Review: She Went All the Way

Review by Diva


I've been rereading some old favorites and recent reads...trying to cut down on the old nook budget which, due to nausea and self-pity, was beginning to balloon out of control.  So I took another pass at Meg Cabot's She Went All the Way, her stand-alone chick lit romance novel.

Background:  I never read The Princess Diaries but I suspect, judging by the Queen of Babble trilogy and her 3 "Boy" novels, that her famed YA series had traces of her smart, sassy, yummy writing. I'm a Major Fan of Ms. Cabot's books.

Set Up:  Oscar winning screenwriter Lou Calabrese hops on a helicopter to a remote film location in rural Alaska, annoyed that she has to share a ride with film star Jack Townsend who famously changed a catchphrase line she wrote for him six years ago...and she's never forgiven his lameass egotistical "I think I need a bigger gun" quip that became a bumper sticker and pop cultural phenom. When their pilot tries to blow Jack's head off, Lou saves him and the copter crashes in the wilderness in a snowstorm. Their adversarial relationship continues as they attempt to survive the elements and evade paid assassins bent on making Mr. Townsend a distant memory.

What Worked:

It's Funny.  I like her sense of humor. Her fine deadpan use of the phrase "F--- bunnies" to refer to womanizer Jack's ex girlfriends is priceless.

Supporting characters: Jack's society matron rich mom comes off dimensional, sympathetic and endearing. As does Lou's gruff ex-cop dad. Neither descend into caricature which is pretty impressive alongside some of the contrivances present.

The MC.  She's tough, smart, and doesn't take any crap off Mr. Fabulous. Except when lust makes her all stupid.

What Didn't:

The Romance. Sorry, guys, but anytime a character utters the line "Has anyone ever told you that you are really cute when you're mad" my gag reflex engages. Plus, she's mad at him, he's nearly gotten her killed, pulled some stupid stunt jumping a gorge on a snowmobile with her in tow and she's all Oh the Kiss He Kissed Me SWOOOOON CITY! I have never felt this way ever not ever before where are the trilling birds from Disney's Cinderella I feel a musical number coming on...

Two Words:  No condom. That's right, folks. Our h/h hook up without protection. I lost all respect for everyone involved, including myself for reading the book. How difficult would it have been to mention that the heroine, who carries peanut brittle in her purse in case she gets hungry might have a condom in there too? I realize it's a snowstorm and all, but seriously...I would have felt sooo much less used and dirty as a reader if Cabot had tossed in a convenient prophylactic.

The Verdict: Fine if you don't think too much or mind that they're risking disease. 

Mini Monday, The Tuesday Edition

Apparently yesterday was Monday.  Whoops!  I had no idea.  So here are our Monday mini-reviews, only on Tuesday.  It's good to try new things, right?  Once again, thank you Julie for keeping us educated and entertained!

The Secret to Everything by Barbara Samuel O'Neal

I loved this book, the happily ever after was delightful.  There was a fun mystical twist plus a few very cosmic sort of aspects.  Any book that includes Magick, in one form or another, is a good one.  She also did an excellent job with her child characters, captured their voices perfectly.  As with her last one, a wee bit too much mention of food for my liking, but then that's my own hang up, many people look for this, I'm just not one of them.  I really enjoy how she incorporates dogs into her stories, at least this one and the one before.  I have her third book on request right now at my library, hope it comes in soon, I'm looking forward to reading more of her work.

And now mini-review two.

I just finished a delightful book.  It was supposed to be for the forum book club but not everyone could get it (recommended by Anna/Irish Betty's mom, who is a research librarian).  It's called Saving Cee Cee Honeycutt, and it's by Beth Hoffman.  Quite "G" rated, almost bordering on super sweet, but with enough of a bite that it just isn't quite that bad.  Very well done, great child's voice, and fabulous scenes from the South in the 60's.  Fun characters and gentle life lessons.  Not upsetting, even our Diva could read it in her currently emotional state and not be harmed in the slightest.

