( 7 reviews )
-
Posted: Apr 16 2009
This novel revolves around Rachel Lear, a carefree student with a big heart and even bigger ambitions. Her biggest problem is a nasty habit of letting people walk all over her. As a result of this she is flat broke. To make matters worse, a tree has fallen on her house and partially across her neighbors fence, causing a broken window and a lawsuit. Rachel curses the world while her ex-boyfriend keeps showing up at her house uninvited and her best friend Dagne keeps convincing her to try some white magic as a way to change her luck. Rachel jokingly wishes for true love with a hot man with an accent. Low and behold Flynn Oliver shows up in her life. He is a temporary transplant from England, Stateside working as a computer programmer. He has his eyes on Rachel from the moment he meets her, but she finds the situation more than a little bit curious. When a rash of art thefts plagues the city Rachel finds out that not everyone, or everything is as it seems to be.
-
Posted: Dec 21 2008
What really ruined this book for me was not the writing---the writing was alright---it was the main character. The storyline held promise but the characterization of Rachel was horrible. She is such a clueless doormat that you're far pass feeling sorry for her and end up questioning how such an idiot can even be smart enough to get through all the schooling to get her phd. The scene where she rescues a chained cat seemed so force, as if added in to drive home the point that she was a sweet, caring, unselfish person. So wonderful that she couldn't bring herself to tolerate celebrating Thanksgiving with her father---who is battling cancer, supported his entire family so they can live in luxury, and is painted as the bad guy for cutting off his 31 year old daughter just because he wants her to do something with her life. She helped buy groceries for a grieving, newly widowed man in her weaving class but can't be bothered to have her dad come visit to make amends? So many parts of this story aggravated me to no end that I find myself cringing in disbelieve at how much I can't tolerate the main character. She is so broke that she can't pay her utility bill but she could charge a $400 dress to her account credit card for a date?! She has practically no food in her house but she waves the fee of half her weaving class and lets her freeloading exboyfriend eat whats left in her frig? She's up for a phd in history but doesn't recognized all the smuggled artifacts laying in her house are authentic? It seems that making Rachel so clueless and prone to be taken advantage of is meant to make her seem endearing but I find myself wishing incessantly that it were possible to reach into the pages of the book and strangle the idiocy out of her. Even up until the end I was frustrated with Rachel when she thoughtlessly flies to the location of the bad guy (or antagoist or perpetrator, whatev). It was made to look like a brave act, like she'd finally started to take full control of her life when all I could think was that she'd been so easily tricked that she deserved to be taken advantage of. Nevertheless, I managed to finished the book so it does serve its purpose being entertaining even if only because I felt complelled to turn the page only to see how much more clueless Rachel can get. Reading the overload of British slang by Flynn and all the "Yo" and "Dude" by Joe was hilarious. It was too much, the author went overboard to emphasize the dialogue differences between the two. This is my first book by this author and its made such a bad impression that I hesitate to pick up another of her books
-
( 0 of 1 found this review helpful ) Posted: Jul 22 2006
After reading 'Beauty Queen' and 'Material Girl' from Julia London, I somewhat hesitantly requested 'Miss Fortune' from the local library. Truthfully, I did not expect to love the book, much less like it. I'm not a fan of reading romances where the ditsy and childish heroine needs to learn to grow up and be an adult. I thought that was what I'd be getting from 'Miss Fortune' - I was very pleasantly surprised otherwise. From the getgo, I didn't sense the usual baby-nature and airheadedness from Rachel that usually drives me crazy. Instead, I found her a warm character who was just struggling during a part of her life. London makes Rachel's less-than-satisfying life very easy to sympathize with. A+ main character. As for Flynn Oliver, well... let's just say that I was warm for Flynn's form. Something about him seemed decidedly realistic to me, and I turned out loving him by the middle of the book. Another A+ main character. Now, it wasn't just the main character's that really had me loving this book. London very craftily combined the protagonists, the plot, and the antagonists (who, in my opinion, were very well written in their sleezy-ness and assholish natures) to leave a reader very satisfied by the end. Some people, like me, may feel hesitatnt to read this book. However, some people, also like me, may be pleasantly surprised.
