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16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Never a dull moment..., February 14, 2005
This review is from: Reinventing Mona (Paperback)
Ms. Coburn graciously emailed me with the news of her second book coming out. Thank goodness, or I would have missed it-- having been placed in the "romance" section! I picked it up last night on a whim, needing something that would provide an original, lively story. How lucky I was to guess right!
Mona lived in a commune in Montana where her family and others tried to create lives for themselves without counting on "outside" jobs and income. They lived off of the land, sold hand-made objects, and tried to create a peaceful world for their children.
When tragedy strikes, Mona has no other choice but to move to San Diego with her "grammy," in a house that could be compared to Gone with the Wind's "Tara."
Mona feels like her life or her personality has not brought her much excitement, but she receives the opportunity of a lifetime: to take an early retirement from her engineering job. Only then does she decide to "reinvent" herself, and marry the man of her dreams.
Her best friend Greta tells her to look within for true happiness, but Mona ignores this advice and looks to Adam as her salvation. (he has done her taxes for seven years) Not having too much experience with men, Mona finds "The Dog," aka Mike, who writes a column in "Maximum for Men" and he tells the truth about what men want from women. She hires this man as her coach. (while completely aware that this man acts like a misogynist) Suddenly, her life changes. She joins a woman's soccer league, takes a stripping class, and singing lessons, while trying to trap Adam into loving her.
Have you ever felt that maybe you were in love with the *idea* of someone rather than the person himself? Have you ever wanted to be completely different, only to discover that your "real self" was already inside of you?
Though I was a little disappointed with the "out there" scene during the musical, I was happy to know that hours flew by as I finished the book in two sittings.
So far, she has written 2 out of 2 books that have satisfied me. Please write more!
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10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Scheming, Fashion, and Exercise Oh My!, June 28, 2005
This review is from: Reinventing Mona (Paperback)
Thirty-year-old Mona Warren feels as if nothing is going her way for one very important reason: she is duller than dull. The bore in boring. A "mustard stain on a Sears tweed couch," so to speak. So Mona decides to change up her personality, attitude, and looks in order to win over the guy she's crushing on. But it's harder than it looks. First comes exercise, then carrot juice, white teeth, straight hair, clothes that actually fit, and voila, a brand new Mona. She's finally ready to get the guy of her dreams. The problem? She's clueless about winning him over, so she calls in Mike "The Dog" Dougherty. Mike is a writer for "Maximum for Him" magazine, penning the monthly column "The Dog House." While Mona despises him, and everything that he stands for, he seems to be the ideal person to coach her in snagging the man of her dreams. That is, until she realizes that Mike might just be the man of her dreams, throwing her completely off track.
I adored Jennifer Coburn's THE WIFE OF REILLY, so it came as no shock to me that REINVENTING MONA rivaled her previous contribution to the writing world in many ways - humor, style, and characters. Mona is a hilarious character who is stylish, fashionable, and totally clueless, which is a nice combination, if I do say so myself. Her personality is wacky, at the same time as compassionate, and the crazy situations she gets herself into border on insane. Overall, this is a fabulous new addition to the chick lit genre that will be hard for all to put down.
Erika Sorocco
Book Review Columnist for The Community Bugle Newspaper
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10 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Manipulative, crazy female meets misogynistic male...., August 20, 2006
This review is from: Reinventing Mona (Paperback)
....and it was true love. Shudder. I really expected the best from this book. The premise was so great, but the execution was so terribly awful. Mona, the main character was poorly fleshed out, and, while I truly felt sad for the tragedy in her past, I found that she was so consistently disengaged from her own life, that I could not empathize like I wanted to. I had hoped that with the word "reinventing" in the title, I would see some sort of cathartic metamorphosis in her character, but she seemed to stay the same. I thought that at the very least, I would get detailed accounts of her physical makeover, fashion choices, and lifestyle changes, but felt that there were many missed opportunities to add color to the story. I hated the F-bombs dropped so frequently by more than just the main character. Come on, puhleease, write me a real dialogue! Put some effort into it! A steady stream of obscenities is just a signal to me that I, the reader, was not worth the effort.
As for the Mike, the male lead, so to speak, he simply came across as a misogynist of the highest degree. Having Mona keep saying that "there was more to him than that" did not make it apparent to my mind. I could not see what either saw in each other. She came across as seriously whacked and manipulative, and he was absolutely the worst the male world could possibly offer, an insult to men everywhere. Stereotypes and cliches abounded. It was a wasted opportunity for the author, and a waste of my time. Sorry.
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