Thanks, Julie!  Two more books to add to the TBR shelf.  Yeah, thanks a lot.....  :)

I Love Rock 'n Roll!

I'm going through a phase right now.  A rockstar phase.  I can't get enough of reading about bad boys living the high life.  Fortunately, it seems to be a reasonably popular theme in m/m romance, although it doesn't seem to be as common in mainstream romance.

I haven't read the book to the left yet.  It's book three in a series (the first two aren't about rockstars, they're about other people who need bodyguards), so I'll need to read those first.  (Must read/watch all series in order!)  (OCD?  I have no idea what you're talking about.)  But I'm definitely looking forward to reading about the sexy rockstar and his big, strong bodyguard.  Rawr!

Another author I've been really enjoying is Jet Mykles, who writes about the oh so delicious boys of Heaven Sent.  I've read the first three books of this series (which I'll probably be discussing in more depth in another post), and there are three more books in the series, just waiting for me to eat them up, plus the first book in an off-shoot series.

I'd be lying if I didn't admit that the covers of these books are at least some of the attraction!  How can anyone look at that cover to the right and not want to read it?  The story itself was a little disappointing, but I could sit and look at the cover all day.

Lest you think this has been a strictly boys' club obsession, I have found one or two m/f rockstar romances.  Coming Undone by Susan Andersen was pretty entertaining.  PJ is a country star with problems.  (OK, so she's country, not rock, but I let it skate by because a lot of the trappings are the same.)  Her momma is trashing her in the tabloids, she's developed a crazed stalker, and the bodyguard her record label hires just happens to be an old flame.  They all go on tour, and hijinx ensue.  A good time is had by all, including the reader.

Then I've got one that I haven't read yet,  Backstage Pass by Olivia Cunning.  This is another m/f rock romance that I picked up when they 

had it for free on Kindle for about 5 minutes.  They're marketing it as an erotic romance, so fingers crossed that it will be good!

I've got a bunch of other m/m rockstar romances in my future, too.  American Love Songs by Ashlyn Kane looks excellent, as does The Replacement Guitarist by Lori Toland.  With the Band by L.A. Witt is on my list.  And as I was poking around on Goodreads, double checking author names and such for this post, I came across A Change of Tune by JM Cartwright, which is now on the list, too.  (Goodreads is really a mixed blessing.  I've discovered some great stuff there, but I'm constantly discovering another book that I want.  I'll never read it all!)

So, do you like to read about rockstars?  Have you read any of the books I mentioned here?  Did you like them?  And most importantly, are there any other rockstar romances I absolutely must read?  I just can't get enough of bad boys with attitude and guitars!

The Times They Are a-Changin'

Things have been a little quiet around here lately.  Some stuff came up in my life, and I just haven't had the energy to keep up with the reviewing.  I'm ready to get back to it, but I'm going to do things a little differently.

First of all, I'm only going to be writing up books that I really loved.  I may not have been blogging, but I've been reading like crazy, and I've found some great stuff.  I want to talk about those things.  I don't have the patience right now to discuss, or read for that matter, something that I don't love and doesn't make me happy.  So expect lots of "I loved this, now let me tell you why" posts in the coming weeks.

Going along with that, I expect my reviews will be shorter and less critical.  Not that I felt my reviews were overly critical before, but I'm not interested in nitpicking right now.  It takes extra brain power to think carefully about how to express what I didn't like about a book, and I'm not working that hard.

The third change is that I'll be reviewing more m/m romance.  I'd read a few m/m titles before, but in the last couple of months I've read some really fantastic books in this sub-genre, and the more I find the more I want to read.  I'll probably spend some time talking about the terms and tropes specific to m/m romance, too, partly because it's something that not everyone is familiar with, and partly to show off how much I've learned!  ;p

So that's what's going to be happening around here.  Of course, all these changes only apply to my own reviews.  I'm still happy to post reviews by other Betties on whatever you've been reading lately.  There's nothing I enjoy more than talking books with other people who love them as much as I do!