Customer Reviews

Fancy Pants

5 star:		(29)
4 star:		(19)
3 star:		(12)
2 star:		(8)
1 star:		(15)

 

 

Everyone knows SEP is a good writer, able to come up with interesting characters from wildly disparate backgrounds who somehow get together, but this book is not one of her greats. First off, it suffers what I consider an "80's disease" - a Sidney Sheldon/Judith Krentz - like obsession with designer names, foreign princes, descriptions of yachts, and lots of pre-AIDS catting around. Secondly, its characters are not all that endearing: our heroine is obsessed with looks, money, and success, and our hero is obsessed with bimbos and failure. He neglects to tell her he's married; she neglects to tell him she had his son. I had a hard time liking these people, wondering if it was worth the effort to sort through several relationships and lots of confusing flashbacks. I don't feel I'm giving away too much here--if you like SEP, you'll struggle through it anyway--I just wish someone had warned me what I was in for.

In Fancy Pants, Susan Elizabeth Phillips introduces us to two excellent characters - the spoiled rich witch and the down-home down on his luck golfer. Unfortunately, I found it a real slog to actually get to where these two are introduced! I realize the necessity of a well-developed back story, but I felt rather smothered by it in this book. Sparks fly when Francesca and Dallie are together, but they're not together often enough or early enough. As always, Ms. Phillips' writes a thoughtful book, with lovely secondary characters, and vibrant leads. But I find her books erratic - "Nobody's Baby" had a delightful wit and charm which I missed in the sequel. Here, there seems a combination of humor and desperation! Perhaps I have become used to books requiring less involvement by the reader, but I would not recommend this book to a friend who had not read any of Ms. Phillips' work - start with "Nobody's Baby"!

I did not like this story. Dallie was so insensitive and cruel. And he slept with hundreds of women and Francesca knew this but she STILL gives herself to him. SEP gave him all the advantages over her and she had none over him. The story was too one-sided. He treated her like dirt and she accepted it. I was so thrilled when she left him. Unfortunately the story did not end there. I kept hoping she'd never see or think of him again. Maybe bring in another love interest who was worthy of her and who could love her. But no. SEP apparently still had unrealistic hopes for Dallie being the love interest. The book had a lot of boring parts, too. Who cares about Dallie and Holly's romance? Why bother to tell their entire story? What is the point? I REALLY HATED that part of the story. Dallie did not deserve Francesca. He was so unfeeling toward her. I thought it very improbable that she could fall for him with the way he treated her. And then when she left him (for years) he never bothered to look for her...he hardly even thought of her. This does not redeem him at all in my mind. This does not convince me that he loves her or that his feelings might change. Of course, she pines for him and thinks about him often. How utterly pathetic. He didn't suffer when she was out of his life. Then all of a sudden their back in each other's company and they are in love? I don't think so. I didn't care about Dallie and I especially didn't see the point of rehashing his old romance with Holly. Maybe those two should've gotten back together since he thought more about her than about Francesca. I'll never read this story again and wish I'd never read for the first time.

They always say that the 1st written novels are the best...yet, I can't say this book is the best, nor it is the worst. I read some of the reviews and I was kinda bracing myself for a terrible book, but instead I found a book that is about picking up yourself again after luck has turn its back on u, and yes, it's still a Phillips romance on its best...Most readers find this novel disappointing because it's not your typical boy meets girl on the 1st chapter. They are too frustrated because it's taking so long for Francesca and Dallie to meet. I bet they're muttering, "the hell with Chloe and Black Jack, just get it on," I didn't mind the history part, it builds the anticipation for the best parts. You learn about their lives. You learn to love them when u hated their guts at first. Like Francesca, I just wanna strangle her on the 1st few chapters. And sometimes, she's just too dumb and vain, and then halfway through the book, I just wanna cry for her and give her a little push, saying, " go on, u can do it!" Phillips has once again able to pull some emotions out of her readers. A few times, I banged the book to the wall, and hated the turn of events. But that's wat makes a good book, if it can make u scream, laugh, or hurt for the characters, I'll say it's worth ur time. I like Phillips; she's not afraid to embarrass her characters. Teddy is the best kid Phillips has ever written. I assure u, Fancy Pants is another winner! Don't let others stopped u from reading it!

