What I Did For a Love Story

Okay, so I originally planned to write about the cute Three Kisses series by Christie Ridgway (it’s great – check it out), but I went to the library yesterday and actually thumbed through the hardcover section. I admit it, I am a paperback snob. I don’t like big, bulky books. They remind me of textbooks. You can’t convince me that there is anyone who wants to read a text book! Though speaking of textbooks, I read a paperback version of The Lexus and the Olive Tree while in college, and it was so thought provoking. I would recommend that book.

Anyway, I am strolling through the hardcover fiction section and what catches my eye? Susan Elizabeth Phillip’s Natural Born Charmer. I actually read this book when it first came out. In fact I sought after it. I think I went to four libraries looking for it. To say I was sourly disappointed would be an understatement. I could not for the life of me get into the characters. And the fact that her name was Blue was terribly distracting. Anyway, I look over it and decide to take it out again. I mean, it’s been two years! I can’t be as terrible as I remember it, can it?

Well, it’s pretty bad; not as awful, though, as I recalled it. Anyway, so I decide to take out all the SEP books that I don’t own (I am ashamed to admit I own at least nine). I have never really liked SEP books. I never saw the glamour or reality in them. I was pretty sure that every single one of her books was based on the same two characters changing their names. Anyway, I end up taking out the book What I Did for Love. I read it. I can’t put it down. It’s actually really captivating. I need to know what happens next.

Over all, I would definitely say that What I Did for Love is my favorite SEP book to date. I was trying to think of why this was, and I actually can’t think of much, which is quite shameful. I liked the hero a lot. I think it mostly had to do with the fact that he was a liar, and as the reader I knew he was a liar the whole time. I did not like the whole insinuation that Bram followed Georgie to Vegas and planned to make her miserable . . . or whatever SEP was actually insinuating. I imagined the worst, so when it was not really that bad, everything was rosy for me. I did not really care for the fact that the main character was based on a real person (please! Jen Aniston – come on!), but I took pleasure in the fact that Jade was super cold (just as I imagine Angelina Jolie would be). And poor, poor Lance (aka Brad Pitt). The heroine’s father pointed out his fatal flaw – he changes himself to fit the person whom he is with. So true!

I liked Georgie and Bram together. They had a lot of history together and that added to the story. Their animosity to one another made sense. Though, for a thirty-one year old woman, Georgie was so naive. What was up with that? Chaz, whom many reviews claim stole the novel, was flat for me. I did not connect with her on any level; same with Laura. I liked Paul and Aaron. They were good and had gentle, but important transformations. With the exception of its briefness I was thrilled with how the novel ended, though that epilogue I could have lived without.

While What I Did for Love was not the best novel ever, I would recommend it to readers. It was charming, sexy and cute. For the first time in one of SEP’s novels, I felt like the dialogue and tension were validated. Other reviewers claim that Ain’t She Sweet is SEP’s best work. Well, I am reading that on tonight. That was the first SEP novel I read, prior to realizing she was SEP. You know, I just thought she was a crazy writer who got off on humiliating and punishing woman. (Seriously, though. Does anyone else get that vibe from her novels? It super bugs me.)

Love, Adrienne