Five Star Expressions - Getting Personal [Hardcover]

Diane Amos (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0786251697 | ISBN-13: 978-0786251698 | Publication Date: April 2, 2003 | Edition: 1

Sometimes good intentions aren't enough.

No one knows that better than Monique St. Cyr, parochial school dropout, dieter extraordinaire, and wanna-be investigative reporter with pit bull tenacity. Monique, obituary writer for a tabloid-style newspaper in Portland, Maine, lives next door to her mother, Anne Marie, an erotic fiction author. Anne Marie enlists Monique's help to do research for her next book about couples who meet online . . . by filling out several personals for her daughter.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Monique has goals and dreams just like everyone else. Some are modest in nature; some are pie-in-the-sky, but all are hampered by all-too-familiar issues. Monique is an obituary writer but wants to be an investigative reporter. She has a houseful of abandoned pets, a slight weight problem, a tendency for fibbing; she can't cook, and lives next door to her meddling mother. Monique also would love to meet a good man, but has no intention of marrying until she's a success in her chosen field. Quirky Monique charges headlong into life and often gets into trouble. It doesn't help that her novel-writing mother corresponds online with prospective dating partners for Monique in the name of research. The first time she has a brush with the law, she meets hunky cop Jake Dube. Although he's very interested and they develop a steamy relationship, those pesky issues prevent Monique from giving her all. Warm and lighthearted, Amos' novel will charm readers with its vivid characters, especially the spirited and all-too human Monique. Maria Hatton
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Product Details

• Hardcover: 325 pages
• Publisher: Five Star; 1 edition (April 2, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0786251697
• ISBN-13: 978-0786251698
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 5.7 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,405,814 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

The thought of writing a book never entered my mind until a friend mentioned she was writing a romance and belonged to the Maine Chapter of the Romance Writers of America. I accompanied her to a meeting, and I was hooked. Undaunted, to me, writing a book was simply stringing together sentences to form paragraphs, arranging the paragraphs into scenes, then placing the scenes into chapters. If I wrote enough chapters-viola, I had a book.

Little did I know!

Finally, nine books and seven years later I received "The Call" at 10:11 AM on October16th, 2002. The editor of Five Star wanted to discuss my book! The rest is history.

I live in a small town in Maine with my husband, Dave. We have four grown children, four grandsons and two granddaughters. I operate an art studio in my home where I teach both children and adults. Many of my adult students have taken classes from me for years and have become great friends. We have so much fun in class, at times, I wonder whether I should be paying them. I hope they don't read this bio.

I'm an established Maine artist. My paintings are in private collections across the United States. When I'm not writing or painting, I'd like to say I'm either racking up miles on my exercise bike or jogging in a marathon-sounds impressive, but don't believe it. I know that exercise is good for me, but why can't it be as much fun as it looks on the television infomercials that persuade us to buy their torturous machines?

I enjoy spending time with my family at our camp on a small Maine pond or watching television-I confess I'm a reality show addict-what better place to find characters for my books!

I've been married for over thirty-five years to my real-life hero, a man who's supported and encouraged me over the years and still puts a smile on my face.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars She had a Window, July 10, 2003

By 

Georgia Richardson (Athens, Alabama) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Five Star Expressions - Getting Personal (Hardcover)

What a funny book! I could not put it down for a minute. I picked it up one day, read a couple of paragraphs at random, and was hooked. A book that can make you laugh out loud, over and over,...well, in my estimation, that's a good book . I have recommended this book to everyone I know. Don't miss it, you will be sorry you did.

Sequel! Sequel!

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A funny contemporary mystery/romance, May 12, 2003

By 

Gloria Pottle (Winthrop, Maine) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Five Star Expressions - Getting Personal (Hardcover)

GETTING PERSONAL is a delightful reading experience. It is a funny book with some suprises and human blunders. Monique is a very real character who comes alive under the author's pen and makes one feel as if you know her. Her relationship with her mother is one of respect and frustration. Other relationships ( with her boss, best friend and boyfriend )are both filled with surprises and humorous errors; but remain quite believable. I really enjoyed the book.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Getting Personal a Winner, May 2, 2003

By 

Ruth Krauth (Lewiston, Me USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Five Star Expressions - Getting Personal (Hardcover)

Diane Amos spins a delighful tale of Monique, a young woman with lofty goals, whose life gets more complicated at every turn. Her own hilarious blunders while trying to impress her boss that she has the makings of a star reporter, added to the antics of her loving family who keep her constantly in hot water are beginning to shatter her normally calm and positive attitude. What does all that have to do to her love life with Jake the cop? Getting Personal is the happy book we've all been waiting to read. I loved it.