Customer Reviews

The History of Lucy's Love Life in Ten and a Half Chapters

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Though Lucy and Anthony are both phobic about committing, they find themselves on the brink of doing just that with each other, and Lucy runs from that. She wants to be free to pursue other men, footloose and fancy free. Or does she? When she gets hold of a time machine, she has an opportunity to find out how well she knows herself and soon encounters Ovid, who turns out to be a coward, Lord Byron and his crowd, and Al Capone. Things go truly badly with Capone though, and she finds she has to undo time to fix things, but the price of doing so is as stiff as that of not doing so, it would seem. How many times can one woman lose her true love? How will Lord Byron cope on reality TV? These and more questions are answered in ten and a half fun chapters.

**** I've endured many chick lit novels and enjoyed quite a few time travels, and this is nothing like any of them. Comedic thrill abound, making it read something like one of the humor oriented Doctor Who episodes, if Bridget Jones was a companion, that is. The strongest aspect is the constant sense of not knowing where this story will take you, as Ms. Wright throws curve ball after curve ball at her readers. ****

Amanda Killgore

I have read other time travel books, but this one is far and away the most interesting one that I have ever read.

Lucy is in her late 20's and lives in London. Two years ago she met Anthony on a plane from NYC to London and had what began as a one night stand, but turned into a long term relationship. They got together because both are affraid of commitment.

One day while Lucy is at work Anthony texts Lucy about a special night. It turns out to be a disaster and Lucy ends up dumping him. They remain in touch though and start to become friends again.

The day that Lucy dumped Anthony her boss (a scatterbrained scientist) gets a pacage from a former boyfriend that contains a time machine. THe next day however, Lucy gets fired and as a parting gift is alowed to keep the time machine.

At first Lucy does not know what to do with it. She sets it up in the living room of her flat, but does not think that it is actually going to work. She wants to meet Lord Byron so she puts in a date in 1813 and low and behold is actually transported back in time to meet Lord Byron. SHe stays several weeks and actually meets Keats, Persy Shelly and Mary Shelly. However things do not go so well and she returns.

Over the next several weeks Lucy gets curious about the time machine and goes back to visit Leonardo Da Vinci and Ovid and has some interesting experiences with them.

During this time she spends time with Anthony as friends. He is taking her to his father Peter's 60th Birthday Party with a 1920's theme when they think that it would be cool to go to the 1920's and meet Al Capone. Things do not go so well, so Lucy does not want to use it again. However while babysitting for her nephew he accidentally transports them to India. Their they meet a nice man Peter who is with his son Tony. At first Lucy is not sure what year it is, but after a dinner with Peter, his wife and Tony she finds out that it is in the 1980's.

Shortly after the trip to India Lucy finds out that Anthony is back together with a former girlfriend and they soon are set to get married in NYC. During this time Lord Byron is staying with Lucy and becomes famous for being on a reality t.v. Lucy does not like having to go to the wedding, but brings the time machine with her. During the trip she pops in to see Cassanova (right after he excaped from prison) and transports him to the present. Lucy however can not stop thinking about how much she loves Anthony and wants to tell him that he should be with her.

Lucy almost does not go to the wedding, but forces herself to go and is glad she does because things are conspiring to call the wedding off.

What happens next? Read the book.

I really loved this book a lot! seriously! it will keep you glued to the book! the romance is wonderful and the time machine relationships make me laugh a lot.
and it has very very inspiring quotes! <3

MUST READ!

Who would you date if you had a time machine? For Lucy this question goes from hypothetical to reality in the blink of an eye.

Lucy is feeling bad about getting bored with her terrific boyfriend. She's even faking orgasms, but she knows he'll be devastated if she breaks up with him. When she met Anthony, they discussed their mutual aversion to commitments. They decided to have a one-night stand, which turned into two years and 200+ one-night stands. Now Lucy has decided to break up with Anthony because she isn't feeling that spark anymore, and to her surprise he tells her he was going to break it off the same evening.

After the breakup, Lucy isn't herself, and it's showing at work. She manages to get herself fired, and the only consolation is she's sent home with the "useless" time machine her boss had gotten from an admirer.

