Rating: Summary: A tale of the dateless... Review: Though this is ultimately chick lit in the spirit of the Red Dress Ink line, it is a delightful piece of fluff that, for me, hit home on the experience of the modern twentysomething woman in America. Jane handles her life with just enough humor and aplomb to make me a fan. I desperately wanted the best for her, but had fun when her life was anything but. Jane and Natasha were among my favorite characters in recent reads. Though not a work of Shakespeare, I believe this could be a Dickens-esque book for our time. I've passed my copy on to several of my friends and would continue to recommend this to any other chicks out there interested in a satisfying and humorous read.
Rating: Summary: A Literary Review Review: I found the Melissa Senate's novel See Jane Date to be void of any literary greatness. The diction of the novel is informal and colloquial, which makes reading the book seem like listening to a story from a close friend. It was a highly amusing and easy book to read. The author uses allusions to famous Hollywood actors help set the idea of Jane being a real person, who admires the same celebrities we do. Jeremy Black, Jane's handsome boss, symbolizes her attachment to unlikely dreams. An example of foreshadowing in the novel is Jane's family insisting she go to the wedding with their charming neighbor; Jane persistently refused to go out with him, but when she finally meets him at the end, they fall in love. Over all, the message of the book was that looking for love will get you nowhere, and you will find love when you stop looking for it.
Rating: Summary: Bridget jones....... oh puuuleaseeeeeeee :P Review: I liked See Jane Date better than the Bridget Jones diary. It took me a while to get throught BJD, Franlky i liked the movie better than the book lol. i read see jane date in about 2 days. i could not put it down, there were tons of touching and humorous parts in the book that i went back to and read when ever i needed a pick-me-up.
Rating: Summary: 1/2, a decent read Review: This is a typical "chick lit" book, about a woman, Jane, who is trying to find a date to her cousin's wedding. The book follows her on her blind dating spree and has a pretty predictable storyline. I think this book got better as I read it, but there still wasn't anything super wonderful about it. If you like chick lit books, then you should definitely pick this up, but I wouldn't recommend it to everyone.
Rating: Summary: Couldn't put it down! Review: See Jane Date is witty, fun, and oh-so-true! I'd reccomend this book to any woman or teenage girl to read. Unlike some books like it the plot never gets boring and Jane's dates aren't unlike reality. A great read!
Rating: Summary: whiny, pity party of one Review: The character of Jane had some sort of personality disorder. The way she resented people (her aunt, her boss, etc.) for caring about her....She was defective. I'm not quite sure if we're supposed to root for her. She clearly has some issues that she thinks can be solved by finding the right man. Not a healthy lesson for women!
Rating: Summary: Full of Excitement Review: I bought this book because it has been turned into a TV movie staring Charisma Carpenter (From Angel and Buffy the Vampire Slayer). I like to read the books before I watched the movie. This book was totally worth the read. This is one of those books that I could totally relate to. Many of the things Jane and her friends said about relationships I have often said to my friends myself. Jane is a 28 year old girl in New York. When her old rival walks into the picture that is when things change. She ends up making a fake boyfriend who is so great in all of her family's eyes. So she goes on various blind dates that are interesting. In the end, she finds out a lot about herself and the the things she deserves most in life.
Rating: Summary: This Story Will Seem Familiar Review: As the lead character, Jane Gregg, is pleasant and like so many of the heroines of chick-lit. She is stuck on the cusp of entry level and working to make it to the next step as an associate editor. She has worked hard for the last six years and deserves her due. Unfortunately, I didn't feel all that strongly about Jane's cause. We all have to "pay our dues" and some industries take a little longer. I would have liked to have seen some incident that we as readers could rally around this hardworking and intelligent woman who was unjustly treated. As it stood, antipathy is all I felt. Basically, Jane needs a date for her cousins wedding at the Plaza Hotel in NYC. Since her last long term boyfriend, who broke her heart and is now engaged, Jane has been on a rollercoster of dates. After a conversation with her Aunt Ida that leads to the refusal to be set-up on a blind date for the wedding, Jane makes up a boyfriend. She enlists the help of her friends of the "Flirt Night Roundtable" in finding eligible men. As the clock ticks, she finds Dr. Timothy Rommely. By this point her "boyfriend" lives in a brownstone near the park and is a doctor so how convenient that she find Timothy. Jane puts all her eggs in one basket so you can imagine what happens. The best part of the book was Jane's relationship with her high school nemesis, Natasha Nutley...aka "Gnat." Jane's boss is out on maternity leave and she gets the chance to work with Natasha on a steamy tell-all about sleeping with an A list movie star for three weeks. Gnat turns out to be a joy to work with and not what Jane seems to remember. Jane carried with her the past from high school, which is what so many people do. All the same routines and feelings of inferiority plague Jane but Gnat seems to have grown. Jane starts to let go after Gnat is a dream to work with. Jane comes to learn about how life was like for Gnat growing up and the two end up friends. Gnat turns out to be the best-developed character in the book and her interactions with Jane is what kept me reading. This is a good book to pick up for light reading. Enjoy it for its humor, whacky characters and charm.
