( 6 reviews )
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Posted: Feb 28 2009
I don't often read romance novels. I was drawn to this one by the cover art. It ended up being a throughly enjoyable novel! I was sucked into it right from the beginning and couldn't put it down until the end. The characters are charming and identifiable. The story is classic and comfortably predictable. This story will end the way you want it to and leave you very satisfied. Buy this book to add to your casual beach read collection.
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Posted: Aug 8 2007
When the heroine calls the hero Big Pants, and the hero calls the heroine Mork, watch out! Rebecca Lear is reeling from her husband's defection to a newer, younger model. Having married and had a baby young, she doesn't have any training. Nothing. Nada. Zip. Except if you count being Miss Texas at one stage. Aw, poor little rich girl! Nobody's more surprised when an upcoming senator asks her to be on his political campaign. That includes Matt Parrish, lawyer, also on the campaign. He truly considers Rebecca a complete airhead from another planet. Armed with a zillion self-help books (eg. Surviving Divorce: A Woman's Path to Starting Over) and making 3 daily positive affirmations for herself, Rebecca is Discovering Herself. Guess what? She's not a doormat, she can think (Matt gets a few surprises with this one), and she's incredibly creative. All of which Matt finds out the hard way (sorry, pun intended!). The delight in this book is watching two honest but flawed characters fall in love, with a very blurred line between comedy and psychological insight. You'll cringe and cheer for Rebecca, and groan when Matt puts his foot in his mouth again. As a bonus, you get to enjoy all the wacky secondary characters drifting around in the background. Oh, and Rebecca gets totally, humiliatingly, uninhibitedly smashed, much to Matt's delight. Does he take advantage of her? Ooooh, yessssssss...
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( 2 of 7 found this review helpful ) Posted: Aug 13 2006
I was incredibly surprised at this second installment of the Lear sisters. After reading material girl, which absolutely fantastic, I was excited to read about Rebecca- who was Miss Texas in her youth and had only a divorce and a son to show for it, to only be shocked at the silly writing and dialogue as well as the shallow and meaningless relationship between Rebecca and Matt-the hero. I would like to say this first: London is a gifted writer, she is deep without being overwhelming and funny without turning into a comedian instead of a romance writer. She has an amazing grasp of characterization and her dead-on attention to detail that go on during human dramas. But most of all her build-up between two strangers that inevitably fall in love and steamy yet touching love scenes are the main reasons why I keep buying her books. However, everything I had just mentioned was sadly lacking in Beauty Queen. I loved Rebecca and that's all I loved about the book. Although the writing started witty and sharp, it became goofy, immature and tiresome when no shift in tone was evident. Matt, an arrogant and playboy lawyer, was the most shallow and immature hero I have ever read. You had zero empathy for the man and could not relate to his careless regard for anything but himself. Unlike Rebecca, there was hardly any build-up to his character and all you saw of him was his constant sheepish grin and arrogance. And for 80% percent of the book they were like 2 girlfriends having it out with each other instead of 2 adults that were attracted to each other. Then before you even know what hit you, Matt makes a miraculous transformation and falls in love with Rebecca. What did I miss??? In all honesty, I was left baffled that I was reading a Julia London book and the only explanation I could think of is that it was deliberate she left the second installment shallow and immature that drastically shifts from her usual style. I hope the 3rd Lear sister gets just as an incredible story as her first sister did, and be content with the second one being a major slip up.
