Customer Reviews

Everyone Else's Girl

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I read this one before her debut novel, English as a Second Language, and though both are good, this one surpasses her first. Ms. Crane really brings out the characters and fleshes out the story more in the this one, they are far more believable and less part of the background. Both of her heroines have been flawed (aren't we all), but I found Merediths voice to be more substantial, and her family is a riot. Having gone through the similar experience of moving home after college, I can say that I empathized with everything she was going through trying to fit back into a life she had mostly outgrown, and in the end, accepts in a new way. I think Ms. Crane's writing will just get better and better, her sense of humor is fantastic, laugh out loud funny, and her stories are deeper than what is seen on surface. Her grasp of the trials and tribulations of friendship is very sharp. Looking forward to Frenemies.

Megan Crane is a great novelist. I found this book to be an unexpectedly compelling read (unexpectedly because I'd never heard of Megan Crane and wasn't expecting much.) The character development here is exquisite and--in a departure from most chick lit--100% organic. These aren't prepackaged stereotypes for your absent-minded pool-side consumption. The first person narration skillfully weaves a tale from the slightly flawed, somewhat narrow viewpoint of the heroine while the reader has the delight (and the trauma) of watching her grow. The events are satisfying but realistic--no perfect, candy-coated solutions here--and so much better for it. This book is funny and wry and very observant. Certain lines, universal truths that I'm not sure anyone has ever put into words before, will never leave me. And The Guy is INCREDIBLY HOT!

I became a fan of Megan Crane's " Frenemies" and promptly bought this book on my Kindle.

I now wish I had just passed on it.

SPOILERS SPOILER SPOILERS

The main character Meredith McKay has created a lifestyle for herself with her boyfriend of many years away from her crazy family.

When her father has a car accident that happens the same day that her mother has planned her vacation her family talks her into staying and taking care of him (apparently getting a nurse was out of the question and also the mother kind of a jerk for still going on vacation but there are some issues between the parents that Crane just glosses over).

Meredith back at home finally confronts her former best friend about to be sister in law about how mean she was in high school but then Meredith gets an eye opener when she gets confronted about the fact that she wasn't nice either and was also a jerk to everyone since then in several ways (seriously this is why she did not speak to her best friend for 10 years so so dumb).

Also while home Meredith just has to have an affair with the boy she used to torture and falls in love with him while ignoring the fact she has a boyfriend (also dont see what was so appealing about the new guy).

I think that is where Meredith lost me you don't get a good reason for why she threw away her best friend, her new boyfriend and then she moves back home to become a wedding planner. Yes you read that right.

Really wish I had passed on this novel, really not that great.

I like chick lit, but sometimes grow frustrated with the rich, spoiled main characters. While the main character in this book is no angel, she is firmly grounded in something like middle-class reality. It's refreshing to read and interesting to discuss. Nice choice for a book club that wants something less than "The Grapes of Wrath" but something with enough "meat" to discuss.

This is a great book about a thirty something girl named Meredith, who had to leave her home, job, and boyfriend in the south, to go back to her hometown in New Jersey. She hated her life there and tried to get away from it, only to realize, it is where her heart is truly is.

I thought that this was a great book all around, because of so many reasons. Meredith is such a believable character, because so many people are able to identify with her. I know of so many people who think that they had to leave the place where they were, to "find themselves," only to end up where they were in the first place. While her family helps her realize how perfect she never was, she also realizes how much she appreciates them. This novel is a story that has been done many times, but I really loved it.

I don't know which character I enjoyed the most in Megan's newest novel. Hot Scotty's nasty sarcasm, evil little Hope's hysterical antics, or for that matter all of the characters had me rolling on the floor. (Mind you, we still haven't discussed the story) Which was so funny you just have to read it for yourself to see! I love her and all her books. Buy this right now you won't regret it!

Several years ago twenty-eight years old Meredith McKay fled the Hoboken area to escape her pain in the butt family and feels good about her life as she likes her job and her boyfriend. When her brother Christian calls demanding she come home to help care for their father while he heals from a broken leg he received in a car accident, she wants to say no as their dad has three adult children with two living nearby. However, being the responsible one she arranges time off from work to come home so that her mother can continue her tour of Europe without knowing of her spouse's accident.

