Helpful Score: 3
I love Jen Lancaster's writing. Her style is fantastic and everything she writes is hilarious (in my opinion, anyway).
This is her first foray into fiction and she nailed it. It's super funny and such typical Jen.
This is her first foray into fiction and she nailed it. It's super funny and such typical Jen.
Helpful Score: 2
What a bummer this was. I love Jen's memoirs and blogging, but it just didn't translate to fiction. The episodes she recreates in her memoirs are funny because it's hard to believe they actually happened. The episodes in this novel aren't funny because it's hard to believe they could happen. The punch lines are redundant and the gags don't work. Disappointing and dull.
Helpful Score: 2
I have read all of Jen Lancaster's books. This was by far my least favorite. It is supposed to be a fictional novel, but she basically wrote about herself and her husband and friends and pets in a fictional setting. I found this very distracting. The main characters just came across as dim-witted so it was extremely hard to care about the plot, which ended quite absurdly. Overall, I was quite disappointed.
Helpful Score: 2
If you know anything about Jen Lancaster or have read any of her other non-fiction books you will enjoy this! The book itself is about Mia and Mac, a husband and wife couple who buy a home that has more than a few problems. Written in typical Jen Lancaster style, with funny footnotes, a house full of dogs and cats, and a main character who just happens to be an up and coming author. This book was so similar to Jen's memoirs that I completely forgot I was reading a work of fiction.
This book was almost funny. It's the story of a shallow writer who buys a house that is as needy as she is. Intentions are good, but skills are just not there, so it gets a fantasy ending, and no lessons are learned.
I have to first admit, I probably never should have opened this book to read. I have *tried* to read Jen's memoirs before and gave up because while I found them funny, I was so annoyed by the characters "first world problems" (losing job, can't buy designer clothes, etc) that I wanted to scream.
I hoped that her novel would be more real and less whiny - but no luck. Her fictional "first world problems" were spending too much money on a mansion, having whiny neighbors, and having a smaller than desirable engine in their Benz. While the book had me laughing at moments, I couldn't find anything likable (or even interesting) in the characters and the plot was slow. I gave up at page 98.
I hoped that her novel would be more real and less whiny - but no luck. Her fictional "first world problems" were spending too much money on a mansion, having whiny neighbors, and having a smaller than desirable engine in their Benz. While the book had me laughing at moments, I couldn't find anything likable (or even interesting) in the characters and the plot was slow. I gave up at page 98.
