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Uptown Girl
From the bestselling author of The First Wives' Club and Young Wives, a sparkling New York comedy about making plans for other people -- and then tripping yourself up in them. There's something magical about Brooklyn's Billy Nolan. It's not just that he's wickedly attractive, it's that any woman he dates and dumps (and he dates and dumps them all) immediately goes on to marry someone else. Sassy, uptown New Yorker Kate is immune to Billy's charms - she left Brooklyn behind a long time ago, and she's not about to fall under the spell of a handsome waster from the old neighbourhood. Besides, she's dating the eminently suitable Michael. But perhaps the 'Billy effect' will work for Kate's friend, Bina, who has fallen apart because her almost-fiance, Jack, is going away to 'explore his singleness'. All Kate has to do is get Billy to date Bina and dump her - and then await Jack's return and watch the magic happen. It's a great plan and at first it seems to be working. But the one thing Kate hasn't considered is how Billy feels about it all...
504 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2003
About the author
Olivia Goldsmith
44 books154 followersOlivia Goldsmith (January 1, 1949 - January 15, 2004) was an American author, best known for her first novel The First Wives Club (1992), which was adapted into the movie The First Wives Club (1996).
She was born Randy Goldfield in Dumont, New Jersey, but changed her name to Justine Goldfield and later to Justine Rendal. She took up writing following a divorce in which she said her husband got almost everything (including her Jaguar and the country house). A graduate of New York University, she was a partner at the management consultants Booz & Company in New York prior to becoming a writer.
Many of her books can be described as revenge fantasies; a constant theme is the mistreatment of women by the men they love, but with the women coming out the winners in the end.
Controversially, in late 1996 Goldsmith said, in response to an Entertainment Weekly reporter's question, that her favorite event of 1996 was when Bob Dole fell off a stage during a campaign function.
She also wrote several books for children, which were published under the name "Justine Rendal."
Goldsmith died as a result of complications from the administration of anaesthesia before cosmetic surgery. Her final two books were published posthumously.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, amended.
She was born Randy Goldfield in Dumont, New Jersey, but changed her name to Justine Goldfield and later to Justine Rendal. She took up writing following a divorce in which she said her husband got almost everything (including her Jaguar and the country house). A graduate of New York University, she was a partner at the management consultants Booz & Company in New York prior to becoming a writer.
Many of her books can be described as revenge fantasies; a constant theme is the mistreatment of women by the men they love, but with the women coming out the winners in the end.
Controversially, in late 1996 Goldsmith said, in response to an Entertainment Weekly reporter's question, that her favorite event of 1996 was when Bob Dole fell off a stage during a campaign function.
She also wrote several books for children, which were published under the name "Justine Rendal."
Goldsmith died as a result of complications from the administration of anaesthesia before cosmetic surgery. Her final two books were published posthumously.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, amended.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 147 reviews
March 15, 2024
I'm not very sophisticated, having spent my formative years on a couple of islands in the Atlantic that were not Manhattan. No, these were islands where many of the families were literally engaged in harvesting shrimp for a living – and the best I’ve aspired to is this uber-tacky suburban nightmare south of San Francisco I live in. I've never worked as a high-priced consultant for Booz Allen, as the author has. I don't have two gay friends advising me on couture and my dating life and shall we call it cette sensation de ballonnement dégueulasse quand tu réalises que tu te noies dans des conneries auto-infligées. So this book was very educational for me indeed, as the hero, Dr. Kate Jameson, is a child psychologist at an upper-class private school in Manhattan, forced by circumstance to interact with a bunch of rubes from Brooklyn.
