Plain Flower Girl meets the daredevil. Broken hearts learn to love
Katie Pritchard has had her heart broken. Working as a florist, she sees love in terms of appearances and symbols and she sees herself as plain. Sports hero and daredevil Dylan McKinnon with his fast car and sexy looks is irresistible to the women. Katie knows everything about his love life from the flower orders he places. She will not fall for this fickle man with his fast track dating record! What will happen when he asks her out? Can they put appearances aside and share from the heart?
This is my second Cara Colter read. After 2 books, I feel I see a bit more of her style. In this one and Their Christmas Wish Come True, Cara Colter uses objects to stand for emotions, in this one flowers and in the Christmas book, figurines. I do like the way this author shook things up so that each character had to realign their ideas. When they started seeing in a new fashion, the door to love was opened. The scenes around Dylan's mother were very well done --- emotional and thought-provoking. I wish perhaps the author had spent more time on Dylan and his parents and a little less on the flower symbolism, in part because I was already aware of much of the flower color symbolism. This book felt more diffuse than than her Christmas book and I have to admit I favor Their Christmas Wish Come True over this one.
Personally, this was a more difficult read for me. it pushed a lot of buttons. My mom fussed way too much over appearances when I was younger, buying clothes before books. Of course, that is simplistic since she supported my education but we spent more time fussing over clothes in dressing rooms than shopping in bookstores. And then of course, my dad was a manufacturer's rep. for several women's clothes lines with very definite ideas about women's clothing and fashion. The author talks a lot about appearances including details of clothes, and it pushed the same buttons. The author was good at writing about the difficulties of basing things on appearances but it brought me back to that whole adolescent time of discovering boys and love. Even if it isn't looks, appearances come in many forms and it seems to me that there is a difference betwen what is a good match based on appearances (career fields, religion, class, interests, etc) and what real love is. This romance brought back that difficult-to-live-through adolescent and even college age period of life that I'd like to just forget.... that time when a person picked a boyfriend by the rock bands in common, intended majors (arts versus science), etc. Those romances NEVER worked! It's good to see Katie and Dylan break through that but for me personally, more time on that great section of Dylan and his mom would have awed me. I wish I had read more of Cara Colter by now to know whether what she did with Dylan and his mom is typical of her or a new dimension to her writing. Whichever it is, I'd like to see much more of that.
AKA Merri
Family Challenge Team: The Spine Breakers with my dh Glenn AKA Phaedrus
Buttons
It's hard to read a book when it pushes buttons. I know EXACTLY what you mean.
The D2K Paranormal Junkies 2008 Challenge
Very Well Said!
Loved your review. It was more detailed and very interesting to read. I agree with you that a book that pushes buttons is very difficult to read.
I Loved the flower Symbolism
Hi Paisley:
I just reviewed this book and then came here and read your review. The story did not push any of my buttons and I knew nothing about flower symbolism. I was clueless just like the hero and I loved learning about what different flowers meant. I never felt for one minute that the hero was superficial. He could not be and still be as well adjusted and successful in business. He was just a hurting guy who is smart enough to know he was not ready for a serious relationship. He didn’t want to hurt anyone and chose dates accordingly.
I read every “Plain Jane’ book that I see so I may approach this story differently. I had the same question about the author and the style of the book. It’s very poetic for a romance but the heroine was like a living “poem” to me. This book made me really think deeper than the typical romance. The more I read this book, the more I liked it.
You review may be the most thoughtful review this book is going to get anywhere. Your insights have added another dimension of enjoyment the story has given me. Cara Colter is definitely an author to watch.
Thanks,
Vince
“Romances are the emotional vitamins of the soul.” Vince
Thanks!
Thanks everyone. I want to confess that this blog was very much helped by a discussion I had with Debiw about a totally different book. We never even discussed this book but sometimes talking about a completely different book gives one insight into the book one is reading. One nice thing about this Challenge --- it brings readers together to talk about books and I really think these kinds of discussions makes my reading more enjoyable. Also, I read a blog aobut this book and thought about that blogger's comments as I read the second half of the book.
Vince, I agree about the hero. Other than a thought or two about what others might think, I do not think it is the hero who sees appearances. In fact, I think it is the heroine. Even in her focus on the symbolism of flowers, she focuses more on the appearance of the symbol rather than the experience. I think she sees herself in the same vein too. Maybe that was why this was a button-pushing read. I think part of growing up and experiencing true love is seeing differently (which these characters do as they find each other). It may not even be a Plain Jane kind of superficial beauty thing. It can be any appearance from what music to what politics a potential match uses to define his/herself.
This is another reason why I hate rating books with numbers. In terms of my personal preference, I would choose Cara Colter's Their Christmas Wish True as the higher rated book. But the more I think about The Playboy's Plain Jane and get away from my personal buttons being pushed, the more I appreciate this book because it fascinates me more. I might even re-read it...but I think I would choose to read it when I am more distanced from my own adolescence. I have been doing admissions interviews and every time I do that, I reflect a lot on my own time and adolescence. The interview I just did had nothing to do with this book and the candidate was definitely someone who definitely saw beyond appearances but the interview experience always makes me reflect on my own experiences. Cara Colter's book was not an easy read for me at this time, but it did not make it a poorly written book...maybe even the contrary because if she pushed some buttons, her writing must have contained some emotional power.
Appearances: Apprearances can be anything. When I was 12 or 13 years old and just noticing boys, it was very important that guys had long hair. Second was what kind of music one listened to. Of course it was a bit of a symbol too for coolness and a certain spirit but I don't even think like that today. I guess maybe those things can be an important step for figuring out the world too but those kinds of romances are pale.
AKA Merri
Family Challenge Team: The Spine Breakers with my dh Glenn AKA Phaedrus
Of course
long haired men are best!
Just ask my DH and every guy I dated after 1990.
"Perhaps what the average member of a group is capable of doesn't limit what a given individual can accomplish." -- Boston Globe, letter to the editor
March's Member of the Month!
Just finished...
I just finished this one last night and was shocked how much I enjoyed it. Shocked because I started off iritated with the heroine and annoyed both by the title (I mean, really, do we HAVE to say PLAIN JANE in the title???). However, the depth of love portrayed in this book won me over entirely! I still have to write up my thoughts but wanted to thank you, Merri. Had you not reviewed this one, I never would have touched it, not in a million years with that title!
The D2K Paranormal Junkies 2008 Challenge
Thanks Debiw! It's been
Thanks Debiw! It's been really good to talk to you about this book! I think when I read it it had this very heightened effect on me because interviewing kids brought back that whole unhappy with boys stage of my life when appearances were not real love. This book pushed a lot of personal buttons, but at the same time, I knew it had something special about it.
I have only read two by her but both books have this way of shaking things up and seeing beyond appearances. I find it intriguing that a romance goes beyond appearances of what love is or what is romantic to something deeper.
AKA Merri
Family Challenge Team: The Spine Breakers with my dh Glenn AKA Phaedrus
Cara Colter...
I'll definitely be reading another book by her, that's for sure. What was the name of the one with the figurines? I may look for that one.
The D2K Paranormal Junkies 2008 Challenge
The Christmas one is Their
The Christmas one is Their Christmas Wish Come True. I have a feeling that you will like this one. THis author has a areal way of taking things we all think about romance and going deeper. Here what I loved was her idea that love isn't despite some foible or annoying habit but love encompasses that too.
AKA Merri
Family Challenge Team: The Spine Breakers with my dh Glenn AKA Phaedrus