Customer Reviews

Unpredictable

5 star:		(21)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I'm so glad to find a new writer like Eileen Cook - what a fabulous read! So funny you can fall right off the couch laughing, but sweet and tender too! There is no checking of pages to see how many are left or how long it will take to get there.
Between the tragedy of mismatched socks and the hilarity of the moving car, this woman's bullets hit the mark every time.
The characters are well written - the book is terrific! I'll read anything you write for sure! When is your next coming out?

Expected an engagement ring, Sophie instead gets dumped by her long time boyfriend Doug. Convinced it's just a phase, she feels no guilt in breaking into his apartment and hiding things so that he will see that he can't function without her and come crawling back. But she doesn't count on Melanie, the buxom blond that lives in Doug's building. When she overhears them discussing a date as well as Melanie's interest in psychics, a plan only Lucy Ricardo might attempt enters her head. She enlists a local psychic buster to help her fool Melanie into believing that she should dump Doug. When one of Sophie's predictions come true, she becomes a celebrity, but will her new fame bring her heartache and her man to go with that swollen ego?

Cook's debut novel is a complete gem. I laughed so hard at times that I got many stares from people on the train. Sophie is her own worst enemy and her antics will have readers in stitches, simultaneously cheering and jeering her on. I am really looking forward to her next novel - hers is a refreshing voice in women's fiction.

I really enjoyed this book. The protagonist, Sophie Kintock, is a lovable goofball who wants her ex-boyfriend back. The fact that he is an obvious dirtbag doesn't deter her. She learns that his new, "melon-breasted" girlfriend believes in psychics, and she hatches a far-fetched plan to give her a psychic reading persuading her to leave the dirtbag. Things get complicated when some of the predictions Sophie makes come true.

In some ways, Sophie was an unreliable narrator; her inability to see her ex-boyfriend's true nature is one example. She also thinks his stuffy parents are fabulous. However, the discrepancy between reality (which is clear to the reader) and Sophie's perspective provides a lot of humor. The plot was also totally original.

My only complaint with the novel was poor proofreading. Phrases were sometimes repeated twice, and prepositions were left out. However, this didn't detract from my enjoyment of the novel, and I definitely plan to read the author's next book.

Unpredictable is such a great read, and with a main character like Sophie, who is such a heartwarming soul, you'll find yourself rooting for her throughout, hoping she won't get herself into even more trouble! At times, you'll also want to smack her in the head and say, "HONEY! YOU ARE WAY TOO GOOD FOR DOUG!" But throughout the whole book, you'll love her charm and her honesty, and you'll be thrilled when she truly does find her happily ever after, even if she could have never predicted it in the first place!

With awesome secondary characters, like a best friend everyone wants in Jane, and nerdy but elusively handsome Nick, Mac the dog, and even funny/bitchy "Melon Tits", there's a cast of characters that'll keep you wondering and turning pages till you get to the last moment in the book.

And you'll close the book satisfied, although also maybe a little bit sad to leave these fun people behind!

Great debut from Eileen Cook! Looking forward to seeing what she's got up her sleeve next! If it's anything like Unpredictable, I predict it'll be another great book! : )

This book is definitely laugh out loud funny. The plot was somewhat predictable but the antics were hilarious. This is one of the few books that I actually recommend to others!

this is one of the funniest books i read. within the first chapter of the book, i immediately fell in love with the main character, Sophie. i loved the sarcasm and the sense of humor the author portrayed the character.

this book is about a woman named sophie, who wants to win back her ex boyfriend. theres one problem: hes seeing someone else, whom sophie refers to as "melon breasts"..lol. sophie decides the only way to win him back is to be a psychic and advise his new girl friend that they're bad for each other. after her hard trouble of winning back her boyfriend, by pretending shes a psychic, she ends up falling for someone else.

one of my favorite parts in the book was in the beginning when sophie was trying to win back her boyfriend, she kept making him think he was crazy. she would go to his laundry and purposely steal each sock from their pairs. and another part was when she kept stealing his car and putting it somewhere else. i couldnt stop laughing at those parts.

anyone who likes books about love and comedy in it, than this is it. i love this book.

One woman who discovers that she will do anything to win back the man she loves and along the way discovers that she'll stop at nothing to finally achieve true love!