Sleepless from second thoughts about her breakup with Anthony, and wanting a mental diversion, Lucy decides to put together the time machine, and is flabbergasted to find herself in the year 1813. She meets her longtime fantasy, Lord Byron, and though he isn't exactly what she expected, she finally captures his interest. He ends up being a total jerk, and she returns to the present day. My sides hurt from laughing so hard at her cell phone text conversation with Byron after she got home. Hilarious!

Her next journey through time is to visit Leonardo Da Vinci. She spends some fascinating time with him, and they develop a close friendship, but it doesn't quite turn out as she had hoped. She comes back home to Anthony, who she's missing but trying not to.

Next she travels back to meet Ovid, but that's not such a great experience either. In fact, she barely escapes disaster.

Next is a trip to the era of prohibition to see legendary American gangster Al Capone, and this time Anthony goes with her. His quick thinking saves them from being arrested, but their adventure nearly turns into a disaster. We see a dangerous pattern emerging, and fortunately, so does Lucy. She ultimately decides to quit using the time machine.

With every journey Lucy took, she learned important lessons and grew as an adult. She also learned to appreciate what she had with Anthony. But might she have learned that valuable lesson too late?

The History of Lucy's Love Life in Ten and a Half Chapters by Deborah Wright made me laugh out loud a few times, so I had to read the passages to my husband, which then made him laugh out loud. Her style is fresh, witty and fun. I enjoyed how Lucy's adventures and historical characters were interwoven in the story, and I liked seeing how her experiences changed her perspective on love. This book was very amusing and enjoyable to read, but at the same time it was full of angst and big doses of frustration, and there were times I questioned whether Lucy truly deserved Anthony. She wants what she doesn't have, and then doesn't want it when she gets it. Despite my lukewarm feelings about Lucy, I still stayed up half the night, hoping she - and perhaps more importantly Anthony - would ultimately get a happy ending.

4 1/2 Kisses, 1 Pepper

~Lindy
Reviewer, TwoLips Reviews, LLC
www.TwoLipsReviews.com

Lucy cannot believe it that her fantasies have more life than her reality. One year seeing Anthony Brown has driven Lucy to total ennui as he fails to compare with her dreams shared with her heroes like Lord Byron, George Clooney and the newsagent who sells her the Daily Telegram. At least in her fantasies these hunks know how to melt a girl's bone marrow.

Lucy is stunned when research scientist Dr. Kay Merrick fires her as his personal assistant due to tardiness. Irate, she steals his prototype time travel machine. She decides since modern man is Neanderthal when it comes to romance. She plans to use the invention to meet Byron, Casanova, and Leonardo, maybe even Ovid though Lucy does not swing that way and all the other great lovers of history.

Based on the concept that the grass is not greener on the other side, Lucy's trek to find love in history is an engaging whimsical tale that turns HG Wells and Bill and Ted upside down. The story line is fun as begins her quest with her list of three constantly changing when the new reality fails to come close to her fantasy. However, Lucy is too flighty to be likable. She is unable to show up at work on time, unable to focus on Anthony and his needs, unable to relate her needs to him, and unable to stop day and night dreaming of other men. Still Lucy's adventures with history's hunks are fun to follow as her frolics provide a different look at the romantic hero.

Harriet Klausner

This was a book I found very easy to put down & very difficult to pick up, unlike Sophie Kinsella, Meg Cabot, Anne Perry, Jonathan Kellerman, etc. I really didn't like Lucy much. I found her to be flighty & immature, which was surprising because she was a very intelligent young woman. Maybe I'm old fashioned, but I didn't care much for her desire for a one-night stand. Getting rid of a wonderful catch like Anthony because the thrill was gone was absolutely stupid. I did jump ahead to the ending, and it ended well. However, I'm not a big fan of having the baby first & then getting married.

On the plus side, the author did some research before she sent her heroine back in time. I am surprised, however, that Lucy didn't know that Leonardo da Vinci was a homosexual. I thought that was common knowledge nowadays.

I might have finished the book if my new Mary Higgins Clark & Carol Higgins Clark books hadn't arrived yesterday. However, as my last book before this was the new Anne Perry, this is pretty lame filling in my book sandwich.