Oh, these Brooklyn people are hopeless! As a treat, Dr. Kate takes one of them to "the most expensive spa in the city" -- you know, the one that's "a sort of postindustrial French boudoir with Moorish touches." The one where "Sandra Bullock, Giselle, and Gwen Stefani get their manicures." And this Yenta insists on a French manicure! Which, yokel that I am, I had to look up:
And, God, the conversations they have to endure! Stuck at a wedding with two of her childhood friends' husbands, she tries to ignore a lengthy discussion of "the pros and cons of moving some football team to Dallas." Thank God she has her gay bestie there to elevate the conversation, because it allows him to toss off some witty repartee': "Oh, I love football. Tight ends, wide receivers. You know." [Note to author: I hate to generalize, but many gay men are linguistically gifted and actually funny.] It turns out that the fellas were talking about the Rangers franchise. But this left me a little confused. I mean, the Rangers are a baseball team, right? And aren't they already in Dallas?
And speaking of confusion: I know, I know. When it comes to finance, nobody beats Manhattan. And, as mentioned previously, I never worked for Booz Allen. But I'll admit I'm a little confused about how money was handled in this book. You see, Dr. Kate was an orphan, and she's working at a private school (generally pay less than public schools -- those demon unions!) as a psychologist. But she's living in a one-bedroom Chelsea apartment (avg rent: $4800), attends a gym with her bestie (call it $100 per month), is shod in Jimmy Choo sandals (~$400/pair), draped in agnes b. dresses (~$400 each), rents a limo to whisk her friend from Brooklyn to the airport at a moments' notice and gives an old friend a cut-glass Tiffany bowl as a wedding present ($325).
Shudder.
Another thing puzzles me, which takes place in Nobu, a famous Midtown Japanese restaurant. The restaurant's hostess is caught flirting with one of the Brooklynites' boyfriend. This episode, which is described over three excruciating chapters but which I have edited for length, reaches it climax:
Consider me amazed as well. I mean, this is a well-known upscale restaurant of high reputation, and I'm pretty sure that this would violate the restaurant's dress policy, not to mention a large number of health codes.
Okay. Okay. I'm not hip to how people roll in Manhattan, but would chicken Rangoon really be offered in a Japanese restaurant? I mean, Rangoon is nearly 3000 miles and several nations removed from Tokyo. Or to put it in terms a Manhattanite could understand, the same distance as Midtown is from Guayaquil, Ecuador, and at a similar cultural remove. And if you add up the number of people of Chinese, Japanese and Korean ancestry living in NYC, it comes to just about one million people. Do natives of NYC really consider them exotic, still?
About halfway through, I thought I had this all figured out. Dr. Kate would eventually realize that the best thing in her life was the close-knit gaggle of friends from Brooklyn, that the Manhattan lifestyle was shallow and filled with the aforementioned cette sensation de ballonnement dégueulasse quand tu réalises que tu te noies dans des conneries auto-infligées and could explain why she was unable to find a decent, committed man.
(Dry chuckle.) I am so naive! What really happens, of course, is that she leaves her friends behind and takes up with a Brooklyn guy who is secretly a Manhattanite at heart, but needed the right woman to serve as docent. And they live happily ever after.
Did I mention that the author, after working as a high-priced partner at Booz Allen, after divorcing her first husband and "losing everything, including the country house and the Jag," after becoming a best-selling (or best-paid, at any rate) author of pulp novels, died of a heart attack while under the knife to get a chin tuck at age fifty-four? Tragic, that. Well, as the eponymous Billy would say, Le temps est un grand maître, dit-on. Le malheur est qui’il tue ses élèves..
==================================
From Jan 17, 2021: I'm thinking of reading this, bumping it off in an afternoon, for two reasons:
1) It was singled out for special criticism by the late David Rakoff in one of his essays; and
2) It's the first book I've seen on GR in which there has not been a single male reviewer
I'm always up for challenges like that. And now I'm adding a third reason, which is that I need a fluffy antidote after getting to the end of Tana French's Broken Harbor.
I'm eight chapters in, and Billy hasn't even appeared on the horizon yet.
