Customer Reviews

The Blonde Theory

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

 

 

Blondes do NOT have more fun. Well, blondes like Harper don't. She's an accomplished patent attorney, which means she is smart and has money. It also means that most of her dates disappear faster than a girl can blink.

Faced with dwindling prospects, Harper's friends dare her to test "The Blonde Theory." She is to go on dates while acting like a total ditz, not that she knows how. But with some help from her friends, she hits the dating scene with all the brains of an idiot.

Harper will learn more about relationships in two weeks of "The Blonde Theory" than in a lifetime of dating. Some answers won't be surprising, but others will astonish her. With a little luck, she might find what she's been looking for right under her nose.

Kristin Harmel brings readers her interpretation of a commonly held stereotype: "blondes of have more fun." Is this right, is it a gross simplification of the truth, or is it an outright crock? Harmel's perspective seems to be spot on, with a few poetic exaggerations. The writing is witty, sometimes charming, and usually engaging. That said, some readers will find Harper annoying. Here is a successful New York attorney, and all she seems to do is complain about how she can't land a man, even though she doesn't really "need" one. It may be hard for the average middle-class woman to sympathize with Harper's whining. After all, Harper earns a salary in the mid six figures, owns a spacious condo in NYC, and has earned her way to her dream career.

This is a good pick for fans of SEX AND THE CITY. Interest among other twenty- and thirty-somethings will depend on their willingness to sympathize with a successful, yet whiny, main character.

Reviewed by Christina Wantz Fixemer
02/16/2007

I picked this up because of its title and it sounded like a fun read. Since I have brown hair, I really wanted to know what the author meant by "The Blonde Theory". I loved her last book "How to Sleep with a Movie Star" and had a feeling I would enjoy this one as well.

This was a great read, and I could barely put it down and I don't like to read that much. Very enjoyable - awesome characters - Can't wait for Harmel's next book! She's off to a great start with her writing career! I know she will go far..

THE BLONDE THEORY by Kristin Harmel
February 17, 2007

Amazon rating 3.5/5

"Harper Roberts is smart and successful - she's a patent attorney who also happens to have a degree in chemical engineering. As the story opens, she faces a break up with her live-in boyfriend Peter. In shock, as Harper thought everything was going well, she realizes afterwards that maybe she isn't girlfriend material. Peter accused her of being too successful, saying that she made him feel emasculated.

That was three years ago. Now thirty-five, Harper is commemorating the anniversary of their break up (or three long years of being single) with her friends. They all agree that something has to change. As an experiment, and to coincide with friend Meg's magazine article for the Dating Files column of Mod Magazine, they convince Harper to dumb herself down for two weeks. Harper is to act the stereotypical dumb blonde, down to her every day vocabulary, how she dresses, and how she treats her dates. She is allowed to be herself only at work. Thus The Blonde Theory begins. Harper finds out that men do seem attracted to women as vacuous as a dumb blonde. Harper finds this unbelievable. But as agreed, she continues to seek out men in the wanted ads, the Internet, and elsewhere. Every date she has, no matter how smart and successful the man is, they all seem to want one thing - a woman with a good body and not much of a brain. She's frustrated, but the facts don't lie." - Complete review at BOOKLOONS - M. Lofton

This was a fun read, although one had to suspend belief in regards to Harper being a lawyer/chemical engineer. A variety of characters including a soap opera actor (Matt James) and her plumber (Sean) are important enough that they play pivotal roles in Harper's reassessment on men and dating. While not the perfect book, it had enough laughs for me to enjoy it.

Having being both a brunette and a blonde at points in my life I can relate to "The Blonde Theory". I found this book very enjoyable. It kept my attention and made me laugh on serveral occasions. Such a great chic lit book and highly recommended!!

This book was the most fun read I've had in years! You don't have to make mid-six figures or live in Manhattan to relate to the comedy and heart-break of dating that Harper faces with the same bafflement, self-doubt, and frustration as all of us. I laughed and cried my way through this book...Harper's discoveries of herself, her friends, and the men she dates were funny and inspirational. I finished it with a wonderful sense of not being so alone in the crazy world of dating and just living!

