And I thought MY dating history was cringe worthy...
347104
BB Easton is a hilarious foul-mouthed spitfire that makes me appreciate my personal dating history anew.  I definitely recommend this book.  Not for prudes.
737825
I am an avid reader and would not consider myself a prude; however I only read about half of it since I found it offensive and in poor taste.
2154885
Having enjoyed a few of John Updike's books, I pounced on this at the library. I forced myself to read until the end, but it was so depressing and so cringe-worthy that it literally choked me to finish it. The storytelling I can find little fault with, and perhaps it's this very talent which was so good at making me cringe and turn away in disgust at many parts of the book. I'm quite open-minded in my selection of reading material and the erotica in this is nothing to what I have read in many other books, but some things just cross the line of humanity and I was shocked that he was allowed to keep such terrible innuendo hinting at the worst possible perversion in this book. Read only if you don't mind being further affected by the worst of humanity in our current world. I have regretted few books as much as I regretted this one and I may as well just read a daily newspaper depicting the same stories to get the same depressing effect.
4047075
When the first page of the book starts with.....I am so beautiful and model worthy flowing raven locks 5"11 skinny,eat anything I want.....so on and so on this chic is way to shallow and unlikeable for me. Typical 21 century young adult,I see enough shallow people everyday I don't need to read about them.
4726969
I must not be a smart, attractive person because I did not appreciate or like Matthew Diffees book Hand Drawn Jokes for Smart Attractive People. This book is a collection of cartoons and one-liners from Diffee, who does comics for The New Yorker. Let me start by saying I appreciated all the hand drawn cartoons. I really liked that aspect. However, only a few made me smile; I had no reaction to most of them and a few were offensive. I understand that jokes sometimes poke fun at certain people and thats what makes them funny, however, these seemed to go beyond that and enter into the offensive and not funny category.

A complaint I have about this copy was the formatting. I completely understand everything not being perfect since this was an advanced copy. However, often times the cartoons were mashed together so I couldn't read them at all and a lot of the text was random letters that made absolutely no sense. At least half of the book was like this which made it annoying to read because I spent pages just flipping through not able to make sense of anything.

Overall, this book disappointed me and was not what I was expecting. Perhaps I have the wrong sense of humor for it. If you can relate to Matthew Diffees humor and can get a nicely formatted book then perhaps you might enjoy this book, but my guess is that most people  aren't going to be smart and attractive enough.

I received a copy of this book as an E-arc from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
409915
If it wasn't for the overly done crass, at times crude, nonstop, tried too hard, sarcastic banter between the main couple, I would likely give this book a higher rating. Im not sure when, but it eventually started to really annoy me.  Likely when I realized the heroine seemed to never shut up. It just became exhausting, folks.  Also, it annoyed me how we were told she was such a good mom/role model for her kids, but to me her actions often proved otherwise. Probably due to her lack of self-respectability when interacting with the hero. Not to mention her bad taste in picking names for her childrenCricket, Chipper, and eventually Casper. Well, enough said. I think you get the point. I don't buy into the notion she let her ex pick the names. She wasn't exactly a just go with the flow kind of person.

Angus wasn't my version of an ideal hero, either. He had no qualms about physically assaulting someone to get his way or even burning down their business.  Often not for the greater good, but simply for his own selfish gain. He eliminated his competition by whatever means necessary.  We apparently are just supposed to accept it, because, well, thats just who he is. That persona works in a mafia themed romance, but somehow, to this reviewer, if felt misplaced here. Maybe because I would expect someone with his position in the community to have achieved his success using hard work/ethics and not acquire it from fear/intimidation/swinging a baseball bat.

Since I have to actually like/respect the main couple in my romantic reads, there were too many times I found myself shaking my head and questioning their conduct.

The writing itself also eventually became an issue. From the OTT crude, steamy scenes to the yawn fest of a family vacation that Angus arranged, I found myself fast-forwarding through a good portion near the end. That is never a good sign, my fellow romance book-loving friends. Though Im a huge fan of bad boys finding true love and redemption, this one just didn't live up to my expectations. Heres to hoping it was just me and others enjoy it more. I wasn't overly impressed.