Oh, these Brooklyn people are hopeless! As a treat, Dr. Kate takes one of them to "the most expensive spa in the city" -- you know, the one that's "a sort of postindustrial French boudoir with Moorish touches." The one where "Sandra Bullock, Giselle, and Gwen Stefani get their manicures." And this Yenta insists on a French manicure! Which, yokel that I am, I had to look up:
And, God, the conversations they have to endure! Stuck at a wedding with two of her childhood friends' husbands, she tries to ignore a lengthy discussion of "the pros and cons of moving some football team to Dallas." Thank God she has her gay bestie there to elevate the conversation, because it allows him to toss off some witty repartee': "Oh, I love football. Tight ends, wide receivers. You know." [Note to author: I hate to generalize, but many gay men are linguistically gifted and actually funny.] It turns out that the fellas were talking about the Rangers franchise. But this left me a little confused. I mean, the Rangers are a baseball team, right? And aren't they already in Dallas?
And speaking of confusion: I know, I know. When it comes to finance, nobody beats Manhattan. And, as mentioned previously, I never worked for Booz Allen. But I'll admit I'm a little confused about how money was handled in this book. You see, Dr. Kate was an orphan, and she's working at a private school (generally pay less than public schools -- those demon unions!) as a psychologist. But she's living in a one-bedroom Chelsea apartment (avg rent: $4800), attends a gym with her bestie (call it $100 per month), is shod in Jimmy Choo sandals (~$400/pair), draped in agnes b. dresses (~$400 each), rents a limo to whisk her friend from Brooklyn to the airport at a moments' notice and gives an old friend a cut-glass Tiffany bowl as a wedding present ($325).
Kate walked over to the gift table and placed her box from Tiffany's right in the center. She knew it wouldn't be the only one there wrapped in distinctive robin's-egg blue, but she was fairly certain the beautiful cut-glass bowl would be the only gift that actually came from Tiffany's. Those blue boxes were often more highly prized than the contents they carried and were passed around over and over, filled with gifts from Bed Bath & Beyond or Pottery Barn.
Shudder.
Another thing puzzles me, which takes place in Nobu, a famous Midtown Japanese restaurant. The restaurant's hostess is caught flirting with one of the Brooklynites' boyfriend. This episode, which is described over three excruciating chapters but which I have edited for length, reaches it climax:
"The ring box slipped out of his pocket. I saw it all happening in slow motion. The ring box fell over and over and over. The ring flies out of the box and he scrambles to retrieve it. I'm as frozen as a Swanson TV dinner, and I see the ring skid across the floor, and that stupid bitch hostess bends all the way over and picks it up. I just sat there, like the turkey dinner that I am, and I realize that Jack, on the floor, can see up the woman's skirt--well, it was so short, and she bent right over. And she isn't wearing any underwear."
"What?" all three said in collective amazement.
Consider me amazed as well. I mean, this is a well-known upscale restaurant of high reputation, and I'm pretty sure that this would violate the restaurant's dress policy, not to mention a large number of health codes.
"The bitch!" Elliot and Brice said simultaneously.
"Yeah, the beautiful, thin, exotic bitch," Bina agreed bitterly. "I wanted to scream, why don't you just take the damn ring back from her and ask me to marry you? But, nothing. The man just sat there and looked down and finished eating his fucking chicken Rangoon."
Okay. Okay. I'm not hip to how people roll in Manhattan, but would chicken Rangoon really be offered in a Japanese restaurant? I mean, Rangoon is nearly 3000 miles and several nations removed from Tokyo. Or to put it in terms a Manhattanite could understand, the same distance as Midtown is from Guayaquil, Ecuador, and at a similar cultural remove. And if you add up the number of people of Chinese, Japanese and Korean ancestry living in NYC, it comes to just about one million people. Do natives of NYC really consider them exotic, still?
About halfway through, I thought I had this all figured out. Dr. Kate would eventually realize that the best thing in her life was the close-knit gaggle of friends from Brooklyn, that the Manhattan lifestyle was shallow and filled with the aforementioned cette sensation de ballonnement dégueulasse quand tu réalises que tu te noies dans des conneries auto-infligées and could explain why she was unable to find a decent, committed man.
