Review: Mr. Maybe by Jane Green.

Reviewer: Rowena
Mr. Maybe by Jane Green

Publication Date: October 15th 2001
Pages: 368
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To Libby Mason, Mr. Right has always meant Mr. Rich. A twenty seven-year-old publicist, she's barely able to afford her fashionable and fabulous lifestyle and often has to foot the bill for dates with Struggling Writer Nick, a sexy but perpetually strapped-for-cash guy she's dating (no commitments – really). So when Ed, Britain's wealthiest but stodgiest bachelor, enters the picture, her idea of the fairy tale romance is turned on it's head.

Mr. Maybe is the tale of her heartfelt but hilarious deliberation, irresistibly chronicled by bestselling author Jane Green. On one hand, Nick makes up for his low bank-account balance by his performance in the sack, or in the bathtub, as the case may be. But life with him means little more than nightly trips to the bar, a dark and grungy apartment, and plenty of dull political tirades to boot. But those blue eyes, and that tender heart...

On the other hand, there's Ed, whose luxurious house and gargantuan bank account are quite tempting to the starving Libby. But his unsavory mustache and bumbling ways make Libby wonder if the platinum AMEX and unlimited "retail therapy" are worth it. He may have fallen in love with her at first sight, but nothing seems to solve his lackluster performance in the sack – even speed reading The Joy of Sex. When the diamond shopping commences, Libby is forced to realize that the time for "maybe" is up.

Taking romantic comedy to a hip, sparkling new level, Mr. Maybe is a classic tale of what happens to one girl when her heart and her head aren't looking for the same thing. With a laugh and minute and a heroine whose struggles in the dating jungle will remind you of your own, Mr. Maybe is a story that all will leave you smitten.

From the Hardcover edition.

A long time ago, Jane Green was pimped to me by my BBB, Ames, and I’ve been meaning to read her for quite some time now but I just never got around to it.

Until now.

And now I have Ames to thank for yet another author I must add to my list of authors to glom in 2008. That should keep me busy because I enjoyed this book so much that I want to read all of JG’s other books in print, so my bank account won’t thank Ames but I’m sure Barnes and Noble, Borders and Amazon will. =) This book wasn’t my absolute favorite read of 2007 but it was a great book that kept me entertained from the beginning of the story until the very end.

This story follows label happy Libby who works as a PR Rep for some no name actresses and other bigger named celebrities. She loves her job but she hates the paycheck becuase she doesn’t get paid enough to live the life that she longs to live.

She works with celebrities that can afford to eat at the most happening of places, who vacation in the most exotic of spots around the globe and wear the most trendy and hottest brands out there. That’s the kind of stuff she wants, so when she meets a guy who seems pretty interested in her and she in him, she’s fine with having him step in as her “Man of the Moment”, Nick is everything she does not want, so it’s okay that she just has him as her “friend” her friend that she sleeps with and has great fun with, he’s everything she’s not looking for in a man, so she’s safe from falling in love with him, it’s perfect. He’s not super rich, he can’t afford to take her to eat at the most fanciest of restaurants and when she’s with Nick, she can’t wear her super trendy threads because those clothes have no use with the casual jeans and tee shirt clad bloke. Nick is a struggling writer and is not ashamed of telling anyone who asks that he’s on the dole. I can only assume that the dole is London talk for welfare. And wow, I’ve never heard of a man on the dole but hey whatever rocks your socks.

So we’ve got these two unlikely people who are in a relationship that isn’t really a relationship and they’re not supposed to fall in love with each other, only they…kind of do. So because they’re not ready for it, Nick ends the relationship but he wants to keep Libby in his life because even though he’s not ready for a relationship, he really fancies having her in his life and he doesn’t want to lose her completely but Libby can’t deal with that because she wants more than Nick is ready to give her so off they go in their own directions.

