Rating: 
Summary: I loved this...
Review: I picked this up from a bookstore last night and read it pretty much in one sitting. It's such a wonderful read, the characters are people we all know or have known and yet the situation they find themselves in is both poignant and, in some ways joyous too. Sussman does a wonderful job of avoiding what, in the hands of another writer, might become saccarine or melodramatic. I loved Amanda, the teenaged daughter who must watch her mother die while trying to find a place for herself in the world.
Rating: 
Summary: mindless and poorly written
Review: If you are looking for a mindless Harlequinn Romance, I would recommend this book. If you are looking for decent literature, don't even pick this one up. The plot is thin. I found myself rolling my eyes at the dialog as well as the many stupid situations that (I'm sure) were supposed to be gripping.
Rating: 
Summary: solid relationship drama
Review: In San Francisco, Blair Clemens works as a chef while raising her teenaged daughter Amanda by herself. The two female Clemens are best friends, resulting in neither having pals their age. Blair is contented with her life mostly because of Amanda. However, her harmonious life collapses when Blair learns that she is dying from melanoma for she fears for her cherished daughter.Since his wife Emily deserted him, screenwriter Luke Bellingham has hidden in the mountains. However, his prep school reunion committee assigns him to find "lost souls" so that they can attend the gala. His first missing alumni is Blair because though they ran in different circles, he wrote an Academy Award-winning script based on the true story of her being raped. Surprisingly Luke and Blair hit it off and he begins to win over the suspicious Amanda. However, a pregnant Emily demands he take her back. Will he choose his spouse and their unborn child or will he opt for a dying woman and her teenage daughter though secrets revealed later will make his selection much easier. This is a solid relationship drama starring three delightful protagonists who readers will like and hope for a miracle to occur. Though Ellen Sussman makes the difficult choice too easy for the ethical Luke and a subplot involving a teen-adult romance script adds nothing, the overall tale is a powerful character study. Fans will feel for empathy for the trio, but especially towards Blair as she nears death in an upbeat manner because she now knows adult love and that he cares deeply for her beloved Amanda. Harriet Klausner
Rating:
Summary: Lost Weekend
Review: Like some of the other reader-reviewers, I also read this book quickly but in horrified fascination. Unlike the others, I did not find it deep, complex, or compelling. Instead it seemed false, trite, superficial and contrived. The characters' reactions to the parade of horribles -- cancer, desertion, infidelity, rape -- never seemed authentic. There was so much binge drinking, I was surprised they could stagger from one improbable scene to the next. I was insulted by the plot and its ridiculous execution. But I was most dismayed by reading several hundred pages and not finding a single sentence or phrase that was memorable or well-executed. The prose is so prosaic, it was deadening. I didn't expect Anna Karenina but what is the point of writing without beauty or grace?
Rating:
Summary: Sad but Wonderful
Review: Luke and his dog, Sweet Pea, have been holed up in the woods since his wife left them. To get back in the mix, Luke goes to a school reunion. Afterward, he agrees to look up a classmate who is missing in action. Little does he know a kind effort for a lost soul would demand so much from him emotionally. With Sweet Pea, Luke gets to know Blair once again. Blair is dying of cancer. Luke continues to visit her. Is he driven by sympathy for Blair's condition or is it guilt for the fame and money he made writing about her high school tragedy? As with all the men Blair meets, she takes Luke to bed. Blair is casual with the sex, alcohol and drugs -- no limits, no attachments -- yet she is offended when Luke's wife returns. Luke confronts his feelings for Blair and his wife, while Blair continues her self-indulgent lifestyle. Needless to say the lives of four people will be affected by the actions of two. At one point in the story, Blair's boss tells her Luke lives in the center of the world, while she lives on the fringe. That's the outlook of the story. Luke looks inward while he helps Blair, and her daughter, Amanda. And Blair is finally serious about a man. She is the kind of character you want to shake some sense into, while Luke is the kind of man a woman would be lucky to have. Amanda is, surprisingly, wise and grounded. And Blair's landlord is someone most people try to avoid.... I imagine Sussman, like all writers, wants to affect the reader through her story and characters. Readers' reactions will range from judgmental, to compassionate, to actual grief. On a Night Like This is a dark, salacious story hidden under a romantic title and sentimental-looking cover. It's very contemporary and very explicit. You'll cringe, cry, and maybe even care for these characters. Be sure to keep a lighthearted read nearby when you finish; you're going to need it. Known for their voices in animated works, Barbara Goodson and Michael Gough take turns narrating On a Night Like This. Some readers can't handle both male and female voices on an audio book, but sometimes, like this particular story, it's nice to have both.
Rating:
Summary: Great tear-jerker!