I definitely have mixed feelings about _Fancy Pants_. Susan Elizabeth Phillips is one of my all time favorite authors and the first book of hers that I read was _Lady Be Good_. I fell in love with Francie and Dallie in that book and couldn't wait ot read more about them. _Fancy Pants_ somehow manages to fall flat. I was looking for some SEP belly laughs to come out of this one and I was sourly dissapointed. Basically, _Fancy Pants_ felt too long. SEP takes about fifty pages to actually start talking about Francie, another fifty to introduce Dallie and then another hundred to actually get them together. When they actually have a little fling, there is no real passion or heat between them. Dallie comes off as an abusive, unsuccessful golfer, and Francie seems like a spoiled little rich girl. The book gets better in the second half. Francie becomes a lot more down to Earth and a lot easier to like. She becomes a lot like a person I would like to know and not one that I would never get along with. Unfortunately, Dallie doesn't change too much and it seems like he didn't deserve Francie or their son. SEP does the whole eighties thing where she doesn't focus on the story that she's pushing (the relationship between Francie and Dallie) and moves totally off the subject to talk about Francie's grandmother and mother, her every acquaintence, and just about every single person who makes an appearence in the book. I totally did not understand or appreciate the telling of Dallie and Holly Grace's love story. It slowed the book down and wasn't all that interesting. Still, SEP shows her promise in this book and there are some of her traits hidden in areas that reveal what is to come in the future. For die hard SEP fans, _Fancy Pants_ is an okay read. For new comers, stick with the new stuff. Her Chicago Stars series is absolutely fantastic and _Kiss an Angel_ as well as _Lady Be Good_ are must reads.

Based on the reviews, I saved this one for last of all SEP's available books because I had a feeling I wasn't going to like it. It turns out I was right. This is one of her earlier works, where it's confusing to determine the actual genre of her story, much like I had a problem with Glitter Baby and Hot Shot. When I realized that the next book by her includes Glitter Baby's daughter Meg and Teddy Beaudine, the offspring in this novel, I thought it would help to get the backstory.

Francesca Day was born amongst the british elite, rich, beautiful and spoiled. When her mother is killed in an accident, she finds that her mother was actually in debt and Francesca wanders aimlessly as a socialite taking advantage of any situation. At a party, she's convinced to go to America to do a part in a movie. She's told she'll be compensated when she gets there, but when she realizes, while out in the middle of nowhere, that the movie is a cheesy D rated vampire flick, she knows she's been bamboozled. She hightails it out of there wearing a southern belle costume, a suitcase of clothes, a cosmetic bag and absolutely no money. This is how Dallas "Dallie" Beadine first meets her.

Dallie is a second rate golfer with a lot of potential, but at every major tournament he plays, he always ends up choking. He hides his failure behind extremly good looks and careless humor. With his pentient for rescuing strays, he decides to help out Francesca and gives her a ride to the airport. With Francesca's haughty british attitude, and Dallie's devil may care attitude, they do not hit it off and things only get worse as they spend more time together. Francesca in her desperation clings to Dallie, they become lovers, and culminates to a separation when Francesa learns Dallie is actually married. She leaves for good only to find that she is pregnant, but pulls herself out of adversity to raise her child, Teddy, in secret and become a successful news woman and celebrity.

Flash forward ten years later, at an off chance encounter Dallie meets little Teddy Day and immediately realizes that the boy is his son. In a fuming rage, he kidnaps Teddy forcing Francesca back into his life to deal with it. Only after ten years, although Dallie has made some effort with cleaning up his act, he's still the terrified loser while Francesca is a warm spirited, intelligent, and beatiful woman. They're together for less than a day when they both realize they still have this amazing chemical lust for one another and start up again throughout the turmoil to eventually create a loving and lasting relationship.

