Customer Reviews

She Went All the Way

5 star:		(21)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(11)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

It's been a long time since I read a romance novel. It's been even longer since I've read a GOOD romance novel. Vampires and highlanders and viscounts, oh my! Give me a break! Same (...), Different Author.

How am I supposed to believe that two people who just met two days ago have already fallen madly and passionately in love? Well, Cabot starts off on the right foot, by establishing that her characters have known each other for years--they just haven't liked each other. At all. There's a foundation there already, rather than having one slapped together in a week or less.

The characters themselves are great, too. Lou (short for Louise, good lord) is a fairly typical staple of Cabot's adult contemporary books: creative, independent, intelligent. This isn't really a bad thing, though, for two reason. One is that even though these female characters have the same basic personality traits, they all have different habits and histories to explain them. The second is that they're a hell of a lot more likable than some of the characters from Cabot's recent young adult work. I liked Lou. I'd like to slap Mia.
Being a writer myself, one who is rather familiar with Lou's feeling of observing life, writing life, but never living life, I found someone I could relate to in a romance novel--for once. She's fun and spunky, a little naive, with a lot of defense mechanisms, including a sharp-edged sense of humor. Romance novel heroines have this habit of falling under one trait: independent or innocent or intelligent, etc. Not Lou, who is a refreshing mishmash of all those things.

And thank god for Jack. Finally! Jack is a womanizer who doesn't want to commit. Note here I say "doesn't want to" rather than "is afraid", because for most of the book, he isn't afraid of commitment. And the reason for all this? HE'S A MAN! Cabot doesn't make any excuses for Jack. He wasn't beaten as a child, he didn't have his heart broken, he's just a guy. A somewhat misguided but over all nice guy.
Jack develops a fear to commit when he realizes that, if it's with Lou, he'd like to. Why, you ask? Again, it's simple: he's a guy. An American male, which we all know is not a species generally encouraged to express or even understand their emotions. This is not the horrible thing romance novelists and their audiences seem to think it is. There doesn't need to be an excuse for a guy to be promiscuous or cold or insenstive. Give it a rest already, would ya?

And while a number of current romance authors like to pussyfoot around the sex matter, Cabot just goes for it. The over all lack of stupid metaphors that imply something, rather than describe it, was nice.

Some people think the plot was improbable. So, what...vampires aren't improbable? There's very little on the romance shelves that is probable. At least this was enjoyable.
Oh, and the Hindenburg thing? Hilarious! I hated that damn song, too, Meg!

When screenwriter, Lou Calabrese's, boyfriend of 10-years takes off with an actress he worked with in Lou Calabrese's hit screenplay, and gets married, she is absolutely stunned. Ten years together, and he was never able to commit, but suddenly he's married. If that weren't bad enough, she's forced to sit on a plane with Jack Townsend, the absolute hottest guy in Hollywood, who's ex-girlfriend just happens to be the woman who took off with Lou's man. But, could there be a romance for these two written in the stars?

This is an absolutely fantastic book. Meggin Cabot has done it yet again, only this time it's with her very first contemporary romance. Lou is a very enjoyable character, and her best friend, Vicky, is absolutely hilarious (even if she is a little materialistic). Fans of Meggin's previous work, "The Boy Next Door" will relish in this fantastic romance.

Erika Sorocco

This was a first time read for me by this author and I found it to be not only a fast read but fun and sexy as well. The two main characters are great. The character development was done real well so you understood where the characters were coming from.

Lou is a screenwriter who has several hit movies under her belt. She has just been dumped by her long-term boyfriend (10 years) for someone else he can commit to. She is now on location in Alaska for the last of her screenplays "Copkiller IV". The problem is she finds herself with Hollywood badboy Jack Townsend after an incident involving a gun, helicopter, and a man off of his rocker lost on Mt. Kinley. Apparently she not the only one that wants him dead. Actually not dead maybe maimed. Not only is he an actor (the horror of that) but he also broke her best friends heart and this is the reason behind her thinking.

Jack is not what the tabloids or Hollywood has portrayed him to be. In fact he would be glad to give up the glitter for a normal life and a chance to find the perfect someone. Little does he know he is about to be trapped on a snowy mountain with that someone.

It was fun to read how theys two opposits come together and the laughs are plentiful. Jack's mom and Lou's dad not to mention Alssandro the Yorkie add plenty of laughs as secondary characters. This is a real treat that you don't want to miss.