This was a fun story about Sophie Kintock (I wondered if this was a nod to another gifted chick lit writer Sophie Kinsella) who's boyfriend breaks up with her after nearly 6 years and Sophie's not prepared to take it lying down. In fact, she goes as far as to break into his apartment building just to play mind games with him in the hopes of showing him that he can't live without her and will have him running back, but while she's in the apartment's laundry room, he comes in and Sophie learns that he has a new love interest. I thought it was quite fitting that Eileen Cook named her Melanie and described her as "melon-breasted"! Can Sophie compete with this new babe? Well, she intends to and fight dirty she will! Sophie gets into her head that she can pretend to be a psychic and give Melanie a phony reading to scare her off. She bites off more than she can chew when one of her predictions comes true and she becomes a little too well known. While hiding in that laundry room, she also meets Nick - the nerdy but cute psychic skeptic who, while telling her all the reasons why she shouldn't believe in psychic predictions, inadvertently gives her the idea of and the ability to pass for one! It was fun to read just how far Sophie would be willing to go to win her "true love" and watch her come to realize whether or not it's worth it in the end.

The only thing missing was that the author didn't really describe Sophie's physical appearance. Sophie does describe trying to fit into certain clothes and the dreaded after-effects of a really good meal, and I got the impression that she's a tall girl but she didn't mention her hair or eye color or if she thought she was attractive - those kind of details can really add to the connection that you feel with some characters, I just wondered if I missed something or if that was done on purpose.

Even without those details and the fact that the love that she ultimately winds up with IS predictable, it's a fun book and well written and I'm glad that Cook took the time to entertain us with this cute tale of psychics and those that don't believe. It was funny and campy and a well written story.

Sophie Kintock has found the man of her dreams. Doug is everything she wants - or at least she thinks he is. When he unceremoniously dumps her while she is folding his laundry, she decides that she will do anything to get him back. She undertakes a series of capers to make Doug think he can't handle life without her, only to find that he has moved on to a new blonde bombshell named Melanie.

In Sophie's most desperate hour, she meets Nick, a member of a society who is out to prove that psychics aren't real - and so the basis of a plan forms. Sophie convinces Nick to teach her how fake being a psychic in order to convince Melanie that Doug isn't the one for her. And so a spiral of hilarity begins - especially when, to Sophie's delight, she finds out that she has a real talent for fake psychic readings. However, things get much more complicated as her popularity as a psychic begins to grow and she has to decide what she really wants and what really is important in life.

Unpredictable by Eileen Cook is a unique and hilarious addition to the chick lit genre. Cook writes her characters well: Sophie is quirky and creative, but her misguided notions sometimes make her seem rather selfish. Though it is clear that she only wants the person whom she considers to be the love of her life back, she doesn't seem to take the time to consider that others are affected by what she says and does. It is unclear whether the character grows in this regard by the end of the novel. Despite this quandary, Unpredictable is utterly enjoyable - funny and witty, with Sophie finding herself in increasingly entertaining predicaments and struggling to escape the situations she gets herself into. The fallibility of the characters gives them depth and makes them believable, yet the reader still gets to see the happy fairy-tale ending that is critical to novels of this genre.

One question that is addressed but goes unanswered by the book is the question of whether it is immoral to give fake psychic readings to people. On one hand, it is a downright lie to tell people that you know something of their future when, in reality, you have no more idea of what's going to happen than they do. On the other hand, for some it gives some comfort and something to look forward to. While Sophie does wrestle with this issue, she seems to be more concerned that her friends disapprove of her psychic persona than the fact that she is misleading people to believe she knows something of their future. In the end, the moral dilemma is never fully resolved.

As a fan of chick lit, I found Unpredictable completely refreshing and fun. It brings together a wonderful story of love with the very unique perspective of the world of psychics. It is a highly enjoyable, laugh-out-loud novel that I would recommend to anyone, young or old, male or female - and I don't have to be psychic to predict that they would enjoy it!

Originally published at Curled Up With a Good Book

It is a sign of a great storyteller who can portray the very real emotional angst of the main character, yet still make us laugh. This book was a great read, it was laugh out loud funny, yet I could completely relate to the main character's struggle with dealing with a break up. I really enjoyed reading it and I'm looking forward to more from this author.

Sophie Kintock's world is falling apart. Doug, who she has lived with for the past six years, has left her and now dates a younger, more beautiful, woman. Sophie is determined to get him back. She is willing to go to any lengths to win Doug away from this new woman and drive him back home.

When Sophie finds out that Doug 's new girlfriend is an avid believer in psychics, she decides to pose as one, with the help of her new friend Nick. Sophie plans to give Doug's new girlfriend a well worded false reading and, hopefully, break them up. But when some of Sophie's predictions come true, her world is thrown into chaos and Sophie does not know if she can handle the new turn of events.

**** I thought this book was down right hilarious! Eileen Cook did a wonderful job bringing to life characters which we can all relate to. There is also a subtle moral for all to grasp. (I believe you can figure it out simply from my synopsis.) I eagerly look forward to Eileen Cook's next story. ****

Reviewed by Auobrey Terrell for Huntress Reviews.