Customer Reviews

Faking It

5 star:		(101)
4 star:		(44)
3 star:		(23)
2 star:		(17)
1 star:		(15)

 

 

From the description on the back cover of this book, I was expecting a light summer romantic read. And that would have been enjoyable enough -- woman with dating issues meets attractive but seemingly unattainable man who ends up seeing more in her than she sees in herself, etc, etc. We've all read books like that and we all enjoy a well written one every once in a while. But "Faking It" goes beyond the genre to something smarter, more sophisticated, something with a little more bite and substance. Andi and Devin are complex characters with an unexpected journey. Lorello's writing is witty and makes for a fun, fast read, but along the way she covers more than romance and sex -- her characters each have fully fleshed out personalities, making sharp observations of their own about everything from art to gender roles to sexual politics. Yes, it's still a great beach book -- you may have trouble putting it down -- but it's a beach book with a brain, and one with characters you care about.

Looking forward to the sequel!

When I first dove into Faking It I worried that the premise--Andi Cutrone, a young urbanite takes `love lessons' from a male escort--might be a little too Sex and the City for me. But the weekly lessons surprised me. Instead of sex, they focus on Andi's feeling about herself, her body, her relationships. Somewhere in that tangle of confused emotions every female reader will recognize either the woman she is or the woman she once was.

Then, about a third of the way through the book(yes, I checked the page number)I realized that the weekly lessons, although illuminating and the hook that pulled me in, had become secondary. Instead characters had become paramount. I wondered more about what Andi and her love tutor/platonic friend Devin would do on the other six days of the week. This book could have become an excuse to lurch from love scene to love scene but author Elisa Lorello created believable people that eclipsed their careers(one boring and one naughty). Ultimately, a book that seemed to be about taboo subjects like sex for money was really about something much more prosaic--changes. Changing attitudes. Changing careers. Changing partners.

My biggest round of applause goes out to Lorello for keeping me guessing. Too often books that contain romances follow a predictable formula. We know who the good boyfriend is. We know who the bad boyfriend is. We know who she'll wind up with. The only question mark is what will happen along the way. Faking It kept me guessing until the last page. Really! Thank you Elisa for characters and complex personalities that propelled me to the last page.

A short time into this book I was really taken by Andi. She is someone you know, Got it going professionally but a mess personally. No confidence in herself. Then she works out an arrangement with an escort named Devin. He begins to help her gain some confidence in herself despite not having as much self confidence as he seems to have himself. You really start to root for this girl. You want to tell her to get it together and go after what she wants. She does come close a couple times as things get rolling but she falls short at first. The story really takes you a nice ride from there. A few surprises along the way and a beautiful ending.

This story is not a romance novel! The whole book is centered around two people (one learning to have sex, the other learning to properly put together a sentence), then in the last 30 pages of the book she introduces a new man and guess who the "heroine" of the story goes with?? Not the guy you want her to that's for sure! And, for writing about a writer I don't think that her writing was all that great, sometimes she droned on and on and it was really quite boring!! I read a lot of romance novels and if you like the conventional you won't like this one.

So Disappointed, Stunned, and Cheated

Spoiler Alter: Ending Discussed in Detail

I was looking forward to this book based upon the high ratings it received and intriguing description, but frankly it was a big let down and left me feeling disappointed, stunned and cheated. The author spent two-thirds of the book building a nice relationship between her two main characters: Andi and Devin only to let the relationship sizzle and die. Then she threw in a third character, Sam, at the last minute and expected us to be satisfied with the results. She only spent a few pages trying, unsuccessfully, to build a relationship between Andi and Sam. It was easy to tell that even she knew it was unsuccessful because when Andi finally let down her barriers and was intimate with a man, that man was Devin, not Sam. She had sex with Devin after she was involved with Sam - big red flag! All this did was reignite the only real relationship of the story, but then the author turned around and snuffed out again. What's more is that both Andi and Devin loved each other, admitted that love and were ready to build a lasting relationship. The only thing that got in their way was the author's personal agenda. It was as if she got a 2nd book deal part-way through the writing of this one and so she decided to save Devin for that book instead of matching him with the woman he loves and giving us the ending we were all wanted.

She also spent way too much time going on and on about writing theory and technical skills the average reader would know nothing about. This I could have forgiven, if it had been a good story, since it was clearly Andi's passion. Unfortunately, I felt more like she was lecturing her uneducated masses on the proper way to write instead of really caring about her characters.