(Dry chuckle.) I am so naive! What really happens, of course, is that she leaves her friends behind and takes up with a Brooklyn guy who is secretly a Manhattanite at heart, but needed the right woman to serve as docent. And they live happily ever after.
Did I mention that the author, after working as a high-priced partner at Booz Allen, after divorcing her first husband and "losing everything, including the country house and the Jag," after becoming a best-selling (or best-paid, at any rate) author of pulp novels, died of a heart attack while under the knife to get a chin tuck at age fifty-four? Tragic, that. Well, as the eponymous Billy would say, Le temps est un grand maître, dit-on. Le malheur est qui’il tue ses élèves..
==================================
From Jan 17, 2021: I'm thinking of reading this, bumping it off in an afternoon, for two reasons:
1) It was singled out for special criticism by the late David Rakoff in one of his essays; and
2) It's the first book I've seen on GR in which there has not been a single male reviewer
I'm always up for challenges like that. And now I'm adding a third reason, which is that I need a fluffy antidote after getting to the end of Tana French's Broken Harbor.
I'm eight chapters in, and Billy hasn't even appeared on the horizon yet.
February 23, 2020
"Haven't you ever had magical things happen"?
Uptown Girl by Olivia Goldsmith
What is it about guys named Billy? Anyway..
This is totally a "guilty pleasure" type read b ut who really cares? It is fun. a sparkling fresh little novel about..well..Billy..and getting married. And dating. I love this author and when she is at her best she is mighty great!
This is not my fav by her but it is good for sure and is the perfect beach read.
Not easy to find..a beach read that will not bore you senseless.
3.5 stars.
Uptown Girl by Olivia Goldsmith
What is it about guys named Billy? Anyway..
This is totally a "guilty pleasure" type read b ut who really cares? It is fun. a sparkling fresh little novel about..well..Billy..and getting married. And dating. I love this author and when she is at her best she is mighty great!
This is not my fav by her but it is good for sure and is the perfect beach read.
Not easy to find..a beach read that will not bore you senseless.
3.5 stars.
April 2, 2016
This book is what it's called 'a wacky romance'. I don't know, maybe it's just me, but this was like I was watching a typical american movie with stupid people and stupid situations. I needed music in my earphones almost all the time I was reading it, otherwise I would have stopped and never have taken the book in my hands again.
It is obviously not my type of book. :)
It is obviously not my type of book. :)
July 7, 2012
Life is too short to read terrible books. I read about 50 pages before I gave up. The main character was awful - her terrible boyfriend gives her a terrible bracelet and then they go to a terrible dinner. Also, what was the deal between keeping Brooklyn and Manhattan separate? Was that a gimmick of the authors'? I know the two are separate burroughs of New York but as someone who doesn't know the city, why must this play such an important part of the story?
And WHY does Kate want to be friends with the Bitches of Bushwick when she doesn't even LIKE them?
This book was ridiculous and I didn't want to make my way through a poorly written story about a character who doesn't even seem to have a sense of humor.
And WHY does Kate want to be friends with the Bitches of Bushwick when she doesn't even LIKE them?
This book was ridiculous and I didn't want to make my way through a poorly written story about a character who doesn't even seem to have a sense of humor.
February 27, 2010
It was good, but only in its own way. If that makes any sense at all.
June 27, 2020
"Haven't you ever had magical things happen"?
Uptown Girl by Olivia Goldsmith
What is it about guys named Billy? Anyway..
This is NOT a book to read if you want a serious and thought provoking Literary work.
This IS the type of book you read if you want a silly yet somehow surprisingly witty chick lit novel filled with sparkling displays of bad decision making and wrong choices followed with romance, a touch of magic and pure escapism.
This is totally a "guilty pleasure" type read but.. you know what? Who really cares? It is fun. a sparkling fresh little novel about..well..Billy..and getting married. And dating. I love this author and when she is at her best she is mighty great!
This is not my fav by her but it is good for sure and is the perfect beach read. I am happily giving it 3.5 stars.
And let me just say this: Not easy to find..a beach read that will not bore you senseless.