I was a big fan of How to Sleep with a Movie Star so of course I had to read this book too.

I caught myself laughing at a couple parts. I felt like I could really relate to the main character Harper Roberts. I'm not a successful lawyer, or a blonde, but I could relate to dating guys who only want one thing; a brainless girl who'll put out.

All in all a great chick lit and I do recommend it to anyone who wants to read a funny book and wants a break from life.

Ugh, where to start? This book seems to be an exercise in how many different ways the author can find to say, "I'm so smart and successful, and guys are intimidated by that!!" I lost count.

Several times throughout the book, I found myself actually rolling my eyes and heaving sighs of exasperation. SERIOUSLY. One of those times was having to read while a bunch of supposed mid-thirty year olds challenge their friend to a "dare", which she accepts because "everyone knows Harper Roberts doesn't turn down a dare!" Oh please.

I found it incredibly hard to muster any kind of sympathy towards the main character, as she was so unlikeable and annoying. The only character I really liked was Sean, and we didn't see nearly enough of him.

And, like, the dumb blonde dates were, like, totally, like, overboard.

I was ready to give up after 20 pages, but forced myself to finish in case there was some redeeming part to the story.

There wasn't.

When I got the book it had arrived in no time at all. I was pleased to find out that not only was the delivery quick but on the inside, there was an autograph from the author! I was very pleased then. I was on the other hand disappointed with the quality of the binding and the bottom of the pages. They were wrinkled from being wet at one time and the bottom of the spine someone had penned a black triangle, perhaps out of boredom. So this made me very unimpressed. But overall, a cheap and good buy. The book is extremely readable and in a good-enough quality and the signature makes it all the more special!

I admit it. I'm blonde. Not blonde in the ditzy and dumb sense (I don't think...), but literally blonde. When I was a toddler, my hair was quite white and curly. Now it's straightened and a bit darker, but still blonde. So the premise to this book intrigued me. Why is it that the ditzy, airheaded blondes get all the cute guys?

The story itself was pretty entertaining. Intelligent lawyer gets rejected because of her job one too many times. Make her into a dumb blonde, and see what happens. There were some funny dates with some pretty shallow guys, and the profile she and her friend made for an online dating site was pretty amusing. It's kind of scary that there are some guys out there who only want trophy wives.

But the character of Harper could be grating sometimes. She was a bit of a whiner, which was interesting since early on in the book she states that she hates to whine. One minute she's completely against the blonde theory, the next, she's all for it, and yet it takes wild horses to drag her out of her apartment to go on one of the Blonde Theory dates. For being an intellectual patent lawyer, she could be very naive sometimes, especially with the whole Matt James situation. I saw that coming a mile away.

In fact, the whole story seemed very predictable, including the ending. I saw that coming, too, and it disappointed me. For such an entertaining story (despite Harper), I expected some sort of fun twist at the end. And I don't mean the blind date that her secretary Molly set up for Harper, but I mean the epilogue. I didn't like it. I mean, I understand that Harper's learning to be proud of herself and happy with her life, but it still would have been nice if it had ended differently.

If I were to rate it, I'd give 3 stars out of 5 (actually, that is what I gave it on Goodreads). Fairly entertaining, but not quite up there. This sounds like a harsh review, and maybe I'm picking it apart too much, but the beginning started out so well I expected better at the end. It had so much potential!

First off, I accidently came across The Blonde Theory, which then led me to Italian for Beginners, The Art of French Kissing, & How to Sleep with a Movie Star, and I have to say, Kristin Harmel is one of my new favorite authors. Her stories have heart and the main characters are 100% relatable. There is excitement, pain, humor, heartbreak, happiness, and I would recommend all of her books in a heartbeat.

The Blonde Theory is a really different chick-lit book than most of the selection on the shelves. It's a witty story and comical at times, but most of Harper's situations, at least in the "Theory" part of the story, are predictable. It would be fun to see a movie adaptation of this.