Clare Naylor

It wasn't entirely the book's fault I didn't finish it: I made it to page 254 before I left on a trip that I could not take this hardcover along. I was pushing myself to finish but, truth be told, after a book of different characters, I no longer felt compelled to find out what happened to the characters, whether the movie would be made, etc. I think I would rather move on to my next book than return to this one.

I am lucky in that the problems with structure that led to this book's downfall showed me flaws in my own debut novel, so I could look at it with a different eye. I felt the trouble with this book was actually the abundance of "Hollywood stories": there was such a strong concentration of the bizarre "look at this different culture" stories that led nowhere, little to no connection to later plot, that when I hit the 100-page mark - the classic goalpost to decide whether to continue - there was no establishment in the story (other than setting, of course) and very little in the character. I hadn't developed any interest or sympathy yet. If I hadn't been so interested in figuring out what was wrong with the structure and curious as to "does this book ever tell a story or does it just whine about how bad Hollywood is?" I would not have continued.

Why the higher star rating? It's only meant to be a silly little beach read, so how good does it have to be? While I missed the story in the beginning, these asides were amusing. The authors can write a sentence (surprisingly not always a requirement to be published nowadays) and put together some simple humour. Part of my problem, I will admit, is that I am a slow reader so 100 pages represents a fair time investment for me, so I want return fairly quickly; I know a lot of readers (including one I live with) who wouldn't mind a little more digression before the story. When I stopped reading, there were at least 3 plot lines going, I suspected I saw the course (as one usually does in chick lit) and it was cute. There are much better chick kits, I would not go out of my way for this one. However, if you find it in the hotel's "library" or the public library, it is an easy way to pass the time.… (more)

It wasn't entirely the book's fault I didn't finish it: I made it to page 254 before I left on a trip that I could not take this hardcover along. I was pushing myself to finish but, truth be told, after a book of different characters, I no longer felt compelled to find out what happened to the characters, whether the movie would be made, etc. I think I would rather move on to my next book than return to this one.

I am lucky in that the problems with structure that led to this book's downfall showed me flaws in my own debut novel, so I could look at it with a different eye. I felt the trouble with this book was actually the abundance of "Hollywood stories": there was such a strong concentration of the bizarre "look at this different culture" stories that led nowhere, little to no connection to later plot, that when I hit the 100-page mark - the classic goalpost to decide whether to continue - there was no establishment in the story (other than setting, of course) and very little in the character. I hadn't developed any interest or sympathy yet. If I hadn't been so interested in figuring out what was wrong with the structure and curious as to "does this book ever tell a story or does it just whine about how bad Hollywood is?" I would not have continued.

Why the higher star rating? It's only meant to be a silly little beach read, so how good does it have to be? While I missed the story in the beginning, these asides were amusing. The authors can write a sentence (surprisingly not always a requirement to be published nowadays) and put together some simple humour. Part of my problem, I will admit, is that I am a slow reader so 100 pages represents a fair time investment for me, so I want return fairly quickly; I know a lot of readers (including one I live with) who wouldn't mind a little more digression before the story. When I stopped reading, there were at least 3 plot lines going, I suspected I saw the course (as one usually does in chick lit) and it was cute. There are much better chick kits, I would not go out of my way for this one. However, if you find it in the hotel's "library" or the public library, it is an easy way to pass the time.… (more)