To Good to be True by Kristan Higgins
Why this one: After listening to the buzz on Catch of the Day, I read it and was instantly hooked by the authors funny, feel good type writing and right away put Too Good to be True on my must buy list
Steam Level: Well, this one isn’t going to melt the mounds of snow we have around here
Amazon Blurb: When Grace Emerson's ex-fiancé starts dating her younger sister, extreme measures are called for. To keep everyone from obsessing about her love life, Grace announces that she's seeing someone. Someone wonderful. Someone handsome. Someone completely made up. Who is this Mr. Right? Someone…exactly unlike her renegade neighbor Callahan O'Shea. Well, someone with his looks, maybe. His hot body. His knife-sharp sense of humor. His smarts and big heart.
Whoa. No. Callahan O'Shea is not her perfect man! Not with his unsavory past. So why does Mr. Wrong feel so…right?
My Thoughts: Just like Catch of the Day, I really really enjoyed this book. It was light, despite a few heavy moments, it was fun and it made laugh in a number of places. Grace is all about family. She will do anything for them, specially her younger sister Natalie, even as far as matching her sister with her own former fiancé – because she knew they felt the big kablammy for each other. But now that her fiancé deserted her for her sister, she’s had it with everyone feeling sorry for her and in order to shut them up, she invents a boyfriend. It’s hilarious reading all the finer points she invents for this imaginary boyfriend. But then she meets her new neighbour who is upfront in telling her – and everyone who will listen – that he’s an ex-con. I don’t think that’s giving away a spoiler, but the reasons why are so I’ll say no more. Suffice it to say that Callahan is yummy with a capital Y. The dialogue between these two characters is sparkling and witty and you can’t help but smile.
The secondary characters are great too. Grace’s older sister Marg with her very sharp wit, Natalie, her younger sister who floats through life on a cloud of good things happening to her. I also loved her parents – her mother who has become a sculptor of woman’s parts and her exasperated father. Even her Very Crotchety grandmother has some wicked funny scenes.
And while I enjoyed it immensely, it wasn’t quite perfect. I found Grace a little too accommodating of her family especially her younger sister. She was a wee bit ‘do you want me to lie on the floor for you so you don’t get the feet I love so very much wet?’ if you know what I mean.
So far I’ve loved both of the Kristan Higgins books and I have another one to read. But I should mention if someone is looking for a pure romance, this might not be the author for them. I love her – what I’ve read so far – but to me, her books have more of a women’s journey feel to them rather then a woman’s romance. This one seemed to me to be a bit of a hybrid between romance and women’s fiction. But if you are willing to be open and expand your horizons and go into it then this would be a great one to try. Though to be clear – there is a HEA – and a wonderful fun one to boot.
Grade: 4.5 out of 5
