Rating: 
Summary: Scattered and incomplete
Review: I normally have lower standards for audio books but this book was so bad that I even noticed its badness listening to the audio version.The narrator goes on and on about how she hates her mother denying any love for her, yet she never gives any example of how this was done. Did her mom never come to her graduation...didn't take her to school the first day...what? Over and over she repeats the same line about denial of love, but never gives any example that would make us sympathize. The main character seems to be well-balanced otherwise and fairly compassionate, so it does not fit that her mother's very legitimate explanation does nothing to sway her hatred. BTB also throws in tons of subplots for no apparent reason and with no or weak resolution: - who inherits Lowell's? - why was the painter thrown in at the end? - why was the abused french girl there at all? Did she and Mike finally get together? (the convenient killing of the husband was a cop-out) - were the bosses' of these two slacker photojournalists really ok with them hanging around the south of france and New York for months and months without doing any work and keeping their jobs? Were they paid during this time? - what happened to the brother and fiance? - did the mom die? - did the Lowell's IPO happen? - did they ever finish the photo book? This book was incredibly sloppy and annoying.
Rating:
Summary: Puhleeze!
Review: The best thing I can say about this book is that it's doing a marvelous job as a coaster on my desk. I can fit about four Chardonnay glasses on it at one time. Call me a cynic if you must, but I submit that photojournalists in a war zone have better things to do than maunder on about their pathetic love lives. The characters were shallow and formulaic, and I loathed the title, proving that one can, indeed, judge a book by its cover.
Rating:
Summary: Worst Book Read in Loooong Time
Review: Even now I ask myself, why did I bother to finish it? I guess because it showed promise a few times, but nothing ever developed. It starts with a bang, but descends into histrionics quickly. Transitions are bad, food descriptions are waaay overdone, the final section seems to have appeared from nowhere and the heroine overreacted so often I found myself actually laughing. Does anyone edit books anymore? I am definitely not interested in ever reading anything ELSE by this author.
Rating:
Summary: Worse than awful -- Horendously bad and outrageously stupid!
Review: I threw away the book without finishing it; that's "where it belongs". I could not believe the shear badness of this book. Shame on the editors for allowing this story (if you could really call it one) to hit the stores so undeveloped and uninteresting! I kept reading and my only thought was how badly I wanted to write the author and tell her how transparent her characters were, how cliche the dialog between her characters was, and how superficial and one-dimensional the characters were. I could have cared less about any of them. What a waste of a tree!
Rating:
Summary: Ugh!
Review: I think this might be the worst book I have ever read. But I must admit I was never bored. It was so bad that I almost liked it. I think one of the worst things is the annoying...I don't know what you call it...foreshadowing. The narrator says things like I didn't want to meet with her, but later I would find out how important our meeting would be." I wanted to scream "Stop telling me what is going to happen!" The thing with the childhood didn't make sense to me. She wallows in so much self-pity. Why? A lot of people have a parent who doesn't love them. Yeah, that's very sad. But at least she had grandparents and a nanny who loved her. It doesn't sound like she was tortured or anything. Then when her mother gives her reason for her behavior, Val has no sympathy. That didn't make sense to me. I think she would be at least a tiny bit understanding. What was the deal with kissing the painter? That seems really thrown in there. I can't believe someone actually published this.
Rating:
Summary: Disappointing
Review: I have read many, not all, BTB books, and I must agree this was disappointing. If the whole battered French woman story had been dropped, maybe the main story could have been more complete and developed. I was somewhat interested and kept reading, but the book went no where, and everything sure wrapped up very tidily at the end. Too many extraneous story lines. Skip it!
Rating:
Summary: poor writing style, shallow plot, simplistic characters
Review: Many years ago as a young teenager, I picked up the author's "A Woman of Substance" and could not put it down. That was the first novel that ever gripped me. Now after reading "Where You Belong" I don't know whether the author has regressed dramatically or my taste at 14 left much to be desired. "Where You Belong" is written in annoyingly childish sentences. The characters are ridiculously one-dimensional - her mother was a rip-off of Cinderella's step-mom - and there is no attempt at setting the stage so that readers could draw their own conclusions. The fact that the book is written in the first person does not help - The heroine/narrator spends most of the novel either describing her heroic efforts or stating that her family hated her. There really was no plot to the book. The heroine never grew or developed inn any way over the course of the novel. In short - I want my money back on this one!
Rating:
Summary: Who wrote this book??
Review: Not having read any of your books since the triology "Woman of Substance", I was expecting a comparable read - especially the chemistry and excitement your other main characters displayed. Totally disapponted - are you sure you wrote this one??
Rating: 
Summary: I don't agree
Review: I'm writing this review because I don't agree with the current reviews of this book on the web site. I read this book in one day. I was never bored. The story was well told and the characters were really likeable.
Rating:
Summary: Where this book belongs...
Review: I bought this booking thinking it couldn't be that bad. It is on the NY Times best selling list. This was the worst book I have ever read. There was no plot, no story line. The author spent more energying describing every meal that was eaten than she spent developing a story. Even as a mindless airport book I do not recommend this book.
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