Calling Romeo by Alexandra Potter

Hello to all,

                    nearly the end of summer , it is too soon but we have to do with what we have. Anyway, my dog is already better but under medication so i'm happy so happy ( i can't stand seeing him bleed ). So today i will share with you my opinion on the last chick lit book for this month " Calling Romeo", i could perhaps have read another one but it's really not my genre so after finishing one i have to read something else, it's impossible for me to read two chick lit in quick succession but i did discover at least one that i really liked so this month challenge was interesting to say the least.

Without any more delay here come Calling Romeo:

 

Publisher: Black Swan

Publication: 2002

ISBN:  0552770035

Genre: chick lit
Violence: none
Language: normal
sex: mild
Public: 18+

Source: received from Birgit (The Book Garden)



Short description from goodread :

 Juliet can't help wishing she had more romance in her life. She loves her boyfriend Will, but after living together for two and a half years, she's come to realise that thirtysomething monogamy isn't all it's cracked up to be. Will used to whisk her off to candlelit restaurants. Now his idea of a perfect evening is a video and vindaloo. He used to leave post-it notes saying 'I love you' on the bathroom mirror. Now the only things she finds are his dirty socks on the bathroom floor. So, when Juliet meets a sexy, dark-eyed Adonis from a rival London advertising agency she is sorely tempted. And when he invites her away for an illicit, no-expense-spared weekend in Verona it's almost impossible to resist. Her very own Romeo.

But does she want to risk losing Will and all they have shared together? Juliet must work out what's really important in life and whether romance really is all about sexy lingerie and red roses.

My opinion:

          Enjoyable read, we can easily see the improvement of Alexandra Potter’s writer style. Her first book was properly writing but didn’t keep the readers hooked, this one is better to keep the reader attention on the story.

The message is also expressed in a better way during the entire story: don’t keep everything for granted, stay attentive to your loved one, keep having small gestures to show your feeling and don’t give up at the first difficulty, speak about the problem instead or letting them add. The moral is good and true but I regret the fact that the characters have to succumb to understand them. Tempted I understand but I don’t see why the heroine could not be wise and strong willed. I mean there are women who keep their head on their shoulders even if they are terribly romantic. That’s the part of Alexandra’s books that keep bothering me, I can’t identify myself and I stay too detached from the characters.

Now like I say this one was better that the first one “What’s new Pussycat?” and I didn’t have to force myself as much to read it even the opposite. It was a light read, enjoyable but not my style. The readers of chick lit should love it and its happy ending and the no fan could appreciate it at least a minimum.

Score:  3/5

 

Disclaimer: All opinions are my own and no compensation was received in exchange for this review

 

Challenges:

This book enter in the Romance and Me Challenge

Book read for the 2012 TBR reading

What’s New, Pussycat ? by Alexandra Potter

Hello to all,

                     On this wonderful sunny sunday and before enjoying some times with my family ( a barbecue!) i will share with you my second attempt at discovering the chick lit subgenre.  Let's just say that i'm really happy it wasn't my first attempt or i'm not sure i would have found the will to continue. I'm not planning on giving up thought so don't worry you will still get more of them before the end of this month.

So here comes "What's New, Pussycat?" by Alexandra Potter, Happy reading!

Publisher: Fourth Estate

Publication: 2000

ISBN:  1841153788

Genre: chick lit
Violence: none
Language: normal
sex: mild
Public: 18+

Source: received from Birgit (The Book Garden)

Fourth cover summary :

Why, Why, Delilah?

Delilah has made a big decision. In fact she’s made several. She’s leaving Bradford, leaving her boyfriend Lenny and taking her Tom Jones record collection, her pet whippet, fatso and herself to the bright lights of the big city…

My, My Delilah

And now that she’s here, it seems that down-to-earth Delilah is just what the big city was waiting for. But whatever she does, Delilah is determined finally to make the right choices for her future, in love and work. So whether Charlie, the wealthy media boy, or sweet Sam in his café are right for her is something she needs to decide on her own. And then she can really start to live…

My opinion:

          Fight for your dreams, never give up those could be the morals of the story unfortunately, for me, that’s not what I remember the most after closing the book.

Alexandra Potter has an enjoyable writing style and this book was the first edition of her first novel that has been republished with a new edition since then.  But for me that’s not the right book at all. I smiled only at the end and even then I can’t really sympathize with Delilah. She is the kind of girl I despite; she is a total opposite of the model I would like so yes in the end things get right for her but I don’t approve of her behaviour at all.

For me love is important and not a game so we have to take some risk like expressing our feelings and such but going from one boy to another just because it’s convenient or not, no. Just because she hopes, dreams of happiness and for her it means to try the men like shoes until the one that fits?  She can’t wait and learn to know him no too long and too simple better to go straight to bed with him and wait and see. Really not my style, I’m not against divorce with reason but before that I think we need to think before taking an engagement, it’s not a plaything it’s serious  and I ‘m afraid a book like this will just gives the idea to some that everything is permitted…I think it’s sad.

If you love this kind of book, it could be a good addition to your reading but for me it’s a no but I will still try others books from this author to make my mind about the genre in a whole.

Score:  1,5/5

Disclaimer: All opinions are my own and no compensation was received in exchange for this review

Challenges:

This book enter in the Romance and Me Challenge

Book read for the 2012 TBR reading