Customer Reviews

Best Foot Forward

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

 

 

This is a great sequel to an equally stunning and entertaining read, "Rules of the Road".
Bauer has vastly impressed me with all her books I've read thus far, but this one was like a big fat cherry along with the whipped creme on top of the hot fudge sundae known as "Rules of the Road".
Jenna Boller is back, back with a vengence alongside the owner and her boss, Madeline Gladstone. There are some new characters that add flavor to an already sweet treat of a story.
For anyone who just likes a good plot and lots of laughs, I recommend this. It may be targeted at teenagers(those teenagers are darn lucky cuz there were no writers like this in my teen days), but at 36, I have grown into a great fan of Joan Bauer's writing. She is very talented at telling a tale that is funny and endearing. It is a really easy read that I know younger girls will really enjoy because while I may be 36, deep down, I am still a teenager at heart.

Eileen F.

One person can make a difference. That's the big lesson Jenna Boller learns outside of the classroom and it changes her forever. As she returns to school in the Fall, she immediately realizes how much she has matured over the summer. It's as if the other students were frozen in time. Jenna grew up at Gladstone Shoes. At first, she is consumed in her own problems, most notably fixing the strained relationship with a dysfunctional alcoholic parent she helped put in jail. A sister obsessed with her own appearance is also scarred by family problems but refuses to deal with them. At work, Jenna's boss, an elderly women, Mrs. Gladstone, seems out of touch and too gullible, giving the wrong people, like the troubled Tanner, a second chance. As Jenna learns, it was all a matter of having the right person redirect Tanner's high energy in a more positive direction - and Mrs. Gladstone make Jenna his boss, partly responsible for the transformation. Mrs. Gladstone knows that in her heart Jenna does not understand her methods. Jenna believes Mrs. Gladstone is soft, an easy mark. As the story unfolds, Jenna observes as Mrs. Gladstone takes on her own son, exposing the corruption that has infested Gladstone's new corporate offices. As her mentor, Mrs. Gladstone explains, "I want you to learn from this. I want you to write it in your heart." In the end Jenna intuitively creates her own mentoring role, helping someone else put the best foot forward. Joan Bauer has written a most enjoyable, uplifting book that will not only resonate with young reasons, but with all who read it. It kept me smiling.

j is back in a good way and in a bad way. again, the dialog is snappy, the main character is fun and witty and likeable. however, the issues are huge and therin lies the problem. bauer tries to tackle an alcohalic parent, a (maybe) annorexic sibling, a grandmother with alzheimer's disease, a thieving co-worker, the issue of unethical overseas labor tactics and the maturing of her main character all at the same time. the book treads on all of these issues but fails to tackle them realistically. the theiving co-worker for instance does not feel like a real teenager. in fact, he comes accross almost as an idiot...i could have pulled off a better scam than that guy:) anyway, it IS still a fun read, just don't look for any realness in it.

I'm not sure if Joan Bauer is planning another book about Jenna, but it seemed to me from the end of this one that she needs to write one in order to clean things up. Although I loved "Rules of the Road," I didn't find this book nearly as compelling. Jenna was still her strong and determined self, but the supporting characters were a bit bland.

Mrs. Gladstone didn't have as much of a presence in this book as she did in the first one. Jenna's love interest was only barely described, as was Tanner, the good-hearted theif who I kept feeling Bauer really wanted to make into Jenna's love interest.

This book felt like only half a story, which would make sense if there is a sequel intended, but it is a bit weak as a stand-alone book.

3/5
I've read several of Joan Bauer's books and enjoyed them. And I read Rules of the Road a while ago, but just recently found out that it had a sequel when I looked at the book. I was a little surprised, mostly because most of her books are one-shots, but also because I hadn't known there was one (since I usually know if there is).
Anyway, I finished this book relatively quickly, as I was expecting to.
It's about Jenna, who's now working for Mrs. Gladstone at the shoe store on her own town. The summer is ending and she'll be starting her junior year of high school soon. (Oh, if you haven't read the first one, it was about Jenna driving Mrs. Gladstone, a bossy old woman who owns a shoe company, on a little road trip to where a stock holders meeting is going to be held. Some other things happen, but mostly Mrs. Gladstone's son is taking over the business and not doing a good, moral job of it. Also, this will probably contain spoilers if you haven't read either of the books.) So she's going to be going on part-time, and Mrs. Gladstone's son is still doing business badly, even worse than before, really, when some, illegal, things behind the scenes get some spotlight. Plus, they're looking for some new employees but not finding any. They have hired, though, a boy, Tanner, who stole from them and is making it up by working for them. Jenna really know what she's doing, and she's Mrs. Gladstone's assistant, pretty much, so she makes phone calls and all that. She's also going to Al-Anon meetings because of her dad, which is helping, and helping Tanner, and his family, get past what happened to them. And there's some romance, but not much, and not really what I was expecting.
This book, like most of hers, wasn't amazing, but I still liked it. I'm not really sure what I like about her books. They're not really my style, normally. I tend to go for the romance's. Bauer tends to focus more on real life things, like business or politics or religion, with intent focus on some kind of business, like shoes or newspapers or restaurants. And the romance is very little, in all of them (that I've read so far). There's usually some, a little bit of it. And in this book, it was very small, and not with who the back said it would be. Of course I would like more romance, as I love reading kissing scenes, but I still like her books. And, since they're so small, I read them in about a day. They're fast, easy reads, that I usually go for if I'm looking for something fast and easy. And her style of writing, while very easy and simple, still has moments of pretty and cute, in that she describes little things of small notice.
I just like it, I guess.
She can create really good characters, too. I liked Jenna, Mrs. Gladstone is an awesome old lady, Tanner was good and his little brother is adorable, and Murray is also pretty awesome. Charlie seemed cool, and he seemed like he could be good for Jenna, but we didn't get much of him. We also didn't get a lot of her family, more than Charlie, but still. They seemed alright from what I did see, though. And Mrs. Gladstone's son is a jerk, and was described pretty well, and I totally hate him for what he did to the company and Mrs. Gladstone. He really does not deserve her.
Also, not that this wasn't believable, because Jenna was written out very well, but I just realized that she wasn't even a junior and she took a road trip with her boss, and is now practically her assistant. That seems really young. I realize that some people are ready, and Jenna has had to grow up early with her family and all, but I couldn't imagine doing all that as that age. That's a little impressive.

