Cast Off: Julie James

I am excited to share that on late Monday night / early Tuesday morning, I got my copy of Julie James’ A Lot Like Love. To say I was looking forward to this book would be an understatement. I was thrilled when I heard that James had a new novel coming out. I was thrilled with the final results and I am trying to figure out why.

For the record, prior to read the awesome A Lot Like Love, I went back and reread Just the Sexiest Man Alive, Practice Makes Perfect, and Someone Like You.

The fact of the matter is that James does not write complicated plot. In fact, she writes rather simple ones actual (so simple, in fact, that sometimes I can’t help but think how this is a whole novel). Where James excels (farther than a lot of writers) is in her characters and dialogue. She writes relatively smart characters. Sure, they have their hands in some misunderstanding, but overall they are not dumb people. Also, pretty much all of her characters are witty. It’s exciting to read. They also all have an edge. You know how I was complaining about how Susan Elizabeth Phillips writes the same character over and over again in all her books? Well, I was trying to figure out if this was the case with James. I can’t really get the feeling that it is (though, in James’ case I want to be the female lead, not throttle her!), but I am worried that she is writing very similar characters in each book.

One really cool thing that James does, that not many authors are currently doing, is that she dates her books. In A Lot Like Love, Jordan’s brother Kyle is in prison for shutting down a very influntual website. You immediately think, oh shot! He hacked into the CIA (or, you know, something of that magnitude). Nope. He shut down Twitter. Frankly, it was hilarious. I really hate when people give more away than the back of the book already told, so I am not going to go further. Just go out! Get yourself a copy. It will be well worth it!

Also, I read James’ February 13th blog entry. She had a really cool fan make a movie poster for her first novel, Just the Sexiest Man Alive (which was original written to be a movie). At her suggestion I was trying to figure out who I would cast in the roles.

Here is who I am actually imagining, though I am not always 100% on with the character descriptions.

Just the Sexiest Man Alive
Taylor: Ginnifer Goodwin
Jason: Bradley Cooper
Jeremy: Jeremy Piven
Scott: Chad Michael Murray (Goodness, that man gives me a headache)

Practice Makes Perfect
Payton: Stephanie Gatschet
J.D.: Ryan Reynolds


Someone Like You
Cameron: Tara Reid
Jack: Jordi Vilasuso

A Lot Like Love
Jordan: Kaley Cuoco
Nick: Wentworth Miller
Kyle: Josh Duhamel

I would love to see who you all pick!

Love, Adrienne