Customer Reviews

Better Latte Than Never

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

 

 

A teenage girl's summer adventures include being chased by a crazy dog, working at the local Gas 'n' Git with a guy who thinks he's Bono, and attending a summer school French course taught by substitutes who don't actually know the language.

Written in first person present tense, Better Latte Than Never (previously titled Frozen Rodeo) focuses on a teenager named Peggy. Middle name, Fleming. Her father is an amateur figure skater turned real estate agent and her mother is a very pregnant weather forecaster. Due to her father's career, the children all have been named in honor of famous skaters. The five year old twins are named Torvill and Dean. The quiet and thoughtful three year old is called Dorothy. That in itself is sure to crack up any skating fan - but wait, there's more.

Peggy, who opts to go by Fleming, has a very interesting summer. After getting into multiple car accidents - in which she remains unscathed, but sadly cannot say the same for the vehicles - she is no longer allowed to drive and gets a job at the local Gas 'n' Git to pay her father back. Meanwhile, she takes a French class taught by a string of unqualified substitutes, fights her attraction for the cute waiter at IHOP, befriends a girl named Charlotte with a wild streak and bickers with her co-worker, Denny, who has an obsession with U2 and often attempts to look, sound and act like his idol, Bono.

Anyone who has ever lived in a small town and dreamed of getting out of it will echo Fleming's thoughts about her city; anyone who has felt pressured to take care of their younger siblings will sympathize with her family plight. With a solid ending that ties every subplot and character together, I give this book a perfect score.

First off, I must say that this was NOT supposed to be a romantic comedy, even though the cover says so. It was previously published as "Frozen Rodeo", which made much more sense. Do not blame the author for what the cover says. Now on to the review...

Peggy Fleming spends her time working at a coffee shop inside of a gas station. If that's not horrible enough, most of the money she makes goes directly to her parents to help pay for the damages she caused with her car. When she's not working, Fleming is stuck at taking a French that she thought the boy she liked who was sorta but not really her boyfriend would be taking. When she finds out that not only is he not taking the class, he's also dating a waitress at the place her works, Fleming and her newly-found best friend begin plotting ways to make him jealous and get him back.

Better Latte Than Never is another hilarious novel by Catherine Clark. I found Fleming very easy to relate to, especially with the boy and family troubles she was experiencing. Every character, even the minor ones, was well-developed and creative. I really enjoyed this and would reccommend it to anyone as a fun and fast read.

*This was previous published as FROZEN RODEO*

I did not really enjoy this book. I felt that it wasn't funny or romantic. Flemming(the main character) complains a lot and I honestly didn't like her. Before this I had read Picture Perfect and So Inn Love also by Clark which are both more enjoyable reads.

The story is mainly focused on Flemming's unsatisfying small town Midwestern life and her job. Out of the 320 pages literally about 30 of them are about her romance with her two love interests. I say do yourself a favor and get a better romance book.

In this reprint of Catherine Clark's FROZEN RODEO, Fleming is having the worst summer. She's stuck working at a coffee shop in a gas station to pay her parents back for crashing their station wagon. She's taking a French class where the professor is always absent. Her best friend is gone for the summer and the boy she likes is always making out with another girl.

That doesn't even begin to describe her troubles at home - always having to babysit and help around the house without having time to herself. Fleming can't wait to leave town next year and head to college.

Then she befriends another girl, forms a friendship with the boys she works with, and makes out with a new guy. Could the summer be looking up for her?

Catherine Clark writes a summer novel where everything's going wrong, but then things begin to look up and Fleming discovers her life isn't so terrible after all.

Reviewed by: Jennifer Rummel

I am an avid reader of books such as this because they keep me entertained for the day or two that they take to read. However, this is probably the worst Teen Romance I've read in quite a while. Having read all of Clark's other titles, I have to say that this is absolutely her worst one. Peggy, or Fleming as she likes to be called, is a sixteen year old girl who is stuck in a small Midwestern town without a car. Her summer is filled with repaying her parents for multiple auto accidents (hence the no car) and babysitting her younger siblings. Teen romances should have just that - romance! But this story plods along at a very slow pace with very little of anything actually happening. Fleming is torn between two guys - the very cute "bad boy" who she's made out with a few times and his best friend. ****Spoiler Alert***** In the end, however, she ends up with neither one of them. The ending is very cliche and I was bored to tears most of the time. To much detail was given entirely throughout the book, but had no character development whatsoever. I barely learned anything about Denny, Fleming's coworker, or her new summmer best friend Charlotte. The book is definately not Clark's best work, but I've found most of her books to be hit or miss.