rebadee's review against another edition
2.0
I should state first off, that I pity the book that follows Lolita. The language here was simple, repetitive, and somewhat annoying. On the one hand, anyone can pick up this book and read it for what it is, a story about a 31-year-old woman who overcomes all of her anxieties in a three month period and then reconnects with "the one that got away." On the other it's pretty silly, and the scenes that take place are really shallow. I wanted to like this book though, and in some places I did, but mostly I felt that it was grazing the surface of the characters and rambling on unimportant details for its 300-some pages. Plus, there's not a whole lot going on with pugs, and to be honest, that was what drew me to the book in the first place. If you need a nice light read, I would suggest picking up a Jennifer Weiner or Melissa Bank book, because they actually do what this book aimed to do a lot better.
scorpstar77's review against another edition
3.0
I wish we could give half-stars here - I'd really like to give this 3.5 stars. But I'm rounding up, giving the benefit of the doubt. This is a pretty standard chick lit novel, with a cute angle about the heroine's love of dogs (pugs in particular). She's infatuated with a co-worker who's unavailable, she and her boyfriend break up, she's terrified of public speaking but just promised to give a speech at her parents' 40th wedding anniversary party, her sister gets all of the attention, etc. Nothing unusual. I enjoyed reading it...but I felt it lacked something. There was no big moment of drama, humiliation, angst. There's a lot of tiny annoyances and sigh-inducing moments for the heroine, but nothing big. The character does experience growth...but all in all, a lot of the book is like experiencing events happening to a friend in real life. Which is fine...for a friend in real life. For a book, you generally want a little more bang, and that was lacking here.
bookowl's review against another edition
1.0
The protagonist is weird. Her inner dialogue didn’t appeal to me. DNF after a few chapters.
phoebemurtagh's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.75
jtouchard23's review against another edition
3.0
There is some funny stuff in this book, but overall a bit too fluffy for my taste.
sunshineariel's review against another edition
3.0
This was a decent romp through a young woman's struggles with boyfriends and public speaking. I liked that it came full circle, and I liked that the pugs on pug hill pulled it all together. Interesting chapter titles, decent character development, some humor, and a satisfactory ending.
bennse2's review against another edition
2.0
This book wasn't awesome, but it wasn't terrible. And if you really love dogs, are scared of public speaking, and/or have a thing for Rothkos, you might think it was amazing. I like Rothkos and think pugs are adorable, but not enough to balance out this book. The writing was fine but not remarkable, and the characters reminded me of real humans, but in a superficial way. Your time is probably better spent elsewhere.
kate_elizabeth's review against another edition
3.0
This book takes place in New York and was published in 2006, when I was living there. I wish I had read it then; it so perfectly captures what it's like to be young and single and confused and living in the city. Throw in an obsession with pugs (I had this) and a secret hope of finding "the one" (I had this, though most of my time in the city was brokenhearted and bewildered) and a tendency to see things as signs (I sometimes still have this) and it was basically like reading a book about my 24-year-old self. Only with a really bad copy editor who (more than once) couldn't figure out the difference between "your" and "you're." Still, I'm holding onto this one.
krst83's review against another edition
4.0
I was thinking 3 stars for this book until I got to the end. I think you really have to be able to relate to Hope to appreciate this book as it is kind of different. It will certainly make you want to go and hug your dog(s).