Customer Reviews

Hating Valentine's Day (Red Dress Ink Novels)

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

 

 

Another great story by Rushby. While the plot was slightly borrowed from Dickin's, it explained how most single women who've been burned feel about Valentine's Day. Rushby's heroine learns valuable lessons that push her from hatred to wanting to take chances on men once again. Great read.

After being dumped on Valentine's Day two years prior by a guy who returned to his ex-wife, Liv has no use for the holiday; except that she makes her living as a photographer and weddings (particularly romantic VD themed weddings) are her bread and butter. Liv is reluctant to enter into any more romantic entanglements despite the efforts of her friends and family. She never really meets anyone she likes until she runs into Drew. They go out a couple times, and through a series of misunderstandings, have difficulty trusting one another, and she won't give Drew the same second chance he afforded her when she misconstrues his intentions toward a former flame. She is visited by the ghost of a former colleague who warns that she will be visited by 3 Valentines ghosts (sound familiar?). Each ghost provides insight - into her relationships past, present, and potentially future.

You know there'll be a happy ending, but getting there should be half the fun. For the most part it is, however, after all the build up and narrative, I was expecting a little more out of those last 40 pages. The ending seemed so rushed, and the last visit with the ghost did not pack the wallop I was hoping for. It could have been so much better with a tad more development and attention to detail in the end.

This parody of A CHRISTMAS CAROL, with a woman who thinks love is a fantasy advertisers dreamed up to sell greeting cards and breath mints, is just what the doctor ordered for many an unpartnered lady. It tickles the funny bone, provokes the brain, and touches the heart. 5 stars -- or maybe hearts!

I would actually give this book 4 1/2 stars. There were some(very few)slow spots in this book, but overall great book! I loved the main character's outlook on Valentine's day, it even went on to explore why she hated it so much. It showed the ghosts of Valentine's Day, just as a Christmas Carol does but much more interesting in my opinion.

This was a quick, fun read and I will be looking for other stuff by this author!

I liked where this book was going and I really liked the premise. However towards the end it just didn't do it for me.


I think the most important part was that she had already begin to change even before the Valentine's Present and Valentines Yet to Come Spirits had come to see her. I dont think that should have happened because it made the ending a lot less climatic. I know this story is predictable, as it should be, being based on a classic work of fiction. However it felt as if the charecter had taken the author hostage and wasn't willing to go as far as she could.

Another thing that made the story less appealing was the visit from the Valentine's Yet to come spirit. By the time this vision had come Liv had already begin to change her life so this vision was really unnnecessary and I would say already avoidable. It would be different if she had cut off Drew and begin to cut off her friends. Which makes the vision complete lets down the book. As she had not alienated her friends and was not yet sure of her standing with Drew it implies that "If she doesn't date she's end up and old disgusting spinster". Never mind the fact that she hasn't alienated other people she cares about. I dont know. For the small feminist in me, this just sends a really screwed up message.

However with all that being said I said I think this is an okay book and I'm looking forward to another book by this author.

This book is more like a modern day A Chrirstmas Carol, only with Valentine's Day as the main theme. Liv Hetherington, a wedding photographer, is a humbug about Valentine's Day. Mostly because of the break up she went through two years ago ON Valentine's Day, that she never got over. Between her dead co worker and three spirits visiting her and a new man named Drew trying to enter the picture, Valentine's Day just might turn around for Liv this year.

I bought this book around Valentine's Day and for about a week I just couldn't put it down. It's a cute Valentine's Day tale with a twist off of 'A Christmas Carol'. I like the idea of this, but the ending in my opinion just ruined it all.

You don't hear of Valetinine Scrooges, but they do exist; case in point, Liv Hetherington, a wedding photographer who has had it with V-day rituals and dating diseasters. Yet, when everyone who has been urging her into these romantic nightmares gives up on her, there is a strange let down until she discovers that Fate is willing to give her one last chance. Her "Marley" is the ghost of an old woman with the unlikely name of Mrs. Batty Smith, who informs her that three spirits will visit her to encourage her to change her ways. Cupid, aka, Valentines' Past, is sort of cute, albeit irksome. Valentines' Present is the ideal man, one that readers who like to play the book as a movie in their head will want to hit pause on when he comes around. The spirit of the Future- we won't go there. Suffice it to say, she outdoes Christmas Future on the scary level. With more humor than Dickens, readers are given an equally meaningful message that applies to any day, not just Valentine's Day.

"Hating Valentine's Day" by Allison Rushby deals with Liv, who worked as a wedding photographer who hated Valentine's Day with all her heart. This was mainly due to the fact that she was dumped by her boyfriend Mike on Valentine's Day. Despite having broken up with Mike a year ago, Liv found that she was still unable to have a serious relationship with any guy, feeling that guys just don't like her. Her family and friends were all actively getting her to be more sociable, setting up dates, etc, which she hated. The only stable thing in her life was her work until she met Drew, her housemate's friend whom she thought could possibly be a good candidate. In addition, she was "visited' by three spirits of Valentine's Day which could possibly change her mind about Valentine's Day and dating in general.

I thought this was quite an interesting read. It was a bit different from the other chick-lits out there and thought that the scenarios dealing with the three spirits were quite funny. I think the author did a great job developing the character Liv, making her readers understand the decisions that Liv took, as well as introducing us to Liv's past. The book is fast-paced and contains many funny situations which makes it quite an entertaining read!

We've seen this premise work before.

Embittered gal works up courage to date again, backs out, sees life flash in front of eyes and lives again. . .

This time it's dolled up in the form of a Valentine phobia, replete with the three spirits of the day (aka Ghost of v Past, Present & Future, as in the "of Christmas..").

Liv the heroine narrates it all in the first person, and as she seems a trifle tedious, or the author cannot/willnot leave anything to the readers imagination the tale is a very long, very straight, very boring one. If you skip past the tiresome beginning, the tiresome middle, to the last chapters you'll find a little quick bit of romance which'll make you grin.

Unfortunately the morose Liv merely pulls the book down with her, and author takes no advantage of her setting in Brisbane, Australia, but pretty much neglects the setting when it could have been exploited to make a more interesting novel.

There is one funny scene when Liv as a wedding photographer is on the job, but it's only one.

Could have, should have, wasn't. Don't bother.

kotori ojadis@yahoo.com