Franken!Review: Dress You Up in My Love

TITLE: Dress You Up in My Love
AUTHOR: Diane Stingley
ORIGINAL DATE OF REVIEW: August 20, 2004
GENRE: Chick Lit
SUMMARY: Her life's becoming a nightmare.

Samatha Stone could have a wonderful life if only other people would cooperate. Like Greg Irvington, for instance. He's the man Sam always knew she'd end up with...right up until the moment he told her he's in love with someone else. Then there's her family, who have this annoying habit of disapproving of the way she lives. And don't even get her started about the holidays, which Sam would really prefer to be canceled for a year or two -- at least. All that changes when Alex Graham comes into her life.

He's the man of her dreams.

Alex Graham is smart, sexy, successful, sensitive, and ready to commit. There aren't many guys like him around; in fact, there aren't any. He's a figment of Sam's imagination -- one she makes the mistake of mentioning to her friends, her family, and Greg because she's tired of going it alone. And why should she have to when there are struggling actors like Mark Simpson eager to take on the role of Alex? Everyone who meets him swoons. Pretty soon, though, Mark's taking his role so seriously that Alex is more trouble than a real boyfriend. It's quickly becoming obvious that in order to reclaim her life and her self, Sam is going to have to end the charade...and break everyone else's heart in the process.

SHE-WHO-READS'S COMMENTS: I just finished this, and I really enjoyed it -- a lot more than I thought I would, even. It's more than just your typical chick lit book, despite the silly romantic comedy premise. (By the way, the silly romantic comedy premise was an awful lot of fun, and the reason I bought the book in the first place, so don't think I'm knocking it. I'm not.) Instead, we get a genuine, interesting novel about a set of characters who felt like real people. Even when the author was playing things up a little for comic effect, none of these characters felt like caricatures or cartoons -- they always came across as real people. The plot did get slightly ridiculous in places, but hey, what can you expect from a novel in which a woman hires an actor to play her fake boyfriend at family gatherings? It never got absurd, though.

And best of all, I felt like Samantha had really grown and changed throughout the course of the novel. She had a newfound understanding of herself and her relationships with other people by the end of the book. The character development was very satisfying to watch.

I also loved the author's style -- deadpan and sarcastic without being cynical or mean. Very funny stuff; I was laughing out loud in places.

Good book! I'm going to be looking out for more by this author!

RATING: Nine out of ten.