Uptown Girl by Olivia Goldsmith
What is it about guys named Billy? Anyway..
This is NOT a book to read if you want a serious and thought provoking Literary work.
This IS the type of book you read if you want a silly yet somehow surprisingly witty chick lit novel filled with sparkling displays of bad decision making and wrong choices followed with romance, a touch of magic and pure escapism.
This is totally a "guilty pleasure" type read but.. you know what? Who really cares? It is fun. a sparkling fresh little novel about..well..Billy..and getting married. And dating. I love this author and when she is at her best she is mighty great!
This is not my fav by her but it is good for sure and is the perfect beach read. I am happily giving it 3.5 stars.
And let me just say this: Not easy to find..a beach read that will not bore you senseless.
December 12, 2010
I'm having a bad run, I think, probably because I'm trying to find good contemporary romance and I'm not seeing it. This book was so boring I couldn't keep going. I started skimming furiously after chapter 6, in which we still haven't met Billy and all that's happened so far is Kate's gone to work, bantered with her gay friend, gotten a manicure, and gone to dinner with her boring boyfriend and gay friends. I thought things might get ineresting when her friend comes crashing into her life, sobbing because of a bad breakup, but then it takes 4 more chapters to get the story (while the phone rings off the hook) and we still haven't met Billy. The setup looked interesting from the book blurb, but 10 chapters in nothing has happened.
Read
June 24, 2012Fun summer read...kept moving along at a good pace. Laughs along the way and you do end up caring what happens at the end.
June 17, 2019
The perfect example of an early 2000s rom com. Brought me back to a simpler time! Easy and cute.
July 20, 2024
meh, read like a sitcom (not a good one). i didn’t HATE it and there were a few laughs but generally kind of fell flat with characters that simply weren’t likeable
March 8, 2021
Leitura leve, romance onde o amor impera mas com muitas confusões pelo meio com um toque de Sexo e a Cidade sem a parte do glamour. Uma história de amizade e da forma como ela é demonstrada através de pequenos gestos...
April 6, 2013
I'm a fan of Olivia Goldsmith's, which is why I put this book on my 2013 TBR Challenge pile. I don't know if this wasn't the best-written of her work, or if my tastes have changed, but I didn't enjoy this quite as much as her other books. I still enjoyed it, but I was also consciously aware of its flaws.
Despite the book's title and its jacket description, the Billy in question doesn't take up much of the story. Instead, the book is about Katherine (Kate) Jameson, who's escaped her bourgeoisie life in Brooklyn to become the sort of refined Manhattan woman who has a gay best friend, a job at a private school, and a serial problem with boyfriends. At the book's start, she's dating Michael, who's stable and dependable and who her best friend, Elliot, deems boring and not worthy of her. Then her Brooklyn friends, who's she's tried desperately to keep out of her Manhattan life, suddenly intrude in the form of Bina Horowitz, the best of her old friends. Bina's boyfriend was supposed to propose before he left for Hong Kong, but, instead, he dumps her for the prospect of sleeping around while abroad. Bina is heartbroken, until Kate's friends make the connection that a Brooklyn lothario seems to cause all of his ex-girlfriends to get married to the next man they date. They give her a makeover while Kate frets over the advisability of this plan.
Kate holds the strong belief that she's better than her friends, and the text never disavows her of her snobbishness. Her friends are, indeed, wrong to have used Billy to make Jack propose to Bina (though the makeover and distraction and confidence wasn't a bad idea). Her friends are wrong to warn Kate away from dating Billy, herself. Her friends are wrong that there's no substance to him, and of course Billy's problem all along is that no one took him seriously, like Kate does.
It's one thing to have insufferably snobbish heroines who learn humility, but to have Kate proved right repeatedly made her less sympathetic.
Oddly, I did still find myself sympathizing with her, and I felt myself tearing up at the scene where she learns the truth. I felt for her heartache, and I ached to tell her the truth I could so clearly see in those pages. I suppose her insufferable nature was watered down by the clues the reader parsed, but that she didn't.
