THE TOTAL PACKAGE by Stephanie Evanovich

Publisher:    Avon

Published:   December 27, 2016
ISBN:        978-0062415110
Genre:       Contemporary Romance
Format:      Print
Obtained via:  Publisher  
Reviewed by name and email address:  Gina  Ginalrmreviews@gmail.com

 

Two-1/2 HEARTS

Known at one time as Ella Bella, after an intensive self-make over she has recreated herself as Dani Carrino.  And lucky Dani, she’s got her dream job as a sports caster on national television.  But her goal has more to it than to be the best sports caster out there – while in college, to earn a little extra money, she tutored other students. Among them was the school’s star quarterback, one Tyson Palmer. Along the way she fell in love with Ty, so much so that she would have done anything to get his attention.  In the end, while she didn’t get his attention, she got something much more precious.

 Ty quickly rose to be football’s golden boy.  He could out run, out pass, out throw anyone on the field.  And with each injury he sank deeper and deeper into addiction until he hit bottom, only he didn’t realize it.  One man did—Clinton Barrow decided it was time to pull Ty out of the hole he dug and get him back on track.  Step by arduous step Ty fought his way back to the world of the living and made amends for those he wronged as best he could.  But there was one wrong he had no idea he committed—one that Dani doesn’t know quite how to tell him.

I just don’t know what to make of Stephanie Evanovich.  In BIG GIRL PANTIES it felt like she decided to write a book but couldn’t decide what genre to write in so she basically threw it all in – at least for the most part. There were parts of that book that were spot on—other parts just left me cold.  The SWEET SPOT was a really good read. I couldn’t put it down until I got to the end of Chase and Amanda’s love story.  Admittedly, I skimmed the BDSM parts – it doesn’t appeal to me but the rest of the story was pretty good.  Since THE TOTAL PACKAGE is Evanovich’s third book I thought she would have hit her stride in it.

I was disappointed. Aside from the fact that I’m not a sports fan, have no use for football, it was the long drawn out early histories of both Ty and Dani that turned me off.  By time I got done with their individual early stories, I didn’t much care what happened to either one. It took too long for them to tangle, truly tangle as a couple. A drunken night in a hotel or dorm room just didn’t count as a couple coming together.

It was a nice touch that Logan and Holly from BIG GIRL PANTIES and Chase and Amanda from SWEET SPOT appeared in this story as a chance to catch up with them. 

I’m not sure if I’ll read another of Evanovich’s books.  After the high point of SWEET SPOT I felt let down with this one.

 

This is an objective review and not an endorsement of this book.

 

BIG GIRL PANTIES by Stephanie Evanovich

William Morrow Paperbacks, January 2014
Paperback
Obtained via:  publisher
ISBN 0062224859 (ISBN13: 9780062224859)
Chick Lit
***




Stephanie Evanovich’s BIG GIRL PANTIES is part inspiration, part comedy and part romance.

Holly Brennan is young widow who has found comfort in food for far too long when she meets personal trainer to the pro-athletes Logan Montgomery on an uncomfortably cramped airline flight.  Feeling guilty for stereotyping his seatmate, Logan offers his services to Holly at a deep discount.

Stephanie Evanovich’s BIG GIRL PANTIES is the story of one woman’s fight from the depths of depression into the world of the living and the man who helps her get there.  The story is partly inspirational in that every woman carrying extra weight will empathize with Holly’s struggle to get in shape.  It is also partly comedic in that Holly uses humor to cover her emotional discomfort.  And lastly, this story is a romance.  This reader had mixed emotions going into this story as weight has always been an ongoing battle for me as well.  Holly is determined to pull herself out of her self-imposed exile from the world of the living and attacks her “rebirth” with a gusto this reader has to applaud.  Logan is a very educated and trained trainer who knows just how to motivate Holly, even though he has a real problem “fat women”.  As their training sessions start to see progress, their friendship builds and eventually, reluctantly on Logan’s part, turns to romance.  This is the point where the story sort of lost me.  Logan may be good at what he does, but he is also, at least for most of the book, shallow and judgmental.  It isn’t until he decides to get over the fact that he is romantically interested in a “fatty” even though this woman has lost half her body weight; that the story becomes a romance that really had to be forced into the story and frankly, it wasn’t a good fit.  The love scenes were unnecessary and stale.

The secondary characters with the spanking fetish were interesting and added to the comedy of the book; but was the author’s peek into their bedroom antics really relevant to the storyline?  I think not.

In the end, Stephanie Evanovich’s BIG GIRL PANTIES left a sour note in this reader’s mouth.  That Holly and Logan end up together in the end was not the high point it was supposed to be.  And the attempt to pull in readers with a touch of BDSM was really nothing short of annoying.  There have got to be better books out there than BIG GIRL PANTIES.  There just have to be.


Reviewed by T. Barringer
tammyLRM@gmail.com

"This is an objective review and not an endorsement of this book."

BIG GIRL PANTIES by Stephanie Evanovich

Publisher: Harper Collins

Date published: July 2013

ISBN: 978-0-06-222484-2

Contemporary Romance

Hardback

Obtained via Publicist

Reviewed by Angie

 

Holly Brennan may have never been a small woman, but after her husband becomes ill and dies, she lets herself go and gains more weight than she ever imagined.  When she is forced to travel and tie up the last of her later husband’s estate she finally realizes just how far she has fallen from her best. When she gets bumped into economy and seated next to a Greek God (Holly’s words, not mine!) she is mortified.

Logan Montgomery is a personal trainer who flew to his best friend’s aid when a sports injury left him in need of help.  He rarely takes on female clients, and usually only athletes, but when Holly tells him her tale of woe, he finds himself wanting to help her turn from an ugly duckling to a swan!

In 324 pages Stephanie Evanovich turned me into a major fan, who will be stalking her Facebook page for details of her next book!  I admit, I put this book on my wish list based upon her last name (Who knew Janet was her aunt in real life!) and I definitely did not regret it.   Ms. Evanovich has created a cast of characters that left me laughing, nearly in tears at times and wanting to bang my head against a wall at the same time.  Each character is unique, lovable and full of honesty.  Her story line is classic yet the twists are so unique, I was left awestruck. 

Looking back over the pages, I cannot even chose a favorite character – Holly is so much like myself (minus being a widow, and finding a hot personal trainer!) that I want to step into her shoes and find someone to kick my butt from one end of the gym to the other.  If this tale were real, she would be so much of an inspiration, that I want her to be my bff!  Her best friend in the story is worthy of mention – Tina is a great secondary character, sticking by your friend for life, is definitely a quality more novels should be written about, and more lives need to include.

I can’t wait to see what is in store from Ms. Evanovich – she has left me mesmerized and waiting…  And BIG GIRL PANTIES will be sticking around my bookshelf for a long time to come.

 This is an objective review