Customer Reviews

Afterglow (Best Of The Best)

5 star:		(0)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I'm a big fan of Catherine Coulter, but this is the most gawd-awful book she has put out. It's a good thing this wasn't the first book I'd read by her or else I'd never touch another of her books. For starters, minus the fact that Chelsea has black hair, her life parallels that of the author and the book read like an autobiography. Chelsea is from California, she's a romance writer (Catherine even has Chelsea writing stories from her Star and Song series), she likes to workout, and David is a physician (like Catherine's husband), the list goes on and on... In truth, this book was just plain blah and very cookie-cutter. Catherine has put out some great stuff, but this just wasn't one of them.

Many a Coulter book have I enjoyed under the warm covers of my bed. Unfortunately this one was not destined to join the ranks of Coulter's best in my humble opinion. Perhaps the fact that it was a contemporary novel threw me off... but I doubt it. Very, very rarely do I leave a book half-read but this was one I had no desire to finish. The characters and the story line developed too slowly and I did not have the patience to stick with them. I guess the biggest disappointment was being misled by the description in the back of the book.

I did not expect to like this book, due to the fact that the author did a 360 degree turn in her writing. But, I really enjoyed the book. The characters reminded me of friends I know, so it was like reading about their crazy,sometimes complex and definitely hillarious lives!! This book truly shows that opposite do attract!!! Looking for something different, contemporary, from Ms. Coulter - Try basking in Afterglow.

This had to be one of the biggest stinker bks I have read in a long time! The bk is severely outdated (first published in 1985 and then re-issued in 1992), not only are the clothes out-dated, so are the thoughts and idea for the story.

I could have overlooked that but the part the really got me was that George the heroinne was supposed to be so mature at 23yrs old but I kept thinking she was acting like a 15 yr old! What did Eliot see in her besides a pretty face and a knack at investing??! An example of out dated writing is when the author wrote about a six mth pg where the mother decided to take up smoking and go on a drinking binge and the Dr. thinking that since it was only a wk of debauchery the baby would be okay. HELLO! Ever heard of fetal alcohol syndrome?? I thought this was poor thought by the author to have written this into the story. It left me disgusted with the bk.

Do yourself a favour and don't buy this bk.

So I splurged and coughed up the outrageous $10 to buy the Kindle edition of this book, in spite of some of the negative reviews, mostly because I remember loving Aftershocks when I read it as a teenager years ago and was curious about the sequel(And by the way, why isn't Aftershocks available on Kindle? *pouts). I actually quite liked this book and don't have the same issues with it that other reviewers had. There was an interesting sort of Pride and Prejudice thing going on here... and yes, I agree that the heroine was a spoiled, immature brat sometimes, but she more than comes around in the end. And I loved the romance novelist angle. Coulter is giving us a good dose of some self-deprecating fun here and also giving an excellent defense of the profession, the books, and the readers (read Eloisa James AKA Mary Bly's New York Times editorial to get the same exuberant feelings of vindication). The uptight children and ex-wife are a hoot. And the doctor, yum... I liked him just fine. And the medicine, thank goodness it was done right (as in, it sounded like medicine and not something written by someone who's trying to write about medicine).

The only reason why this gets only three stars from me as opposed to four is because the idea of drugging a woman, even for a good cause, did not jive with me. It may just be that this book is slightly dated; I couldn't read that scene without squirming. It didn't ruin the book for me, but it goes without saying that drugging another person, and taking away their right to consent is criminal, especially for a physician, and most unromantic. The fact that a whole group of people plotted to do it makes the scenario even more insidious and frightening.

Cute book, coulter has always been great about making her character's really likeable and I espescially like the heroine, george's, obsession with bizarre kneesocks. Ignore the other review, it was a good book.

I enjoyed the plot of the book, but Chelsea was an irritating heroine is this novel. Some may call her free-spirited , but I don't think this was the case at all. David was not Ms. C typical hero, but I felt more of a connection and sympathy with him then Chelsea. If I was him, I would have left Chelsea a long time ago. Besides the flawed heroine and sensitive hero, I enjoyed the book. Revisiting the lives of George and Elliot made the book more enjoyable.

What were their friends thinking of? Chelsea Lattimer and David Winter couldn't have been more different. Chelsea was a writer. She lost herself in the past to make up for the inadequacies of the present.

David was a doctor, a man of the here and now, with no time for the flights of fantasy he was sure writers indulged in.

But the passion they shared was no fantasy - it was so real, even Chelsea couldn't deny it. Could the matchmakers have been right after all?