That is essentially the core of the story, however there's a lot of pages dedicated to things that seriously detract from the book. For starters, the beginning is tirelessly boring because it's about Francesca's grandmother and mother and their relationship. Then it's about Francesca and her mother's relationship. Then Francesca gets raped. Then her friends turn on her. Then Dallie metaphorically kicks her when she's down, and literally slaps her back when he so richly deserved it, knocking her into a car. Then she's alone, abandoned, penniless and pregnant. We get it already, her life sucks, give her a break for crying out loud. The worst part is about Dallie and his wife Holly Grace. They have this weird open marriage, and regretably a third of the book is spent on Holly Grace and Dallie's relationship. Who cares? It's sick and unhealthy and I can't imagine how this contributes to a romance. To see Dallie fall for Francesca is easy ten years later. To see why Francesca would fall for Dallie isn't likely to happen in a million years! He has no redeeming qualities and when he kidnaps his son, he's mean to him and scares him to death. How could Francesca witness her childs misery and still be attracted to the guy who is her child's tormentor? Overall, it's simply too confusing and you'll find yourself skimming through chunks at a time trying to pick up the core of the story. My only saving grace is the child Teddy. As I mentioned earlier, her next book will feature him and he's also in Lady Be Good where I really liked him. As for the parents, they left me cold. This is only one for the die hard fans at desperate times.

This book was not at all what I expected. The fact that it spans so many years is far different from other romances that I've encountered. I don't think I'd like this "epic" style in every book I read, but because it was rather unique, I enjoyed it in this story.

The characthers definetly aren't very likable, but at the same time they are really well suited, which somehow makes their romance endearing. The heroine is a spoiled, vain brat and the hero is self-pitying and the ultimate "jerk jock," but they were so enthusiastic about their flaws that you almost had to like them.

I give SEP credit for not falling into a typical romance formula, as I was continually surprised by the various plot turns.

Probably not my favorite book ever...I didn't like how the main characters were seperated for so long, and how perhaps they didn't know each other all that well. But, for a fun read, this definetly does the trick.

I rarely enjoy older romance novels, written in the 70s and 80s, for one reason or another--mainly, the heros are often abusive, the heroines, wimps. I enjoy Ms Phillip's writing so much though that I decided to give this book, one of her earlier works, a chance.

The first quarter, though entertaining, didn't have me overly impressed. The two main characters were not endearing in the least and yet, I found myself feeling sympathetic towards these two imperfect, and seemingly incompatible, people (the magic of Ms Phillip's writing!). But suddenly, near the end of the first half of the book, something completely unexpected happens (find out for yourselves) and you find yourselves caught in the book's grip but good.

Reader's only familiar with Ms Phillip's more recent works (Texas Heaven, Dream a Little Dream, etc) may at first find themselves a little unsettled by this different side to Ms Phillip's style of writing. The characters are more complex with sharper edges (ie not-so-lovable characteristics) and yet, you can't help but be drawn into this powerful, inspirational(that's right!) novel. I know I'm being vague but I don't want to ruin a single amazing moment of this book for anyone who listens to me and reads it (please!).

Huge SEP fan here. I found Fancy Pants to be out of the norm of the regular "boy meets girl" romance formula, but loved it anyway. I liked the fact that both Francesca and Dallie were not very likeable characters in the beginning, and though most characters grow and change, no two characters needed to more than these two. I liked that details of their lives (like Danny's death) popped up throughout the story, surprising us. The only thing that seemed a bit "much" was the large amount of time spent on some secondary characters (did Naomi, Chloe, Black Jack and Miranda need so much time in the story?) I did almost wish Francesca had bumped into Nicky, or someone from her old life at the end so they could have seen how much she had changed.
In any case, this was a bit different, but the payoff at the end was great (as usual).

I've read most of SEP's books and loved most of them, especially Lady Be Good, where I first met Dallie, Francesca and a grown up Teddy as secondary characters. I enjoyed this book. I agree with a previous reviewer who categorized it as a very 80's book, I was laughing at the mental images of the description of some of the outfits, there seems to have been a lot of beading, velvet and shoulder pads.

The book is longer than most romance novels, almost 500 pages, but I didn't feel that any of those pages were wasted. There is a lot of backstory/flashbacks, and I really didn't mind all that. However, you should know that the Dallie and Francie don't meet until around page 100, so be patient and keep reading.

None of the characters in the book are perfect. Most of them are flawed and damaged and sometimes, not particularly nice, but you felt for them. Overall, I would recommend this book to others. I personally can't wait to read Ted's story. I read in an interview with SEP that she was waiting for Ted to marinate a little longer before she wrote his story. Here's hoping it's better than Fancy Pants and as good as Lady Be Good.