Rating: Summary: Ok, but not as much fun as "Boy Next Door" Review: I was really looking forward to this book, even kept stopping by the bookstore to see if they had gotten it in yet. Unfortunately, it wasn't as enjoyable as the first. I felt that Kate and Mitch were exactly the same as Mel and John from the first book. They acted the same and thought the same... almost to the point where I felt like if you did a find/replace for Kate/Mel and Mitch/John, I wouldn't have noticed. I just wish they had been more distinctive characters. Just changing their professions and physical characteristics isn't enough. [In some ways (Kate's journaling, their internal dialog), Kate/Mel's voice is also very similar to Mia's (Princess diaries) voice as well.] On the positive side, I enjoyed seeing Stacy's family and more of life at the New York Journal. Cute plot, but as I was reading I felt like I had already "been there, done that". I would recommend it as more of a library book than an addition to your bookshelf.
Rating: Summary: If you just need a book this is fun then this one is for you Review: I would say that reading this book was a good and easy read, you must keep in mind that Meg Cabot knows how to make you laugh. The characters seem very real and make you wounder throughout the book what is going to happen next. I would give this two thumbs up.
Rating: Summary: Six Degrees (or less) of Separation Review: I'm not sure that Meg Cabot was even the first author to come up with the e-mail/instant message format for an entire book, but even still... I think it's an ingenious use of everyday reality in a book. Boy Next Door may have had a slight advantage over Boy Meets Girl because the premise is the same. I still think it was well written.
The best part was the use of characters from Boy Next Door in this new book in a peripheral way. Half way through the book I thought I had gone nuts because I realized how familiar I was with the names. Until I checked Boy Next Door and realized what was going on. Typically, you only have one book to get to know characters and then it's over and you never read about them again. Meg Cabot has created a way of catching us up on old characters without writing a sequal that centers on them. And better than that, she shows just how small the world really is.
Rating: Summary: Princess In Love Review: It is one of the best teen books I have ever read. All of it wsa so Amazing! I loved it!
Rating: Summary: Fun, fast, and easy Review: Kate MacKenzie has problems enough, what with breaking up with her boyfriend of ten years (just on the eve of his million-dollar record deal) and not having a place to live and working for the biggest witch in New York, Amy Jenkins, Director of Human Resources. When evil Amy forces Kate to fire the very popular dessert lady, Kate ends up being named in the unlawful termination lawsuit. What she doesn't need is to tall in love with the lawyer handling the arbitration, Mitch Hertzog, who also happens to be the brother of Amy's fiance, who caused all the trouble with the dessert lady in the first place. Told through a series of e-mails, Instant Messages, phone messages, journal entries, menus, recipes, receipts and other miscellaneous written documentation, this story is a quick and easy read, and laugh-out-loud funny in places. The characters are sharply drawn, from Kate's rock-singer-ex-boyfriend and his lame songs to Mitch's recently outed lesbian sister. But the gimmick of e-mails, etc. gets old and serves to distance the reader from the actual events. We always hear about what happened after the fact, and all the !!!! and CAPITAL LETTERS become tedious. I also did not find the romance itself particularly riveting. But the book is fun, fast and easy, often very clever. You can actually read it during commercials and not forget your place. Chick lit fans will appreciate it.