Girl code insures that Meredith behaves when she sees her former best friend from high school Jeannie though she would prefer to slap her once pal, but she is Christian's fiancée. She keeps her sister Hope and Christian from killing one another while tending to her father's needs. Meredith cannot wait to get out of Dodge until she meets sexy Scott Sheridan, whom she and her crowd tormented in high school as befitting nerd status. They share torrid sex, which she finds divine and he finds as retribution for what Meredith and her merrymakers did to him a decade ago.

This chick lit contemporary romance is refreshed by Meredith's reassessment of her seemingly dysfunctional family as she draws different conclusions the second time around by living with them as she grows from scorn to understanding. The cast is solid as her siblings, her future sister-in-law, her lover, and her dad turn Meredith's cushy world upside down. Meredith's maturation is handled with humor and pathos so that the sub-genre fans receive a wonderful tale.

Harriet Klausner

Reading this book felt like listening in on a real family. Megan Crane writes effortless prose that is very easy to read, but at the end you're left with new thoughts about family, the nature of friendship, high school regrets, and finding your true self. Plus the romance is hot! This is a great, fun book that will make you laugh out loud while not being just a regular light read.

Already a fan of Megan Crane's first book English as a Second Language, I was really looking forward to getting my hands on her newest release, Everyone Else's Girl.

Critics of her first book complained that Crane hadn't inserted enough narrative tension in the story, a problem which has certainly disappeared in her second release. Good-girl Meredith McKay comes home to care for her father, when her mother decides not to cut short her trip to Europe to help out with her husband's broken leg. Despite the fact that Meredith's bossy older brother Christian, and her self-centered, ultra-vamp sister already live near dear old dad, Meredith drops everything, promises her live-in boyfriend she'll be back soon and makes the trek from Atlanta to New Jersey.

What's most compelling about this story is the process Meredith goes through as she re-learns all the relationships she's had since childhood. Co-dependent family dynamics aside, she must find a way to make peace with her ex-best friend, soon-to-be sister-in-law. Her biggest challenge may be relearning how to relate to hottie lawyer-Scott Sheridan, A reformed nerd, Scott isn't quite over the years of torture he suffered at the hands of bully Christian McKay, who never let him forget the time he cried in school.

While this certainly is a chick-lit book, with the requisite trip into self awareness, and the necessary romance attached, it is by no means a formulaic story. The romance in the story is sizzling, and Meredith's character arc takes a nice curve as she travels the path from goody-two shoes, to dislikable rebel, to someone you might just find yourself wanting to be around.

Megan Crane just keeps getting better and better. She has a light touch, but is a master storyteller. Her characters are flawed, and sometimes not so nice, just like the people you know. They have enough internal and external conflicts to keep them real, and to make the story interesting. The book is a quick read, for sure, but is very highly recommended.

Meredith's mother has just left for her trip to Europe when Meredith receives a call that her father has been in an accident. Since the only damage is a broken leg, Meredith and her siblings decide there is no need to make their mother return and wreck her trip of a lifetime.

However, one of them must drop everything to move in and be a nursemaid to their father until his leg is healed. Hope is the irresponsible sister that no one expects much from.

Christian is the selfish and bossy brother who is busy planning his wedding and can't be bothered with such a thing so, of course, Meredith the "responsible one" is the lucky sibling who is forced to put her life in Atlanta on hold and move back to her dysfunctional suburban New Jersey neighborhood and childhood home.

It doesn't take long for her to start feeling a bit trapped and claustrophobic being stuck home with her father all day every day. His fish flowcharts and creepy basement fish tank hobby is getting on her nerves and she decides it's time to get out of the house for some alone time.

A venture to a local bookstore lands her face to face with Scott Sheridan. The guy who used to be gawky, geeky and dorky is now hot, hot and even hotter. This blast from the past throws a little twist in her nice quiet plans to help her dad get back on his feet and get out.

Megan Crane's latest novel features a dash of dysfunctional family drama and a sprinkle of hilarious predicaments creating a laugh out loud read fans are sure to enjoy.