Customer Reviews

Something Borrowed (Romantic Comedies (Mass Market))

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

 

 

Ava Hamilton has a front row ticket to the wedding of the season...that of Camille, her sister. Everything at home is in total chaos because of the event. Her sister is making her wear the Pink Horror. Pink is so not Ava's color, and the dress is hideous. To top it off, her boyfriend, Lance, has just broken up with her, by phone!

Ava is fit to be tied and complains to her best friend, Teresa. Teresa tells Ava that there's nothing wrong with going stag to the wedding. But Ava refuses to have everyone look at her with pity, thinking she can't get a date to her own sister's wedding.

So, Ava begins a quest with two weeks to go before the wedding. She has Teresa take her to the University of Pennsylvania's campus. There, Ava meets Zoom and they hit it off. He agrees to go with her to the wedding, but has to cancel after a freak BMX accident.

Next, Ava is convinced by Teresa's boyfriend, Jason, to ask out Oliver, the lead singer of the Manyunk Mucus, a local up-and-coming band. Much to Ava's surprise, Oliver agrees to go out with her, and then to accompany her to the wedding. After another freak incident, this one involving Ava's naked mom in the pool house, Oliver is long gone.

Such is the luck of Ava over the next two weeks. Finally, the night before her best friend is due to leave for a month-long internship in Germany, Ava asks Teresa if she can "borrow" her boyfriend. Ava's not a fan of Jason, but he's attractive, and has been a huge help with running errands for Camille's wedding. Ava doesn't realize, though, that maybe the reason she wasn't a fan of Jason was because secretly she was attracted to him.

Reading Ava's misadventures in dating over the two-week span is enough to make anyone thankful that it's not happening to them! Ms. Hapka writes an amusing story of the trials of one girl trying to get one date to a wedding she'd rather not have to attend!

Reviewed by: Jaglvr

Simon Pulse Romantic Comedies are always a fun read. These books are not necessarily the best written novels but the stories are always fun and you know you will get a happy ending. I think some adult romances could take a note from these books b/c they are characterized well which is much of the battle in writing any novel since you want your characters, for the most part, to be endearing and relatable.

II really enjoyed reading this teen romantic comedy. I actually did laugh out loud a few times. I lvoed the characters and it was a really fun read. I definitely recommend it!

SOMETHING BORROWED
CATHERINE HAPKA
YA Romance

Rating: 5 Enchantments

Happy-go-lucky Ava is the maid of honor for her sister Camilla's upcoming wedding, an extremely stressful role considering Camilla's Bridezilla-like tendencies. As if dealing with her crazy sister isn't enough, Ava's boyfriend Lance dumps her only two weeks before the wedding. Now Ava has to scramble to find a hot a fun date.

This normally wouldn't be a problem for Ava because she knows how to catch a guy's eye, but she just doesn't seem to be having any luck this time. The wedding looms ever closer, but something always goes wrong with every potential date Ava lands. With no other options left, Ava asks her best friend Theresa if she can borrow Theresa's boyfriend Jason, a guy Ava doesn't even particularly like, to be her date to the wedding; to her, this is much better than going stag. To Ava's surprise, though, the night with Jason turns out to be much more than she bargained for.

I really enjoyed reading SOMETHING BORROWED; it was fun, flirty, and cute. I did find it a little strange that Ava made it her number-one-priority to find a date, because there are definitely more important things in life than that, but I did admire her loyalty to her sister Camilla and best friend Theresa. Plus, Ava had a pretty good sense of humor. It was fun to read along as Ava tried to fix Camilla's all-too-frequent nervous breakdowns or pick up another hottie. My one minor annoyance was actually over the not-completely-appropriate title; Ava doesn't resort to borrowing anyone until t the very last portion of the story. Nevertheless, SOMETHING BORROWED was a very enjoyable read that kept me giggling.

Catherine Hapka has written more books than her character Ava has picked up guys. Her other novels include The Twelve Dates of Christmas and Love on Cue of the Simon Pulse Romantic Comedies as well as books for various series.

Rachael Stein
Enchanting Reviews
August 2008

I bought this book because I saw the movie preview and I LOVE Kate Hudson. I did not like this book. My main complaint is that even though this is an adultish topic, weddings, dates, things like that, this book seems to be written for a teeager. My 15 year old picked it right up. It is really not for a grown up.