There are a few introspective scenes that are rather more drawn out than they need to be, and a few recaps of scenes we already read (often recently) that were unnecessary. The book needed some tighter editing, and a little more depth to the non-Kate-and-Billy characters. The snappy Goldsmith dialogue was missing, too; it often felt forced and wooden.
Overall, I enjoyed this book, though it wasn't my favorite Olivia Goldsmith novel. After this, I find myself craving a reread of The Bestseller, as much to revisit what I liked as to check if I still like it as much as when I read it a decade ago.
Despite the book's title and its jacket description, the Billy in question doesn't take up much of the story. Instead, the book is about Katherine (Kate) Jameson, who's escaped her bourgeoisie life in Brooklyn to become the sort of refined Manhattan woman who has a gay best friend, a job at a private school, and a serial problem with boyfriends. At the book's start, she's dating Michael, who's stable and dependable and who her best friend, Elliot, deems boring and not worthy of her. Then her Brooklyn friends, who's she's tried desperately to keep out of her Manhattan life, suddenly intrude in the form of Bina Horowitz, the best of her old friends. Bina's boyfriend was supposed to propose before he left for Hong Kong, but, instead, he dumps her for the prospect of sleeping around while abroad. Bina is heartbroken, until Kate's friends make the connection that a Brooklyn lothario seems to cause all of his ex-girlfriends to get married to the next man they date. They give her a makeover while Kate frets over the advisability of this plan.
Kate holds the strong belief that she's better than her friends, and the text never disavows her of her snobbishness. Her friends are, indeed, wrong to have used Billy to make Jack propose to Bina (though the makeover and distraction and confidence wasn't a bad idea). Her friends are wrong to warn Kate away from dating Billy, herself. Her friends are wrong that there's no substance to him, and of course Billy's problem all along is that no one took him seriously, like Kate does.
It's one thing to have insufferably snobbish heroines who learn humility, but to have Kate proved right repeatedly made her less sympathetic.
Oddly, I did still find myself sympathizing with her, and I felt myself tearing up at the scene where she learns the truth. I felt for her heartache, and I ached to tell her the truth I could so clearly see in those pages. I suppose her insufferable nature was watered down by the clues the reader parsed, but that she didn't.
There are a few introspective scenes that are rather more drawn out than they need to be, and a few recaps of scenes we already read (often recently) that were unnecessary. The book needed some tighter editing, and a little more depth to the non-Kate-and-Billy characters. The snappy Goldsmith dialogue was missing, too; it often felt forced and wooden.
Overall, I enjoyed this book, though it wasn't my favorite Olivia Goldsmith novel. After this, I find myself craving a reread of The Bestseller, as much to revisit what I liked as to check if I still like it as much as when I read it a decade ago.
October 6, 2009
She's changed her style, but her roots are showing. Katie Jameson left Brooklyn for Manhattan the first chance she got. Her two worlds collide when her best friend Bina needs her help. Olivia Goldsmith's Dumping Billy lured me in with its wit and charm.
The story is based in Brooklyn and in Manhattan. The way Olivia Goldsmith describes the two different Burroughs makes me see the differences in my head. Like when Katie is talking about the little garden outside her apartment window and then she later compares it to Billy's garden in Brooklyn. She talks about how big, beautiful, and lush it is.
The book has some comedy. For example Brice and Elliot, Katie's Manhattan friends, always made comments about Katie's Brooklyn friends, that would make me laugh out loud. There was also some dramatic moments especially when Katie's heart is broken by a mystery man.
This book reminds me of a song by Demi Lovato called Two Worlds Collide. The song talks about the struggles of a persons two different worlds coming together. It kind of describes what Katie is going through.
