Customer Reviews

Good Girls Do (Berkley Sensation)

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Belly dancing librarian Julia Wright has escaped her flaky mother and sister to settle in a small Pennsylvania town. She wants to lead a quiet life while helping the town attain "Best small town" status in a national registry.

All those plans got tossed to the wind when sexy bad boy Luke Maguire rolls into town on his Harley and sets his sights on Julia for some recreational romance. Of course, she is dressed as Little Bo Peep, which fuels his imagination. Toss in an untimely visit by her hippie mom, sister, vampire niece, and a couple llamas, and she can just kiss her quiet existence good bye!

Luke left town shortly after graduation and has not been back for 12 years. While his father was portrayed as a loving dad, in actuality, he took out his frustrations on Luke in a brutal manner. After a stint in the Marines, then deep undercover in the FBI, Luke is not looking forward to having to return to the sleepy and gossipy town of his childhood, where he will have to remain in order to adhere to his father's will before he cash in on his inheritance. As they dance around each other, it is a pretty good assumption they will end up in bed.

At times zany, and other times poignant, I am not sure what exactly Linz was trying to convey. As a result, it is a tepid story at best with plenty of loose ends and plot points that were introduced then never really addressed, let alone resolved. There are too many good romantic comedies out there - better to get this one at your local library.

After a wild hippie like childhood, librarian Julia Wright moved to Serenity Falls, Pennsylvania to live a straight lifestyle. Three years later she has succeeded at getting away from the New Age zaniness of her mother and sister. However, her idyllic time in a quiet controlled town implodes over six new arrivals.

First town bad boy Luke Maguire has come home to run his late father's bar; this surprises the locals as Luke failed to even return for his dad's funeral. However except for one person no one realizes that Luke's highly regarded father abused him. He cannot resist stealing kisses from Julia.

Next her mom, sis, and niece arrived accompanied by two llamas move in with Julia. She hides her pop tarts that she needs to get through their insanity, which includes encouraging her to sleep with Luke, who she already cannot resist even without the urging of the cheerleaders.

This is a fun contemporary romance in which Julia has never felt comfortable with the antics of her mom and sis, and now her four year old niece who is an expert on vaginas and lets everyone know it. Though Julia and Luke are the stars, the ensemble support cast enhances the tale with their escapades that aggravate the heroine and amuse (for the most part) her beloved. Though mom's secret seems anticlimactic, fans of You Can't Take It With You like romantic romps will enjoy this funny family tale.

Harriet Klausner

Julia has made a nice life for herself as a librarian and has her own house. Without any notice, her "save the planet" hippie-like mother, Angel, barges in to live with her because Angel is out of money. Her sister Skye also moves in. Skye is a single mother with a spoiled brat of a daughter, who has never been told "no." The mother and Skye take over Julia's life in ways such as throwing out food in Julia's refrigerator because they disagree with her choices. It is a story of a nice girl being annoyed by her own family and the local towns people. The story was no fun. The romance that develops between Julia and Luke wasn't enough to make the book enjoyable.

CAUTION SPOILER: Worst of all, the mother lied to Julia about her father for 30 years. Finally Angel decides to tell Julia who her real father is. I was angry at Angel because of her reason for not telling Julia.

Sexual language: moderate. Number of sex scenes: six. Setting: current day small town, Serenity Falls, Pennsylvania. Copyright: 2006. Genre: contemporary romance.

This book is kicky and fun and held my attention from beginning to end. Julia and Luke are well-developed and growth is evident for both. The secondary characters are a hoot and I am looking forward to seeing what happens to them in the sequel. Bravo Cathie Linz! I am a romance comedy reader and you are now on my favorites list!

Well, there certainly is a diverse reaction to this one. Here are my thoughts.

(loved the fun jacket cover illustration by the way!)

The basic plot is good girl meets bad boy, falls in love with bad boy, overcomes bad boy reservations and he isn't really a bad boy at heart. Just a warning here. From other reviews of other books on this site I realize that not all readers have the same level of tollerance when it comes to sex scenes. I would term this book more of an erotic romance, not a problem for me, but could detract from the enjoyment for some.

I particularly liked the style of dialogue which assisted the reader's relationship with the main characters. The language was snappy and had comedic value (not quite laugh out loud for me). I really developed a liking for Julia and Luke, the main characters, and thought that the inner monologue pep-talks of Julia, whilst outwardly taking other peoples ****, was very realistic (I know I do that). You also cheer as she finally defends herself (rather than resorting to being equally vindictive as some authors resort to). Luke is also shown to be a good guy that has erected barriers because of the mistreatment he received from his father and the death of his mother. His caring side is demonstrated through his relationship with the up and coming bad boy Billy and his efforts to divert him from this delf-destructive course and his love for Julia.

Some of the support characters were also valuable to the overall enjoyment of the story, such as Luke's friends Al and Tyler, Julia's friend Pam and niece Toni and if this was the end of my review the star rating would have been higher, but here are some points that detracted from the rating:

Sorry for being a bit of a stickle but these two errors need a mention.

There was more than one reference to Luke having a black Irish Dylan Thomas look. Dylan Thomas was Welsh (Cathie is not the first author to make this error, so I don't know where this information is coming from and I would have hoped that the editor would have picked this up).

Although I have some sympathy for the idea that fairytales support the view of the helpless female needing to be rescued, it isn't male chauvanism. Cinderella and many of the French stories originate from a woman who entertained the French court.