After a read like The Boy Next Door I wondered if Meggin could top herself. She's proven she can with She Went All The Way.

Meet Lou Calabrese, screenwriter of the famous Copkiller movies and Hindenberg, the film that catapulted the career of her boyfriend of 10 years, Bruno de Blaise aka Barry Kimmel. When Barry runs off and gets married to his co-star in Hindenburg Lou is devastated and believes her life could get no worse. That is of course until she ends up getting trapped with her worst enemy, Jack Townsand, in the middle of the Alaskan wilderness after an attempt on Jack's life goes wrong.

This of course is the most horrid thing that could ever happen to Lou. She isn't prepared for the fact that there are people on snowmobiles trying to kill her. But what she's even less prepared for is the passion that ignites between her and Jack.

This book was hilarious, sexy, and fun. I loved it! I thoroughly enjoyed all the charecters and I can't wait for Meggin's next novel.

Do you enjoy fast dialogue and action? Do you dream of hot sex in the cold Alaskan winter? Then this one's for you! Meggin Cabot, aka Patricia Cabot, aka Meg Cabot of the wonderful Princess Diaries has written another winner. Screenwriter Lou(ise) Calabrese gets stuck with the detestable (or so she would like to think) actor Jack Townsend, America's hottest hunk, when a plot to murder Jack strands them together in the Alaskan wilderness. Worse, Lou and Jack have both recently been publicly dumped, and their famous exes have run off together to get married. It's a tabloid sensation. Although Lou and Jack at first dislike each other, they are unable to control the passion that sparks between them.

Ms. Cabot is a wonder with both characterization and pithy remarks, and the combination results in a delightful read that you won't want to put down. It's fast, fun and sexy. Great romance.

I have had an up and down relationship with Cabot over the years, although I'd say my overall outlook still remains positive. I have read many of her other books (Boy Meets Girl, The Boy Next Door, and Heather Wells mysteries being my favorites), but somehow I had never gotten around to reading her earlier book.

She Went All the Way was and simple and fun read - but it was certainly nothing more than that. At many times, I found the writing a little too basic. Others, too reliant on a cliche. At times, I found it out and out repetitive. Also way, and at times WAY, too idealistic. A secluded house with steaks in the freezer, a bar (a bar!) around a corner in the Alaskan wilderness) - it all seemed a little far-fetched. As, to be honest, did the revelation of the "mystery." It never really made sense to me.

That all being established, if you are a fan of Cabot and haven't yet, give it a read and see what you think. If not, take comfort (as I do), as this was her first book of the adult variety, that she and her writing did, indeed, grow up.

Romance, action and adventure. If you like those things then you will like this book.

Unlike her other adult geared books this one is a bit more graphic about sex. So, consider that if buying for a younger Cabot fan. It isn't that detailed but it is more so than any of her other books, where she gives the start and finish of the act but leaves out the middle.

I enjoyed that the story sometimes got told from different perspectives. Mostly it was just Lou and Jack but you got glimpes of just about all the other characters.

Definetly a good vacation or bubble bath book.

I love Meg Cabot. Her books are all incredible. I love to write and one day I hope I am half as incredible as she is.
This book is my favorite of her books, easily, and I have to my knowledge read them all. I love the character of Lou because she is strong and independent. The thought of her having to shoot the guy on the snow mobile instead of Jack cracked me up. I loved how she set up the book by showing Lou through her family and friends first.
Jack is an interesting character, because he is an actor and just the kind of actor you wish real actors were like. The kind that is willing to settle down after a while, can write their own lines, can stay out of the Holly Wood scene trying to get their picture taken, and he doesn't do drugs.
I loved the part where her brothers are in the car, it showed a nice family element.
The idea of surviving stranded in the wilds of Alaska was cool, but unlikely, over all it was just a neat idea.

There are not many humorous books that I give a five star rating. On top of that, there are few books that carry such a ridiculous name as "She Went All the Way" that I would actually attempt to carry around with me to read. After all, I would get some strange looks from many friends if they saw the cover. How could I convince them that underneath that very misleading name, sat a very well done, sophisticated, contemporary romance comedy with characters that actually have depth and a mystery that keeps you guessing until the end!

