Customer Reviews

I Think I Love You

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I picked up this novel after reading a charming but uncomplicated romantic-comedy novel by the same author. However, this particular book has significant depth and authenticity; my previous experience with this author gave no clue that she could write a book such as this one.

While the author may have meant for this novel to be funny, it is, in my opinion, more of a straight fiction book. The story concerns a highly dysfunctional North Carolina family of three illegitimate adult daughters, their bohemian parents, a live-in-boyfriend/ former fiance/ object of teenage desire all wound up in one dubiously deserving man, an uncle with political aspirations -- and his late wife, who was murdered while the girls were still in the teens, and whose murder the trio unfortunately witnessed.

As is usual in any fiction book, a problem arises... in this book, about five problems arise concurrently. First, the bohemian parents, while never married, have separated, necessitating the liqidation of their antiques business. Eldest Daughter is dodging the angry wife of her latest conquest. Youngest Daughter is dodging the rather psychotic aforementioned live-in boyfriend. The sisters are askance at a resurgence of interest in their late aunt's murder. And Middle Daughter, the "good child," is cajoled into help liquidate the antiques store, assisting a rather attractive and engaging appraiser hired by her mother.

In a masterful and clever way, the stories converge for an ending that's satisfying as it leaves positively no loose ends. I can't imagine the work and effort that went into this novel.

Now, I took off two stars because IN SPITE of everything, I had next to no affinity for these characters. Mostly, I wanted to spank them, or I wished that someone would stand up and say, "Hey, grownups don't act like this" and walk out. The Middle Daughter is wishy washy, the oldest and youngest are harpies, the parents are infantile, and the peripheral characters are pure stock. The only one who's vaguely interesting on his own is the engaging antiques appraiser... he'd be a good candidate to walk out. Instead, throughout the story he's vaguely amused.

I think this a book downright EXCELLENT for plot and mediocre for character... depending on your tastes, this could be a sure bet for you.

I had thoroughly enjoyed OUR HUSBAND, Stephanie Bond's earlier book, so I expected to like I THINK I LOVE YOU. Yet I more than liked it, I was awed by it.

The story was far more detailed than one expects a genre romance to be. Ms. Bond lets the reader know right from the beginning that she was inspired by the Nancy Drew mysteries of our collective youths, and I THINK I LOVE YOU is very much a Nancy Drew book for the modern woman.

The tension among the three sisters who are the focus of this novel is altogether plausible, and its history is well-explained. The separate plots concerning each of the three sisters also are compelling, and the backstory of small town Southern life is extremely interesting. I was awed by Ms. Bond's imagination and I cannot wait to read the sequel that the final pages of this novel promise already is in the works.

Justine, Regina, and Mica Metcalf are the daughters of a couple that ran an antiques store and never got married.

The summer Justine was 17 Regina was 14 and Mica was 12 they saw the murder of their Uncles wife. The vowed never to talk about it to anyone and they didnt, for 20 years.

That summer a man named Dean came to work for the girls parents. The girls liked him and soon he and Justine were an item. Several years later they were engaged, but then he left to go to California with Mica (whom he had been sleeping with for years)

Many years later Regina, Mica and Justine are back in their small North Carlina home to deal with the bankrupsy and split of their parents.

Soon thought they are dealing with somethig different when Dean comes to town and then turns out dead, and Justine is scared about the deranged wife of a man she slept with. With the help of the man hired to apraise the antiques (who just happens to be a non practicing lawyer)Justine, Mica, and Regina soon learn they need to get along to find out about the death of their Aunt and Dean and figure out if there is a connection between the two.

A very intersting book that has a surprise ending it is hard to put this book down.

I love this book. I first read it when I was a teenager, and I always thought it would make a great movie. I bought it again because I lent out my copy and never got it back and I read it again, and it was like meeting the characters for the first time. It is fun and fast and exciting and sexy and sweet. But it's also a murder mystery, so there is a little something for everyone.

