3.62 AVERAGE


Kurz-Meinung:
In diesem Buch geht es um Kari, eine Journalistin. Ihre Chefin bekommt heraus, dass sie als Jugendliche einmal mit Joe Kowalski zusammen war, dem Autor, von dem sie schon lange ein Exklusivinterview abdrucken wollte. So wird Kari gezwungen sich mit Joe 20 Jahre nachdem sie ihn verlassen hat zu treffen, um nicht ihren Job zu verlieren. Warum die beide damals auseinander gegangen sind, müsst ihr selbst lesen. Ich kann aber verraten, dass beide sehr erwachsen reagieren. Es gibt hier kein unnötiges Drama zwischen den beiden, aber noch viel Anziehungskraft. Joe handelt mit Kari aus, dass sie ihn und seine ganze Familie (die sehr groß ist) auf einen Campingtrip für 2 Wochen begleitet, um ihr Interview zu bekommen. Dabei kommen sie sich natürlich wieder näher. Ich mochte die Chemie zwischen den beiden sehr, das Geplänkel und die Neckereien. Auch die erotischen Szenen waren super geschrieben. Am besten hat mir aber die ganze Familiengeschichte gefallen. Ich liebe es ja wenn es viele individuelle Nebencharaktere gibt und auch diese ihre großen und kleinen Dramen durchlaufen und das habe ich hier zur Genüge bekommen. Die Geschwister von Joe sind einfach klasse und ihre eigenen Familiendramen haben mich in den Bann gezogen. Seine Zwillingsschwester hat mich zwar teilweise etwas genervt aber das gehört dazu. Es gibt auch einen Haufen Kinder in dem Buch, was ich sehr mochte. Der Humor war ganz mein Fall und ich freue mich schon sehr auf die nächsten Bände.

Meine Wertung:
5 von 5 Sternen

Exclusively Yours: The first book in the series did a great job of introducing us to the Kowalski Family! They are loud, fun, loyal to each other, and when Keri comes back into Joe's life after leaving him over a decade ago, they are all a little weary. Except for Mama Kowalski, I think she has very good mama bear instincts! The best part of this book was the Kowalski camping trip and how it allowed all the stories in the book to play out. You will laugh often while reading!

I think I need to lay off these chick-lits.
I keep expecting stron females and a somewhat interesting plot. What I get is.... not bad, but still nothing special. And if the female MC is so irritating and blowing up things out of proportion then it isn't definitely tethering dangerously close to the lower ratings in my scale.

The saving grace for me was Joe and his family. I liked them a lot. Keri, I could have done without.

A mostly light-hearted, fun and most importantly, GENUINE romance between two people. Too many times I've read romances where there's this instant attraction between two people and all of a sudden one of them is falling at the other's feet, promising to leave everything, go so far as to uproot their entire lives, just to be with this person and *magically* have everything work out. Ick. I mean, I'm all for the whirlwind, fairy-tale romance, but there has to be some sincerity and real-life feel to it, doesn't there? Not lust confused for love, but actual love, with all the hassles it brings. And I think this book delivered. There were other developed characters, some already married with families and with real-life problems of their own, instead of just the two main characters blissfully floating in their own little couple bubble. And there was none of that, either. The two of them had either careers or families or both that they couldn't just up and leave just because they reunited with the love of their life. The chemistry was real, the stories heartwarming, and with just a touch of that magic we all crave for in a romance without going overboard. A sweet, good read.

Reading this series out of order but its really great. I wasn't sure I was going to like this one but it pulled me in and had me laughing and crying. Can't wait for the next book!

Keri hat für ihre berufliche Laufbahn in der Vergangenheit viel aufgegeben, ist inzwischen fast 40 Jahre alt und arbeitet für ein bekanntes Hochglanzmagazin in Kalifornien. Als ihre Chefin Wind davon kriegt, dass sie vor zwanzig Jahren eine Liebschaft mit dem heute weltbekannten Autor Joe Kowalski gehabt hatte, schickt sie Keri kurzerhand zurück in ihre Heimatstadt, um dort ein Interview mit ihrer ehemaligen Jugendliebe zu führen.
Da Keri ihr Job am Herzen liegt, kommt sie der Aufforderung ihrer Chefin nach und trifft sich in New Hampshire mit ihrem Exfreund. Obwohl die Beziehung 20 Jahre her ist, scheint es bereits bei diesem ersten Zusammentreffen der beiden wieder zu knistern.
Joe erlaubt sich einen Spass und schlägt Keri folgenden Deal vor: Wenn sie das Interview kriegen will, dann muss sie ihn und seine ganze Familie für zwei Wochen auf einen Campingausflug begleiten. Und da Keris Chefin ihr nahgelegt hatte, dass sie ihren Job los ist, sofern sie ohne Interview zurückkehren würde, muss sie wohl oder über auf diese Abmachung eingehen - nichtsahnend, was sie in den nächsten zwei Wochen alles erwartet.

Wie die Inhaltsangabe vermuten lässt, handelt es sich bei diesem Buch um einen typischen Liebesroman. Und obwohl man sich als Leser bereits zu Beginn denken kann, wie die Geschichte enden wird, wird man nicht enttäuscht: Die Familie Kowalski ist gross, laut und temperamentvoll.

Anfangs war es nicht leicht, sich bei den ganzen Personen und Namen zurecht zu finden, denn die Autorin verliert keine Zeit mit Erklärungen und steigt direkt in die Geschichte ein. Diese Tatsache verdient von mir wiederum einen Pluspunkt, denn ich mag es überhaupt nicht, wenn sich eine Geschichte in unnötigen Details verliert.
Sobald man sich also einen Überblick über die Kowalski-Familie geschaffen hat, ist man auch schon mittendrin in der Geschichte, die einen dann nicht mehr los lässt. Obwohl sich die Story natürlich hauptsächlich um Joe und Keri dreht, erfährt man auch einiges über Joes Geschwister und deren Familienleben und Probleme.

