Customer Reviews

Couch World (Red Dress Ink Novels)

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

 

 

Another winner from Cathy Yardley! Would you have the guts to leave behind everything you knew, in order to pursue your dream?That's what PJ Sherman did. Everything she knew was left far, FAR behind...until the past almost didn't exist. But when fledgling reporter Leslie shows up and begins to discover the "dirt" in PJ's life, will Leslie be helpful or hurtful to PJ's career as a DJ? And then there's Samantha, who always gets what she wants...or does she? Suddenly everything Samantha wants seems just out of reach, and PJ seems to have the most important thing of all, Jonathan.

Told from the points of view of all three women, who are all at different stages of their lives, Couch World keeps the reader interested. The world of DJ'ing is a different culture than most of us live, and it is truly fascinating. Despite their flaws, the characters are lively, real, and heartwarming, as they each learn the lessons they need to learn...sometimes from the most unlikely teachers...each other.

Great book, Cathy! Keep 'em coming!

I just finished this book. The story of a woman who spins music for a living and lives on other people`s couches.

THIS BOOK IS WEIRD. The whole premise of a woman sleeping on a different couch every night was strange. I also wasn't crazy about the subject matter (spinning music).

Although the story was well written, I have to admit that after finishing this book, I realized that I did not like any of the characters.

The author was good about joining Samantha, PJ and Leslie together - when at first glance it appears they have nothing in common. However, none of these characters were remotely likeable.

PJ who is kind of the main character is not particularly fun and she really gets on your nerves after a while - she relies on absolutely EVERYONE else to do everything for her. Not a pleasant characteristic in a main heroine.

I did not hate this book, I just found it very weird and not that much fun to read.

In San Francisco punter P.J. Sherman enjoys her lifestyle as a fill in when a DJ cannot make a gig. She has no responsibilities not even taking care of an apartment or a home. Instead she is the ultimate couch potato sleeping on different people's couches every night. She is saving every penny she earns so that she can make a special demo of the music; everything is the music.

Through the model Samantha, P.J. meets DJ-Dizzy who offers to help her get a demo and show it off to the right people in the industry. However, Samantha becomes upset because she wants DJ-Dizzy as her own and does not want some homeless wanderer to get in her way. P.J. also has a second problem as she crashed on the couch of Leslie, a reporter, who wants to do a story on the "urban Bedouin"; to do so Leslie needs to look into the past of the punter. If certain things surface P.J. knows her musical dreams will crash.

This is an interesting look at a subculture that will fascinate readers as the likable P.J. makes the rounds of couches. P.J. is a delightful center to the study as her lifestyle and love of music makes the story line hum. Readers who appreciate a wonderful character study starring and odd but affable lead protagonist will take pleasure in this joy ride around the Bay area club lifestyle.

Harriet Klausner

I read this book while I used to work in this office during the slow hours, which happened a lot... and I read this is 2 DAYS! I loved it, and I loved it so much, I read it twice, and passed it on to someone else. I greatly appreciated everything the story had to offer, and I still can not find another one like it. I suggest if you like the music business, to read this book.

This is the first time I've read a book that was written in BOTH third and first person. It's usually one or the other.

The book really wasn't what I expected it to be though. I thought there would be more "couch hopping" than storytelling of two other women who aren't really even the main characters, Leslie and Samantha. I think if the author just focused on PJ, the main character, instead of telling Leslie and Samantha's stories as well, it would have been a bit of a better book.

I did enjoy it though. It's a quick read. One you can get through in one night, if not less.

I bought a copy of Couch World to read on an SF to Miami flight, mainly because the brief synopsis on the back of the book sounded good. The author certainly seems to know a lot about the DJ profession and the club scene, and the local San Francisco Bay area details were a nice touch, but beyond that I wasn't impressed with the story and the ending left me completely flat.

Not a single main character in this story is particularly likeable: all of them came off as spineless and/or self-centered, using each other for their own personal gains. There's PJ, the quirky club DJ who spends the night on a different couch every evening but says she isn't homeless because she has "touchstones", a laptop and a cell phone (buh...?). Samantha is the gorgeous young model/college student with strict parents, who wants to make it big. Leslie is the burgeoning writer who wants a family of her own, but she's trapped in a dead-end job and has a commitment-phobic boyfriend. Sticky is the burly bouncer with the heart of gold, and Jonathan is the music producer everyone wants a piece of. All the families in this story are basically unsupportive, falling into that "why can't you straighten out your life already" mold when it comes to dealing with the main characters, and the mothers are shrewish.

The main gripe I have with this book is PJ's "big secret" and the circumstances surrounding how it is revealed. It's very mysterious and the build-up to it is climactic, and as a reader you do wonder what horrible thing it could possibly be. What I couldn't fathom is why, once the secret literally shows up in the papers, everyone deserts PJ completely, not bothering to find out if the story is even true. Without giving anything away here, I didn't think her secret was that big of a deal. The way the other characters acted, however, one would have thought she was an escaped Nazi war criminal. It seems that any real friend would have rallied in support of PJ, and the mass-abandonment was beyond puzzling to me.

By the end of the book, I could have cared less about what happened to any of the characters but I stuck it out anyway. It ends about the way you'd imagine, more or less with a happy ending for each character, but predictable and disappointing. I should've spent my money on the airline headphones and watched 'Ice Age 2' instead.

What I really liked about this book was that she had a very crazy lifestlye and I could never pull it off and this book kept me on my toes to find out what was going to happen next in this world of hers.
Cathy Yardley wrote this very well she kept it young, hip and fresh I hane not read anything she wrote but after this book, I think I may pick up another one of her reads.

I've been recently exploring the wide world of Chick Lit and I found Couch World to be an average to good example of the genre. The plotting I thought was excellent and compelling, the characters mostly believable (although I agree with another reviewer that the whole premise of a such a long period of couch hopping was hard to buy--but she WAS quirky!), the writing was average (a bit sloppy at times)--but the ending just aggravated me. I felt a bit betrayed by PJ's seeking out Jonathan, trying to get the romance started again. The whole book seemed to me to be fundamentally about self-esteem: whether you truly have any, what it is and how you get it (facing yourself, honesty, caring about other people). Yet Jonathan ditched PJ as soon as he was led to believe (and he didn't even check out the truth of that) that she wasn't the hip, strong, happening chick he thought she was. If PJ is going to gain self-esteem and true success, she sure doesn't need to get involved with that dude again--whether for romance or business. She would have been better off with Sticky!

Otherwise a decent book in the genre.

This book was so much fun. Since reading LA Woman, I knew Cathy Yardley had potential as a chick lit author. Couch World is much more gritty and realistic than most chick lit offerings. PJ is a flawed and very likeable character, and I really cared about what happened to her. I got drawn into the whole DJ scene, and Yardley's research really shows, but without it looking like she was just spewing out facts. And I also like that PJ's best friend is a bouncer named Sticky instead of a "ditzy best friend" stereotype.

All and all, it's a great read. A few typos present, but that's Red Dress Ink for you.

This book is awesome! Its so modern and life like, unlike all the books I've read before that take place in like 1932. Its so real because it include curse words and sex that happen everyday in real life. This book seems like it'd be for girls but I'm a 14 yr. old boy and I loved it!!