Customer Reviews

Calm, Cool & Adjusted (Spa Girls Series #3)

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Poppy Clayton knows who she is and it has nothing to do with what she wears, or does it? Just because she cares about the environment and refuses to buy new clothes doesn't necessarily mean she is clinging to unfinished business in her past. And the fact that she never goes on a second date probably means she is selective, not that she can't get the second date if she wanted to, right?

But, when her father dumps a house on her that should be condemned and her antithesis showers her with attention, Poppy wonders if her friends are right and she's lost herself. While her desperation scale ramps up, so does her need to exert control even if the only thing she has control over is how many miles she can run over her lunch hour. The question is, can she find herself before she loses it completely?

In this third installment of the Spa Girls series, readers finally get to learn what makes Poppy tick. And what has always come across as a little eccentric now looks rather obsessive--which is good, because I've always related well with her friends, the Spa Girls, who sneak truffles behind her back. Who really has the self-control to always drink wheat grass in the face of organic chocolate?

Kristin Billerbeck has breathed life into another flawed but loveable character. As usual, once I started reading, I may as well wipe the calendar free of any other obligations, because putting the book down is not an option.

Armchair Interviews says: No one does chick lit like Kristin Billerbeck.

This was the last book of a trilogy. I thought it was the best out of all three. I guess because i liked the character in it, and felt that she was more real than the other lead characters in the other two books. Still out of Kristin Billerbecks books, I liked her first books... Shes out of control, ect... This trilogy wasn't her best.

This is the third book in Billerbeck's "Spa Girls" series. Poppy's story is the one depicted in this novel. I loved the first two books in this series, so it was just natural for me to pick this one up as well. I can't say I loved it as much as Lilly or Morgan's stories, but nevertheless it was a good read.
I don't know exactly what it was about this book that left me feeling a like something was missing, I enjoyed it, but it was definitely not one of my favorite books I have read recently.

Great book! As are all Kristin Billerbeck books. She is a great author with wonderful sense of humor and great character development. Loved the book. Have read all of her books multiple times. You will enjoy it!

After reading mainstream romance novels for a decade, i felt compelled to give up the violence, language, and premarital bed-hopping a couple of years ago. Since then, finding good books has been a challenge. When i stumbled upon a discounted Kristin Billerbeck novel in LifeWay, i was pleasantly surprised to find a novel packed with humor, engaging characters, realistic situations, and an underlying message about living out a faith in Jesus Christ. Since that discovery, i have read 3 more of her books, including this one, the final book in the Spa Girls series. While i loved them all, i think Poppy's story was my favorite because i identified with her more than the other Spa Girls. But they are ALL wonderful!!

Easy, fast read, but mostly because i didn't want to put them down! I would say if you like ChickLit (why do 'they' call it that??) with a splash of Christianity, a bunch of humor, and characters you can really get involved with, you will LOVE the Spa Girls collection (or any of Kristin Billerbeck's books, more than likely!).

Poor Poppy!

She just wants to save the world -- one liver at a time. Poppy didn't take her vow to bring health and well-being to the masses lightly. But the obstacles she faces are bringing her down. Unbelievers, scoffers and meddlers thwart her every move. Her father flakes out and does something totally unexpected.

Dr. Frankenhunk, the handsome plastic surgeon next door, tries all of Poppy's patience and good will. He actually parks his spiffy sports car in front of her organic and peaceful side of their shared office space. The man has nerve; fortunately, she's there to point it out.

Even Lily and Morgan, her spa buddies, won't leave Poppy alone. They actually suggest conversation limits for certain social occasions. A completely maladjusted patient manages to confuse the situation even further. What's a poor-green-goo-for-dinner loving, just-trying-to-make-everyone-healthy-chiropractor to do?

Everything you want Chick-Lit to be, served with a healthy dose of cleverness. Adorable, fluffy fun. I'd love to hang with Poppy. Well, maybe not for dinner.

Another perfect title by Kristin Billerbeck, Calm, Cool & Adjusted sums up Poppy Clayton's life better than any title I could have come up with! Poppy lives for serenity and calmness, or as she calls it, energy. She could care less about looking cool, but that's not the kind of cool the author means. Poppy finds that special cool after thawing out, and I loved the character arc! It's what I live to read!

