When Huvi read Katherine Center's Get Lucky, she said, "her books are all the same." True enough, so why bother reviewing? Well I do have a standard policy of reviewing (at least to some extent) every book I read, and besides, I don't quite remember what I wrote about her other one I read... so here goes. Interestingly enough, not only are her books all the same, I read them in exactly the same way. I picked them up at night (this one Friday night) and read them in one sitting. So that's a point in their favor right there. I mentioned that they're short, which certainly helps in making them quick reads, but much more than that, they're engaging. They move fast, flying through the characters' lives at high speed. Stuff happens along the way, but there's no time to dwell on any one thing for long...
The main "stuff happening" in this one is a pregnancy. Not just a pregnancy, but Sarah's surrogacy for her sister Maddie. So that alone sets it apart from Everyone is Beautiful, which is about the most pedestrian of topics... motherhood and marriage. At first, I was afraid this book was going down the road of career vs. life but the surrogacy thing was a welcome turn along the way (that wasn't even an intentional pun at first :)) But like she introduces it as this dramatic, life changing event... which actually (spoiling here), it isn't. And that's the case with a lot of her dramatic pronouncements... which is what huvi meant by all her books are the same. She has this weird foreshadowing thing where she talks about what's going to happen before it does - and the weirdest thing is that when it does happen, it's never as big a deal! So it's annoying, but I have to say considerably less annoying than if everything did turn into the big disasters she says they will. Like Sarah's life changes throughout her pregnancy, but it has very little to do with the pregnancy itself. It has to do with getting a new job, meeting an old/new guy, and (and this is the closest it gets to the pregnancy) her distancing from Maddie, which in the end is caused more by motherhood than anything else.
So anyway, that's the way her writing is annoying, and yes, the same in every book. But like I said, I read this book in one sitting.. and I wasn't forcing myself to stay awake. Because she's a good writer, quite a good writer. And since everything happens so fast, there's very little tension (I said this in the last book review). And despite Aliza's assertion that the other one was the most romantic, I found this one far more romantic. There was great potential - a Persuasion-esque high school bf story - but it wasn't perfectly executed. I get the feeling she's not interested in really milking it for what it's worth. Even the end moment (which I can't recall at the moment) is kind of anti-climatic - like, oh I know you love me, let's get together - no angst at all!
So basically my point is... well it's a good book, even though it maybe shouldn't be. Because the characters are likeable and the story is good too. And if all her books are the same, who cares, because I like them :) and last I check, I can read *the same* book 20 times over if I like it... so a different plot is more than enough to keep me interested :)
Verdict: 3/5
Food: more of the same, it's still good... the asian chicken salad I ate last friday was basically the same as a teriyaki chicken salad, but with peanut dressing, but who's complaining? :)
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