Too Good to Be True [Hardcover]

Sheila O'Flanagan (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 13, 2003

Within days of arriving in New York for a shopping holiday, Carey Browne has met and married Ben Russell - but not everyone at home is convinced that this is more than a holiday romance. Carey and Ben are about to discover whether they've found the kind of love that can survive a blast of reality.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

"Marry in haste, repent at leisure" might be the motto of the hapless couple who tie the knot at the start of this uneven chick-lit offering by O'Flanagan (He's Got to Go). The story begins promisingly, as Carey Browne and Ben Russell meet cute on a transatlantic flight from Dublin to New York City. After failing in an Internet venture, Ben is now the co-owner, with his sister, Freya, of a successful chain of health-food stores in the Irish capital; Carey is an air traffic controller with a penchant for fancy shoes. Initially, Carey doesn't want to get involved with Ben—she was recently burned by a relationship with a married man. But after a fun and boozy night out in Manhattan, Ben and Carey do the impulsive thing: they fly to Las Vegas and get married. Back in Dublin at a party to celebrate the newlyweds, former beaux show up and spoil the good times. At this point the author seems to lose interest in her main characters and their nonexistent chemistry, shifting the focus to Ben's sister, Freya, and her struggle to cope with the early onset of menopause. Though the Dublin setting makes for an occasional interesting detail or two, the novel suffers from erratic pacing and from the lack of spark between its protagonists, despite their instant romance.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

From Booklist

When Dublin air traffic controller Carey Browne shows up at a party in New York with a hunk she met on the plane, everyone thinks she's lucky to have scored such a hot date. But when she returns to Ireland and announces that she's married him, her friends think she's completely nuts. Away from the romance of New York streets and a whirlwind Vegas wedding, the humdrum details of everyday life threaten to burst their love-at-first-sight bubble. Oh, and there's the matter of Ben's kissing his ex-girlfriend and Carey's kissing her ex-boyfriend at a party to celebrate the marriage. As one would expect, things go horribly pear-shaped after that, and both Ben and Carey find themselves wondering what the hell they were thinking when they booked into the Chapel of Everlasting Love. But as this is a fluffy pop romance, things have a way of working themselves out. Lite, even for chick lit, but harmless. Beth Leistensnider
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 448 pages
• Publisher: Headline Hardbacks (October 13, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0747270007
• ISBN-13: 978-0747270003
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #761,090 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Can a one night stand lead to "happily ever after"?, May 22, 2006

By 

Tracy Vest (Northern California) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Too Good to be True (Paperback)

Carey and Ben meet on a trans-Atlantic flight and hit it off. After a passionate one night stand, the two impulsively head to Vegas and tie the knot. When they return to Dublin, their new-found happiness is put to the test by shocked friends, family, and former lovers.

Ben's sister Freya decides to throw them a wedding party, and invites his former lover, Leah to the celebration. Leah manages to make a spectacle of herself. Between Leah's inappropriate kiss and Ben's friends speculating how long it will take until Ben is back in Leah's bed, Carey feels humiliated. Her former lover, the much married Peter shows up at the festivities uninvited and suddenly wants to reconcile with her now that he has left his wife; she declines but not before he steals a kiss from her. When Ben sees the kiss, he assumes the worst, and rather than talk it out, Ben ignores it in hopes that it will sort itself out.

Soon, the newlyweds break up and Carey is forced to live on her own for once in her life. While a full blown divorce will take 4 years according to Irish law, in order for them both to get on with their lives, Carey offers to go to the Dominican Republic to start the dissolution proceedings, though there are still unresolved feelings between the two, and neither wants to admit feelings for the other. When Freya discovers that at 40 she is experiencing early menopause, she has no one to talk to. She forges a friendship with Carey's mom and sister, much to the displeasure of Carey and Ben. Can they ever sort it out?

O'Flanagan has penned an interesting story with charismatic characters that the reader will instantly like (and some that they will hate), as she takes the reader on a journey to discover if there is a such thing as love and first sight, as well as how two people can make a one night stand last forever.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Not as good., January 9, 2007

By 

H. Lessard "curlygirl" (Rohnert Park CA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Too Good to be True (Paperback)

This is the second book I've read from this author. The first one was He's got to go. I wasn't so impressed with this one and I felt she was dragging on the story. Also, "He's got to go" was not as predictable.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Will they, won't they?, September 30, 2007

By 

Jane Austen "Sumita CDM" (New Delhi, India) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Too Good to Be True (Paperback)

This book, Too Good to be True, revolves around Carey Browne, her family and how she takes up the decisions from her heart. The story tells us how Carey meets Ben Russell, the man she feels is the man of her dreams. Carey and Ben get married in a short period of meeting each other in the backdrop of Las Vegas.

Obviously, everybody who knows Carey and Ben are astonished to find them married at such a short notice. At the wedding party thrown by Ben's sister, Freya, things go bit haywire and Carey and Ben separate soon after their wedding.

What follows is the story as to what happens in their lives thereafter.

Why does Carey and Ben's relationship go haywire at the wedding party? Do Carey and Ben separate and divorce each other?? OR they give each other another chance to look into their relationship with a different perspective?

Read on this book to find out.

Well, this is the first book I took up by this author, Sheila O'Flanagan. Nice read. I just might take up another book to read by the same author.