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jillianwolf's review against another edition
1.0
Oh Dear.
Every now and then a book comes along where the premise sounds so good that you feel like you MUST read the book. In this case, the book in question was How to Love an American Man by Kristine Gasbarre and I’d requested it as my monthly book to review and eagerly waited for it in the mail. I couldn’t wait to read what I was certain was going to be an amazing story of intergenerational lessons, story-telling and romance.
I was wrong. This isn’t going to be one of those book reviews where I get a lovely note from the author expressing gratitude for my review. Unfortunately, I don’t have many kind words this go-round.
Frankly, the bottom line is that Ms. Gasbarre had an amazing story to tell, but her writing style is elementary and, at times, boring to read. With what she had to work with, this book could have been ten times what it was and I was disappointed for her. The book felt like it was written in a rush and sometimes you want food from a crockpot, not a microwave.
The storyline is that the author loses her grandfather and this starts a chain reaction of discovering who she is through her relationship with her newly widowed grandmother. Seeking advice from a grieving widow about relationships has much to offer as both people in the story were grieving and there was much information that was rich for the picking in a literary sense. At the end, however, I felt like Krissy, as a person, was immature and unlikable with the way she portrayed herself. Her inability to adequately portray emotions concerns me over her choice of profession as a writer, especially when she compares her first feelings in a relationship to that of two actors in a well known vampire movie series.
Seriously? Was that really the best reference she had for a relationship? The book has plenty of pop culture references that are geared towards 20 year olds, not 28 year old women who are in the midst of trying to find themselves. Unfortunately, for Ms. Gasbarre, 20 year olds are not going to be her target audience. They aren’t going to be interested in “How to Love an American Man.” At the age of 20, most 20-year olds think they’ve got it all figured out. It isn’t until later that we’ve realized that we have no idea.
My understanding is that Ms. Gasbarre is writing a sequel. If I didn’t need to finish the first one to write this review, I would have stopped reading it about 1/4 of the way into the book, if I’m being perfectly honest with myself and with you. I will not be reading the sequel. I will not be passing this book on to my mom or friends to read. I just don’t care how the story ends…and that makes me sad.
This book is a miss.
Sidenote: On every site that I posted my review, and in droves, people came in and bullied me about my negative review of this novel. This happened until I called the author out on Twitter and noted that the language in the bullying was extremely similar to the writing in her novel and just as immature. Be aware that the author's friends/publisher's are likely stacking the ratings on this one. I normally wouldn't bother mentioning this stuff, but it was such shoddy practice and left me with such a bad taste in my mouth about reviewing books that I feel like I need to get it out there and just let it go. I've had authors be upset with what I had to say about their books. I've never had them send the dogs out for me. It's not ok. Either you can deal with the criticism or you can't.
Disclaimer: I received a free copy of this book in order to review it on my blog. Thanks for allowing me to share my feelings, no matter how honest, with other people.
Every now and then a book comes along where the premise sounds so good that you feel like you MUST read the book. In this case, the book in question was How to Love an American Man by Kristine Gasbarre and I’d requested it as my monthly book to review and eagerly waited for it in the mail. I couldn’t wait to read what I was certain was going to be an amazing story of intergenerational lessons, story-telling and romance.
I was wrong. This isn’t going to be one of those book reviews where I get a lovely note from the author expressing gratitude for my review. Unfortunately, I don’t have many kind words this go-round.
Frankly, the bottom line is that Ms. Gasbarre had an amazing story to tell, but her writing style is elementary and, at times, boring to read. With what she had to work with, this book could have been ten times what it was and I was disappointed for her. The book felt like it was written in a rush and sometimes you want food from a crockpot, not a microwave.