Other detractions are:

The self-indulgent references to romance writers and a friend of CL (Jayne Ann Krentz) are a little cringe worthy.

I have problems being sympathetic to two main support characters. The first is the sister Skye. Quite simply she is not a likeable character. Her reaction to Julia is always negative. This is particularly noticeable in her "get over yourself" comment at Julia being upset at Angel's (Julia and Skye's mother) lie about her father. She has a bullying personality and is derisive of anyone with a differing point of view.

The second character I have problems with is Angel. This is probably the most important negative as Angel is an important character. She ignores Julia's wishes from the mundane (junk food) to important lifestyle choices (moving from place to place - including a couple of weeks before senior prom! - how disinterested of her). She is also selfish to have withheld the information about Julia's father (Adam Kemp). Just because he is a corporate type and she convinced herself that he would take Julia away from her is not an acceptable reason for her behaviour. Again this comes accross as closed minded to other people's life decisions. Adam's reaction indicates that he would have been involved (as he has every right to be) but that he would not have removed Angel from Julia's life. Under the circmstances he appears very understanding. Angel has, however, damaged any relationship between himself and Julia as she is now 30 and her formative years long gone. Angel also continues to withhold the full identity of Julia's father. The reason behind this seems to be a recognition that Julia and Adam have alot in common. This is an unforgiveable character flaw that cannot be compensated for by Angel's sentimentality.

I picked up the third book in the series, Big Girls Don't Cry, not realizing that it was apart of a series. But when I found out, I had to get the first book. I was not disappointed. It was great. Loved. THe only negative thing is the Main Characters Mother and Sister. I see why she moved so far away from them. But I really enjoyed the secondary characters as well as the main characters.

Good Girls Do is about the librarian and the bad boy who's recently returned to town, with some twists.

Julia is recovering from a lifetime growing up in the shadow of her free spirit mother and sister, who think nothing of causing scenes. She only wants a nice, quiet, NORMAL life.

But then chaos arrives, in the form of Harley-riding town rebel Luke, and, hard on his heels, her mother & sister, 2 llamas, and her out-of-control niece.

This is my favorite kind of romance story--one with humor and heart, serious problems and laugh-out-loud moments.

I love a book that can make me laugh out loud, always big points with me. So I knew this book was off to an excellent start when I was chuckling over the heroine dressed in a too-small Little Bo Beep costume demanding, "Unhand the goldfish, Billy, and no one gets hurt" on the very first page. The rest of the book doesn't disappoint.

The heroine, Julia, is a librarian determined to settle down to a peaceful life away from her wacky family in the perfect small town. Enter very hot Luke on his Harley. He doesn't want to be there but is stuck due to a clause in his father's will so he amuses himself by stirring up things in the town. Then Julia's family moves in. Throw in some colorful town residents and you have a fun book!

I've seen Cathie around online and her next book is Bad Girls Don't, Skye's story. Can't wait!!

Regarding Eon's comments... after looking at his/her other reviews, I have to wonder why this person bothers spending money on books. Nothing seems to please and all this reviewer seems capable of is venom.

First, I have to comment on the review from Eon in Rhode Island. I hesitate to call it a 'review,' though, because it's so out of left field. My goodness. What a lot of venom in addition to numerous errors of fact--and, alas, grammar.

One major factual error, of many, concerns the statement that this has to be Linz' first book. Uh, a quick look at the amazon.com listings alone would have clarified that error. This is, I believe, Linz' 50th published book. I don't know when she started, but she's a well known author and, yes, a best-selling actual, honest-to-God writer who's been working a long time and isn't now, nor has she ever been, a Berkley secretary. I do, however, have great admiration for Berkley secretaries, who, I understand, work hard. And, nope, I'm not a Berkley secretary either.

I guess it's a case of giving anyone and everyone a forum, regardless of that person's accuracy or knowledge, and some will use that forum to spew venom.

But enough of Eon and on to a really good, fun book--and Good Girls Do is just that. Fast paced, clever, and with heart. Linz always seems able to incorporate heart into her characters' situations and to create a mix of humor, heart, and laugh out loud situations. The llamas alone are worth the purchase price.

If you haven't read any of Linz' other works, check out this one and then head immediately to her back list. The Marine books are really special.

I like and dislike books for a million different reasons, but the one thing I do demand from ALL of the books I read--especially if they're trashy, yet overpriced, romances--is that they hold my attention. GOOD GIRLS DO failed to capture my attention, yet alone hold it. There are so many things wrong with this book that it's really difficult to list them all, but that is the cardinal sin of the novel: it's just plain boring!

Julia the librarian (or is she really a robot???) loves the idyllic small Pennsylvania town that she lives in. The woman telegraphs "unjustified neuroses" from the very first page. Plus, my dogs have more real human emotion than she does.

Then there's the hero. Why do women enjoy bad boys (especially the literary kind)? Because they're interesting! However, this bad boy is neither bad nor interesting. And helloooooo, I kinda guessed his father abused him on page ten. Duh.

As for the "humor" in this book, there are parts of the novel which were apparently meant to be funny; but comedy is all in the delivery, and the author's leaves one wondering if she was being serious or not.

Personally, I completely understand criticism of this novel because 1.) it's deserved, though it really should be directed at the editor who approved this book for publication, and 2.) this book costs money and time. If the author does publish again, I sincerely hope she receives some constructive criticism on her writing style and next time actually thinks about what she's putting on the page--that would help immensely.