I don't recommend this book - find another one where the author cares enough about her characters to give them the love they've worked for and deserve. Faking It

Wouldn't you think that a book written by a college professor who teaches freshman writing, whose main character is a college professor who teaches freshman writing, would be well written? And yet, Faking It contains a lot of writing errors, revolves around an entirely implausible situation (I mean, okay Andi falls in love with a male escort; what woman in her right mind would fall for a male escort who "escorts" virtually every single woman she knows from work? Talk about a grapevine. Ick.), and lectures the audience into a stupor (do any of us care about modes?). Add to this a general snottiness (oh Andi and Devin are all about literature and art) and a way-too-healthy ego for Andi (Andi teaches Devin to be a "f--g Aristotle" in 7 hour-long classes? Sam falls for this 34-year-old virgin at an academic conference? Puhleeze.), and you have a pretty unbearable read. It obviously works for some people, based on the enthusiastic reviews here, but it didn't strike me as either humorous or interesting.

SPOILER ALERT.
This book is depressing and doesn't have a happy ending as it should if it's in this genre. This book should not be considered a romance. Additionally, the writer spends the bulk of the novel attempting to teach a creative writing class and it comes across as arrogant and condescending. Not a recommended book at all.

This book is not what it seems from the first glance (and description). It turned out to be a fantastic read with unexpected depth and it drew me in from the first page. It is one of my top 5 best book surprises, making me feel for the characters and kept me hoping and guessing. And the ending ... without giving away spoilers, I absolutely had to read the sequel to get closure, as I ended up being more invested in the story than I had been for a while. A definite recommendation!

This book is good, but I feel like I am in school. Maybe... a creative writing class. I know they say write what you know, but I think she could have left out some of what she knew. I really liked it at first, but about half way through I was going cross-eyed from studying. At least, that is what it felt like. Good story and great premise, next time please leave the lesson plan in the filing cabinet.

A real life ending...oh no she didn't!

Oh yes she did! Why, I cry? I loved this book, loved it, couldn't wait to rate it a 5-star, one I would put on my book shelf and read again, one I would give to my daughters when they are getting to know their own bodies, one I read in one day. Then, doom, the final chapter, my heart sank. It can't be right, it can't end this way...I know there's a sequel, but sill. I don't need a sequel; I need this book finished. If I wanted a real life ending I would sit around my table and listen to my girlfriends talk about their glory days of the ones they kicked to the curb and the ones that got away. I would turn on the TV and watch a soap opera where they never make the right choice. I would watch the Bachelor; who never picks the right girl. I wouldn't pick up a romantic novel, not smut, romantic! Not all endings are happy, I get it, but come on, this one wasn't just disappointing or unhappy it was wrong.

The writing style is a joy. I've fallen in love with Andi and Dev. I immensely enjoyed their journey, and their arrangement and the relationship that followed. I like how their own journey was tangled in each other's. Everything Andi learned about herself was brought to the surface by Dev and vice versa. Dev was faking it too, only brought to the surface by Andi. They develop a true love. Yep, I'm that person, the one that believes in one true love. There is one person out there that can and will love you for all of who you are, where you share your secrets, and they are reciprocated and nothing is forced. Andi and Dev develop that, their secrets are laid out there, exposed. This is probably why the ending made me feel a little hollow, sad really and completely miffed. She trots off into the sunset in the wrong direction. I feel like that old, dirty lady in "The Princess Bride" who shouts at Buttercup for her upcoming nuptials to Prince Humperdinck; boo-boo, Andi, you spit in the face of true love, boo!

So, of course Andi develops a `real' boyfriend, an unbelievable relationship, by email and phone. She agrees to go to the next level, relocate, over email? Leave Dev behind, the one who knows her inside and out, the one who can light a fire of passion that creeps up her spine. I get it, she doesn't really know him, at this stage, she needs to leave. She has her excuses, new job, misses New England, exciting new guy. But...she wants to move in with Sam, who she can't even tell about Dev. What? I thought she got to know herself, I thought that was the point; she was no longer faking it. As a reader we like Sam, he is fun, funny, makes breakfast, intellectual, handsome, good lover, necessary for Andi's growth, but we Love Dev. Sam feeds her comfort while Dev feeds her electricity. She and Sam are two peas, one pod; she and Dev are opposite ends of the spectrum feeding off one another, learning from each other and discovering themselves. A story line ending with Sam is Bore-ing.

Can't, won't read the sequel. A quick read through the synopsis and Sam dies, leaving Andi heart broken, Dev picks the pieces up. Nope, Dev is not second choice, he is first choice in book one.

3 Stars: It's a wonderful book, excellent, fun and intriguing story. The ending, well like I said, boo. Rip the last chapter out and dream up your own ending--then it's a 5 star!