Libby’s direction leads her to Ed. A rich man with lots of money to burn and who wants to burn all of it on Libby. Libby is only too happy to let him because this is the kind of life she’s always wanted. She wanted to attend glitzy balls with expensive dresses and she wants to live in that big house and well, Ed’s got a ginormous house that’s waiting for a wife’s touch and Ed wants Libby to be the wife to fix up his house. Libby has already convinced herself that she’s going to settle for the next best thing after love, contentment.

Ed’s not the man that she loves but she can’t have the man she loves so she’ll settle for a life of comfort with Ed. Their sex life is crap, she hates his mustache and he slobbers all over her when they kiss. But he’s nice so she overlooks all of these things and she continues on with her life as Ed’s girlfriend, almost wife. When he proposes, she accepts and she tells him that she loves him too, even though she doesn’t because if she can’t have what she wants then she’ll take what she can have. Meanwhile, Nick is missing Libby and isn’t shocked that she’s moved on because she’s a great girl, why wouldn’t she move on? He’s only shocked when he finally meets the guy she’s moved on to. That guy is oh so wrong for Libby and he’s surprised that she doesn’t see it.

Will these two find their way back to each other or will it be too late?

When I started this book and I’m getting to know Libby, I could tell that she was a bit of a snob but it wasn’t in a bad light or anything, it was cute. Very modern, she was like any normal girl who longs for those Kate Spade bags (I feel ya on that one girl) and those Prada pumps (I’m sure Holly will feel ya on this one, I’m more of a purse girl, Holly’s the shoe addict) but as the book pressed on and Nick falls out of Libby’s life, I got more and more annoyed with Libby. When she was with Ed, she was totally not the person I first met in the beginning of the book. She was a chameleon dater, like Julia Robert’s character on Runaway Bride. She was into the things that the guy she was dating was into. I don’t know if I’m like this, gosh I really hope I’m not but dude…Libby made me want to scream at her for the crap that she allowed herself to get into where Ed was concerned.

It was so obvious to everyone (even her!) that Ed was so wrong for her but because he was “nice” and she liked what he could buy her and do for her that she stayed with him, knowing hot damn well that she was irrevocably in love with Nick. Why fight a good thing? Her reasons for not wanting to be in love with Nick made me want to take a crack at her. Just bop her upside her head but she finally does get things right and they all live happily ever after but the road there is one thats filled with laughter and great secondary characters and a storyline that will have the twenty something ladies nodding their heads over because I could totally relate to Libby even though I hope to high heaven that I’m not quite that bad…because all of the name dropping was getting a bit old for me even though I should expect it with this book being a chick lit book but seriously…who cares if the shoes you got were Addidas, get over it and put them suckers on already, sheesh!

Ed got on my hot damn nerves, I wanted to punch him in his nose. He didn’t love Libby for who she was but for what she looked like. Their relationship was based on what they could give each other and not how much they loved each other. Their relationship was so different from her relationship with Nick that it didn’t take a rocket scientist to realize that they were seriously lacking in the chemistry department but dude, Libby was totally blind to it all…not really blind, just indifferent to it all. Her Mother got on my hot damn nerves too, she was another person I wanted to smack some sense into. Her Father and her brother were great characters, very supporting of Libby and you could totally tell that these two really loved her, just like Jules did. Jules was a fantastic best friend. She listened intently and offered whatever advice she could and you could just totally tell that she had Libby’s back no matter what. I love these kinds of friendships.

Nick’s friends were seriously horrible. I didn’t like them just like Libby didn’t like them but despite them, I loved Nick. He was such a great hero, even though he was on the dole..LOL. He was hot, sexy and he loved Libby, exactly the way she was. Nothing else mattered with Nick but Libby and how she was feeling and I loved how he saw her at her worst and loved her anyway. That’s what us single folks are all looking for, that unconditional acceptance and Nick totally had that for Libby so I was glad that he found his way back into Libby’s life because they were made for each other

Overall, this book was good. It was a great first read and I can’t wait to read more from Jane Green. I enjoyed this book a lot and am excited to read Jemima J when I get home tonight.

Great job JG and thanks bunches Ames! =)

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