Customer Reviews

The Buenos Aires Broken Hearts Club

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Great summer read! One of those interesting not too deep but really fun books. Perfect for sitting at the beach or having along when you want to dive into a novel and forget everything around you--
It is always interesting to see how a girl handles a REAL bad day, and comes out on top!

Poor Cassie Moore... when her life in Seattle goes awry and her perfect life plan is forever altered, she looks for a new life and a new start. Granted, her new start is decided in a drunken stupor, but she braves her decision anyway - to start over in Argentina without a plan at all. Cassie is a newbie traveler, and has never left the US, and she is especially panicked because she doesn't know the Argentine language and customs. But, her decision to stay in Argentina for the full six months is a brave one, and I really enjoyed Cassie's journey. Cassie was a bit `loose' sexually for my liking, but she did seem to be a good friend in the book and was easy to identify with in other ways. The author really did a wonderful job of bringing Argentina/Buenos Aires alive, and her descriptions of the life, colors, and flavors of the city had me wishing I could visit. The book was a travelogue in many ways, and I think a lot of women will enjoy this book. It's better than traditional chick-lit because the setting is unique and interesting, and yet it still has a lot of romance too.

Meet Cassie, a twenty-something it-chick with OCD tendencies, who launches herself into the unknown (Buenos Aires) after personal distaster (Cassie's perspective) hits her in her hometown Seattle. In Buenos Aires she goes through the stereotypical notions of a foreigner who has never been out of his geographical or lingual comfort zone. She meets Portenios as well as other foreigners with sob stories of their own. And then there are elements of personal growth and life-changing experiences.

The book is chick lit, entertaining, witty and funny, including the most gorgeous of all men, of course. It may contain elements of soap-opera style exaggeration on the interpersonal level. Jessica Morrison paints a very true picture of Buenos Aires through the eyes of a non-native who falls in love with the city and its vibes.

As long as the reader manages the literary expectations, you will thoroughly enjoy it. If you have seen all seasons of Sex in the City a million times and are looking for a read when you're away from your DVD player - this is it!

On a daily basis, I'm on the lookout for great books to read on my Kindle. Every so often I stumble on a truly wonderful read. That was the case with this book by Jessica Morrison. "My plan" is to read every book she'll write in the future and that is a firm plan, too.

I bought this book to read on my flight to Buenos Aires and it was a fun and light read. I passed it on to a friend and she enjoyed it, too.

I loved this book! It wasn't too heavy but very entertaining. It was easy to read, enjoyable and had some fun twists and turns throughout the novel. I really hope Jessica Morrison writes more like this one.

The Buenos Aires Broken Hearts Club book is a fun read, great for summer or any time you just want something light and funny. We've all had times our lives aren't "perfect" and this book makes fun of those of us who think we can completely control our lives at all times! Not to mention, hearing about exotic places is never boring. Looking forward to more books by Jessica Morrison!

The Buenos Aires Broken Hearts Club is breath of fresh air. Cassie has a plan for her life and one night after finding her fiance in bed with another woman, she gets drunk and throws caution to the wind. She ends up in Buenos Aires and is scared half out of her mind. Something most of us wish we would have done at some point, but never got quite drunk enough to actually do!!
This book is filled with entertaining characters as Cassie tries to find herself in this new and strange environment. Nothing is ever too serious however. This book is refreshing and entertaining. Something funny and crazy to lift your spirits.
Linda C. Wright
Author, One Clown Short
One Clown Short

I loved it! It starts out with the main character pulling a "Sliding Doors" and getting fired & finding her man in bed with his ex on the same day. It's been done.

But when we get to Argentina, things become more interesting. Cassie is an ignorant traveler, scared of everything around her in this country known worldwide for countless kidnappings. But she loosens up a bit and falls in love with Buenos Aires, and I fell in love with it right along with her.

Her romance with Mateo seemed at times a bit puerile to me, but that's the only fault I can give the book. Her adventures were fab, and her cute OCD "Plan" reminded me of my husband...

This is a smart, tight, well-written debut, a staple for chick lit with most chick lit ingredients (sans The Gay Pal) in an international setting, and, usually, more intelligent than average.



In Seattle, web assistant producer Cassie has learned to cope with her parents' divorce and her anxious mother's warnings ("Men leave you for your secretary") by becoming obsessive-compulsive and aligning her entire life, past and future, to The Plan: she's devised a complicated spreadsheet with Goals for every stage of her life, including love, romance and happy-ever-after.



But then, predictably, everything goes wrong: not only does she not get a much-expected promotion--she's deemed "unexciting" and is fired from her job. In typical Hollywood fashion, that same day (seriusly, hasn't anyone told this writer that too much may well be, ahem, "Too Much"?) she's evicted from her apartment and finds her Perfect Fiance, Jeff, in bed with his ex girlfriend--a non perfect girl whom he still likes better than Cassie--again, predictably, he tells Cassie she's "too perfect." Clearly, The Plan has failed.



Devastated, Cassie licks her wounds and, drunk, books herself an "outta here" six month destination to, of all places, Buenos Aires, Argentina. Cassie isn't the most urbane or sophisticated of girls, has apparently never been anywhere other than tourist spots in Mexico, speaks no languages, and has never felt any interest in "other cultures." This, she tells us ourselves. And it's quite obvious too!



So I guess it shouldn't be surprising that, from the moment she hits the plane Argentina-bound (in a very funny, well-told scene with a drugged Argentine woman) everything Cassie sees and experiences, and everything her friends and family tell her about her "crazy travel plans," is one cliche after the other.



To start with, she seems to arrive in Buenos Aires late at night. This is way odd. I've been to Argentina countless times from different parts of the world and have NEVER arrived at night. Always early in the morning. The writer may have chosen to do this on purpose to up the stakes, since Cassie is afraid and sees everything as odd and frightening.



Then, she goes from one cliche after the other, even when many of her pictures of modern Buenos Aires are right-on and very well told, sometimes funny, sometimes poignant. The language is completely off--have never heard an Argentine who talks this way. For example, in this story everyone seems to be saying "Chica"--a Mexican term virtually unheard of in this context in Argentina. The verbs are wrong, too. And I guess it wouldn't matter half so much if the writer hadn't been somone who supposedly HAS spent several months in Buenos Aires.



Still--back to story: In Argentina, Cassie's Plan is shattered by new experiences, new connections and new revelations. She meets an enigmatic Argentine, Mateo, with a sad past, and it takes her forever to figure out that she's falling in love with him, but the tnesion between them is real and affecting and you'll have no problem going along for the ride. She creates a group of other "broken hearts" finding solace in B uenos Aires, other expats from different parts of the world (though, note, all Anglophiles--sophisticated, as I said, Cassie is not--and, clearly, neither is the author) and she eschews many, many cliches along the way. Some, she learns to grow from and many others, she never does.



The writing is snappy and at its best when describing secondary characters (her landlady Andrea and Andrea's toddler Jorge are beautifully described) and at is worst --as happens quite often in chick lit-- when turning inwards and philosophical.



But it's a book worht reading, and a with it you'll have a good time.