Customer Reviews

The Two Lives of Miss Charlotte Merryweather: A Novel

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

 

 

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.

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

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.

I've never read a book by Alexandra Potter and I picked up this book as I was browsing because I thought the premise was rather clever. What would you do if you can go back in time and meet your much younger self? What advice would you give and what changes in your life would you to make?

We meet a very successfull, very put together and slim but overworked and stressed out Charlotte Merryweather. She owns her own PR agency, has her own trainer, spends a ton of money on make up and hair to look sophisticated and has a boyfriend who has the perfect resume. When she sees a woman that looks just like her younger self and drives the same exact car that she drove when she was young, she decides to follow her. She somehow ends up going through time and meeting her much younger, more naive and less sophisticated, but much more carefree self. She then attempts to prevent certain mistakes from happening to her younger self and gives her advice on her life. To Charlotte's surprise, she learns a lot from her younger self and notices various opportunities that she had not noticed when she was younger.

I kept reading because I wanted to see how Charlotte attempts to guide her younger self and prevents herself from making mistakes. There were a couple of times where I couldnt put the book down because I was really looking forward to their meetings.

The overall plot is somewhat predictable, but the author gives enough little twists and turns in the story to make it original. At the end I was wondering about what I would tell my younger self if I had a chance to meet her. Fun and thoughtful read!

this book is cute, i enjoyed it. it dragged during some parts but only a little. id recommend this book cause its a quick easy fun read. its interesting how she sees herself when she was in her 20s.

Charlotte Merryweather is a 31 (almost 32) year old woman from the U.S. who moved to London 10 years before. She has her own P.R. company and a steady boyfriend and thinks that her life is going pretty well for the most part (minus being stressed and not being able to sleep)

Things start to get interesting for her though when on her way to work one day she sees what looks like the car she drove 10 years before being driven by a woman who looks a lot like her. At first she thinks that she is just seeing things, but then after seeing the car and woman again she decides to follow them.

What she finds is herself from 10 years before. Charlotte at first does not know exactly what to do, but soon thinks that she can mold her 21 year old self and help her to not make the mistakes she made. While spending time with her younger self she meets Ollie a bartender at a club that they go to. He seems familiar to Charlotte and realizes that she actually knows him from a pub she went to with her boyfriend in real time.

During the time that she is dealing with her younger self she is dealing with what she thinks is her friends crumbling marriage and a client who is giving her trouble. Added to the mix, while Charlotte thinks that she saw her younger self to teach her, she learns some things from her younger self about stopping to smell the roses every now and again.

Over all a very entertaining book.

Imagine if one day, you had the opportunity to meet your younger self? What would you tell this person? Would you have any specific advice for them?

This is exactly what happened to Charlotte Merryweather, a successful public relations executive in London. At age 31, she has her own PR firm, a stylish wardrobe, a personal trainer and what would seem like the perfect boyfriend for the perfect life. Underneath it all, is a stressed out executive who at the bottom of her heart, wonders if she's made the right choices in life? Is she truly happy? One day, she catches a glimpse of a young women driving the exact car she drove at age 21. Out of curiosity, she follows the car into some sort of space-time continuum that leads her to meet up with her younger self. As it slowly dawns on her what has happened, she comes up with a plan to keep her younger self from making the same mistakes that she did. Of course, the plan backfires, but Miss Charlotte ends up learning a lot about herself in the process, and finds true happiness afterall, in a place she would have least expected!

This is a wonderful story that makes one wonder what they would do if they could go back and make different choices? How would that change your current situation? I highly recommend this as a fun and engaging summer read.