Tag: Red Dress Ink

Review: Love You to Death by Melissa Senate.

Posted December 3, 2008 by Rowena in Reviews | 6 Comments


Hero: Benjamin Orr
Heroine: Abby Foote
Grade: 4.5 out of 5

When did Abby Foote’s life become an episode of Law & Order?

First, a former boyfriend (who dumped Abby in the most humiliating way imaginable) is found murdered the day his engagement is announced. Then two other ex-boyfriends report attempts made on their lives right after breaking up with her. Coincidence? Detective Benjamin Orr, of the Portland Police Department (and Very Probing Questions and Incredibly Delicious Face), doesn’t think so. Neither do Abby’s friends, family, coworkers and other exes–who are suddenly shaking in their shoes. Soon everyone is sucking up to her as though the Abby they know and supposedly love to death is capable of poisoning their drinks….

Is someone trying to frame her? Who? And why? She has to find out fast. Because by-the-book Ben is bound to break her heart. Which makes him next on someone’s list…

I’ve been reading a lot of writing manuals and writing how to books and in each and every single one of those books, they’ve talked about writing a book that makes your readers connect with the characters and keep them turning the pages.

I think Melissa Senate did a great job of making me connect with the main character in this book, Abby Foote. As a 28 year old single woman living in L.A. with a string of bad relationships under my belt, I felt Abby’s pain. I understood where she was coming from and I understood some of the stupid things she got herself into and I cheered her on from the time I opened this book until the time I ended it.

This book is about Abby Foote and her trying to clear her name of murder. Her ex boyfriend, Ted Puck has been murdered and Abby is the prime suspect in the case. She’s the spurned ex girlfriend of Ted and the day that his engagement is announced in the papers, he shows up dead on the pier and all leads are pointing toward Abby.

To make matters worst, the cop investigating the case is the guy that Abby had a fierce crush on in high school, the one that never noticed her and when she’s reacquainted with Benjamin Orr, she finds out that he doesn’t even remember either and that sucks for Abby because Benjamin Orr didn’t grow up to be a fat old man who went bald, oh no, the guy that Abby remembers from high school is even hotter now that he’s got a few years under his belt. Age has done this guy a whole lot of good and it’s only a matter of time before she’s right back where she was in high school, crushing on Benjamin Orr.

I really enjoyed getting to know Abby through this tale. She’s witty, she’s fun and she’s the most caring person in this whole book and to see all of these bad things happening to her made me want things to get better for her. Watching her and Ben get closer and closer was exciting and cute.

Benjamin was a great hero, one that had you guessing right up until the very ending. You knew he was digging Abby but you couldn’t tell because he was the good cop. He was a very by the book kind of guy and you just knew that he wasn’t going to act on his attraction to Abby and because you knew that he wasn’t going to act on it, it had you guessing if maybe you had it wrong and he didn’t even see Abby the way we all wanted him to.

There were plenty of things that I loved about this book, Abby and Ben being the number one thing but there was a lot of things that drove me bat shit crazy and those things aren’t the author’s fault or anything, it was just stuff that were a part of the book like Abby’s family taking out Order of Protections against Abby? You would think that her sisters would have stood up for her because she did need someone in her corner since everyone in the world was out to get her. It just really sucked that Abby had to go through a lot of the murder investigation all by herself. I hated that the only way she was allowed to get anywhere near them was by having a police escort TO HER OWN FAMILY FUNCTIONS! That really pissed me the hell off and made me hate her stupid step mom.

*sigh*

But other than that, this book was an enjoyable read. I enjoyed the storyline, the characters and I enjoyed the ending. I wanted more from Abby’s family, I wanted more groveling but I wasn’t too unhappy with their whole bit. Abby was a great heroine, very engaging and this book was a fast and fun read.

I would definitely recommend this book to those of you who enjoy chick lit with a bit of suspense in the books, the suspense isn’t over the top but it does have you guessing throughout the book about who done killed Ted? I was surprised when I found out who it was because I so thought it was someone else so good on ya, Melissa Senate for writing a pretty entertaining read. I’m looking forward to reading more by MS in the future.

This book is available from Red Dress Ink. You can buy it here.

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Review: Engaging Men by Lynda Curnyn.

Posted June 8, 2008 by Rowena in Reviews | 1 Comment

Hero: Kirk
Heroine: Angela DiFranco
Grade: 4 out of 5

A novel about men . . . and the woman who loves them!

When one ex-boyfriend gets married, a girl can laugh it off. With two, she begins to get nervous. But three? Three?

Angie DiFranco is starting to take it personally. What is it about her that doesn’t incite men to plunk down large sums of money in the name of eternal love?

According to her one successfully married friend, men are like tight lids. One woman comes along, loosens him up, leaving him for the next woman to pop off the lid, no problem. After all, would Jennifer have landed Brad so easily without the Gwyneth factor?