The storyline is that the author loses her grandfather and this starts a chain reaction of discovering who she is through her relationship with her newly widowed grandmother. Seeking advice from a grieving widow about relationships has much to offer as both people in the story were grieving and there was much information that was rich for the picking in a literary sense. At the end, however, I felt like Krissy, as a person, was immature and unlikable with the way she portrayed herself. Her inability to adequately portray emotions concerns me over her choice of profession as a writer, especially when she compares her first feelings in a relationship to that of two actors in a well known vampire movie series.
Seriously? Was that really the best reference she had for a relationship? The book has plenty of pop culture references that are geared towards 20 year olds, not 28 year old women who are in the midst of trying to find themselves. Unfortunately, for Ms. Gasbarre, 20 year olds are not going to be her target audience. They aren’t going to be interested in “How to Love an American Man.” At the age of 20, most 20-year olds think they’ve got it all figured out. It isn’t until later that we’ve realized that we have no idea.
My understanding is that Ms. Gasbarre is writing a sequel. If I didn’t need to finish the first one to write this review, I would have stopped reading it about 1/4 of the way into the book, if I’m being perfectly honest with myself and with you. I will not be reading the sequel. I will not be passing this book on to my mom or friends to read. I just don’t care how the story ends…and that makes me sad.
This book is a miss.
Sidenote: On every site that I posted my review, and in droves, people came in and bullied me about my negative review of this novel. This happened until I called the author out on Twitter and noted that the language in the bullying was extremely similar to the writing in her novel and just as immature. Be aware that the author's friends/publisher's are likely stacking the ratings on this one. I normally wouldn't bother mentioning this stuff, but it was such shoddy practice and left me with such a bad taste in my mouth about reviewing books that I feel like I need to get it out there and just let it go. I've had authors be upset with what I had to say about their books. I've never had them send the dogs out for me. It's not ok. Either you can deal with the criticism or you can't.
Disclaimer: I received a free copy of this book in order to review it on my blog. Thanks for allowing me to share my feelings, no matter how honest, with other people.
irishlibrarian's review against another edition
2.0
This book started off with promise, but it turned into a rather annoying tribute to the writer's grandparents. When she started with some fun dating stories, it was interesting. Then she veered off course and spent 4/5 of the book talking about an annoying doctor who may or may not now be her boyfriend. Can he live up to her perfect grandfather's example of how a gentleman treats a woman? We don't even get to find out.
sarah_reading_party's review against another edition
1.0
Is this chicklit? Is this a memoir? It is not clear! Gahhh. And from looking at Goodreads, no one knows here either. It appears to be a memoir, but is written in third person narrative. Weird. Try as I might, I just did not like Krissy, though I wanted to because she seems (outwardly, and in the first 30-40 pages) to be SO SWEET for taking care of her grandma after her grandpa's death. Awww. But seriously... I couldn't. She sounds whiny and immature, though she is basically in her late 20s (about my age). Is the doctor her boyfriend now? Yes, no, who knows! Her grandma is a key figure but hardly "says" anything... everything is just summaries of what she has said before. Drove me nuts! There is so much repetition and sloppy writing in this book too. It read like a blog post, not a book. No one could do any wrong in this book except the litany of boyfriends. Is your family perfect? Didn't think so, but Krissy's appears perfect here. It was hard to keep track of everyone and I was just bored by the story by the end but pressed on since I had devoted so much reading time to it already. Do not recommend.
elizcgregg's review against another edition
3.0
While I l loved the family connections and intergenerational premise, the writing was fairly flat and often very cliche. Good idea for a story but didn't really come through very well for me.
lisaeirene's review against another edition
3.0
I liked this book. The story was heartfelt and heartwarming. It's a memoir about a young woman who learns about love from her Grandma. I enjoyed the relationships she had with her family. The main guy she's "in love" with during most of the book is why I'm not giving it 4 stars.
I felt like his character was flat. He was unlikable (to me). There was no spark, he was kind of a dead fish and I didn't understand why she was mooning over this guy so much. That part was lacking for me.