Fazit: Nachdem man mit der Familie Kowalski gelacht, geweint, sich geärgert oder gefreut hat, muss man sie einfach lieben. Das Buch ist eine unterhaltsame und witzige Lektüre für zwischendurch und verdient von mir 4,5 Sterne. (Abzug gibts dafür, dass auch dieser Liebesroman ziemlich vorhersehbar ist.)

More like 3.5 stars. I enjoyed this book. I love all the characters. [full review later]

I started reading this as an accident of fate. Yes you read it well! Me and my friend Aly decided we should do a “group” (or whatever you wanna call it) read. We picked a couple of books, numbered ‘em and then used an online random number chooser thing to pick what to read. This was the result. It was actually a nice experiment. Worked for my friend, didn’t work for me.

This review will be a bad one. I hated the book; I won’t be nice so in case you’re into this type of books you should probably stop reading now. If you want my opinion on this, keep on reading.

So we have the dude. He’s a writer and, in my personal opinion, a big loser. He’s still living with his family, hiding stuff from his mum, taking sh*t from his brothers and so on. He is a big fancy writer so I was expecting him to f*ck off everyone and live a depressed solitary life. But I guess that’s just me…



The chick is a total idiot. Typical case of stuck-up, successful (to a point) city woman paying nature a visit. She acts all blonde, says stupid things (heh! She kinda reminds me of the Legally Blonde chick – did I mention I hate Legally Blonde??) and fears raccoons like one would fear a crazed crocodile. Yep, I shite you not!

Now the whole feeling of the book is one big fat huge damn telenovela (did I mention I also hate telenovelas???). I duno who did duno what to duno who and he did duno what back to her. Highschool drama and broken friendships (that got fixed too easy – if I’m not wrong… did it actually get fixed? I don’t even remember). Too many kids (God I hate kids…) doing stupid stuff. Guys acting like machos and failing at it. B-O-R-I-N-G and annoying!

I tried to like this book! I really did but it had too much sh*t for me to handle.



Keri seems like a bad person (she’s even annoying during sex). I get that people break up when they’re young (and when they’re old so I guess that makes it all the time) but at least I’d expect her to show a bit of feelings. She’s talking about leaving Joe like she gave up some shoes she didn’t like anymore. She goes back to her hometown and meets the guy who’s gonna end up the love of her life and does what? Gets all hot n sweaty ‘cuz he looks good and remembers how perfect they were together and then talks about leaving so easily. So this shows lack of feeling and shows what a bad person she is. I can’t get to like her and I don’t like reading books where i can’t even like the main characters.

I respect Joe fighting for what he wants or what he thinks is his but I can’t respect him for being an idiot. Yes he is an idiot. That’s the key word when it comes to Joe Whatever-the-hell-his-name-is. Get over damn higschool you’re a f*cking successful writer you can do better than that! Oh and speaking of the Mighty Joe, why does the author have to mention his erection every five pages? He’s horny, we get it already!!! Let it go!!!



Aaand of course shell betray his trust, aaand of course we’ll have two more chapters of drama followed by tears and flying dishes, and in the end they kiss and make up and move to the city where Joe lives. They have kids and live happily ever after. I insist on mentioning that in 69% through the book when I’m writing this.

Aaand in the end the story ended up like I said it will. I will be honest (and not harsh) and give it one star. Why? First of all I didn’t like any characters. And I mean it. Joe was an idiot, Keri was annoying, Terry was stupid and the rest of the characters irrelevant. Two, the story was nonsense. Too predictable, boring and mediocre. Three, lack of emotions between the main characters. Yes she wrote about them hanging out, making love and whatever the hell they were doing but i didn’t feel any spark between them. I didn’t feel any connection forming between them, didn’t have any reaction when they were in trouble or when they had the typical sentimental moments at the end. Four, the cover sucks. Sorry, I love a good cover so it has a part in my rating, however small this may be. Five, no epic quotes. I’m a quote monster so it matters to me.

So that’s it. Harsh probably, but it was not my thing. I will avoid this series and probably the author as well.


Top 5 quotes (yes, I still did one - ZOMG)

#5 “Why did you kiss me?” she asked suddenly, her gaze like an interrogator’s spotlight on his face.
“Glitch in the space-time continuum, I guess. Old habits die hard and all that.” Chickenshit.


#4 “Dan. Take a breath.”
“Oh, I’m taking so many breaths I’m hyperventilating. I need to put a fucking bag over my mouth. Or maybe put a bag over your head because your brains are leaking out.”


#3 “That’s right.” Keri frowned at him. “How do you remember that? You were behind us in school.”
“Her yearbook photos, especially the cheerleading candids. Sometimes I’d—” he paused, obviously remembering Steph’s presence, “—have them nearby while checking myself for ticks.”


#2 "She likes me better because she doesn’t have to wash my underwear. Plus I’m better lookin’.”
Mike laughed. “You keep telling yourself that while I’m getting laid out in the woods, my friend.”
“You just like it out there because the mosquito bites make your dick look bigger.”


#1 “If you’re looking for sympathy, it’s between shit and syphilis in the dictionary.”

Read the review on ZombieHazard.
lighthearted relaxing fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: No
Loveable characters: No
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

I was in the mood for a contemporary romance and this hit the spot! Nice, easy, summer read.