Title: Junkyard Dog, Author: Bijou Hunter, Pages: 268, stand-alone, alpha hero who everyone is afraid of, sassy/foul, smart mouth heroine, unlikeable/annoying hero, numerous VERY steamy, smexy scenes with crude, lusty language, too much back and forth crass, sarcastic banter/behavior, eventually became a steam over substance kind of read.

(This review is based on Kindle Unlimited version, not an ARC.)
4042405
I tried trudging through the first story, but it just rubbed me the wrong way. Firstly, the string of dates? Really? That bad luck is not bad luck. It was a lot of horrible tastes in guys, no matter who set them up. Secondly, after one week, you want to fly from Chicago to Texas and drive for a few hours more? Uh... no thanks... then it becomes even more unrealistic. This girl gets on a horse. A city girl from Chicago gets on a horse with no one else around, willingly? I can't see it... Maybe if she grew up with horses and later moved to Chicago, but that is not what happened. Then she gets saved by Tyler in cougar form from a coyote, and she passes out. He basically tells her she can't leave until she agrees not to tell anyone about his shifting, and proceeds in seducing her after she said no, just like the last date, Scott, "you'll like it once you're naked," only this time she was okay with it. You know, he smelled it on her, after all.

Oh, it's garbage....
1632682
So what? It's fake and cheesy. The guy presents his photo collage here as a set of piuctures taken of his ex-girlfriends from 1970-1980. Initially, it was aceepted as such and got pretty big press in all of the sources of intelligent media. Everyone was pleased at such an innocent take on the past-- rememberences of a time, well, for me-- when I wasn't even born....
And there is nothing earth-shattering in this photography. The pictures are alright; the whole style is a bit cheesy (especially considering the sappy dialogue added in fake-writing next to them... But, really, who ever is buying more than verismilitude? These are fun and could be some kind of coffee table book. Probably better to make one's own, but, well, that takes time...
It's worth a glance through-- for a laugh. It's definately cute. Intellectually, artistically, not worth that much....
1462531
Look, I get it.  Two stereotypical redneck hicks go into a REALLY fancy restaurant and start to order dinner.  And by the time he's asking for his usual (in a place he's never been before in his life) I realized that I want a better book than this.  It was offensive and I really don't know why the author even bothered.  I didn't get to whatever else happened in the story, whether they have sex, have great sex, have rowdy cowboy sex, I really don't care if she even did a reverse cowgirl! I couldn't get past dinner, and niether should she have.
2602014
I went into this book hoping to be entertained, but by the time Alex & Nathan had their first sexual encounter, I was pretty much disgusted by The Connector. [SPOILERS AHEAD]

First, it didn't seem like consensual sex at all - Nathan (28) basically did whatever he wanted to Alex (19), while her inner monologue was confused, and she is literally described as a "frightened teenager, suddenly realizing she's in way over her head." Nathan knows this but keeps verbally messing with her mind, and when she says she doesn't want to do something, he tells her it doesn't matter what she wants ... then he takes her hesitancy and silence as consent! Afterward, he has these fantasies about what else he could have made her do. And Alex feels like a "used, dirty rag." She actually feels so ashamed by the encounter that she can't bring herself to tell her friends.

Their second encounter is barely better than their first - Alex still voices that she doesn't think what they're doing is good for her. But she's slightly more willing to do it, since she has come to think of herself as a junkie needing this drug that Nathan provides. Then when it finally seems like Alex has realized Nathan is a narcassistic psychopath and she wants nothing else to do with him, she sleeps on it and wakes up thinking "it's not that bad after all!"

There were a few times the story could have gone in a better direction  Alex could have plotted with Corey to take down "the Syndicate" after she confessed everything to him. Or after Alex says she wants to use her intelligence to move forward in her career  and Nathan says that she's naive and all she has to offer is sexuality  Alex could have pulled out her supposed Krav Magra moves to take him down a few notches. Or even better, Alex could have confided in her roommate that a manipulative, power-hungry man almost a decade older than her was taking advantage of her, and they could have teamed up to ruin "bad boy billionaires" Nathan & Ashton once and for all.

But unfortunately, there were no strong women in this book (except possibly Alyssa, the "bitchy" PR woman?). Yes, Alex is sometimes called "bold," but in every situation, she is unsure of herself and bluffs her way through things ... and Nathan knows exactly what she's doing and uses it to his advantage. Where was Alex's mother? She's mentioned one time at the beginning of the book, and afterward Alex's upbringing is only described in relation to her father. And by the end of the book, Alex's roommate Jenna is basically reduced to a walking sex joke.

