Jen Lancaster writes one of the funniest blogs I've ever read (www.jennsylvania.com), so I had high hopes for her first fiction book. Annnd, she did pretty good. Not great! But pretty good. As most books like this are, the story followed a certain formula and was fairly predictable, but the plot was fairly original and one that I could somewhatly relate to (I love HGTV).
Summary: If You Were Here follows Amish-zombie-teen- romance author Mia and her husband Mac (and their pets) through the alternately frustrating, exciting, terrifying-but always funny-process of buying and renovating their first home in the Chicago suburbs that John hughes's movies made famous. Along their harrowing renovation journey, Mia and Mac get caught up in various wars with the homeowners' association, meet some less-than-friendly neighbors, and are joined by a hilarious cast of supporting characters, including a celebutard ex- landlady. As they struggle to adapt to their new surroundings- with Mac taking on the renovations himself- Mia and Mac will discover if their marriage is strong enough to survive months of DIY renovations.
I feel bad saying this, but this is one of those books that I've read and have already forgotten about. The one redeeming thing about this book is that it was an homage of sorts to John Hughes (Sixteen Candles, The Breakfast Club, Pretty in Pink, etc.) And in typical Jen Lancaster fashion, there were several pop-culture references that I really appreciated (Twilight, heiresses turned reality TV stars, Lululemon-clad moms, etc.) While I enjoyed those aspects of the book...it wasn't enough to make me love the book.
One of the things that turned me off is that even though this is a fictional story, it felt a little comparable to Jen Lancaster and her husband's life. The main characters's names were similar to there's, they both have pit bulls who wreak havoc on their home, and Lancaster has written before about her husband's issues with repairing items in a timely fashion. Also, I'm not one to stick to stories that are completely realistic - but this story was completely unbelievable. Really horrible neighbors, toilets falling through ceilings, inability to find a contractor, and the ending was hard for me to accept.
Overall, not my favorite book.
Rank: D!
No comments:
Post a Comment