I felt like his character was flat. He was unlikable (to me). There was no spark, he was kind of a dead fish and I didn't understand why she was mooning over this guy so much. That part was lacking for me.
nadoislandgirl's review against another edition
5.0
A beautiful and refreshing look at life, love, marriage, dating and singleness from the wisdom and experience of a grandmother to the ears of her granddaughter. It's not another one of those modern, jaded books on dating. Really sweet and fun.
Page 186:
Maybe the secret to fulfillment is to stop wondering what we're lacking; to stop seeking love and instead to start accepting ourselves and loving the people we encounter.
Page 248:
This is what it's like to be loved by a man. Before a woman falls in love, her beauty is the cause of a man's admiration, the carefree pull that captivates him. But then after she falls in love, even more radiance is the effect....And so it goes: when a female becomes the object of a male's desire--no matter how primitive the concept may seem -- it's as though he's kissed a sad, sleeping princess and breathed life into her from his own breath. And she begins, then, to see herself through his eyes, her every movement and glance and emotion turning passionately cognizant, as though she's watching the most womanly version of herself from some priviledged audience. Never before has she been more beautiful; and never before has she been more herself.
Page 186:
Maybe the secret to fulfillment is to stop wondering what we're lacking; to stop seeking love and instead to start accepting ourselves and loving the people we encounter.
Page 248:
This is what it's like to be loved by a man. Before a woman falls in love, her beauty is the cause of a man's admiration, the carefree pull that captivates him. But then after she falls in love, even more radiance is the effect....And so it goes: when a female becomes the object of a male's desire--no matter how primitive the concept may seem -- it's as though he's kissed a sad, sleeping princess and breathed life into her from his own breath. And she begins, then, to see herself through his eyes, her every movement and glance and emotion turning passionately cognizant, as though she's watching the most womanly version of herself from some priviledged audience. Never before has she been more beautiful; and never before has she been more herself.
sarahs_readingparty's review against another edition
1.0
Is this chicklit? Is this a memoir? It is not clear! Gahhh. And from looking at Goodreads, no one knows here either. It appears to be a memoir, but is written in third person narrative. Weird. Try as I might, I just did not like Krissy, though I wanted to because she seems (outwardly, and in the first 30-40 pages) to be SO SWEET for taking care of her grandma after her grandpa's death. Awww. But seriously... I couldn't. She sounds whiny and immature, though she is basically in her late 20s (about my age). Is the doctor her boyfriend now? Yes, no, who knows! Her grandma is a key figure but hardly "says" anything... everything is just summaries of what she has said before. Drove me nuts! There is so much repetition and sloppy writing in this book too. It read like a blog post, not a book. No one could do any wrong in this book except the litany of boyfriends. Is your family perfect? Didn't think so, but Krissy's appears perfect here. It was hard to keep track of everyone and I was just bored by the story by the end but pressed on since I had devoted so much reading time to it already. Do not recommend.
paperbooklover's review against another edition
1.0
Sometimes I really want to read a loving romance that is old-school and even Catholic, but I can't even call this a romance. This is just the memoirs of an overthinking woman throughout one year of her life. And it just seemed like she didn't want to admit her own faults at any point and it wasn't nearly as vulnerable as I would want it to be.I'm not saying she's a bad author. I really do commend her for trying to put her heart out there. I just wish she had dug a little deeper And told a story worth telling.
krisis86's review against another edition
1.0
Here's the problem I found with this book: the description/synopsis makes it sound AWESOME! And then you get into it, and you realize, it's not awesome.
Before I get into the bad about this book, I do want to say that Kristine's writing in the beginning was great. The first 30 pages were hard for me to read because they were so emotional. Kristine did a great job there. But after those first 30 pages...
It's supposed to be about the lessons Kristine learns from her grandmother, right? And about her own grandparents' love and their relationship and how it developed. So I was expecting details. Less of "Grandma explained to me why they loved each other." I would have really liked to read actual stories - the Grandma's dialogue was almost nonexistent in this book.
