Plain Jane

Rating:
Summary: Missing something
Review: Heroine: formerly plump

Jane Lewis, haunted by a horrific past, entered the field of psychiatry in the hopes that she could at least improve the lives of others, if not her own.

As a therapist, Jane often advises her struggling patients to accept whatever help is offered to them, no matter what its source. But can she take her own advice when the help being offered to her is from the Other Side?

What worked for me:

Although I didn't think much of her professionally, I did like Jane in general.

Size-wise Jane was plump teen who slimmed down quite a bit as an adult, but she just couldn't shake those ingrained put-downs from her slender, beauty queen mother.

What didn't work for me:

I love ghost stories, but I much prefer the ghost to be a main character rather than a peripheral one.

"Plain Jane" started out as a romantic suspense, but neither of those elements really came to the forefront for me as the story went on. Jane never had to pay for the poor judgment calls she made where the bad guys were concerned. And since my heart never went pitter-patter for her beau Michael, I couldn't really feel the heat between the two of them.

Overall:

This story of second chances is an all right read, but the heroine's downward-spiraling weight might not appeal to some.

If you liked "Plain Jane" you might also enjoy: "Sweet Memories", "His Seductive Revenge", "Dear Cupid", "Looking for Laura", "Too Much Temptation", "Walking After Midnight", and "Shadows in the Moonlight".

Rating:
Summary: Most horrible book I have ever read!!!
Review: Is it a mystery whodunnit? An endearing animal story? A romance? A ghost story? Inquiring minds want to know.....but probably won't. The author seemed to be all over the place with her plot, which left me with a very unsatisfied feeling throughout the book. The different elements from mystery to dog training to ghost story, etc... felt very choppy and unrelated. The main plotline was supposed to be the mystery behind the rapes of two of the characters, but the author drags you along for most of the book, only to leave the climax and resolution incredibly weak. In addition, while I am all for a ghostly element(a la Barbara Michaels) or the additon of animals into the plotline, I found that the ghosts and animals were so extreme as to be ridiculous and distracting.
Besides the plot itself, I really didn't like the heroine. I think the author's goal was to make us empathize with Jane's rough childhood, so that excuses could be made for her treatment of her boyfriend and others. I DID feel empathy for her pain originally, but as the book progressed she just came across as mean spirited and nasty. By the end, I had lost patience with her whining self-pity, and just wanted the book to be done. Sorry to give a bad review, but it was that bad.

Rating:
Summary: Another Silly Saga
Review: Jane Lewis had thought of herself as Plain Jane for many years. During college she had been overweight and shy and had witnessed the rape of Connie Bryan, a beautiful classmate, engaged to be married immediately after graduation. Connie was terrified of her fiance's reaction to the brutal attack and made Jane swear not to involve the police or tell anyone. A short while later, Connie committed suicide and Jane has been haunted with guilt and felt she should have done something to help Connie.

Years later, Jane Lewis is a successful psychologist with a popular radio talk show, when an old college classmate, Michael Sorenson, introduces himself. Jane is now slender and beautiful but still thinks of herself as plain. She is immediately attracted to Mike, who is also a successful psychologist, and he encourages her to delve into the past to rid herself of the guilt she has suffered for so long as a result of Connie's death.

Trixie and Fred, Jane's godparents, the people she cares most about, are eccentric and endearing and funny. They are co-authors of a long-running, successful series of action thrillers. Trixie and Fred, as well as Jane, adore their dogs and treat them almost like human beings.

In her efforts to uncover the long-buried circumstances surrounding Connie's death, Jane becomes involved in some dangerous situations. Fortunately, with Trixie, Fred and Mike watching out for her she never strays too far into dangerous territory.

Although I enjoyed the plot and interesting characters, when the book delved into conversations with ghosts and visitations from long dead relations, it all got a little too silly and unbelievable to me. But, all in all, it was a light-hearted romance with a theme and a satisfactory conclusion.

