what i did for love

Title: What I Did For Love
Author: Susan Elizabeth Phillips
Publisher: William Morrow
Release Date: January 27, 2009

Product Description: How did this happen? Georgie York, once the costar of America's favorite television sitcom, has been publicly abandoned by her famous husband, her film career has tanked, her father is driving her crazy, and her public image as a spunky heroine is taking a serious beating.

What should a down-on-her-luck actress do? Not go to Vegas . . . not run into her detestable former costar, dreamboat-from-hell Bramwell Shepard . . . and not get caught up in an ugly incident that leads to a calamitous elopement. Before she knows it, Georgie has a fake marriage, a fake husband, and maybe (or not) a fake sex life.

It's a paparazzi free-for-all, and Georgie's nonsupporting cast doesn't help. There's Bram's punk-nightmare housekeeper, Georgie's own pushy parent, a suck-up agent, an icy studio head with a private agenda, and her ex-husband's new wife, who can't get enough of doing good deeds and saving the world—the bitch. As for Georgie's leading man, Bram's giving the performance of his life, but he's never cared about anyone except himself, and it's not exactly clear why.

Two enemies find themselves working without a script in a town where the spotlight shines bright . . . and where the strongest emotions can wear startling disguises.

I have been a huge fan of Susan Elizabeth Phillips ever since I bought a copy of "It Had To Be You" in the bookstore when I was in college. I loved the book and I bought ever single book she released after. Her lead characters and side characters are always lovable and their love stories beautiful and touching, I can't felt but feel as if I know them all too (esp the Chicago Stars series). But gradually through the years, her recent releases have not been quite as good as her previous novels. When I saw the release of her newest book early this year in Fully Booked and read the plot, I didnt hesitate on buying it even if it was still in big paperback version and cost P700!

And oh! What a big disappointment the novel was! This is her first book that I had a hard time finishing (I actually planned to stop in the middle but part of me hoped that the story might get better but it didn't). Her previous release, Natural Born Charmer was also a dud but I could finish it in 2 days, but this book, took me almost a week to finish! So what was bad with this book?

Plot: reading the plot, it sounded like Jen-Brad-Angelina love triangle (except that the real Hollywood story was a whole lot interesting)... the premise sounded good but execution of story fell flat. Of course I knew the ending would be a happy one (Bram and Georgie live happily ever after) but the whole time I didn't know where the story is leading to.

Characters: I like Georgie though there's nothing special about her but I hate Bram. I don't feel their chemistry together. It's like there was more hate than love in their relationship and it was just in the end that you see Bram admitting he loves her (but he never showed it the whole book.. he seemed tolerating her). And you know you have a problem when the stories of the secondary characters are more interesting that the lead characters' stories (with the exception of Lance and Jade who were so annoying - reminded me too much of Brangelina, except Lance was a lame actor)

The ending barely redeemed the whole book and I will not recommend this book to anyone except diehard Susan E fans. I'm anticipating that her next novel might be on Meg Koranda (as she was "introduced" in the novel) but I'm not particularly liking her character so I'm not sure if the story will be interesting. We'll see...

Overall rating: 2 / 5 stars

Legend:

5 stars : Own it and reread it!

4 stars: Love it

3 stars: Uh..it's ok

2 stars: Can I just read the ending?

1 star: Don't bother!