing is that there is an author, Nick, that is pretty important to the story.  He's in the background a lot and he becomes a good friend to Mercury but I didn't feel that.  I was told they became friends, but I think I would have liked a bit more interaction between them and more fleshing out of his character.  I think he would have been a fascinating character if we had gotten to know him better.All in all those issues are actually quite minor.  I rate depending on my overall feel for the book, how I felt the majority of the time and I definitely loved it!  I love that there's so much of the book business in it and thought it was funny that Lauren Baratz-Logsted wrote a chick-lit book about a chick-lit author who wants to get reviewed by The New York Times Book Review.  It was neat seeing things from the authors perspective.  Things like being nervous when doing an event, having people shoving their books at you everywhere you go, trying to get you to get your agent to look at it... all those things are fascinating to me!  There's also a lot of talk about Mercury's books being labeled incorrectly.  She doesn't feel like they are really chick-lit, and I think that's actually something that happens a lot.  The authors don't get to pick the genre the publishers market it as and then they have to overcome the stigma of being labeled that.  I think that's why I so often have trouble labeling something, because usually books are a mishmash of different things.Anyway, I suggest you pick this one up just for the giggles of it all!