Rating:
Summary: An entertaining fast read.
Review: Plain Jane is present at the gang rape of a fellow coed on campus at LSU one night. The coed is the cutesy cheer-leader type who has the world by the tail, about to be married to her dreamboat jock of a boyfriend. Jane was held down by two of the jocks while the girl was raped and unable to help her. She makes a reluctant promise to the victim, against her better judgment, not to tell anyone about it and has to learn to live with the consequences of what happens to the girl. Basically, it is not a bad story, just lacking the intensity that some of Michaels other books have had. I agree with several of the readers here that we expected more and didn’t get it, as far as the plot and climax of the story went. In between all that however, were some entertaining characters and amusing reading. One has to remember that this is fiction. This one is a little far-fetched even for the fictional book-lover, but it has plenty of witty dialogue, and emotions of sadness and joy, loyalty and doubt. The dog stuff (not surprisingly) is overdone, as Michaels always puts the dogs on a level par-to if not above humans, and it appears this is where she loses some of her (new) readers– not everyone shares that attitude towards dogs, and don’t like to read sooo much about it, they can’t relate. I enjoyed the characters of her affluent God-parents, even ‘though I found some of their antics it to be unrealistic, they were none-the-less amusing and entertaining. I always find Fern Michael books to be good reading.

Rating:
Summary: Not my cup of tea
Review: This book had a lot of potential, but boy was I disappointed. First of all Ms. Michael's writing style was not for me. It seemed to be all conversation, the whole book was in quotation marks practically. There was little narrative by the author. Therefore, you had little insight into what the characters were thinking. This makes for very one dimensional characters and I didn't enjoy the act of actually reading the book--it was awkward. Also, it seemed very hokey to me. As another reviewer has said, you can tell the author is older. The writing was not very current, a little cutesy for my taste. On the positive side, however, I did enjoy the characters of the godparents, Trixie and Fred. They were much more interesting than Jane. Also, I found it commendable that Ms. Michaels wanted to spotlight the hard-working K-9 police dogs.

Rating:
Summary: didn't like it!
Review: This book was really hokey. The author has an odd way of writing that feels very disjointed to me. Also, I didn't like the way that both the rape victims in the story were treated by their significant others. Neither man could supposedly deal with the rape and left them. I am sure this happens sometimes, but I feel it did a diservice to men. Most men do NOT leave their spouse when they are raped or blame their spouse for the rape.

Rating:
Summary: not worth finishing
Review: This is the first for me from this author. I didn't know what to expect, except that she is very popular and a lot of people seem to like her writing very much. Which brings me to why I was so surprised in this book. It was very disjointed and I got lost in the numerous plots she has weaving throughout. I was under the impression it was mainly about a woman named Jane Lewis who is overweight and shy and wishes to be like the homecoming queen and in one fateful night witnesses a brutal attack that leaves the homecoming queen dead and Jane with nightmares to follow her into the future.
She strives to become a well respected psycologist and does, even has her own radio show, but things fall apart when one of her patients seems to remind her of the attack that happened 16 years ago. Who is he? Should she be worried? Well, as I found out, she shouldn't be. I was lost and didn't understand how he got into the storyline and when she tried to explain it later, I was just plain tired of the confusing 'twists' to be interested.
The attack and mystery of Connie Bryan's death was very compelling, but the way the author wrote in a romance between Jane and her old college admirer Michael was way too much. Michael did not fit into the story. He was like a square peg trying to fit into a round hole. If you push him hard enough he will squeeze in, but he will still be a square peg trying to fit into a round hole, he doesn't belong here.
The romance was really tedious and the most boring part of the confusing tale to say the least. The fought and bickered a lot throughout about nothing. Jane was way too touchy and she would flip out on him for no reason and accuse him of calling her things or insinuatiing things about her when all the poor guy was guilty of was trying to have a relationship with a woman who needed her own shrink.
Jane was too much for me and I found her distasteful and tacky. There is also a side story about her mother she hates that comes out of nowhere and goes nowhere fast. Jane spends her whole life being overweight and unattractive, but we hear nothing more about it later on when she is a psychiatrist. What happened? Did she lose the weight? Is she happy? Did she work out her problems? We never get enough information to make that decision. The characters are sketchy at best and I liked the Godparents more than Jane or Michael. They were quirky and fun and the only thing I looked forward to while reading this. The 'mystery' was okay and I only finished the book to find out who the attackers were and what happened to them, but it wasn't much of a mystery. The ghost aspect was weak and I was surprised that the author thought it would be creepy or weird, it was plain funny that Michael was so serious about the ghosts and that Jane neurotic. The only thing I thought was unique and different in this mix of a mystery/romance was the way the author added pets into the story skillfully. The pets and the Godparents are the only thing holding this mix together. You're better off skipping this and trying something else. It will only confuse and irritate you...Oh by the way, the other reviewer said that she was laughing when the Michael kept calling Jane's hat 'flopsydoodle' and how her husband would die before saying something so stupid and unmasculine, I agree, lol.... Michael was too unreal as a male lead here...

