Customer Reviews

Coupon Girl

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

 

 

The 36-year-old protagonist's face looked back at her-beaky little nose, wild hair and all. Her driver's license says her hair is brown and it is, sometimes the brown of a picnic basket, other times of fairly dark butterscotch. In days of yore she would have been called an old maid. An old maid and then some. She sells coupons. She's in competition with a lying, scheming, account-stealing b**ch. What's her plan? She's trying out for The Sound of Music. On Broadway? Of course not. The Worcester Spotlighters. Will the participation help any? Well, ya never know.

Becky Motew's COUPON GIRL is the best performance of amateur theatre ever performed in a book. With a wonderful,colourful cast
of characters, COUPON GIRL bubbles over with humour, conflict, warmth and sassy wit.

Jeanie's going to win the sales reps' contest and sell more coupons than any of her competitors even if it's the last thing she does. And it probably will be. But she could really do with the cash because her car's about to die on her. By the time she's seen three hot prospect clients reincarcerated, joined a community theatre project in the hope of making some sales to co-performers, and acquired two unwanted pets, she's under no illusions about hard this will be. And that's even before the sprinklers open on the ballroom scene in The Sound of Music in a finale that will see old scores settled. What a great read.

This book kept me laughing, yet also provided enough tension (as well as a bit of a mystery) to keep me turning the pages to find out how it all panned out for the often beset, often bewildered, but always oh so believable main character, Jeanie. I love Becky Motew's style. There are some genuine laugh out loud moments in this book, and Jeanie is thoroughly likeable. Okay I admit it - I am a sucker for down to earth, slightly cynical main characters I can relate to - especially if they can make me laugh - that's why I really, really recommend this book. I loved it.

Becky Motew writes up a comic storm. Laugh out loud with some of the funniest characters I've ever met. Phillis Diller meets Mark Twain.

I love chick lit, and I was excited to pick up this book because of the good review from Johanna Edwards (author of one of my fave chick lit books, The Next Big Thing). Unfortunately, the book was a big dissapointment. I expect a good novel to have certain elements: an intriguing and definite plot, characters who change throughout the story and an ending that shows the impact made on the character throughout the book. Coupon Girl lacked all these elements.

The main goals of Jeannie are a) getting it on with Burton, the director of her community theater group, b) winning the contest to sign up the most new customers for LotsaCoups, her company and c) getting a promotion to sales manager. Her relationship with the director fizzles...I felt very little excitement for Jeannie, and Burton is a loser. She figures this out, but then no new and better love interest is introduced (a chick lit standard). Regarding the coupon sales contest, we get a lot of anecdotes about signing up customers, but in the end she doesn't win...and doesn't seem to care!..after this has "driven" her throught the novel! And she turns down the promotion that she "really" wanted because she figures that she doesn't really want the responsibility. So what does she accomplish? Um, nothing. She is at the same place at the beginning of the book that she is at the end, except she has now starred in a bit role in a crappy community theater production. I kept expecting something to happen, but nothing ever really does.

I gave this book three stars instead of one because there are a bunch of laugh out loud moments. Motew has a great talent for conjuring up hysterical images, and I laughed more than I have from any book in a long time. Too bad her talent doesn't translate to plot and character development in addition to comedy.

Coupon Girl kept me laughing from beginning to end. I was drawn to Becky Motew's novel because the heroine, Jeannie Callahan, is a advertising coupon salesperson, and I have twenty years experience working with people just like her when I was in business back in the good old days! I laughed at all the meetings Jeannie had with small business owners trying to make a sale. Some of the stories they would tell me were almost as funny as the ones in Becky Motew's book.

The cast of secondary characters are also entertaining, and I love the way they are all brought together through the amateur production of Sound of Music. The twists and turns and conflicts are just enough to keep you turning the pages, and the newspaper "reviews" of the amateur extravaganza at the end were a really humorous touch.

Coupon Girl will most definitely keep a smile on your face and give you several laugh-out-loud moments. If you are looking for some light entertainment, you won't go wrong with this novel.

Becky Motew's main character and I led very similar lives with the exception that I lived in Europe and Jeannie was in Worcester, MA. Other than that, we had the same problems: work, boyfriends (we were often "romantically challenged"), getting through the day, and life in general as a single woman. Jeannie got herself into situations much like I did in "the day", especially getting involved in a little theatre production of 'The Sound of Music' while hoping to sell some coupons to her fellow 'actors.' As I said before somewhere, it wasn't so much a talent pool so much as a talent cesspool. Ms Motew writes snappy, rapid-fire dialogue with real-sounding characters whom I swear I know in real life. I don't want to spoil the book for anyone by giving away any more details than have been written on Amazon, so I'll just recommend the book to everyone. Oh, the title of review is true: I was reading the scene where the wannabe-actors were auditioning and there was a passage on page 14 that made me laugh so hard, I spit out my toast-and-coffee all over me and a couple of cats, then started choking to boot. Well, I recovered from that incident, and hope Ms Motew writes a second book soon. I just won't eat or drink while reading it!

Coupon Girl is laugh-out-loud funny and a page turner to boot. The author deftly weaves many plot threads into a wonderful comic tapestry that pulls together beautifully in a hilarious finale. I can't wait for Ms. Motew's next book.

Thirty-six years old single Jeanie Callahan feels like she is in a rut having no date and selling coupons for a living. To find a life, she decides to audition for a role in the community production of The Sound of Music directed by Barton.

Jeanie feels good about landing a part in the chorus though she has doubts about going on stage. She and Barton sort of have a relationship, but where that is going Jeanie has no idea. Finally her boss expects her to increase her sales of coupons or else. She wonders if she should try to sell them at the community theater, which could push away Barton, but if she does not that can alienate her boss. Jeanie ponders the age old key question of the universe: food or love.

COUPON GIRL is an odd fascinating contemporary tale starring an interesting at times likable but at other times insipid heroine. Jeanie's insight into her "vocation" of selling coupons is intriguingly different. Becky Motew provides an interesting look at an everyday person trying to reinvent herself (perhaps a bit too long as coupons can only go so far) as she believes there is more to life than coupons (don't let her boss know that she has treacherous taboo thoughts).

Harriet Klausner

Don't waste your time or money. This was a very boring read. I kept wondering when the real story would begin, and got nothing but page after page of meaningless drivel!