The main character Katie is a psychologist who works at a private school. In this book she struggles to keep her Brooklyn and Manhattan friends separate,with no avail. She also just cannot seem to find Mr. Right. She Learns to be honest with how she feels. Elliot, Katie's Manhattan best friend, works with Katie at the School. When Katie's needs cheering up, he knows just what to say to make her feel better. He always has a trick up his sleeve, he came up with the dumping billy plan. Bina, Katie's Brooklyn best friend, desperately wants to get married. She goes through a lot of turmoil before she reaches that goal. Billy Nolan is the guy that shakes up everybody's world.
Finally This book took me through an emotional roller coaster, But I enjoyed every page. I would recommend this book to any teenage to young adult female, who enjoys romantic comedies. I had never heard of Olivia Goldsmith before I saw this book in the library, but I will definitely read more of her books.
Page Total 323
The story is based in Brooklyn and in Manhattan. The way Olivia Goldsmith describes the two different Burroughs makes me see the differences in my head. Like when Katie is talking about the little garden outside her apartment window and then she later compares it to Billy's garden in Brooklyn. She talks about how big, beautiful, and lush it is.
The book has some comedy. For example Brice and Elliot, Katie's Manhattan friends, always made comments about Katie's Brooklyn friends, that would make me laugh out loud. There was also some dramatic moments especially when Katie's heart is broken by a mystery man.
This book reminds me of a song by Demi Lovato called Two Worlds Collide. The song talks about the struggles of a persons two different worlds coming together. It kind of describes what Katie is going through.
The main character Katie is a psychologist who works at a private school. In this book she struggles to keep her Brooklyn and Manhattan friends separate,with no avail. She also just cannot seem to find Mr. Right. She Learns to be honest with how she feels. Elliot, Katie's Manhattan best friend, works with Katie at the School. When Katie's needs cheering up, he knows just what to say to make her feel better. He always has a trick up his sleeve, he came up with the dumping billy plan. Bina, Katie's Brooklyn best friend, desperately wants to get married. She goes through a lot of turmoil before she reaches that goal. Billy Nolan is the guy that shakes up everybody's world.
Finally This book took me through an emotional roller coaster, But I enjoyed every page. I would recommend this book to any teenage to young adult female, who enjoys romantic comedies. I had never heard of Olivia Goldsmith before I saw this book in the library, but I will definitely read more of her books.
Page Total 323
September 7, 2008
I started this book around 11pm last night and forced myself to put it down after reading the first 20 chapters. I picked it up again this afternoon and just finished it. It is one of those you just don't want to put down. It is a cute, light-hearted story about love and loss and moves very quickly.
June 17, 2009
Now, I realize this book is hot pink (so embarassing to read at the gym!), but it actually is written very well (shocking!)! No, seriously! It's by the same woman who wrote The First Wives Club, which I totally want to read, and rent (the movie) again...
November 16, 2018
It took me awhile to buy into the storyline but then I did and I thoroughly enjoyed it. It's wonderful to read easy going, non thinking books. Part of reading is to delve into a different realm and this was one of those books that took me to a different, beachy, kind of a place.
July 6, 2021
This book honestly made me so mad. Unbiasedly, the plot and tension within book was good. I loved the background of the MC and how the author integrated that within the story. I could go way deeper and dissect the story, while explaining how the MC’s trauma influenced her relationships and thought processes. But to keep it short I did not personally enjoy the story. I gave it a three star for the basic foundation of book. Decent Plot, Nice Imagery, Decent ending (even though I wasn’t fond of it). But seriously, Kate was very aggravating, and insecure if I say so my self. She constantly tried to suppress her brooklyn “roots” out of fear of judgement. She constantly compared herself to her friends while simultaneously judging them and their lives. She felt negatively about her Brooklyn friends and ended up marrying Billy, a womanizer who dated half the borough. The insecurity and constant pessimism was annoying to me. This book personally was not my cup of tea. Do I recommend it? Not really. The book wasn’t a book that was intriguing and constantly kept you on your toes, rather a book about a young woman trying to find her way. Although I tend to like those stories, I didn’t like this one.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 12, 2020
I do not enjoy giving one-star reviews at all, and it's very few and far between when I do. But anything else for this one would be a lie.
