Customer Reviews

One True Love? (Harlequin Flipside)

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

 

 

This is one of the introductory books in Harlequin's new Flipside line that promises to be "fun, witty, unexpected". I liked the premise of the book: Corrine decides to teach her two timing boyfriend a lesson by dumping him and then going on a two week vacation so he can see what life is like without her and beg her to come back to him. Corrine's best friend Matthew is in love with Corrine so he show up on her vacation determined to win over her heart before she goes back to the sleazebag. Matthew is a great character and could win over any woman. There were some amusing scenes when Matthew and Corrine were trying to get together and everything went wrong. The problem I had with this book is that I didn't like Corrine. She was to self-centered and I couldn't see any reason that Matthew would love her. She was very condescending toward Matthew for most of the book. The book is OK but I can't highly recommend it.

Having read some rather profound books lately, I decided to give a fun and light romantic comedy a whirl. One True Love? is the first offering from Harlequin Flipside, an imprint devoted to fun and witty romance novels. One True Love? delivers a droll, page-turning story of a woman looking for her one true love. No sooner does she appear to find Mr. Right than an old friend comes along and turns her life upside down...

The writing is simple, fun and lighthearted. The novel reads like a romantic comedy film. The book's plot is a cross between When Harry Met Sally and While You Were Sleeping. I almost imagined Meg Ryan or Sandra Bullock starring in the film version of this book. Are you in the bargain for a cute romantic comedy? Pick up this book! I shall look forward to reading Flipside's next offering.

Corinne Weatherby believes everyone has one true love, one person they're destined for. It's not her fault that her true love is a womanizing creep. Desperate to make him see that he needs to change his ways, she dumps him and leaves for a solitary vacation. But her buddy Matthew Relic tags along. He's a good time, a good friend and as the vacation progresses Corinne discovers that maybe she was wrong about Matthew. Maybe he's more than a friend...

Stephanie Doyle's beachside caper was just the thing to warm a cold fall day!!

So far I'm not impressed with the new Harlequin Flipside line. I read the first one and it was just ok. Nothing that I would recommend. This was worse. I couldn't tolerate the main character. I thought Matthew could do so much better. Hopefully the other books in the series are much better.

I started this, then put it down, later picked it up for a day or so, then put it down. Somehow Corinne just didn't get me excited about her love life. There were some funny moments, so I won't entirely bad-mouth the book. It feels like a romance author trying to jazz up her book to fit the chick lit label.
I go back to see if Kinsella has a new book out yet.

This is another in the flipside series (fun, witty , unexpected). This is her fourth endeavor to write romances. Corinne is a dramatic, "hyper" single who needs a man to calm her down, not control but to rely on -- Matt, an office chum. Though an accountant, he shows her what lurks underneath his calming exterior.

Do you remember your first love? Odds are that he disappeared to another world, another place and settled down with someone else. But you didn't die or wither away. Although he was your 'one true love,' he got lost and you think of him at the oddest times. Like me, you might have gone 'home' again, expecting him to be there waiting for you. It doesn't work -- maybe he forgot you; whatever, he chose someone and some place else. And we just have to accept the fact of man's folly. They will always take the better deal, the female who offers them more financially.

Corinne decides to go on a two-week vacation to search for #1, the person who makes her heart beat faster and her insides melt like jello. Matt proves that you don't have to run off in search of Mr. Right when perhaps a little jolt can show Corinne he is there, ready to be her 'one true love.'

Stephanie Doyle, author, single, has the silly idea that if she waits (while writing 'dreams'), he will "sweep her off her feet." These days, a woman does not sit and wait; she goes out and makes her own selection, but be sure he's the one man you constantly have in your thoughts and heart. Otherwise, it just won't work.

Corrine has a problem. She believes that every person has one true love, and she has found her love, a co-worker named Brandon. Brandon, however, is not too concerned about settling down, and in fact flirts with just about every girl he can! Corrine decides that she needs to take action, and she announces that she's leaving Brandon - but, in reality, she is only leaving for two weeks on vacation to a beautiful tropical island. Corrine's best friend, Matthew, tags along on the vacation, determined to show her that HE is her one true love, not Brandon.

At first, I thought this book had real potential. I was really looking forward to the new Flipside line, as I like contemporary and witty romances. I like to laugh when I'm reading a romance! And although I did laugh a few times, most of the time I was wondering when the book was actually going to get good. Unfortunately, it never really did. Although Matthew is a great character - charming, funny, loyal, intelligent - he is in love with Corrine, a completely unlikeable character. Most of the time, I just wanted to slap her, and I didn't root for her to get together with Matthew. Quite frankly, I was hoping that Matthew would meet some nice girl on the island and leave Corrine in the dust (or, in this case, the sand).

I never saw what Matthew liked in Corrine. To me, she was a childish brat who was prone to wild ideas and too much dramatics. Her whole reasoning behind the "one true love" stance was just plain odd, and I never got into her melodramatic life. I also never got what she saw in Brandon, or really WHY she had to cling to him, but of course, I could say the same thing about many of my girlfriends' men, too. I did finish the book, with much relief (as I absolutely CANNOT start a book and then not finish it). This book is going in the yardsale next spring!

In Haddonfield, New Jersey financial controller Corinne Weatherby puts on a show as she angrily tells her boyfriend Brendan that she will no longer see the womanizer. Her award winning theatrical family would give Corinne an Oscar for her performance. However, they do not see her act; instead inadvertently in the file room overhearing the recital is CPA Matthew "Ole" Relic. He silently applauds Corinne because he loves her.

Corinne goes to the Bahamas by herself, but Matthew soon follows. After almost dying from a bullet wound during a hold-up of a convenience store he patronized, Matthew vows to live life to the fullest and Corinne is it to him. They soon agree to have a holiday affair, but when they return to New Jersey she will go back to her true love Brendan. However, Corinne soon realizes that the kind Matthew is who see wants not the shallow Brendan. However, Matthew believes Brendan won so he plans to move elsewhere because he cannot stay where he will see the philanderer with his beloved.

Though Corinne's theatrics makes her seem immature and unsympathetic at first, readers like Matthew, see beyond the performer and find she is a caring person. Still the constant on stage shrill takes it toll from an overall delightful romance made so by the lead male character who struggles with living life to the fullest as he is by nature an unassuming individual. Wardrobe aside, between insubstantial Brendan and the deep nurturing Matthew here is no contest for any woman who wants the real thing to warm her not a statuette of some "uncle".

Harriet Klausner