Book Review
Natural Born Charmer
Susan Elizabeth Phillips
The message of Natural Born Charmer is that even victims of bad parenting can find a happily ever after. We’re expected to ignore the fact that these characters’ personal lives are train wrecks and years of intense therapy are probably in their future – it’s fiction so, of course, the worst problems can be solved by dancing barefoot in the grass.
Blue Bailey was raised by a succession of good-intentioned but minimally committed substitute parents. Her mother Virginia, an international peace activist, was too involved in saving the world one cause at a time to be bothered by the needs of her own child. Blue has been working in a beaver costume as a living advertisement for a lumber yard. She is stomping down the road wearing the headless costume, aiming to kill her low-life boyfriend who got her this gig when she meets Dean Robillard, gorgeous hunk, underwear model, and star quarterback with the Chicago Stars. Dean is driving to East Tennessee to check out renovations to the farm he’s bought as a rural, get-back-to-nature retreat. He sees a headless beaver marching down the side of the road and can’t resist pulling over to investigate. Blue who’s down to her last $18 manages to attach her to the obviously rich Dean. In return for this, she treats him to smart-mouth conversation and an unflattering portrait that causes him some introspection. Dean decides that she will be his first houseguest when he meets up with the elusive Susan O’Hara who has been supervising the renovations. When they arrive at the farm, he discovers that Susan O’Hara is really Dean’s mother.
The Essay on Blue Jeans The Ultimate American Icon
Gold was discovered in California in 1849. This resulted in more than eighty thousand Americans rushing to California. The pioneering spirit spread and by 1890, the Wests population reached nearly 17 million. The west became the most racially diverse part of the country. All were in search of a better life for themselves and their families, seeking what would become known as the American Dream. ...
April had been a full and active participant in the culture of sex, drugs, and rock and roll. After she became pregnant with rock superstar Jack Patriot’s child, she refused to have an abortion and got dumped. She turned on and dropped out as her life went into a tailspin into drugs, alcohol, and indiscriminate sex. She has undertaken the work on his farm in order to make amends for the misery she inflicted on him for so many years. April is only the first of Dean’s blood relations to come to the farm because arriving soon will be Riley Patriot, Dean’s eleven-year-old half-sister, who desperately hopes that Dean will come to her rescue. Jack has given Riley scant more fatherly attention than the nothing he gave his son Dean. Riley’s mother inflicted her daughter with her neglectful, disinterested style of mothering, and the girl has horrible self-esteem, self-image problems. Now, however, her mother has died, and Riley embarks on a dangerous journey out of desperation to seek the brother she’s never met. With so many family members already on the scene, it’s only a matter of time before Jack Patriot shows up, too. He’s been given a second chance at rectifying his years of relationship mistakes. The years of rock superstardom – the curse of too much fame, money, and eager, willing groupies – have begun to leave him dissatisfied. Staying at the farm while doing construction work gives Jack an opportunity to reassess his life. Similarly caught in the detritus of past mistakes is Nita Garrison, the owner of the nearby town of Garrison, whose unwillingness to agree to deed changes is keeping the town from developing its tourist potential Nita is a lonely, embittered old woman.
Over the course of the next few weeks, they’ll all start seeing things in a whole new light. The author infuses many scenes with humor, but these characters’ lives are so messed up there’s a melancholy undertone to Natural Born Charmer. Nevertheless, the writing is vivid and assured, and the narrative flows smoothly. Susan Elizabeth Phillips has a well-deserved reputation as an author whose books never fail to please.
At first the story doesn’t make that much sense. It’s hard to grasp the message. However, it’s witty and smart. There’s lack of romance though. The author’s style of writing is probably based on American contemporary society which justifies our awkwardness while passing through some points. But reading this was quite a pleasure. One thing that I really liked was that it had no drama in it. It was simple yet refreshing. I am looking forward to reading another book of her’s.
The Essay on Seven Years Mabel Jack George
Characters Like people in real life, fictional characters reveal themselves by how they look, what they say and how they say it, what they do, as well as how they feel. This two characters, George and Jack, reveal themselves, in most of the story, by how they feel. In spite of being different, both men have something in common: how and what they feel towards their own Mabel. George escapes from ...
