3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Six Reasons to Stay a Virgin, December 18, 2006
This review is from: Six Reasons to Stay a Virgin (Paperback)
Emily would never have run into Sam Mills again, if it hadn't been for that wasp in the changing room-or at least, is she had, she might have been wearing more than a pair of pink knickers. And she wouldn't have found out that Sam's brother, Oliver, was back in town and quit her job at a moment's notice because she'd told him she would.
Oliver is the man she's been saving herself for-ever since the make-out session they had at the beach when she was sixteen. And the only use she has for Sam is to ask him about Oliver-much to his disappointment-although he dutifully tells her what he knows.
Louise Harwood handles this sweet tale of a woman's slow realization of the right man for her with a light, tender, and slightly quirky touch. Emily, like most of us, is slow to let go of the past and see what is right before her. Oliver at last begins to see her as she's always dreamed, and as he moves to lay claim to her, Sam asks her to stay with him for the day-something they both know is a test of who she will choose.
With a tidily offbeat and satisfying ending, Harwood proves that true love doesn't have to win out in the expected ways in order to triumph in the end. A rose is a rose by any name-or any means used to reach it. Recommended.
Reviewed by Lee M
Copyright © 2006 CK2S Kwips and Kritiques. All rights reserved.
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3.0 out of 5 stars
Forgettable romance; be prepared to read constantly about characters' reactions to her continued virginity., February 13, 2011
This review is from: Six Reasons to Stay a Virgin (Paperback)
The story was cute, definitely predictable. Good descriptions, but the thing that irked me was that everything was about her virginity. Her friends would debate why she was still a virgin and created a plot to help her find romance, or if that didn't work, at least lose her virginity. Then, they stated that one sort-of-friend treated her differently, because she was a virgin and it allegedly reminded her of her past sex mistakes.
Maybe the reason she'd never had sex was because she was still waiting for the one who got away.
She had a very close relationship with her brother, and they even had conversations over the fact that she was a virgin. The way it's written is still somewhat believable, but definitely not like any brother/sister relationship I know. I mean, if you bought that adult siblings would discuss this, then you'd think the brother would say something along the lines of "well, many guys just want one thing, so why not be picky about who you give it to." Instead, he's just like "well, you know what you want, just make sure your reasons for wanting to wait for the right guy are still true reasons." Very reasonable, but not exactly the brother protectiveness you might expect a brother to feel for a sister.
Other non-main character men wanted her, because she was a challenge. "Oh my God, it's the woman who's never had sex. I want to be her first."
And, so the other thing that it made me ask is: Why is it that everyone knows that she's a virgin, seeing as how it seems that her entire world knows? I would presume that usually adult women don't announce to everyone they know that they have decided to remain a virgin. Perhaps for the religious type, but not when your friends are a group of bar-going girls.
And you'd think a few people would just label her something like "prudish" and dismiss that aspect of her life. (How interesting is it to discuss someone's lack of sex life really?).
So, basically, the book states most people have sex before marriage; they don't wait until their mid-20s; and most of the time, that first time is not good.
Thus, you can hopefully see that the book is pretty one-dimensional, even for chic lit books. The only other aspect of her life you really find out about is a little about her family history and her desire to open a shop by the ocean named Saltwater. (And, the constant references to her virginity really weren't necessary for the tale, especially the fact that other nameless men wanted her because of the challenge. In fact, since one character does end up wanting her for this reason, the point is overly driven home).
But I still enjoyed the romantic tale, and that's why I can rate it as okay. I think you actually get to know the man she doesn't pick though better than the man she did end up with. I do think though I might have stopped reading, or skimmed the book, if it hadn't been that I just wanted to see how she ended up with the right guy. Probably, in all odds, a lot of the middle could be skipped as fluff.
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