Strapless

Rating:
Summary: Dumb femme down under
Review: I love most of RDI books. But how they ever let this one get published is beyond me. In fact it was so bad I just skiped to the ending. Strapless is the story of Darice who lives with her super honry grannie. She works for Wonderthings a cheap Victoria Secrets. She sets off to Australia to open the new branch of Wonderthings. This is where the down hill slope begins. She sleep with the first man she see. Dylan an annoying guy who is still living in a Donna Reid time warp. Most of the book is about her mooning over Dylan and tons of sex and her eww horny grannie. This is just bad for women everywhere. Chick lit is meant to be empowering not stupid.

Rating:
Summary: Fun, Flirty, and Fabulous
Review: I read this book last summer and I loved it. I love the Red Dress Ink series and this one had a great pitch. It was hot and fun and flirty, not the same old husband cheating or 30 something story we've read again and again. I thought it was a great cross between Chiclit and Romance. Isn't that the audience that RDI is looking to market to?? I just really connected with Darci, career going nowhere, trying to make it on your own, mom bugging you to come home,the once a week boyfriend, the friends, etc. She finally sees her chance to break through! I think a lot of mid to late 20's women out there can relate. I just wish I could find my own hot little Aussie to take me away!

Rating:
Summary: Boring Book, Not even for the beach
Review: I read this book on the beach and not only did I find it boring but also stupid. I was sorry I even finished the book. All the negative reviews this book received are correct. Some of the sub plots, ie, the grandmother, Claire, the relationship with her mother, her sister moving to NY had nothing to do with the story. Additionally, the author never fully developed those characters. Too much sex throughout the book and I actually had nightmares picturing the old grandmother having sex with someone more than 1/2 her age. The book was predictable from beginning to end and I should have skipped the entire middle.

Rating:
Summary: Incompetent
Review: I simply did not like this book. I have read many RDI books, as well as a ton of chic-lit. I just didn't relate to her. What woman of this generation falls for a man that wants her barefoot and preggers? I was almost screaming at the book at the end. I thought Chic-lit was about career-minded females. And all the storylines? What is that? It seems Riker took storylines for different books and tried to make them one. Just didn't make sense. Sister, Mom, Grandmother, Affair, Dylan, Guy in apartment, Work, co-coworker, Friend with baby. TOO MANY characters with no development. However, I still can't get over the whole "how sexy to be pregnant and lactating". Ew.

Rating:
Summary: Definately NOT a female feel good book
Review: I simply did not like this book. I have read many RDI books, as well as a ton of chic-lit. I just didn't relate to her. What woman of this generation falls for a man that wants her barefoot and preggers? I was almost screaming at the book at the end. I thought Chic-lit was about career-minded females. And all the storylines? What is that? It seems Riker took storylines for different books and tried to make them one. Just didn't make sense. Sister, Mom, Grandmother, Affair, Dylan, Guy in apartment, Work, co-coworker, Friend with baby. TOO MANY characters with no development. However, I still can't get over the whole "how sexy to be pregnant and lactating". Ew.

Rating:
Summary: In agreement
Review: I want to love each and every RDI book, so I came here to see if it was just me that wasn't digging this book. This book seriously lacks the usual female companionship found in the RDI and other chick lit novels, I really felt like this was some re-titled and beefed up Harlequin book. Which is fine if that's your thing, but if you're reading Red Dress Ink, I think it's not.

Rating:
Summary: Not the best RDI book...
Review: I've been religiously reading the Red Dress Ink series and have been pretty satisfied...until now. Strapless is a whole different type, in disguise as chick lit, but really it's just another Harlequin bodice ripper with a snazzy cover. Definitely on the bottom of the pile for me.

Strapless tells the story of almost-30 Darcie Baxter, who lives with her grandmother and evil cat, works at a popular lingerie company, Wunderthings, and spends every Monday evening having a meaningless rendezvous with Merrick Lowell in a Hyatt hotel room. Darcie also spends a lot of time trying to avert the snooping co-worker, Greta, in an effort to win a promotion. And once she does, Darcie is sent off to Australia to scout locations for Wunderthings's new store. But Darcie does more than that -- she meets Dylan Rafferty, Aussie sheepherder, and falls head over heels, despite the fact that he is stuck in a time warp when it comes to women.

As for the story, I didn't hate it, but it was disappointing as far as what I've come to expect from Red Dress Ink. I spent a lot of time rolling my eyes at the hokey dialogue, especially from the 82-year-old grandmother and her overexhausted libido. As for the writing talent of Leigh Riker, I'm not going to complain about it. It was perfectly fine for the genre that she specializes in -- strictly romance -- it just did not have a place in the chick lit field. If she had developed the characters a little better, making us, the audience, care about them PRIOR to them jumping into bed together, then I think this reading experience would have been much more enjoyable.

Rating:
Summary: Smart, Ambitious Woman seeks Smart, Modern Novel
Review: If you're looking for a book about an empowered woman getting ahead in the world while keeping her love life in check, do NOT pick up this book. Not only was it frustrating every time the main character referred to herself by her full name, but the entire book could have been narrowed down to 2 pages. The relationships between characters were flimsy and narrator's point of view shifted unnecessarily. Let the knight in shining armor go rescue a character in a Judith McNaught book. I'm looking for a book about a woman who can rescue herself.

Rating:
Summary: engaging contemporary romance
Review: Manhattan's Darcie Baxter feels quite good about the opportunity to travel to Sydney to open up a branch of the company she works for, Wunderkings Lingerie International. She leaves behind her roommate grandmother, her parents on the other side of the Hudson, and a nasty peer Greta Hinckley trying to undercut her on the job.

On her first night in Australia, Darcie meets sheep rancher Dylan Rafferty. To her shock, they make love that evening. This is the best sex of Darcie's life though her few experiences lack depth of comparisons since her occurrences are so sparse she never even uses her company discounts. Soon Darcie and Dylan fall in love, but he wants her to marry him and raise children on his station, but she cannot cope with the barefoot pregnant image that his desire portrays in her mind.

STRAPLESS is an engaging contemporary romance that adds the flavoring of Sydney to the mix. The story line is fun especially when Dylan talks in "Ozspeak" and Darcie communicates in "Manhattanese" mindful of Crocodile Dundee without the adventure. Though the nastiness of Greta is too obvious for her to get away with her shenanigans, readers will relish Leigh Riker's wild Down Under ride.

Harriet Klausner

Rating:
Summary: A New Twist for RDI
Review: Many reviews of this novel center around the fact that RDI has drifted from its usual straight, chick-lit genre. However, I find this to be the very reason that Strapless is a winner. While keeping with the desire to remain an independent woman, Darcie struggles with wanting to be loved by a man who will accept her for who she is. What woman doesn't want this in life?

I feel that this edition to Red Dress Ink is one of the most powerful in the series. It was certainly my favorite and I think that readers need to take time to step back and accept the fact that change is a good thing. This novel may not be conventional RDI, but it is valuable with its lessons that are lurking just below the surface. You just have to look for them and keep an open mind, as with anything else in life!