Maybe my take on The Connector as a mysoginist viewpoint that propagates rape culture makes me one of those "ultra-liberal bitches" that Nathan Turner hates, but I'm not a 19 year old college student who's unsure of her every move, so the insult doesn't bother me. :)
996510
I had to read this book for a class and it was one of the worst textbooks I've ever had. The entire thing tried so hard to appeal to a ~younger generation~ that all of the references are outdated by the time I'm writing this review, and cringeworthy already when I was reading it. Maybe there were some good points in it, but if there were I don't remember because all I can think about is the weird and frustrated feeling I got when I had to read it.
4661670
This book was way too crass i know it was tongue in cheek I'm just glad I can actually enjoy my kids.
1558927
I didn't!  I found that it proposed a strict set of gender-based rules to follow, which seemed extremely sexist.  These three male authors were well-intentioned and intelligent (although I didn't appreciate them reminding me constantly that they were "professional men," as if to imply that some redneck, beer guzzling lowlife from the trailer park might not have the same expectations for women!)

To be fair, Brad, Chris, and Rich are bright guys who were being honest and trying to give women the best advice possible, so that we can eliminate the wrong men from our lives, and cultivate the right ones.  My problem with their advice is that they want women to accept men just the way they are even if that means that women have to play Barbie to get their Ken.

To recap some of the tips in this book, women are told not to ask a man out for a first date, not to use profanity initially, not to get too heavy or intense in terms of discussing politics or disagreeing with a man, or confiding one's life history, not to sleep with a man too soon, and not to call him that frequently.  Women are also not expected to pay for the dates, although it's considered polite and generous if women offer to pay for a taxi or a round of drinks by the second or third date.

How does this advice differ from what mothers told their daughters 50 years ago?  Oh, okay -- it's permissible to sleep with a guy somewhere around the fifth date. DUH!!!

The whole concept of being someone other than who you are in order to "capture" a man, who will invariably discover that you are another person three months later, is so revolting. Now, I'm not prone to sleeping with a total stranger, using a steady stream of expletives with someone that I don't know, or telling a brand new person that there is mental illness in my family.  However, I need to be myself!  I don't want to catch or capture anything, especially a person.  I like to envision men just the way I view females -- I don't want to "get" one.  I want to find and be with a guy who likes me for myself.

However, the very worst part of this book is that I suspect that most of what they said is true!@!  That's what makes it depressing.  Earlier this month, I read He's Just Not That Into You.  I was prepared to hate that book BUT I loved it!  Liz and Greg were so funny that it helped to cushion the hard truths.  They were also more homey or earthy -- I'm not sure what it was but I found it easier to relate to them than to these three guys, possibly because Liz and Greg did not repeatedly remind me of their professional status.

Having said that, Liz and Greg made wild generalizations, which Rich, Chris and Brad did not make.  The latter acknowledged all kinds of different reasons why a man may not contact a woman after their first date or meeting, why he may bail at some point in the relationship or fail to commit.  To Liz and Greg, there was only one explanation -- he just wasn't into you.  Like Liz and Greg, these three guys truly cared about helping women to find the right mate.  Their heart is in the right place.

After reading these two books, I've decided not to read any more self-help books about the sexes!  Ideally, I would like to be myself and to treat the men in my life exactly the same way that I treat the women.  But realistically, I realize that by doing so I may alienate some good guys.  It's a hard judgment call to make.  I don't understand why men can accept the fact that women sit on the Supreme Court, operate in hospitals, and fly airplanes but those same competent and ambitious gals are not supposed to ask a man out on a date!  Sad commentary.

