3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Couldn't get into it, November 6, 2010
I usually don't like to write negative reviews, and the fact that I found it silly is probably because I'm on a Ken Follat kick and his books are really deep. I just didn't like it, too simple and too ditsy. It actually read like a 13 year old's diary would if she was trying to sound like a mature 32 year old. Sorry, glad everyone else seemed to like it though.
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5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
entertaining chick lit tale, March 31, 2010
This review is from: The Two Lives of Miss Charlotte Merryweather: A Novel (Mass Market Paperback)
A decade ago twenty-one years old American college grad Charlotte Merryweather arrived in London. She quickly realized she was an uncouth moron when it came to class and style. Thus she reengineered herself from the idiot with the scrunchie hairdo into the guru of style.
Now thirtyish Charlotte seeks a new home for her and her long time boyfriend while she and her office assistant Beatrice try to persuade a perspective new client to go with her company. However, she is stunned on the morning commute when she sees someone in a battered ugly orange Beetle who looks like her ten years ago. Unable to resist, Charlotte follows her younger self doppelganger home. She soon realizes this is her as twenty-one years old Lottie the loser. Thinking she has a second chance to avoid the stupid mistakes she made back then, Charlotte plans to mentor herself but begins to learn that her choices were super a decade ago as they led to her success; but recently have been poor as she had forgotten the lessons learned.
This is an entertaining chick lit tale in which the mature Lottie learns much more than her naive younger version. Although time paradox issues are ignored, the two Lottie's make for a charming tale as the thirtyish woman begins to understand that she got to where she is today due to the unsophisticated twentyish version. Readers will enjoy this fine tale as the older heroine learns life lessons.
Harriet Klausner
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Cutesy, Charming, and English, February 21, 2011
This review is from: The Two Lives of Miss Charlotte Merryweather: A Novel (Mass Market Paperback)
The Two Lives of Miss Charlotte Merryweather is the sort of book you want on a long plane ride or by the pool. It is cotton candy reading, fluffy and cute and insubstantial. What's more, Potter deviates a bit from most books in this genre of fluffy chick-lit by adding a twist - time travel - which she handles quite well, and without dire consequences.
The main character, Charlotte Merryweather is hypochondriac 32-year-old who runs a boutique PR firm, has a steady boyfriend, a nice car, a personal trainer, and designer clothes. Driving to work one day (in London) she sees the car that she used to drive when she was 20, broke, working as an editor of crosswords, and living in a flat with roommates. A bit of light time traveling brings her to mix lives with her 20-year-old self, attempting to stop the young Charlotte - Lottie - from making the mistakes that the older Charlotte regrets. Charlotte moves in and out of the past and present fluidly, which means the storyline progresses. Predictably, in the end, Charlotte learns something about herself, grows up a little, improves herself, yada yada yada.
This book does have a romance, but a large portion of its charm existed in the interaction between Charlotte and Lottie. It is not very deep and it does have its flaws, in addition to its fluffiness. For instance, Charlotte seems to have pretty severe amnesia when it comes to her past. It is as if she is meeting Lottie for the first time, and while 12 years might seem a long time, I think that you would remember that you used to smoke, or go clubbing, or sunbathe. However, it is clever and sweet. Sure, not mentally taxing, but sometimes you want a bit of dessert to wash down all of that heavier fiction. Very fun read, with nice British-isms mixed in, for good measure.
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