The adjusted word works very well in regards to defining not only her profession as a chiropractor, but it doubles up to describe her need to work things through and go with the flow, to stop being so [...] and overanalyzing everything and heal from the past. Get unstuck and show your love with your words and deeds, Poppy girl!

And the first line is my very favorite opening of all time... Desperation has a scent. Is that incredibly witty, or what?

Though I loved A Girl's Best Friend a lot (probably because I'm blonde, too, and Morgan was just a lovable character), I think I love this story the most! I totally adore Poppy and her quirks and defensiveness. Her obsessions are hilarious and the insightful comments about nutrition and exercise border on convicting at times. LOL!

Billerbeck has an amazing ability to be snarky and yet fun in her style. I love her wit and wisdom, and the faith portion is always gracefully woven into the story. I feel like I learned the most from this book in regards to God's timing, the value of friendship, and the need for inner healing to move on. Wonderful stuff!

Also, the tension is unbearable. Who will Poppy choose to be with, or will she decide to stay single? GAH! That had me going. Fortunately, the author chose the right ending or I would've screamed and it wouldn't have been pretty! Billerbeck knows how to get to a reader's heart and she pulls me in every time. I can't say enough good things about this story! Of all of Kristin's chick lit titles, this one grabbed my heart the most! Bravo!

I would recommend Kristin's Spa Girls books to anyone into chic-lit...there's friendship, faith, and fun all rolled into one series! Each of the three books has twists and turns that are unexpected. A fun read!

I have the whole series. Its a must read for every 20-30 something female!

Poppy Clayton takes pride in her health, her peaceful state of mind, and her body fat percentage. Perhaps a little too much pride. She's begun alienating her friends with her holistic zeal and her unsolicited advice on how they can cleanse their colons and detoxify their bodies. She is a successful chiropractor, and she is also "the last one standing". Now that her friend Morgan is getting married, she is the only single gal left in her circle of friends they call the "spa girls".

At the age of 30, she's furiously training for a triathlon coming up in Hawaii next month. Her friends are concerned about her though. They are quickly tiring of being embarrassed by her inappropriate advice doling and her baggy, out-of-style clothes. Why does she insist on wasting that gorgeous figure of hers? But Poppy cannot part with the faded skirts that were her mother's so long ago. It's her only way of staying close to the mother who died when she was just a child. They had been the perfect hippy family in Santa Cruz. Now everything has changed, except her peasant skirts, which she desperately clings to.

Poppy's friends are threatening to set her up with a date for the wedding. If only to keep from being set up, she reluctantly bargains with Jeff, the plastic surgeon in the office next to hers. Although gorgeous, Jeff is the antithesis of all she stands for with his cutting, liposuctioning, and botoxing women. But she cannot deny the chemistry between them. As they compete for the same office space, she enlists him to be her date for all of Morgan's wedding festivities. But then there's Simon, her patient for the last three years. He is also extremely successful and wealthy. And he seems to be in love with her. She is losing her friends to marriage and motherhood and her father to Arizona. Will she lose the love of her life to her pride?

Each chapter begins with a calibration of Poppy's desperation scale. A fun way to keep the story rolling. Of course, the premise of the story is unrealistic. How often do we see a single thirty-something Christian woman with two gorgeous, wealthy, and godly guys pursuing her? We wish this happened in real life! However, once you accept that this isn't real life, the story envelopes you.

Told in the first person, present tense, it's almost like Poppy is sitting across from you at Starbucks, filling you in on what's happening to her. I felt the frustration right along with her as her girlfriends kept trying to change her, just as they complained she had a habit of doing to them. And I found myself missing Simon, but also wanting Jeff to come through.

Poppy says it best: "Maybe I was desperate all along, but not for reasons I might have thought. Being single was never the source of my desperation, but being alone was. It went a lot deeper than a boyfriend, and it took a bigger Man than even Simon to root it out." The truth for many of us, whether we're single or married.

The easy, flowing chick-lit style made the chapters fly by and left me wanting more. An easy read with a most satisfying ending, without tying up all the loose ends too neatly. Although it's the third in the Spa Girl Collection, I was able to effortlessly slip in without having read the others. Now I'm looking forward to Billerbecks's next installment in the series.

--Reviewed by Carol Kurtz for TitleTrakk