Sigrid Mac
128072
I had high hopes and maybe that is where my problem started; with expectations. What in the holy heck is this stuff? Who is rating it a FIVE?
Whew, ok, I used this for the first time before going out to a social event. I tap tap tapped it on my part (where most of my gray/thinning is) "generously" as suggested. It was like I spread rapid tan on my face as the "fibers" befell up my forehead, nose, and chin. I looked like a Suburban PTA mom slash coal miner. I suddenly had hysterical black lung hacking until I realized that it wasn't black lung, but rather a near panic attack from my attempts to clean my face from the unexpected falling fibers syndrome. This act of failed facial cleansing had me in a brief perimenopausal hot flash that combined beads of sweat, panic, and whateverthehell these fibers were that were completely obedient to gravity. Ok, so, In summary.... A) No, B) I looked all dirty and stuff, C) I still had muh grays but now they were mixed with fibers (aka DIRT!) and D) I spent the rest of my evening compulsively wiping my forehead even though I was unable to see myself which turned into a secondary mild panic attack that I was somehow spreading DIRT all over my face, and E) No, again. Just no. I am sticking with my $12.95 CVS brand of root touch up that happens to give an illusionary experience of thicker hair. Now, my trust issues are all up and spiky because everyone raved over this stuff and threw all these stars at it. I'll be okay. Thanks. But I WILL be sending this back. Along with all the other crap I am "going to send back"..... another story there....
2248151
I got this for the handful of favorites I remember from my youth...I've dated myself...The thing is: They had a lot of really bad songs which are on this album as well.  Granted, this is only my opinion.
3335735
I wanted to like this more than I did.

This is a zany, quirky look at a zany, quirky 30-something woman who decides that she needs to hunt for men in a different way than just staying at home in her PJs and working.  She goes to a bar to play darts (note that she does not know how to play) where she spies Sebastian.

I could live with the funny parts of Emily's character (although there's a brief mention that she has a teaching degree but she's not using it and that's not explored at all, so why even mention it?) I have her props for asking him out and handling the rejection okay.  BUT, she's got the worst taste in men.  And that's where I gave up on this book.  Mark was dumb and pure comic relief, but Sebastian is perhaps the WORST book boyfriend I've read in awhile and that's saying something since I read about 300 romances a year.

First of all, he smokes and that lost two stars in my rating.  I do not find smoking at all sexy and all of the descriptions of him smoking which I think are supposed to be sexy just grossed me out.  And ewww, he kissed her after he lit a cigarette, and I was then hating this book.  He is also the least emotionally mature man, purely staying in a relationship with a psycho just to have a place to live because he doesn't want to commute far from his job.  He may be "real", but if I wanted real, I could just talk to my family.

Ugh.  I really just can't give this more than 2.5 stars.
1051504
As someone who is an avid book reader, I can say that I was genuinely and thoroughly disappointed by this book. It is rare that I DNF a book, but I got through about 70% before I gave up. Honestly, I didn't have anything else to read, so I am sure that if there were any other novels in close vicinity I would have set this down long before then.
This book was a random pick from a trip to Walmart that intrigued me because of the cover. After reading the back, I thought it might be a decent read during a boring Friday night. (Also, I really like the name Scarlett. Arbitrary, I know, but this is seriously how I make my book buying decisions.) Boy, was I wrong. The entire premise of this book confused me, because the main character's "thing" is that she can't remember anything from before the age of four. Maybe I'm reaching here, but I would venture to say that most people cannot remember anything from the age of four. And if they can, it is probably very little and vague ideas of stories rather than an actual memories. But whatever, I can get past this. Not that big of a deal...
But then you insert creepy-but-so-attractive-that-main-character-can't-tell Noah, and this book starts going downhill (that's to say, the first page...). Immediately when they see each other, it's instantaneous love, like years of emotional connection love. He's also pretty creepy, . And the plot development between these two just isn't there. I can't figure out why they even like each other, because there just felt like there was no chemistry. Kind of frustrating, if I'm being honest.
I also really did not like any of the main characters. Scarlett's best friend, Imogen, is honest to goodness terrible, and Scarlett spends the entire time slut-shaming her and talking about how she's entirely unsupportive. I found myself wondering why they were even friends. Scarlett is annoying and frustrating with how naive she is, and Noah is creepy and weird and I honestly would have run in the opposite direction if he ever approached me.
Also, I hate to do this, but the writing itself was just not good. It was something that I feel like an 8th grader could have written. Everything is just so elementary. There was very little showing, and much more telling. For instance, Scarlett and Noah falling in love. Rather than it being shown, it was just told that they were in love. They were just supposed to be together. And it really made this already not-so-great book even worse.
I am giving the book two stars because I really appreciate the idea, it's very clever and I can say that it is completely unique to any young adult novel I've read. However, this book just failed to deliver on what could have been an amazing plot.