Review: ON A NIGHT LIKE THIS is about a high school "golden boy" who had everything, & the "hippie-chick" outsider who didn't...ten years later. It's about getting together for a reunion & "My, haven't we all changed!" It's about the cost of love, the emptiness of marriage & how hollow everyone's lives has been ... except it's much, much more than that! Ellen Sussman has a fine way with words, she has written a plausible, emotional story about two very real people who hardly knew each other way back then, who now, when they do meet, find comfort & enjoyment in each other. Rebeccasreads highly recommends ON A NIGHT LIKE THIS -- it is powerful, amusing & emotional & will leave you wondering: "How & where would I like to be at the end of my life?"
Rating:
Summary: Sussman Sings!
Review: Sussman has written a bittersweet book about loss and the redemptive power of love - the kind of all-consuming love we all hope to have at least once in our lives. Her book shows how one can never know what can be around the corner - good and bad - and so we must live life to its fullest every day and revel in the meaningful relationships we have whether with our children, friends -- or with lovers. Write on, Sussman!!
Rating:
Summary: A one night read
Review: This book is a total page-turner. It has a riveting plot, a pair of unique and engaging main characters in Blair and Luke, and an interesting mother-teen daughter relationship as well. While the story begins with a clearly tragic set of circumstances, the author prevents the book from becoming overly sentimental and mawkish. At each point where I worried that the book might dip into melodrama, the plot took a totally different turn. I would definitely recommend On a Night Like This to anyone who is looking for a well-written, compelling and emotionally satisfying story.
Rating: 
Summary: A good, if fluffy, read
Review: This debut novel is both engaging and entertaining, and makes a good one-night read. Ultimately, though, in limiting herself primarily to fast-paced, witty dialog with little introspection or exposition, Sussman fails to develop multifaceted characters who linger with the reader after the book is finished. Although topically about deeply emotional and moral issues, the book takes the easy way out by allowing its characters to skim along the surface. However, if you're in the mood for a not-too-heavy tear-jerker with characters you can like, this is a good choice.
Rating: 
Summary: I've read this book a thousand times before....
Review: This is a fiction book that borders the venue of the Harlequin Romance. It was good stuff, although it was rather predictable. Girl is single mother, works as chef for a living. Girl finds out she has cancer. Cancerous girl gets contacted by a former fellow student from her high school. Girl and boy fall in love. Awww. Boy is married and his wife has left him. But alas, once the love bloom's his estranged wife returns and she's PREGNANT! *gasp* Oh but no worries, it turns out its not his and he tells her he wants a divorce. So then boy and girl resume love affair despite cancerous impeding death of girl. Oh wait, then girl's 16 yr old daughter gets groped and nearly raped and it's by Boy. Girl hates boy and ends it. Ohhh wait, it was not the boy. Turns out it was the landlord thinking 16 yr old girl was her mother who he used to bang on occasion since she used to be single and miserable before the boy came into her life. Now boy and girl and girls daughter run off into the enchanted woods and live happily ever....screeeeech..... Girl dies. Or at least the reader is led to believe that girl dies. Last line of book "Then in a circle of their arms, in the glow of the last filtered light of day, Blair (GIRL) slept."
She slept? Or did she die? Yah she probably died. But no one cried and no one was in the room and no one held her hand and how did this author not make it a really sappy ending when the rest of the book was???? AMAAAZING!
So you'd think I disliked the book? Nah, I really was all up in its face and I'm pretty sure I was liking it from page one to the last. I was glued like a virgin never been touched by sappy love story before. Ms. Sussman writes a damn good character and makes us then like them. Luke, every girls dream! He's a screenwriter and once wrote a movie about something that happened to Blair while in high school, but not while they were together. Aww he loved her years before he knew it? *sap*
Blair's daughter Amanda was also a nice character. Creepy part of book was when Amanda read a short story that Luke wrote about an older gentlemen living no a farm who had an affair with a teenage girl. But never fear he corrected her and told her he didn't want to get into her teenybopper jeans and again...all was fluffy and well.
It was a non harlequin full of fluff love story. It made me warm and fuzzy within and I could NOT put it down even though it was typical. I wanted the boy to leave the girl and I wanted her to die in a ditch somewhere alone while her new man boinked her daughter in the back of the restaurant the Girl worked in.
It would have been less typical and more interesting.
Yes...I prefer originality rather than recipe romance. But if you like that harlequin thing and you don't want to wait for the sex scene which turns out to just be a kissing scene on the last page...read this book. Or if you paid $1.99 for it via E-Bay then ....yah it's worth it.
Sweetpea...stupid dog name. I mean really. That's a cat's name anyday.
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