After only a few chapters, I couldn't do it anymore. It just took too long to get to anything, and the part I did read was just boring. Even Bina telling the story of her failed would-be engagement took pages and pages (and honestly, I stopped before I finally got to it, once I saw it was going to carry over into yet another chapter).
The mild comic relief that Eliot provided wasn't enough to make me want to keep going; it was becoming a chore to keep chugging along and hoping that SOMETHING interesting was going to happen on the next page.
It's disappointing because I thought this was going to be a good one, especially after reading Ms. Goldsmith's book Pen Pals not too long ago. This was a far removal from that, in my opinion, as far as quality of the story.
But hey, it is what it is. I'm still open to reading more from this author.
After only a few chapters, I couldn't do it anymore. It just took too long to get to anything, and the part I did read was just boring. Even Bina telling the story of her failed would-be engagement took pages and pages (and honestly, I stopped before I finally got to it, once I saw it was going to carry over into yet another chapter).
The mild comic relief that Eliot provided wasn't enough to make me want to keep going; it was becoming a chore to keep chugging along and hoping that SOMETHING interesting was going to happen on the next page.
It's disappointing because I thought this was going to be a good one, especially after reading Ms. Goldsmith's book Pen Pals not too long ago. This was a far removal from that, in my opinion, as far as quality of the story.
But hey, it is what it is. I'm still open to reading more from this author.
June 9, 2021
“None of your friends have read it” says it all. They’re smarter than me. Unimaginative and predictable book - a real waste of time. And leaves me feeling bad about that wasted time. And I’m somebody who’s OK with “fluff” if it’s interesting and fun to read. This was booooooring - a real disappointment after “Bestseller” which was my reason for reading it in the first place.
February 18, 2022
That was just a waste of time. Silly plot, silly characters, that I couldn't sympathize with, and definitely not funny, unless with funny one means stupid. The main character is a snob who doesn't like her female friends and is possessive over her gay friends. She sure needs a lot of therapy. I won't say more, I have already wasted too much time on this book.
September 22, 2022
I did not finish the book as the main character was so conceited, superficial and not a good person. I did skim through to the end and confirmed some plot points (which were easily guessed). This book has a very interesting premise but the execution was flawed. I’m going to put it back in the “little library” where I found it.
October 4, 2022
Homophobic garbage! Omg the internalized slut shaming and unfunny stereotypes, it was terrible!
Kept waiting for something redeeming the main character but I don’t think the author meant for her to be a villain with an arch, she’s just narrow minded, judgy and whiny from start to - well maybe not finish, because I tossed the book in the recycling bin before I finished it entirely.
Kept waiting for something redeeming the main character but I don’t think the author meant for her to be a villain with an arch, she’s just narrow minded, judgy and whiny from start to - well maybe not finish, because I tossed the book in the recycling bin before I finished it entirely.
June 21, 2017
This was fiiine. I felt like it was predictable. Like when I read the description I thought to myself "She is going to end up marrying Billy" and all her friends were annoying and not endearing to me. I felt like the Max character could have been explored more. Bina just kind of sucked.
February 18, 2023
Fabuła, pełna komicznych perypetii. Przystojny Billy Nolan jako swatka: porzucone przez niego dziewczyny, prędko wychodzą za mąż za kogo innego. Nic tylko skorzystać z okazji, wystarczy by Billy porzucił kolejną dziewczynę, a tu nic nie idzie po myśli.
April 13, 2024
Never had an old neighbourhood to escape or the pressure to marry well. Well written with good relationships. The central character, Kate, was difficult to identify with, settling for grown ups. The central romance was too swiftly accomplished. Good book for holiday reading.
June 29, 2017
Fast and fun beach read.
October 15, 2017
Torture. All I wanted was a good quick chick lit. A private school teacher rents a limo to go to Brooklyn? Really?
November 30, 2017
This book was cute. Too much inner monologue and not enough dialogue for my taste.
February 14, 2018
I guess the bottom line is that I didn't like it. It took me a long time to get into it. I had no interest in finishing it.
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