Rating: 
Summary: Amazing!
Review: "Slim Chance" is intellegent, witty and downright entertaining. I really loved it from beginning to end. And, despite the seemingly innocent synopsis on the back cover, this was anything but cliche chick lit. Jackie Rose is great for those of us who love smart humour, with a touch of reality.The main character is not very sympathetic, but I don't think that the author intended for her to be. We're supposed to laugh at (and learn from) Evelyn Mays, not give her a nobel peace prize (though she'd get my vote). I personally couldn't get enough of her.
Rating:
Summary: SLIM CHANCE is a funny, poignant and unusual relationship
Review: After living with Bruce happily for six years in their Brooklyn apartment, Evelyn is totally unprepared when he barges into a meeting at her workplace and romantically proposes to her in front of her colleagues and bosses. After saying yes, she bursts into tears and runs into the ladies room where she promptly throws up. After she has time to think, she knows she wants to lose weight for the wedding even though Brick loves her exactly the way she is. At a special sale, she buys a size eight Vera Wang wedding dress even though she wears a fourteen. She signs up at a gym and spends a fortune on a personal trainer. Losing weight has become such an obsession with her that it is all she thinks about and as a result her relationship with Bruce deteriorates. Strangely enough the more weight she loses, the more her connection with he beloved Bruce weakens until she finally does the one thing that could permanently push the man she truly loves into leaving her. SLIM CHANCE is a funny, poignant and unusual relationship drama in which the reader simultaneously feels sorry for and angry with the heroine. Bruce is a decent intelligent person who (along with the audience) is totally bewildered by his fiancée's mood swings and obsessions to the point that he wonders (like readers) if this relationship need to end. Jackie Rose has written a realistic tale that is both believable and fun to read. This is an ideal beach novel. Harriet Klausner
Rating: 
Summary: Shallow but extremely entertaining!!!
Review: At first I thought this book was pretty darn shallow. But then I realized that it brought to surface some serious issues that women face. Mainly, the social pressures that lead to bulimia and the deep and most serious problem of workers spending all their time on-line (which is what I'm guilty of right now). In the end, if you can see past the shallowness it's really quite enjoyable, entertaining, and eye-opening. And if you're looking for a few other amazing titles, look no further than these, Buckland's Hot List: most creative, The Butterfly: A Fable (Singh); most engaging, The Alchemist (Coelho); most interesting, Life of Pi (Martel); most enlightening, 9-11 (Chomsky); most thrilling, The Lovely Bones: A Novel (Sebold); and finally, the most creative, engaging, interesting, enlightening and thrilling book of all, The Little Prince (Saint-Exupery). These are the books I'd recommend to my family, friends, students, and wife. There are many more, trust me, but these are the first that come to mind (for having left an impact slight or proud as it may be). If you have any questions, queries, or comments, or maybe even a title you think I should add to my list, please feel free to e-mail me. I'm always open to a good recommendation. Thanks for reading my brief but hopefully helpful review. Happy reading. Donald S. Buckland.
Rating: 
Summary: Red Dress Ink Takes A Header
Review: Down ---- WAY DOWN. I have been really impressed with a lot of the RDI book lately but this one missed the mark. BY A MILE.... I found Evie completely unreadable. There was nothing redeemable or interesting about this book. I found myself picking it up - putting it down ---- thinking I hadn't given it a chance, and then realizing that I just couldn't get into it. I was really let down and mad that I spent real hard earned money on this. Big miss!!!!!!!!
Rating:
Summary: Red Dress Ink Takes A Header
Review: Down ---- WAY DOWN. I have been really impressed with a lot of the RDI book lately but this one missed the mark. BY A MILE.... I found Evie completely unreadable. There was nothing redeemable or interesting about this book. I found myself picking it up - putting it down ---- thinking I hadn't given it a chance, and then realizing that I just couldn't get into it. I was really let down and mad that I spent real hard earned money on this. Big miss!!!!!!!!
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Summary: entertaining because the 'heroine' is so terrible!
