Susan Elizabeth Philips was my first foray into the world of romance novels. My mom is an avid fan of hers and she passed a couple of her books off to me when I was younger. I loved reading them when I was younger, because there was a huge backlog of books that I had to read...but now that I've read most of her books - I have to wait for her new ones to come out before I can really enjoy another one of her stories...which stinks. Either way, SEP is the most solid romance/chick-lit writer that I have come across. Every book is like a romantic comedy waiting to be made into a movie. I can't recall one of her books that was a dud.
Summary: Onetime PGA star and smalltown mayor Ted Beaudine is about to marry Lucy Jorik, the daughter of a former president, when she's persuaded to break it off by her best friend, Meg Koranda , the aimless daughter of Hollywood royalty. Everyone in Wynette, Tex., loves Ted, but Meg feels Lucy deserves a passionate partner, not a god of self-control. After the disaster of calling off the wedding at the last minute, Meg's parents cut her off, stranding her in the hostile town. As Meg finds her own path and helps Ted discover his heart, the townspeople stoutly (and hilariously) defend their golden boy.
There are two main reasons I love SEP's books:
1. All of her characters are interconnected. Some of her characters from books published waaay back are now featured as the parents of current characters we are reading about. And any significant friends that are introduced typically have a book of their own that explains their story. It makes you feel like you really know this community of people and allows you to get that much more attached to the characters. And luckily, her books are not written as series - so you can pick up a book at anytime and not feel confused by not knowing a peripheral character's back-story.
2. She's really funny, but not in an obvious way. Her humor is not necessarily snarky, but is more subtle and relatable. In this book, our male character is constantly blessed with good luck and fortune and the way SEP describes his entrance into rooms (at one point he enters a room and a nearby practicing band starts to blare trumpets) which makes his entry that much more noticeable. Of course the way she writes it is much more funny than that...I just can't find the dang excerpt to prove my point.
TIDBITS! SEP is older...as in, grandma. But she can write a damn good modern romance novel. My favorite book of hers is Fancy Pants.
I think everyone should read at least one SEP novel...take a shot with this one!
Rank: A
Fancy Pants is one of her first books, it's a testament to her writing that it's one of your favorites, (mine as well). The only negative thing about SEP is she only writes one book a year. The wait between books is horrendous. HC
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