This book was just plain fun. My first impression was only okay because I was distracted by the setting up of so many secondary characters. But that investment in those characters is well worth it. Just because they get a lot of attention in the beginning of the book does not mean that is the way of the book. The relationship between Jack and Lou, the hero and heroine, is definitely the thrust of this story. Most of the pages are dedicated to this relationship with the secondary characters only adding some zest here and there. And if you have read any of my reviews, you know that the time allowed for the leads to develop their relationship is an important criteria for a favorable rating.

Lou Calebrese is a academy award winning screen writer. She has written her successful screenplays for six years and is well entrenched in the ways of Hollywood. Her boyfriend of ten years (since high school) has just left her after she had written a screenplay, Hindenburg, for him as lead actor. Hindenburg was a huge hit and made him a super star. Now he has eloped with his Hindenburg co-star. Lou has developed a rather cynical attitude towards the male species since this break up. One thing she vows to never do again is date another actor. And she means it! Really, really, really!

Jack Townsend is a yummy and highly popular actor. Lou has written the screenplay for four of Jack's movies - all which have been giant hits. Jack is known for dating and leaving woman after woman and has, in fact, left a large number behind. He had proclaimed in a rare interview once that he did not believe in monogamy and did not intend to marry. However, Jack is a fairly reclusive man. He has a ranch away from LA and spends every day he can there. He dislikes Hollywood and all its games. He is actually a pretty nice guy and not near as arrogant as he seems once we start to hear things from his side. He has always admired a beautiful screen writer, Lou Calebrese, but realizes she does not like him at all. He is actually annoyed at her dislike of him because he has never had a lady dislike him before. After all, he does realize he is charming and he does love a lady's company and - oh yeah - he isn't conceited about it either. It's just fact and that is how he sees it. When his former girlfriend, the costar of the smash hit, Hindenburg, elopes with Lou's ex-boyfriend, it is a huge media frenzy. No one knows that Jack doesn't really care and has moved on prior to the unexpected elopement.

One day, while filming a movie in Alaska, Jack and Lou find it necessary to share a helicopter ride to the set. During this ride, the pilot attempts to kill Jack and the helicopter crashes in the woods of Mount McKinley. Jack and Lou escape the pilot but find themselves running for their lives, through the Alaska wilderness, in the midst of two large snow storms. As Jack and Lou are forced to interact, Lou is wise-cracking and putting down Jack every chance she gets. Jack, on the other hand, is treating Lou kindly - however she may interpret it. Jack has decided that Lou really intrigues him and begins an attempt to break down her defenses. It's a fun and sometimes hilarious ride as these two outmaneuver the bad guys and fight the weather. As the two grow closer, there are a few sensual scenes that rate a solid 4.0 out of 5.0 (see More About Me for rating guidelines).

I have read this author under the name of Patricia Cabot. It is my understanding that Cabot writes her contemporary novels under the name of Meggin Cabot and her historical novels as Patricia Cabot. I have enjoyed her historical novels tremendously - they contain a certain subtle humor that thoroughly entertains me. I have already gone online and ordered another of Cabot's books written as Meggin because, despite the name, She Went All the Way, this was a fantastic book and I want to find more like it!

This book was so full of cliches - the characters themselves and the lines of dialogue - that it was difficult to get into the story at all. The entire premise of why the heroine (Lou) absolutely hates the hero (Jack) so much in the first place was pretty silly and it was brought up time and time again, which ended up making the Lou somewhat unlikeable. The preponderance of often inaccurate Hollywood clichés started to grate after awhile.

Additionally, the premise is that these two characters crashed in a helicopter in the middle of Alaska during a snowstorm. However, because Jack and especially Lou didn't take their dangerous situation seriously - constantly arguing or discussing things that are totally irrelevant to survival - it is hard to get into the excitement or the danger that should have been in that type of plot scenario. One example: they need to start a fire so they don't freeze to death. Jack wants to look in the pockets of the unconscious pilot (who previously had pulled a gun on them and wanted to kill them). Lou insistently tries to talk him out of going through the guy's pockets because it seems creepy and wrong to her to search the pockets of an unconscious person. Huh? They're in danger of dying and she thinks it seems wrong to look for a lighter in his pockets. Basically, there are lots of contrived arguments like this. I assume that these disagreements over arbitrary matters were supposed to be funny, but none of them struck me as particularly witty, so it just seemed odd.

I have read chick lit books that were silly and over the top that worked, but this one just did not work for me and I ended up quickly skimming the last 1/3 of it.

Because I like to always say something good in my reviews, I will say that it was a colorful, light-hearted, fast, and breezy read.