Regina, Justine and Mica are unlikely sisters different from each other in every way. Regina, the studious book editor, Justine, the wild executive at a cosmetics company who never thinks twice about sleeping with a married man and Mica with the flowing locks of hair who stars as the Tara Hair girl. As a decades old murder unravels they all end up together in their parent's home. And the fighting and bickering begins.

I Think I Love You has a good story line, interesting characters but not enough depth to keep me engaged. There wasn't enough spark, for me anyway, between Regina and her love interest, Mitchell. The fact that their father's alibi was that he'd secretly checked himself into rehab seemed odd. And I figured out that Uncle Lawrence was guilty from the get go. Not much to keep me going.

Linda C. Wright
Author
One Clown Short

With each book she writes, Stephanie Bond tops herself. I THINK I LOVE YOU takes readers into the rich, darkly comic world of Monroeville, North Carolina with three sisters who are as fascinating as they are complicated. Add to the mix one sinfully sexy hero, and you've also got a top-quality romance amid a complex novel of family and family secrets.

I particularly enjoyed the characterization of the eldest sister, real... with demons that would haunt the most angelic soul. But Justine is no angel, yet I cried for her when she reached her darkest moment. That's the kicker of this book--all the characters are flawed and fascinating, from the sisters all the way down to the old man who sells antique books.

One of the best books I've read all year!

In Monroeville, North Carolina, the three sisters Justine, Regina, and Mica grow up in a strange household where their hippie parents refuse to marry though they have lived together for almost two decades and co-own M&G Antiques. The oldest high schooler Justine takes her siblings to spy on lover's lane. However, what they see frightens them as they observe someone killing their Aunt Lyla. Since they cannot identify the murderer, the three siblings agree to remain silent.

Twenty years later, the trio lives in separate parts of the country. Justine is an executive at a cosmetics firm in Pennsylvania. Regina edits nonfiction self help books in Boston. Mica is an internationally famous hair model living in Los Angeles. The threesome rarely talk to one another since the homicide incident and Mica stealing Justine's boy friend nasty Dean Haviland. However, circumstances in their lives and that of their parents bring the trio back to Monroeville where they can continue to squabble or begin the road to healing.

I THINK I LOVE YOU is no bubblegum Partridge family teen tale, but instead Stephanie Bond provides a strong look at a dysfunctional family. The story line works because the three sisters seem like real siblings struggling with rivalries, loves, and just meeting one another halfway. The schism between the trio makes the tale work though their new male interests relatively fall into place to easily. Still fans will bond with the cast and expect more lay it on the line type of relationship dramas from this talented author.

Harriet Klausner

Really - not one character in this story is worth the time it takes to read about them. The three sisters are weak willed, spoiled and completely selfish. The authority figures are stereotypical. The hero and his dog were the only two characters worth any mention, but when the hero settled for one of the two timing sisters, the author left me only the dog to cheer for.

I enjoyed this book... listened to it via audiobook. Fun light fiction, totally predictable, but entertaining nonetheless.

This is my second book by Stephanie Bond, my first being her previous GOT YOUR NUMBER, and I will continue to pick her up. She has a way of throwing the reader into a rough situation and, while still taking that situation seriously, showing the reader the comedic side.

I THINK I LOVE YOU is a story about a very self-destructive family going through one jam after another. The center being the three sisters. We see the majority of this story through Regina, the "middle child" going through the textbook (and Bond style) issues. Toss in a couple murders, a sexy appraiser, and a crotch sniffing dog and you've got yourself a hit. The only thing this reader would have enjoyed more was some added tidbits into the romances of the oldest and youngest sisters. However, I was far from disappointed. I THINK I LOVE YOU was an fast-paced read with some shocking twists, cringe worthy pranks, hair pulling brawls, and just a dab of romance. If the romance was a little lacking it was more than made up for with belly laughs. I am definitely keeping an eye on Stephanie Bond.