Review: Evelyn just got engaged to long-time boyfriend Bruce in front of her whole office at Kendra White cosmetics and promptly goes to the bathroom to throw up in happiness. From there on, we visit Evie's problems with her mother and grandmother (her father long dead, more on that story unfolds throughout the novel) -- and her problems with herself -- as she morphs into a Bridezilla. After she and best friend Morgan run through a Vera Wang discount bridal sale, Eveie finds the perfect dress. All the dresses at this sale are size 8, and Evie vows to be a size 8. She starts training with Jade -- a very sexy and unprofessional personal trainer -- and she recognizes she is endangering her health and her relationship with Bruce and she just does not care. It is hard to care for Evie, but luckily the author does not really want you to. Instead, it seems she wants you to learn from her, even if Evie might not learn anything for herself before it's too late. Therein lies the beauty of this book and what makes it so entertaining.
Rating: 
Summary: Fat chance that I'll pick up this book again!
Review: Every time I picked up this book, I found myself wanting to do something else. I even wanted to vacuum! What does that say about this book? It was such a chore to read that I actually wanted to engage in chores. Evelyn is one of the most irritating heroines I've ever read. Her constant whining and illogical arguments - whereby at work or with her friends and family - made me want to shake some sense into her. I found myself feeling sorry for Bruce as he endured her childish behavior. Why on earth did she insist on losing weight before the wedding when he had made it clear that he loved her the way she was? Ugh! I am aware of the fact that some women behave this way, but reading about Evelyn's erratic bursts paragraph after paragraph made me wonder, is this what we subject men to? I wanted to like this book, but I gave up on it at the end. I give Slim Chance two stars because, notwithstanding the aforementioned complaints, Jackie Rose does have talent - she can write - she just has to find a middle ground between a frustrated, insecure engaged woman and an erratic, irrational, makes-you-want-to-pull-your-own-hair girl. And RDI was on such a good roll! I won't discourage others from reading Slim Chance, but I do hope that they have a better reading experience with it than I did.
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Summary: Weight Loss Journey - what every girl and bride goes through
Review: Evie completely freaks out when long-time boyfriend, Bruce, proposes to her at work. She is the envy of her friends and co-workers, but Evie is not sure about the whole marriage thing. She has a mother that completely pushes her over the edge, a mother-in-law that will never approve of her, a deep dark family secret that is revealed at the engagement party, a shopping habit that keeps the creditors calling, and a job she hates with a passion. Soon her obsession with losing enough weight to fit into her Vera Wang "perfect size 8" goes out of control and takes over her world. She pushes away her friends and, most importantly, Bruce. This book drew me in as Evie hit the lowest of her life. Her weight loss obsession struck a chord with me since we seem to be a country consumed with weight obsession. "Slim Chance" is a great book that will make you realize how selfish we can all be.
Rating:
Summary: Fabulous!!
Review: I absolutely loved Evelyn Mays, the sassy and outrageous bride-to-be heroin of Slim Chance. While few of us would strive to be too much like her, I busted a gut laughing out loud at her biting but oblivious take on things. Once I started reading Slim Chance, I just couldn't put it down, as I just had to see what Evelyn did or said next. With her debut novel, Jackie Rose takes everything funny about weddings, family, in-laws, dieting and office jobs, and hands it to the reader on a silver platter. Red Dress Ink has once again shown that it has a real knack for discovering and debuting previously unknown talent, and for putting out fantastic books. Slim Chance is a hilariously sarcastic and refreshingly insightful story that shouldn't be missed!!
Rating:
Summary: A refreshingly honest and fun debut novel
Review: I am deeply impressed with Jackie Rose's debut novel "Slim Chance". The main heroine, Evelyn Mays, has just been proposed to by her boyfriend, and although she says "yes", her life is suddenly thrown into a confusing chaotic mess. Evelyn decides she wants to be a glamorous, perfect size 8 bride, and joins a gym. However, nothing seems to go right for her. She spends too much money, flirts with her personal trainer, and grows more and more distant from her fiance. Not only that but she just can't seem to find the strength to hold onto her fast-sinking job. Jackie Rose did a great job of introducing a totally believable character in Evelyn. Evelyn is so perfectly imperfect and disorganized that the reader will just love her and be able to empathize greatly with her! One will be unable to put this book down. This is definitely one of the best Red Dress Ink books out there.
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