Rating: Summary: A Worthy Summer Read Review: This is an extremely enjoyable read. I never really read books labeled "romance novels." I've never read Bridget Jones' Diary, but I saw and adored the movie. However, the only reason I read this particular title is because ABC Family is making a movie to air in August starring two of my favorite actresses, Charisma Carpenter as Jane and Holly Marie Combs as Natasha. Since I don't read romance novels and I've never read BJD, I'll just review this book based on it's own merits. The novel is somewhat on the predictable side, but does offer enough surprises as it is surprisingly (for me, anyway) character and plot driven. I had a hard time puting it down and found myself rereading passages, not b/c I had a hardtime comprehending, but b/c I enjoyed them so. I've never dated, nor have I ever been to New York, yet I found myself connecting to other aspects of the book and the characters. Such as I had no problem w/the author, Melissa Senate, having Jane and her friends describing people based on what celebrity they looked like. This is something that people do and the approach is effective since the story is told by Jane, not Senate. I had a hard time believing that I was reading a romance novel as there wasn't really much in the way of romance, or at least not in the way I had expected, I guess. The heart of the book, for me, was Jane's relationship w/Natasha, who turns out to be the most layered and endearing character (I was beginning to wonder how HMC got cast as someone described to look like Nicole Kidman and realized that there are few tv actresses in her age group that would be able to pull off the many facets of what makes Natasha tick like she could, plus she has great hair.). Also important are Jane's relationships w/her Aunt, her cousin, her co-workers, and her two best friends. I liked how none of the realtionships are really in your face and her pretty accurate portrayls of friendship and how one such as Jane, might act in friendships/relationships of different sorts. The dates are for the most part entertaining. The types of guys she is set up with are interesting, in that they could actually really be out there. While I have never dated, I did come across guys at school who were well on their way to becoming just like the guys Jane has the misfortune of 'dating'. Jane's thoughts on the dates are great. Now, the writing isn't stellar, but I get the feeling that Senate has real potential and given the chance could improve greatly. (What doesn't help her cause are a few glaring word omissions and a couple of fragment sentences. Hopefully future books by her are distributed by a more careful publishing house.) Her style is surprisingly thoughtful and thematic. The pacing is that of a woman on the move, since it is Jane doing all of the talking. It is obvious that Senate took Jane's specific moods and situations and paced them accordingly. Also, Senate gives Jane real thoughts, as well as, a responsibility and awareness for those thoughts, and has her express real emotions. It's nice to have a main character who isn't perfect, who whines, who pre-judges/points out flaws in others, and does hold onto petty things and life altering occurences that happened in the past and allows the negative to shape her life. It makes the end that much more satisfying and the getting there worth the effort. I laughed and got all misty, as well as, found myself finding meaning, as if I was in a literature course while reading this book. Granted, it's not literature course material, my point is that it's not as mindless as one might expect. And while the tv movie might only skim from the top of the basic idea (I can't say for sure as it has yet to air at this point), I will not regret reading this novel and may even reread it at some point.
Rating: Summary: A Worthy Summer Read Review: This is an extremely enjoyable read. I never really read books labeled "romance novels." I've never read Bridget Jones' Diary, but I saw and adored the movie. However, the only reason I read this particular title is because ABC Family is making a movie to air in August starring two of my favorite actresses, Charisma Carpenter as Jane and Holly Marie Combs as Natasha. Since I don't read romance novels and I've never read BJD, I'll just review this book based on it's own merits. The novel is somewhat on the predictable side, but does offer enough surprises as it is surprisingly (for me, anyway) character and plot driven. I had a hard time puting it down and found myself rereading passages, not b/c I had a hardtime comprehending, but b/c I enjoyed them so. I've never dated, nor have I ever been to New York, yet I found myself connecting to other aspects of the book and the characters. Such as I had no problem w/the author, Melissa Senate, having Jane and her friends describing people based on what celebrity they looked like. This is something that people do and the approach is effective since the story is told by Jane, not Senate. I had a hard time believing that I was reading a romance novel as there wasn't really much in the way of romance, or at least not in the way I had expected, I guess. The heart of the book, for me, was Jane's relationship w/Natasha, who turns out to be the most layered and endearing character (I was beginning to wonder how HMC got cast as someone described to look like Nicole Kidman and realized that there are few tv actresses in her age group that would be able to pull off the many facets of what makes Natasha tick like she could, plus she has great hair.). Also important are Jane's relationships w/her Aunt, her cousin, her co-workers, and her two best friends. I liked how none of the realtionships are really in your face and her pretty accurate portrayls of friendship and how one such as Jane, might act in friendships/relationships of different sorts. The dates are for the most part entertaining. The types of guys she is set up with are interesting, in that they could actually really be out there. While I have never dated, I did come across guys at school who were well on their way to becoming just like the guys Jane has the misfortune of 'dating'. Jane's thoughts on the dates are great. Now, the writing isn't stellar, but I get the feeling that Senate has real potential and given the chance could improve greatly. (What doesn't help her cause are a few glaring word omissions and a couple of fragment sentences. Hopefully future books by her are distributed by a more careful publishing house.) Her style is surprisingly thoughtful and thematic. The pacing is that of a woman on the move, since it is Jane doing all of the talking. It is obvious that Senate took Jane's specific moods and situations and paced them accordingly. Also, Senate gives Jane real thoughts, as well as, a responsibility and awareness for those thoughts, and has her express real emotions. It's nice to have a main character who isn't perfect, who whines, who pre-judges/points out flaws in others, and does hold onto petty things and life altering occurences that happened in the past and allows the negative to shape her life. It makes the end that much more satisfying and the getting there worth the effort. I laughed and got all misty, as well as, found myself finding meaning, as if I was in a literature course while reading this book. Granted, it's not literature course material, my point is that it's not as mindless as one might expect. And while the tv movie might only skim from the top of the basic idea (I can't say for sure as it has yet to air at this point), I will not regret reading this novel and may even reread it at some point. "See Jane Date" like it's title character isn't perfect, but like Jane, it gets the job done well.
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