Customer Reviews

Starting From Scratch (Harlequin Next)

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

 

 

Thoroughly enjoyed this book. Love reading about the publishing world. Like reading about a 40-something woman who has achieved her goals and due to life's events has to re-invent herself. This book had all the ingredients that I look for in a good book.

The characters were fully developed, Elisha, Rocky (her boss, really liked him)and the two girls. Fell in love with Ryan Sutherland myself. Knew that he had met his match in Elisha. It's heartening to know that love may be around the corner for 40-somethings as well if we only have the courage.

Five stars!

I found Starting From Scratch (Next Tall) as an e-book at my library and although I am unfamiliar with this romance category line, I decided to check it out although I've never been much impressed with Marie Ferrarella's work in the past.

But wow. This one is a keeper. As soon as I finished it, I came to Amazon and I will be putting it on my Wish List for future purchase as soon as I finish this review because it was that good.

Elisha Reed is a never-been-married, 40-something book editor with a self-confidence-challenged boss (who would be perfect for her if only he weren't gay), an older author who has become a good friend, a widowed brother with two daughters, an ambitious former assistant, and a newly-assigned-to-her hot shot, former Navy SEAL author who doesn't like edits or second drafts.

To get this author, Ryan Sutherland, to try and improve his manuscript, they make a wager that if she can beat him at poker, then he'll try things her way.

But personal life gets in the way when tragedy strikes her small family and both she and Ryan are forced to meet each other under slightly new conditions.

Starting From Scratch (Next Tall) isn't just a romance, although the romance of Elisha and Ryan is tasteful, sexy, funny and very well done.

What won me over to this novel (and makes me want to keep it on my shelf) is how Ferrarella developed Elisha's story with her brother, Henry, and how that relationship affects her will bring out the best in her and in the people who surround her, including the hardnosed Ryan.

But oh man, Henry. He is the one who broke my heart and in all the right ways. The passage of Elisha with her ill brother and his two daughters as they went to Disneyland was something special to read and it turned what could have been an average book into a poignant treat.

If there is a flaw in the novel is that the ending could have been longer to draw in the happiness of the others when Elisha and Ryan get their "happy ending" because this is one story where Elisha and Ryan really were part of a greater whole.

But that's just a minor flaw to me and not enough for me to knock the book down from a 5-star rating. From the heartfelt bond between Henry and Elisha to the humorous inside take of the publishing industry to the realistic but not over-angsted transition of Elisha with her two nieces to the equal-and-sexy sparring between Elisha and her Ryan, there is much to commend this novel and recommend to others.

And I do recommend this book to others. The reader might need a hanky or two, but the reader will have a smile the whole way through.

It was truly a pleasure to read.

Randolph & Sons forty-six years old editor Elisha Jane Reed enjoys working at the prestigious publishing house though her personal life is going nowhere. She rationalizes that she has all she needs with her widowed brother and his two daughters fifteen years old Andrea and ten years old Beth who live near her. Her current gala is the release of what is expected to be a blockbuster written by Ex SEAL Ryan Sutherland.

However, as she throws herself 24/7 to insure her new author succeeds, tragedy strikes when her beloved brother Henry informs her he has pancreatic cancer. Stunned Elisha has no time to cry as she now must remain optimistic though the disease is fast and fatal if not for her, than for Henry and her nieces. Her philosophy of dealing with problems fail miserably as it does trying to coax Ryan to behave like a proper best selling writer should. So what does a stressed out editor do, simply throw out the rule book and STARTING FROM SCRATCH and dive head first into a sweet tooth delight.

The story line takes its time to introduce the audience to the prime players, but once readers learn Henry has cancer, the tale becomes a deep character study focusing on coping when your life is turned upside down; instead of looking up at the next rung, you try not to fall any lower as the ooze beneath the ladder is in your vision. Ryan abetted by Henry and his children bring out the worse in a beleaguered, bewildered, and beheaded Elisha who feels she must have played football without a helmet as she poorly adjusts, in spite of her caring efforts, to a shift in reality.

Harriet Klausner

This is a contemporary romance published by the Next imprint of Harlequin. It's sort of a hen lit romance. The heroine is over 40.

Lise is a controlling book editor whose life is work, work, work. Her boss is gay, which evidently is the exact same thing as wimp. Not a very substantial character there. The editor has some sort of enemy in a younger protege, who, according to Lise, is out to get her job. Near as I could tell this conclusion was based only on the fact the protege was flirty. Yeah? So what? If this girl is going to be an antagonist, at least show the reader why.

Anyway, Lise's life is upended when her brother dies, leaving her to raise her two nieces. Fully half of the book concerns the brother's death, and nearly no attention is given to developing the character of the children. The girls have no real existence, though ultimately we're supposed to feel Lise's great love for them. How can she love (or sacrifice for) cardboard people? Evidently there is no telecommuting possible in this universe. It's either her editor job or caring for the school-aged kids. She cannot do both. What a conundrum!

Complicating matters is one of her authors is a macho, former black ops guy. I liked him. The interaction between Lise and Mr. Tough guy was charming. However, the story action is frequently stopped by back story. Okay, so Mr. Macho is about to kiss Lise. And the next chapter is NOT a continuation of the kiss--but a long narrative about the scene we just read about through his eyes, followed by a history of his love life, and then after ten pages of this, the kiss.

The thing I liked least about this story was the take-home-lesson. Here it is: If you're over forty, and feeling a little fat and ugly, just put on a little makeup, wear your niece's short skirt and you'll get your man. Shouldn't these stories be about triumphing over age--without deceit?
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