Customer Reviews

Dreaming in Black and White: A Phoebe Grant Novel

5 star:		(26)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

When I read the back cover for this book and saw a "movie-loving heroine" I knew I had to read this book. After the first couple of pages I was laughing hysterically! Pheobe was someone who I could relate to in every way-she's my favorite chick lit heroine. The author makes all of her characters very real-I could picture my friends in each of the characters. It is a Christian novel, but it's not overly preachy or cheesy, which drew me in even more. It was lots of fun to read and I can't wait to read more from Ms. Walker! Keep up the great writing!

From the back cover:
Phoebe Grant is everyone's favorite movie geek--unbeatable at trivia, convinced that all the world's a movie screen. She can organize a four-hankie chick-flickathon with a wave of her tall, nonfat, double mocha. And she's a shoo-in for the job of her dreams--movie reviewer for the newspaper where she works.

Enter Alex Spencer--not only gorgeous but also a film buff, perfectly cast for a celluloid kiss and a fade to sunset. Unfortunately, Alex is the villain who sends Phoebe packing to the last place on earth she wants to be--back home to boring little Barley, California.

But wait. It couldn't be. Dark, handsome, and annoying Alex . . . in Barley?

Can Phoebe protect her hometown--and her heart--and prove It's a Wonderful Life? Or is her promising future truly Gone With the Wind?

Camy here:
Fabulous! Hilarious writing--dialogue, scenes, characters--I was laughing my tail off. The humor is truly witty, versus sarcastic put-downs.

The characters are genuine people I cared about and related to. Phoebe Grant is more like "everygirl" with her obsessions and outlook on life. Phoebe struggles with her single status and nagging relatives just like Bridget Jones, but with less emphasis on sex as the basis for attraction and more on the personality differences.

Readers who have attended Christian Singles' groups at their own churches will find Phoebe's group both funny and frighteningly familiar. The characters are not over-the-top, but they stand out as caricatures of anyone's real life friends.

The movie trivia peppered in the prose makes things interesting. I had seen some of the movies mentioned, although not all of them, but it didn't matter because the references are always explained and I felt as hip as matinee-hopping Phoebe. It made me put those old movies on my Netflix queue. Haha.

This was fabulous entertainment from page one to the end. I wouldn't hesitate to hand it to any high school girl because it's good, clean fun, although the fears about getting older and being single might go over the heads of young women who are nowhere near the 3-0 mark. I found this on par with Kristin Billerbeck's Ashley Stockingdale series, but with a very different sort of heroine who is nevertheless equally endearing.

Phoebe is someone most women can relate to- a little clumsy, probably a size 2 with a 1 in front of it(like most of us), and just a loveable character. Flawed, but with good intentions. And like all of us, finds herself asking, "Hey God, what's up with the plan for my life?"

I loved the humor, and if you're an old movie lover, you will appreciate some of the references. But even if not, this girl makes you wish she was your best friend.

Laura Jensen Walker's done it again. In this, her first novel, Laura has provided readers with generous helpings of her trademark sassy humor and sophisticated wit. Phoebe Grant is an endearing character whose madcap adventures keep the pages of this novel turning. I highy recommend Dreaming in Black and White and look forward to the next installment in the series.

This book was a referral from a friend with somewhat different taste than mine, so I wasn't sure how I'd like it, but it was hilarious! As the Editorial Review states, it may be a bit formulaic, but isn't every single romantic comedy that Hollywood produces and yet we watch them over and over? Phoebe Grant is your average single 30-something, struggling with trying to be content in all circumstances, yet wanting more for her life. Through a comedic string of events, she finds herself back in the one-stoplight town where she grew up (and couldn't wait to leave). Over the course of her stay, Phoebe learns to look deeper at people to see more than just what she wanted to see. She finds a new respect for her mother, boss, and even the man who's trying to take her job away.

Unless you're well schooled in classic movies, some of her film references will be lost on you, but it's still a great read. A real feel-good comedy with potential for some romance!! Can't wait for the sequel!!

Laura Jensen Walker takes the reader on a laugh-filled journey with Phoebe Grant. Not that Phoebe finds life funny: she's looking for Mr. Right and not even finding Mr. Maybe. A movie addict, Phoebe's desire for more gets put on hold when she has to move back to Hicksville and care for her mother. Here she learns to 'bloom where she's planted.'

Super story!

I had bought this book already when a friend said she's read it and hadn't enjoyed it. I see why. It's formulaic, but then what isn't? The problem is, that other (good) formula books, like "What a Girl Wants" by Kristin Billerbeck, still have their own voice. Phoebe Grant's running monologue never seems authentic; everything from her random shopping references to her complaints about weight gain seem like the writing was on a timer: "every three pages, we mention relationships, every 1 1/2 we mention diets/thighs, every second paragraph is an ill-timed movie reference, and we should never go more than 15 minutes without mentioning a brand name." It's not that there's not enough story or that there are too many or too few characters. Everything just seems shallow and badly planned; it's there because it is supposed to be according to the recipe, not because the story moves in that direction. The jokes, the descriptions, the hah-ha scenarios were all stale and rote.