The book was really good up till the last couple of chapters. The ending of this book is dumb. Im pretty sure if Joan Bauer would have kept going on it would have been the best book i have ever read. If i were you do not buy this book. Its way to short amd it doesnt end well.

I loved "Rules of the Road" and I was immediately struck by how much Jenna had matured in the interim between that book and this book. I love her employee/caretaker relationship with her boss Mrs. Gladstone, her ambivalent relationship with Tanner, and the spark of some romantic interest in Charlie Duran. Her involvement in Al-Anon added an interesting new dimension, and the struggle to save the shoe company (the "good guys" versus the "bad guys") was actually pretty exciting. Overall a good read!

The teenage main character, Jenna, confronts a very long list of life-trying topics: alcoholism, shoplifting, divorced parents, jail, parole officers, and corruption. I've probably forgotten some. But teens see all these things on the nightly news, and unfortunately, some in their own lives. Meanwhile, perhaps what they don't see is young adults' struggle with hard work, trying to find productivity, meaning, and a day's wage. Joan Bauer, in "Best Foot Forward", has managed to fit both kinds of topics into an entertaining teen story. My 13-year-old brought it into the house; that may be a bit young to identify with Jenna, who has a job and a car. But if she finishes reading it, it'll be interesting to get her perspective. When my kids watch TV, I try to watch with them sometimes. There's not much beyond fluff in a lot of those shows, and even in many movies. If more of them could be at the level of Bauer's writing, our family entertainment time would be a lot more worthwhile.

Hello, I am Juan's Daughter, Gabriela. I read the book "Best Foot Foward" and I thought it was great. Yes, it did seem unfinished at the end... like it needed something to give it a little push. Over all the book was outstanding. I loved how Jenna changed throughout the story about Tanner. In the beggining she seemed to dislike, well actually despise Tanner, but at the end they worked together to help Mrs. Gladstone get to the bottom of what was going on with her store. I also thought that the book was great to read, I liked how Joan Bauer wrote it at the point of view of Jenna. It was a great book.

She did it again! Joan Bauer hooked me on yet another novel about selling shoes!

I had previously read Rules of the Road, where we were introduced to Jenna Boller. In BEST FOOT FORWARD we again root for Jenna of Gladstone Shoes. I even *ahem* took this book to church to read between Sunday School and the church service. It was that good.

Mrs. Gladstone puts Jenna in charge of Tanner, a boy Jenna's age, after he tries to steal some shoes from them. Jenna's not sure letting him work for the company is the best idea Mrs. Gladstone has had; even so, Jenna's confidence grows as she encourages Tanner to be his best.

Changes are coming fast since the merger of Gladstone Shoes and Shoe Warehouse Corporation. Advertising strategies become distasteful. The quality of the product is suffering. Jenna and Mrs. Gladstone's questions aren't being answered.

When the higher-ups in the company begin making unethical business decisions, Mrs. Gladstone entrusts Jenna with the investigation. When Jenna finds out that Mrs. Gladstone's son is involved, she has to confide in somebody. Jenna chooses Tanner and is astounded at the things he's noticed. She prepares Mrs. Gladstone for the bad news and shares an understanding of being disappointed by someone you love.

BEST FOOT FORWARD is remarkable in its premise of teens doing the right thing only because it's the right thing to do. This is a common theme throughout Ms. Bauer's books, and, once again, she has made me grateful that I'm lucky enough to spend time with teens and that I have the privilege of making an impression upon them - as they do on me.

This is another Joan Bauer must read!

Reviewed by: Cana Rensberger