Rating: Summary: Hilarious Sequel Review: Kate Mackenzie never thought her life would fall apart so quickly. She's working for Amy Jenkins, the Tyrannical Office Despot (T.O.D.), who just happens to be the Director of the New York Journal's Division of Human Resources, and she's sleeping on the couch in her best friend's apartment, as she makes nowhere near enough to afford decent housing in New York City. But things get even worse when the T.O.D. forces Kate to fire Ida Lopez, the dessert cart lady for the New York Journal, for refusing people pie, and, in turn, Ida sues them, saying it was a breach of contract. Now Kate is slowly losing her mind. Her ex-boyfriend is stalking her, she's living with crazy Dolly Vargas (from THE BOY NEXT DOOR), and she's falling for the lawyer, Mitchell Hertzog, handling the Ida Lopez case for the New York Journal, even though she hates corporate lawyers, and hates Mitch's brother, Stuart, even more, for causing this entire mess. Cabot has done it again. I was doubtful that BOY MEETS GIRL would be able to compare to THE BOY NEXT DOOR, but I was wrong. BOY MEETS GIRL is just as good, if not better than it's prequel. The commentary is snappy and exciting, and the characters are funnier than ever. While the main characters are different than those featured in THE BOY NEXT DOOR, Mel Fuller (the main character in the prequel) is mentioned numerous times, and you are able to see what's happened in her life since the last book. Overall this was a fantastic book. I hope Cabot decides to write a third addition to this series, as I'd like to follow the character's lives even more. All fans of Cabot will be deeply impressed with this new work of literature, and be left craving more. A must-have. Erika Sorocco
Rating: Summary: Trouble with desserts Review: Kate Mackenzie works for the Human Resources department at the New York Journal. She is given the unwelcome task of firing cook Ida Lopez, who makes wonderful desserts but is picky about who she srves them to. Kate's troubles begin when Ida lopez sues the Journal for wrongful dismissal, and Kate falls for gorgeous defense lawyer Mitch Hertzog, whose horrible brother Stuarts is engaged to Kate's equally horrible boss Amy Jenkins. Meg Cabot's earlier book set at the Journal, the Guy Next Door, was told entirely in e-mails, this one also uses phone messages, journal entries and something called IM. Although I found this book quite amusing, I didn't think it was nearly as funny as The Guy Next Door, which I thought was much funnier, with a more interesting plot. The trouble with this one was I couldn't really get up much sympathy for Ida, I couldn't understand why the daft old bat didn't just serve the desserts and have done with it. And why does everyone get so worked up about her dismissal anyway? I think desserts have a significance in America that they probably don't have here, nobody in England as far as I know gets very excited about chocolate chip cookies. And I thought the heroine was a bit of a drip really. The Guy Next Door has a much better plot with an extremely funny climax whem the heroine takes a brilliant and hilarious revenge on the hero for lying to her, there is nothing so good in this book. Not bad, but a bit of a disappointment after the earlier and much, much funnier work.
Rating: Summary: LOVE IT, LOVE IT, LOVE IT!! Review: Let me say that I am a normal, 29 year-old woman with a husband, job and an obsession with Charmed that I tell almost no one about. It was so great to read this book and to have one of the characters be in love with the show too! This is a light, fun read that I enjoyed more than I can say. I borrow a lot of books from the library, and that is how I read this one, but I am putting this book on my "Buy" list!! I enjoyed "The Boy Next Door" as well as the movies for "Princess Diary" so I think Meg Cabot is a talented, witty writer. Thanks Meg for such a fun read!
Rating: Summary: Boy Meets Girl With Lots Of Trouble Review: Meg Cabot does it again in BOY MEETS GIRL. The story follows the same format as THE BOY NEXT DOOR. It is told through the technology age: emails, court depositions, telephone recordings, notes on a dinner menu, etc. There are a lot of characters from THE BOY NEXT DOOR who reappear and are still working at the New York Journal. Our story here starts with the law firm where Mitch has joined at this father's request after a near fatal heart attack. Mitch is given the task of defending the Journal's new HR assistant, Kate Mackenzie, when she and the company are sued for wrongful termination of Ida, the beloved dessert cart operator. Ida refuses to serve her delectable treats to certain members of the management staff. This time, it's Stuart Hertzog, the Journal's legal counsel and fiancé to Kate's boss, Amy Jenkins the "T.O.D." (Tyrannical Office Despot). Stuart has a conflict of interest so he passes this case along to Mitch, even though he doesn't get along with him. Kate is attracted to Mitch, as he is with her, but every time she is near him, something embarrassing happens to her. Her ex-boyfriend is the only man she has been with and since he won't commit after ten years together, Kate leaves him and camps out on her Jen's couch. Through a series of events, Kate finds herself living with the Journal's style editor, Dolly Vargas. (Yes, she makes an appearance after her stint in THE BOY NEXT DOOR.) Amy tries to pin the termination issues on Kate and Mitch works hard to prove Kate's innocence. The best parts of Meg Cabot's books are the insights into the corporate world. Every business has those social climbers who will stop at nothing to make themselves look good. Then you have the popular employees who seem to get the knife in the back. This book is clever in it's unfolding of the story around this type of setting. I couldn't put the book down and read it in one sitting. I agree with some others that I hope this isn't the last we have heard from our friends at the New York Journal.
Rating: Summary: Pretty Good Review: Meg Cabot is one of my favorite authors when she isn't writing romance novels, but if she wasn't one of my favorite authors I would still rate Boy Meets Girl as a pretty good book. But not at all her best... would I recommend it? yes, but I would recommend The Boy Next Door more than I would recommend boy meets girl. But Boy Meets Girl makes you laugh and is worth how ever much you pay for it. So go buy it, read it and laugh.
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