The biggest problem, aside from weak development, is that the main character is so unlikeable. Honestly, Phoebe is a bizarrely hysterical, judgmental shrew, and it is impossible for me to fathom that anyone would want to be around her at the end of the book. She flies off the handle at some poor guy (hero Alex) because months and months before she lost her job after a buyout. And his family company had done the buying. So, of course, all evil springs from him, he has nothing but personally malicious motives for every action, and she can misinterpret everything as a design to make her miserable. (He gave to a save-the-theater charity? That man is trying to buy the town and make it into Potterville! Burn him at the stake!) She has a strange aversion to her mom because she's a country town homemaker who apparently kept her dad back from Broadway-style, big-city living - but that won't happen to her! She lives in Cleveland! She has worked as a reporter for less than a year (despite being over 30), but is convinced that she is cut out to write for the New York Times, and any smaller paper is beneath her.

So the three strikes are poor plot and character development, unlikable heroine, and a painfully unfunny, forced style. It is certainly not the worst book I've ever plowed through, but I wouldn't recommend it.

Laura Jensen Walker's debut novel features Phoebe Grant, a thirty-one year old movie junkie and journalism graduate who writes obituaries (obits) at the Cleveland Star, goes on blind dates and a member of the No More Lone Rangers singles group at her Presbyterian church. She knows and can quote from any movie (especially Casablanca), and she dreams of being the newspaper's movie reviewer. She knew she was a shoo-in for it, but then things take another turn that involves a handsome guy (who also happens to be a newcomer at her church) named Alex Spencer that leaves her jobless. With the help and support of her best friend Lindsey, she looks for temporary jobs to make a living. With more turn of events, she ends up having to go home to "boring little" Barley, California, to help her mother who broke both arms, not showing up in a blind date with a potential guy.

Phoebe couldn't wait to get out of her hometown because she knows she's made for the big city, so she keeps in her mind that her stay in Barley was only temporary. However, God has other plans for her as she falls in love with her hometown again as she works to save the town's theater (which houses most of her childhood memories with her late dad) from being closed down.

It's definitely a breathe of fresh air from all the novels I've read in the past years. It has a light atmosphere of Shopaholic or Sloppy Firsts (Megan McCafferty) but less of the darkness and ominous atmosphere that Peretti novels have. It features a normal single woman with her struggles that could well happen to anyone, including me. It was refreshing to read a woman praying (seriously) as well as reading the Bible and being pure and trying to be content with her singlehood (haha, I can definitely relate).

The novel tackles some of the issues that everyone goes through: looking for the perfect job, being single in the midst of couples, family conflicts, friendships and God's plan unfolding in the midst of everything. Phoebe Grant is so normal (except for her movie-madness) that I could easily see myself in her shoes (and that's a lot of shoes ha). :P

I read this book overnight, and I loved every bit of it. It also makes me want to watch the old movies mentioned in the book. :) Though some of the events and mysteries in a book are a bit predictable, it still leaves a warm and fuzzy feeling inside as everything unfolds. :)

Dreaming in Black and White is a great novel, and I recommend it to chick lit lovers as well as Christian fiction fans. =)

WOW! For a book that I knew nothing about, it sure blew me away. Right now, all I'm thinking of is movies and Pheobe Grant.
Pheobe is not your average, beautiful, size two character. She is REAL. Real as in right there, I feel like this girl is my new best friend.
Pheobe Grant is an aspiring columnist that has her passion held back by the horrible obit section. Meaning= she is righting stuff about dead people (or ferrets). When her paper is taken over by the Spencers, wealthy people in printing, Pheobe is let go. She is now on the loose to get her spot on top in small town Barley, where she grew up. She is called back because of her mother's two broken arms. She is thrown back into the world she left for fast-paced Clevland. She feels like everything is happening without her and she is left in Mayberry. Until her archenem, Alex Spencer, who put her out of her first job, arrives...

AMAZING!!! Cannot wait to read the 2nd book.

Laura Jensen Walkers' "Dreaming in Black and White" was one of the best chick-lit books I have read in a long time! Phoebe Grant is a likable character with real world issues to whom the reader can relate. The book draws you in and you get caught up with Phoebe's quirks like you would a best friend. Her struggles with life and the pursuit of happiness are genuine and hilarious at times, yet she never loses track of her Christian faith which is something we all struggle with on a daily basis. I highly recommend this book to anyone who is a fan of Chick-Lit or just a great read in general!