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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Good description, leisurely pace, August 29, 2004
This review is from: Breakfast at Stephanie's (Paperback)
Stephanie Glassman is a single mom barely squeaking by, looking for her big break as a singer. She is undeniably talented, yet she's spending another Christmas season playing the piano at a department store. She is also, of course, without a boyfriend. Now her son's nanny is going into the hospital and she's about to lose her house. She has the requisite complement of girlfriend pals, a set of nutty parents and a granny who's having more sex than Stephanie.
But abruptly Stephanie's luck turns. A huge agent takes her on as a client and gets her a high-paying (if slightly shady) job recording songs for a big star who can't sing. A hunky actor is romantically pursuing her. And her son's father, a charming Italian stuntman, comes back into her life wanting desperately to be a father, to form a family. It's almost too good to be true. But with good fortune come difficult decisions.
While Stephanie was a thoroughly lovable heroine, this book moved far too slowly for my taste. It felt like the first three quarters of the book was set-up, and only in the last part, when scandals break and conflicts come to a head and the wrong decisions are made, does the story really become a page turner. I was never thoroughly convinced of the love between Stephanie and Frank, the actor. He wasn't well fleshed-out, and I was sort of rooting for the stuntman, who was adorable. The book is worth a read for British chick-lit fans, though, and those who enjoy a leisurely pace and good, descriptive writing.
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3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Not worth reading, July 27, 2004
This review is from: Breakfast at Stephanie's (Paperback)
Usually a book is redeemable if it has one of two positives: a good plot (even if the writing isn't great) or fantastic writing (even if the plot isn't great). This book had neither. I couldn't bring myself to care about any of the characters, and the so-called hilarity consisted of two jokes (an old woman having sex and spam email) that were dragged out the entire way through the novel. Plus, you can predict everything that's going to happen with every character from page 10.
Usually I pass all of my books along to friends when I'm finished, but this one went straight into the trashcan by the pool. I'm a fan of so-called beach reads but in this case, you'd be better off making a sand castle.
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3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Breakfast at Stephanie's, January 7, 2005
This review is from: Breakfast at Stephanie's (Paperback)
It has become quite apparent to me that Sue Margolis likes to stick to the same theme of single/married moms looking for love and excitement in their lackluster lives.
In BREAKFAST AT STEPHANIE'S Margolis follows suit. Stephanie Glassman is a single mom/spirited jazz singer who aspires to make it big one day. But until then, she is spending the Christmas holiday playing piano and signing Christmas carols in a department store.
During one of her shifts, she gets spotted by Frank -- the sexy actor who she had a schoolgirl crush on, and had the pleasure of working with a few years before -- and his perfect fiancé. Discomfited by her current position (and uniform) she sulks home considering the situation to quite possibly be the worst she has ever encountered. But then, her son Jake's nanny breaks her hip, her grandmother calls her for advice about having sex with a pacemaker, and her dad is in a frenzy trying to get to the bottom of why he is being sent junk emails [...].
Can things get crazier? Try Albert, (Jake's father) the playboy wanting to come back into her life so that the three of them can be one happy family. Deep down Stephanie knows she doesn't want this with Albert. She loves him, but not in a romantic sort of way, however the three of them becoming a family is probably best for little Jake. To make the decision even harder, Frank professes his love for Steph, and now she has to choose between the two men.
Through all of this drama, Stephanie gets a big break that could possibly lead her to a huge fortune, except to add onto her already crazy life, she finds out that the deal isn't legit, and she will have to make a decision as to whether or not she will go through with it. It is this situation that helps Stephanie to figure out which man she will choose.
This novel was a tad mediocre to me. Coming from reading SPIN CYLE (also by Margolis) not to long ago, I was expecting this to be laugh out loud hit also. It was just average. Many parts of the story dragged, and the relationship between Stephanie and Frank wasn't expanded on enough for him to even have a point in the book. On the whole, Stephanie and Jake were such lovable characters, that they were the main reasons that I kept on reading. I loved the exchange between the two.
3 stars.
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