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26 of 27 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
so good, for real!, January 28, 2009
Before I talk about this book specifically know that Kristan Higgins writes from the heroine's perspective only, has very modest 'romance' scenes, and writes characters that feel real and are so relatable. Her heroines are not perfect, they have real interests and friends, and I can identify with aspects of each one.
Too Good to be True is set in beautiful New England we meet Grace- a history teaching, civil war re-enacting, dog loving, and boyfriend inventing girl with frizzy hair and some mild middle child issues. When she is cornered she finds herself inventing a perfect boyfriend that she wishes she had, that is until she really starts getting to know Callahan her supah-hot neighbor.
This book had me laughing, relating, sympathizing with, and outright loving Grace, Callahan, and the entire cast of supporting characters. With details, funny moments, interesting plot twists and a grand finale I didn't totally see coming- Kristan Higgins scores big with this novel.
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14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Really truly worth buying., February 14, 2009
Kristan Higgins' work is light, fresh, charming and not overworked--the romantic equivalent of good mint chocolate chip ice cream, delicious but not cloying. She is improving with each book and while I enjoyed each of her earlier works, this one really is the best of the bunch. Grace is a great heroine, neither a self-loathing spaz (per the chick lit formula) nor a freakishly over-perfect paragon who just doesn't know how darned gorgeous and flawless she really is until the hero clues her in to her magnificence (gag). Her reasons for resisting her attraction to Callahan are actually pretty sensible, not contrived just to keep the lovers apart. Really, just so very enjoyable.
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15 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
I think I'd give it a "6" if that were possible, February 3, 2009
Kristan Higgins does, indeed, get better with each book. No, this isn't Rocket Science or Philosophy, but in the contemporary romance category, she's coming up fast through the ranks.
Her characters are real - which means they are flawed, and there are awkward moments in the story. I like that! It's a nice break from romances with perfect people in story lines where the basic conflict stems from one very frustrating failure in communication!
The story is told in the first person, from the perspective of the heroine. Normally, I don't really enjoy that, but Higgins does it so well that by the end of the first sentence in the book I was over it.
"Too Good To Be True" was a fast, enjoyable read. I read it through, cover to cover, this evening and was sad to see the story come to an end. I often find, with romance stories, that the hero is 'too good to be true' and the heroine is so annoying I want to strangle her. In this case, I loved both Callahan and Grace. Callahan is funny, kind, sensitive, perceptive and honorable, but he's not perfect - he's distrustful, defensive, and quick to jump to conclusions (understandable, given his situation, but not perfect). Grace is a great teacher, a loving sister, a good friend, but she's got middle sister issues and some minor codependency struggles (how many of us don't?). I loved how the two of them work through his being an ex-con: her blundering through it and his struggle to maintain his dignity in the face of people's (especially Grace's) assumptions about it.
Higgins succeeds in making her characters more than one dimensional and injects some twists into the standard romance plotline. Grace's younger sister could've been written with no depth, but that's not the case. Her older sister, Margaret, could simply be a Type A, older sister, career driven witch, but she's not. With the exception, perhaps, of the men Grace meets through the internet dating site, Higgins' characters avoid the pitfalls of being all good or all bad. And, as another reviewer pointed out, the ending has a little twist I really didn't see coming...
If you're looking for a fun romance to cure your winter blues, pick up "Too Good To Be True"!
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