Suddenly Angie looks at Kirk, her current boyfriend, with new eyes. Kirk, whose last girlfriend loosened his lid by giving him The Ultimatum. Kirk, who suddenly seems primed to be popped right open.

If the tight-lid theory is true, Angie could be married within a year — with a little effort. And a little help from her friends . . .

The author of Confessions of an Ex-Girlfriend will utterly engage you with her vibrant new novel chronicling Angie’s angst and euphoria as she resolves to mate and make it in Manhattan.

What a great read this book was for me.

It was light and fluffy and not at all like the serious books that I’ve been reading for the past few months or so. Angela DiFranco was fun, witty and the perfect heroine for this goofy, sometimes silly but at times serious story. It’s funny how the author tricks you into liking one character at the beginning of the book and then has you cheering for someone else entirely by the middle of the book. It was really great.

I have a serious mad crush on Justin I don’t remember his last name in this book. He was delightful and lonely and needed love more than he let on from the beginning. He transformed before your eyes and made you yearn to be HIS room mate because he was perfect for YOU.

I loved the way this book ended, the way this book flowed, it was a bit cliched (the storyline) but it was a great read nonetheless. I thought about this book long after I finished the book, so much so that I’m STILL thinking of it and I’ve since started a new book. The characters grab you and reel you in, they become your friends and they have you wishing you were in the audience to support Justin on his big night. I highly recommend this book if you want a feel good, fun loving book to read on those nights when nothing seems to work for you.

A treat.

This book is available from Red Dress Ink. You can buy it here.

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Review: Who’s Wedding is it Anyway? by Melissa Senate.

Posted May 11, 2008 by Rowena in Reviews | 0 Comments

Review: Who’s Wedding is it Anyway? by Melissa Senate.Reviewer: Rowena
Whose Wedding Is It Anyway? by Melissa Senate
Series: See Jane Date #2
Also in this series: See Jane Date
Publisher: Self-Published
Publication Date: December 1st 2004
Genres: Contemporary Romance
Add It: Goodreads
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | The Ripped Bodice | Google Play Books
three-half-stars
Series Rating: four-stars

Eloise Manfred just sold her soul to the wedding devil.

In exchange for a free $100,000 dream wedding, she'll be featured in a trendy magazine as "Today's Modern Bride." So what if the advertisers dictate what she wears, eats and registers for? From the gown (it has yellow feathers) to the reception hall (vampire chic) to the rings (what metal is that?) to the prime rib (tofu!), Eloise knows that what really matters is the groom (cold feet?). All she has to do is keep a wedding-planning diary (heavily edited) and have her friends and family ooh and aah over her leather veil in photo shoots.

Friends, Eloise has: bridesmaids Jane, Natasha, Amanda and oddball co-worker Philippa, the magazine's "Traditional (ha!) Bride." Family, she doesn't have. Eloise's mother passed away, her father took off years ago, her too-cool-for-words brother is either climbing Mount Everest or scamming a rich older woman in Beverly Hills and her fiancé's family is certifiable. So between choosing rubber bridesmaid dresses and worrying about the photo shoots, Eloise finally asks the question: Hey�whose wedding is it anyway?

This book is the follow up to See Jane Date. This book is about Jane Gregg’s best friend, Eloise Manfred.

Eloise is getting married to the man of her (and mine) dreams, Noah Benjamin. Noah is an investigative journalist who is always on the go, traveling from one place to another, covering all of the latest hot stories. And though, he’s almost never around, there is no doubt that he is in utter love with Eloise.

He is a regular guy but a really good guy who loves his fiance.

And his fiance has got some serious issues and he knows about them all and loves her anyway…what more could you want in a guy, huh?

Not much.

But Eloise has got a lot of emotional baggage that she’s got to deal with before she can finally settle down and be a wife to Noah, she’s got to deal with the fact that her brother is a leave at the drop of a hate type of guy, the kind of guy that they (Eloise and her brother) can’t stand, as it’s the kind of guy that their father is and she’s also got to come to grips with her father who left their family the day before her fifth birthday.

So with all the finding herself that Eloise did in this book, it was at times trying to get through because you wanted to scream at her to just hurry up and get over it and move on, but at other times you felt sorry for her and wanted to give her a hug and tell her that everything will be alright.

As soon as she comes to grips with all of her issues with her family, with her boss and with the wedding that is being planned for her that she doesn’t really want, everything falls into place and the story ends happily, which I liked.

The characters in this story spilled over from See Jane Date and so it was good to see the gang back together again, Jane, Natasha, Amanda and it was nice to meet all of the new characters as well, Eloise’s Grandma is a character that I really liked in this book, Eloise’s brother, Emmett was one heck of a character as well, there were times, a LOT of times that I wanted to poke his eyes out and tell him to get over himself and grow the heck up but I got over it all at the end. Charla was a good character and a great friend to Eloise, Noah was also great, he had that hero thing down pat, just uber cute and super sweet and everything nice.