That was another one of my issues. There's very little dialogue. It's mostly Kristine explaining what happened or what was going on, and in the end it came off like I read a summary about a book instead of a book. She learns all of one lesson from her grandma, and it is repeated over and over again throughout the book to the point where it gets really annoying. And it's nothing new or groundbreaking (but I won't review that part since it could be considered a spoiler.)
I did not think Kristine's relationship with her grandma was super heartwarming. Sure, she drives her grandma around and takes her to lunch. But she appears to be annoyed about it the entire time. At some points she appears to treat her grandma like an inconvenience.
I also thought Kristine's relationships with Chris and with Tucker were total crap. Her fling with Tucker seemed gross and unreal to me from the beginning - I didn't understand the attraction there at all. And Chris was a real...jerk. I mean seriously. If a guy treated me like he treated Kristine, I'd have been out of there in a heartbeat. Sure, you have to make allowances for people, but after the 15th date cancellation/bail and the weird avoiding-y stuff, I'd have been done. Kristine's obsession with him was weird. Her family encouraging her to date this weird, selfish, creepy guy was even weirder. Is it love? No, probably not.
In the end, nobody finds love. There are no stories, just summaries. There is no resolution, just questions. And apparently the reason for this is that there is going to be a sequel? For heaven's sake, why? If you can't write about it in one book, it doesn't need to be written at all.
PS: Allegedly, the author has had her friends and family review the book positively to raise her percentages or stack the reviews or something. I have also heard that if a reviewer gives this book a negative review, she will complain about it and an army of her pals will come attack you in the night. This may not be true, but I have heard it from more than one source, so it's worth mentioning. Authors Behaving Badly is serious business and readers need to be aware of it.
Before I get into the bad about this book, I do want to say that Kristine's writing in the beginning was great. The first 30 pages were hard for me to read because they were so emotional. Kristine did a great job there. But after those first 30 pages...
It's supposed to be about the lessons Kristine learns from her grandmother, right? And about her own grandparents' love and their relationship and how it developed. So I was expecting details. Less of "Grandma explained to me why they loved each other." I would have really liked to read actual stories - the Grandma's dialogue was almost nonexistent in this book.
That was another one of my issues. There's very little dialogue. It's mostly Kristine explaining what happened or what was going on, and in the end it came off like I read a summary about a book instead of a book. She learns all of one lesson from her grandma, and it is repeated over and over again throughout the book to the point where it gets really annoying. And it's nothing new or groundbreaking (but I won't review that part since it could be considered a spoiler.)
I did not think Kristine's relationship with her grandma was super heartwarming. Sure, she drives her grandma around and takes her to lunch. But she appears to be annoyed about it the entire time. At some points she appears to treat her grandma like an inconvenience.
I also thought Kristine's relationships with Chris and with Tucker were total crap. Her fling with Tucker seemed gross and unreal to me from the beginning - I didn't understand the attraction there at all. And Chris was a real...jerk. I mean seriously. If a guy treated me like he treated Kristine, I'd have been out of there in a heartbeat. Sure, you have to make allowances for people, but after the 15th date cancellation/bail and the weird avoiding-y stuff, I'd have been done. Kristine's obsession with him was weird. Her family encouraging her to date this weird, selfish, creepy guy was even weirder. Is it love? No, probably not.
In the end, nobody finds love. There are no stories, just summaries. There is no resolution, just questions. And apparently the reason for this is that there is going to be a sequel? For heaven's sake, why? If you can't write about it in one book, it doesn't need to be written at all.
PS: Allegedly, the author has had her friends and family review the book positively to raise her percentages or stack the reviews or something. I have also heard that if a reviewer gives this book a negative review, she will complain about it and an army of her pals will come attack you in the night. This may not be true, but I have heard it from more than one source, so it's worth mentioning. Authors Behaving Badly is serious business and readers need to be aware of it.