Customer Reviews

What Looks Like Crazy (Kate Holly)

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Kate Holly is a clinical psychologist with a practice full of truly crazy people, some of whom threaten her on a regular basis. Her best friend and receptionist is a zany gold digger-turned widow-turned millionaire heiress who also works as Kate's publicist, all for free of course. Kate's life is complicated by two love interests, though the fireman is much more interesting than the shrink. She adopts a pregnant dog, something is blown up, her mom is nuts, the rest of her family is certifiable, she tends to run about Atlanta is various stages of undress - in other words, she's a mess. You get the picture. And although this book does borrow heavily from the Plum series it is still amusing in its own right. This is a light fun read - it kept me occupied during a Saturday on the ball fields. Would I recommended it? - you bet; is it terribly original? - no way; does that really matter? - not always. Sometimes a book is just meant to be fun and this is one of those books.

This book had me laughing the whole way through. It's a simple read and obvious that Hughes is best buds with Janet Evanovich and yet it's a style all it's own. I recommend this to any who wants a fun book with love, mystery, and TONS of laughter!
I cannot wait for the next in this series.

WHAT LOOKS LIKE CRAZY
CHARLOTTE HUGHES

Rating: 3.5 Enchantments

Psychologist Kate Holly has a lot to deal with. Case in point, her divorce from her husband is almost final; her mother and aunt have decided to erect a vaguely sexual statue in her front yard that has the nosy neighbor across the street covering it with a sheet; her ex-boyfriend is still trying to lure her back; and now she's getting mysterious threats. At first, Kate puts off the threats on the neighbor across the street - after all, egging a door doesn't seem to be that far off the norm for her. But when the threats start to escalate, Kate has to rethink her suspect list.

The opening of the story held a lot of promise, with Dr. Holly talking down a patient from the rooftop while not getting close enough to get pulled down in case he decided to take the plunge. From there, however, it had a lot of ups and downs. At times I thought the story fell a little flat. While Mona and the Junk Sisters were interesting characters, I'm not sure they made as big a contribution to the story as they could have. While I liked Jay, the hero, I'm glad he didn't play as big in the story as the back cover blurb would lead you to believe.

Not to say that there aren't some great scenes in the book. I really enjoyed the makeover Mona gave Kate before they go to the Junk Sisters' big opening night, where Kate runs into her soon-to-be-ex Jay, looking nothing less than a million bucks, and thanks to a dare from Mona, has to somehow let him know she's wearing a thong without flashing the entire crowd. That was one scene that had me laughing out loud.

You can visit Ms. Hughes online at www.readcharlottehughes.com.


Lisa
ENCHANTING REVIEWS
April 2008

First Line: As a clinical psychologist, I've spent most of my time trying to convince my clients they're not crazy.

You might be more familiar with Charlotte Hughes from the series she co-wrote with Janet Evanovich. I admit to reading the first, Full House, and not being very impressed.

This time, the South Carolina writer is all by her lonesome and introducing us to clinical psychologist Kate Holly. Kate lives in Atlanta in a house with mood swings that she calls "Mad Ethel". She's afraid to say too much about the house to her landlord in case all the repairs are made and the rent is raised. She has an eccentric receptionist who drums up business by such schemes as offering free manicures. and her mother and aunt collect junk art. (They recently installed a vaguely sexual sculpture in her front yard, and Kate's neighbors are up in arms.)

Her psychiatrist ex-boyfriend keeps referring all sorts of "interesting" cases to her, and Kate begins to receive mysterious threats. If she weren't so busy chasing after everyone, she just might be able to take these threats seriously.

Kate is an extremely likable character. She has a good turn of phrase (I blushed so hard that I was certain I'd singed my eyebrows), and we tend to see eye-to-eye on things: Despite my Ph.D. in clinical psychology, I had yet to figure out why Popeye and Brutus were constantly coming to fisticuffs over a woman like Olive Oyl.

I also liked the care and concern Kate showed with each of her patients. What did wear a little thin with me throughout the first section of the book was her reason for divorcing her firefighter husband-- she literally cannot stand the thought of his being in danger every single day. That's the only reason. Kate's explanations carried on a bit too long for me, to the point where I wanted to tell her to put on her big girl panties and deal with it. Good thing I'm not the psychologist, eh?

Other than being mildly irked with Kate for the first quarter of the book and wondering about a practically non-existent mystery, I greatly enjoyed this book. Hughes' skill in characterization will have me looking for the second book in the series, Nutcase, when I need something light and fun.

This a fun, intelligent, well-written book! Remember, Hughes partnered with Evanovich on the Full Series, so you won't be disappointed.

Overall I enjoyed the book. It dragged a bit in the middle, with the setting up of characters. I was quite surprised to find Stephanie Plum and Ranger as Kate Holly and Jay Rush. You couldn't miss the connection. I liked the cast of quirky characters, Ms. Hughes does draw you into Atlanta and the lives of the character. Her dry wit and funny situation made you laugh out loud. Each character had something you could relate to. I would recommend this series to other, it is light hearted, witty and quirky.

This was a quick fun read. It's about Kate who's a psychologist and we meet her on the roof of her building when a patient of hers is planning on jumping. He has some form of erectile dysfunction and feels his life is over. She has to talk him down. Basically, her clients get odder and freakier as the book goes on. Honestly, I enjoyed the odd patients. I kept wondering, how do you come up with these people?

One thing about this book is that it was so predictable. You could see what was happening a mile away. There were a few things you couldn't predict at the end but it was all right. When it was all said and done the book didn't really give me a good sense of closure. It was more or less like it just sort of ended right before the conclusion. It almost felt like with five or ten more pages there could have been a happy ending. I guess the author was leaving it up to my imagination.

I was disapointed with this read. Not enough story line of the doc and her husband. The ending wasn't what I had hoped for. Hum! Guess I was expecting more of a book like Full House series.

Very similar writing style to Janet Evonovich's Stephanie Plum series. It's funny and light with some action to keep you interested. What Looks Like Crazy

Love it. Mystery, comedy and love all in one misadventure after misadventure. Like writing style of Evanovich. Will continue to purchase future Charlotte Huges books.