Tracy Talley~@

Rating:
Summary: Plot Was Too Confusing & Characters were Too Sketchy...
Review: This is the first for me from this author. I didn't know what to expect, except that she is very popular and a lot of people seem to like her writing very much. Which brings me to why I was so surprised in this book. It was very disjointed and I got lost in the numerous plots she has weaving throughout. I was under the impression it was mainly about a woman named Jane Lewis who is overweight and shy and wishes to be like the homecoming queen and in one fateful night witnesses a brutal attack that leaves the homecoming queen dead and Jane with nightmares to follow her into the future.
She strives to become a well respected psycologist and does, even has her own radio show, but things fall apart when one of her patients seems to remind her of the attack that happened 16 years ago. Who is he? Should she be worried? Well, as I found out, she shouldn't be. I was lost and didn't understand how he got into the storyline and when she tried to explain it later, I was just plain tired of the confusing 'twists' to be interested.
The attack and mystery of Connie Bryan's death was very compelling, but the way the author wrote in a romance between Jane and her old college admirer Michael was way too much. Michael did not fit into the story. He was like a square peg trying to fit into a round hole. If you push him hard enough he will squeeze in, but he will still be a square peg trying to fit into a round hole, he doesn't belong here.
The romance was really tedious and the most boring part of the confusing tale to say the least. The fought and bickered a lot throughout about nothing. Jane was way too touchy and she would flip out on him for no reason and accuse him of calling her things or insinuatiing things about her when all the poor guy was guilty of was trying to have a relationship with a woman who needed her own shrink.
Jane was too much for me and I found her distasteful and tacky. There is also a side story about her mother she hates that comes out of nowhere and goes nowhere fast. Jane spends her whole life being overweight and unattractive, but we hear nothing more about it later on when she is a psychiatrist. What happened? Did she lose the weight? Is she happy? Did she work out her problems? We never get enough information to make that decision. The characters are sketchy at best and I liked the Godparents more than Jane or Michael. They were quirky and fun and the only thing I looked forward to while reading this. The 'mystery' was okay and I only finished the book to find out who the attackers were and what happened to them, but it wasn't much of a mystery. The ghost aspect was weak and I was surprised that the author thought it would be creepy or weird, it was plain funny that Michael was so serious about the ghosts and that Jane neurotic. The only thing I thought was unique and different in this mix of a mystery/romance was the way the author added pets into the story skillfully. The pets and the Godparents are the only thing holding this mix together. You're better off skipping this and trying something else. It will only confuse and irritate you...Oh by the way, the other reviewer said that she was laughing when the Michael kept calling Jane's hat 'flopsydoodle' and how her husband would die before saying something so stupid and unmasculine, I agree, lol.... Michael was too unreal as a male lead here...

Tracy Talley~@

Rating:
Summary: didn't like it!
Review: Well folks, I have to agree with most of you. This book was unbelievable. As a mystery, it left you wondering. As a romance it was seriously lacking. As a ghost story, it was benign. No redeemable qualities at all. How can someone's best efforts miss the mark so far?
That's about all I have to say.

Rating:
Summary: Plain Jane - not really, a great read - YES!!!
Review: When Jane Lewis was in college she was overweight, frumpy and painfully shy. She so wanted to be like Connie Bryan, the homecoming queen. Today, Jane Lewis is confident and has a thriving psychotherapy practice, her own radio talk show, a beautiful old Louisiana mansion and her dog, Olive to keep her company. What she is missing, however, is someone to share her life.

Jane is haunted by a spirit in her house, as well as the brutal, unsolved attack that ended Connie Bryan's life. The present begins to collide with the past, and a man she admired from afar in college comes in to her life and Jane finds herself re-evaluating he life and everything in it.

This was really a great read for me. I have always enjoyed Fern Michaels' books, and this one is right up on my favorites list!

The story line was well-written and the characters well-developed. By the end of the book, Jane and all the other main characters felt very real.