The book was cute and cuddly and all things nice when it wasn’t driving me bloody mad with all of the stupid crap that Eloise thought and did, I wanted to slap her silly when she didn’t stand up for herself and what she wanted with her stupid boss but again, I got over all of it at the end, so all in all this was a good book.

A treat.

Grade: 4 out of 5

This book is available from Red Dress Ink. You can buy it here.

three-half-stars

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Review: See Jane Date by Melissa Senate

Posted May 11, 2008 by Rowena in Reviews | 1 Comment

Review: See Jane Date by Melissa SenateReviewer: Rowena
See Jane Date by Melissa Senate
Series: See Jane Date #1
Also in this series: Whose Wedding Is It Anyway?
Publisher: Self-Published
Publication Date: November 1st 2001
Genres: Contemporary Romance
Pages: 283
Add It: Goodreads
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | The Ripped Bodice | Google Play Books
three-half-stars
Series Rating: four-stars

A Fancy Affair Bridal Salon Forest Hills, Queens

"Did you know that one of your hips is higher than the other?" the seamstress asked me in a totally conversational tone. The bridesmaid to my left eyed me in the mirror, then her gaze dropped to my hips.

"I didn't," I said. "I never knew that. But I'm glad you told me." The seamstress had the decency to look embarrassed. She ducked her head back down and continued pinning. Perhaps that had been the reason why Blind Dates One, Two and Three hadn't been interested. it wasn't the smoking, after all. it was my Hip Issue. And just my luck that Blind Date Four was with a doctor, whose business it was to notice such deformaties.

See Jane Date will speak to singles everywhere. At once warm and witty, this look into the life of twenty-eight-year-old assistant editor Jane Gregg, screams, "You are not alone!"

Case in point: See Jane . . .

--Endure two months of bridesmaid hell for her younger cousin's wedding --Brilliantly dodge being fixed up with Grammy's next door neighbor by fibbing that she, um, already has a boyfriend --Date . . . like crazy to find one suitable guy to bring to said wedding

Okay, find one suitable guy to love. Was that so much to ask?

I liked this story, I really did. I thought it was funny to see Jane lie about who she was dating to that horrible nitwit Natasha Nutley, I thought it was hilarious how she was speed dating all these men to try to hurry up and get her fabulous boyfriend she lied to her family and Natasha about before Dana’s wedding. I loved the friendship between Jane and Eloise, and even Amanda. There was an inherent kindness to Eloise and I thought she was the best person to have backing your corner, no matter how many lies you told and how stupid you looked after the last disastrous date you went on. Talk about unconditional love, I really like Eloise’s character and I was pleasantly surprised to learn that she has her own book out already and even more surprised that I already own the book, yahoo for me!

But as much as I loved the story, there were plenty things that I bugged the ever living life out of me.

1) Jane’s constant smoking.

I can’t stand when my brother’s smoke around me because as a non smoker I hate people polluting the air around me. Second hand smoke kills, hello??? And smoking is such a turn off for me, more power to you if you smoke, I won’t go on and on about how smoking is really bad for you because you’re an adult, you know this already, so do what you do if you must, but I won’t date a smoker because smoking is a turn off for me and nothing is unattractive to me then a guy lighting a cigarette up, and it’s even more unattractive when a woman does it, but hey, that’s just me. Jane’s constant cigarette smoking, sitting in the cloud of cigarette smoke in her apartment was just something I found disgusting and I was more than happy that she quit.

2) Jane’s more than annoying Aunt Ina.

Oh gosh, I wanted to pound this bitches face in. I mean seriously, she was always yelling at Jane for the stupidest thing, Jane is a grown ass woman, living on her own, doing her own thing, she doesn’t need to be scolded because she was a bit harsh to the Maid of Honor, I mean seriously??? Who the hell has meetings to discuss the progress on the Bridal Shower Preperations? Why the hell would Jane, who’s just a bridesmaid have to attend such an idiotic meeting. Jane has a job, she’s working on getting a promotion, she shouldn’t have to be stuck attending some lame ass meeting to please her Aunt. Aunt Ina would have took one to the chin if I was her niece. Scold me, my ass.

3) Jane’s superficial flighty cousin, Dana.

Oh gosh, this daughter of a bitch is someone I seriously wanted to murder, the way she was all high and mighty because she was getting married at The Plaza, to a millionaire internet tycoon, who the flip cares? The way she was just always short with Jane made me want to bury my first in her pretty little petite face. Had I been Jane I would have said more than once for Dana to kiss my ass!

I really didn’t expect to like this book, nearly as much as I did but I really did. I even cried, maybe I’m single and at one point or another have thought the same things that Jane thought, have gone on the same kind of dates that Jane went on, fell in love with the wrong kind of guy like Jane did and connected with her. This book has a happy ending, which I was glad for and I totally recommend this book to those single gals out there who want to read about someone who understands what you’re going through….trust me, Jane knows how you feel! =)

Grade: 3.5 out of 5

This book is available from Red Dress Ink. You can buy it here.

three-half-stars

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