And the Crowd Went Wild by Susan Elizabeth Phillips

 

Title:  And the Crowd Went Wild

Author:  Susan Elizabeth Phillips

Narrated by:  Kelli Tager

Publisher: Avon

Length: Approximately 10 hours and 8 minutes

Source: Review Copy from NetGalley.  Thank-you!

Do you have a favorite sports team?  I live near and work in Green Bay, so the Packers are just sort of a part of everyday life around here.

Darcy Flynn is a star best known for her bombshell roles and marriage to a famous action star.  After a very public humiliation, she is looking for a place to get away.  She inexplicitly ends up at her former high school boyfriend’s (now Chicago quarterback) retreat in Wisconsin.  Clint is trying to relax and regain his focus before the season begins and he is surprised to see his old girlfriend who broke his heart in high school.  He lets her stay in an old caboose on his property that he is restoring.  Will these two find themselves and each other?

My thoughts on this audiobook:

·       This was the February pick for the Brenda Novak Book Group.  There was a fun book club meeting on Facebook for this book that you can still watch.  Sadly, Susan Elizabeth Phillips was sick and unable to join the book club this time.

·       And the Crowd Went Wild by Susan Elizabeth Phillips was a contemporary romance, but it had depth and hard topics were discussed such as alcoholism, r#@e, and murder.  Even with these topics, it was still a fun and engaging romance.

·       Narrator Kelli Tager had a great performance and unique voices for the characters.

·       I loved the Boxcar Children quotes at the start of each chapter.  It gets even better when Darcy ends up living in an old boxcar that Clint is fixing up on his property.

·       Darcy’s marriage reminded me of the breakdown of Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman’s marriage.

·       This is #11 in the Chicago Stars series.  I read this as a standalone and it was fine as a standalone.  I’m assuming some of the characters were also in previous books.

·       The characters are in their mid-thirties.

·       This was a dual point of view novel between Darcy and Clint.

·       Tropes in this novel included second chance romance, enemies to lovers, and forced proximity.

·       I loved the Northwoods of Wisconsin setting and how Darcy is only able to find Packer gear for clothing.  This rings true for the area.  This pains Clint as he is a quarterback for Chicago.

·       Darcy and Clint had amazing tension and chemistry.

·       The romance in this novel was steamy with the door wide open.

·       I loved the romance, but also the personal journey of both Darcy and Clint.

·       I also loved how Darcy rescued a mutt and named him Watch (from the Boxcar Children).  I also like how she helped and befriended a woman who was being abused by her boyfriend.

Overall, And the Crowd Went Wild by Susan Elizabeth Phillips was an engaging contemporary romance with great characters, chemistry, and romance.  The story had depth and was very enjoyable.

Call Me Irresistible by Susan Elizabeth Phillips

 Call Me Irresistible is an “irresistible” rollicking new tale by Susan Elizabeth Phillips. Meg Koranda has lived a rootless, privileged existence as the daughter of two famous Hollywood personalities. She arrives in Wynette, Texas for her best friend Lucy’s wedding only to discover that Lucy is about to make the biggest mistake of her life.

Lucy’s fiancé, Ted Beaudine is the perfect man or “Mr. Irresistible.” Not only is he rich, handsome, and sexy, but he is also a genius inventor and the mayor of Wynette. He also has the strange habit of having halos appear around his head or choirs singing when he appears. The problem for Lucy is that he is too perfect. Everyone in town seems to think that Ted is settling with her, although she is the daughter of the former president of the United States. With the media, family, and entire town at hand, Lucy is hiding panic under her calm exterior.

Meg is the only person who recognizes the problem and talks with Lucy about it. After Lucy flees her wedding, the town turns their hatred on Meg for ruining Ted’s happiness. Unluckily for Meg, she can’t leave Wynette as her family has cut her off. She discovers her credit cards no longer work and is out of cash, so she digs deep within herself and finds a way to survive. Unfortunately, the mayor of Wynette is still a bit bitter about his wedding being cancelled and his perfect exterior cracks when it comes to Meg.

I really enjoyed Call Me Irresistible. At first, I wasn’t sure as I thought Ted was rather a bland, Ken doll type hero. Slowly, but surely, just as Meg is able to crack his perfect exterior, Phillips reveals more and more about Ted and builds him into a flawed, but compelling character. I thought it was masterfully done.

I enjoyed the town of Wynette and the colorful characters that inhabited it. I would like to read more about them, and I can. As I got to the end of the book, I learned from the great author notes and a handy diagram that I can learn more about all of the characters. Many of the characters that appear in Call Me Irresistible have appeared in previous Susan Elizabeth Phillips novels. I had read Fancy Pants previously, but none of the other books. Call Me Irresistible is a great stand-alone novel, but it is nice that you can learn more about the intriguing characters by reading some of the other novels. I think they are going on my “to read” list. I’m also excited that Lucy will get her own novel as Susan Elizabeth Phillips is currently writing it. I want to know what happened to Lucy!

Besides a great plot and irresistible characters, Call Me Irresistible drew me in with a few different other points. I enjoyed that Ted is an inventor and that a lady who is after him, Sunny, is a mechanical engineer. It is hard to find engineers in books, TV, or film and I’m always excited to see them somewhere. Sadly, Sunny is a villain, but I’ll take a female engineer shout-out when I can!

I also loved that Meg and Ted love environmental science and sustainable developments. They talk about how to be energy efficient, recycling, etc. throughout the novel. My degrees are in environmental engineering so I loved it!

Also being a resident of Wisconsin, I loved the discussion of Herb Kohler. He was mentioned for being a plumbing king that owns some great golf resorts, and one of the characters seems to be modeled after him.

Overall, Call Me Irresistible is an appealing novel with all of the elements I enjoy in a good book; compelling main characters, great plot, character growth, and colorful secondary characters. Throw in environmental issues and a female mechanical engineer and you have me hooked! I can’t wait to read the follow-up book about Lucy.

I read Call Me Irresistible as part of the TLC Book Tour.

Book Source: Review copy from HarperCollins Publishers. Thank-you!

Fancy Pants by Susan Elizabeth Phillips

I read Fancy Pants a couple of weeks ago for my Lakeshore Mom's Club bookclub pick for October. This book was okay, but mainly had the problem of being stuck in the 1980's and not having a very likeable hero.

Francesca is a spoiled English heiress down on her luck. She has led a life of leasure, but after her mother's death, she finds out there is no money left. She tries to make money, but ends up stranded in America. Dallas, or Dally, a second rate handsome golf player finds her and helps her out . . . sort of. Sparks fly between the two, but they can't seem to keep it together.

I liked Francesca's story. I didn't like her at first as she seemed a lot like a Paris Hilton. After she loses it all though and has to work her way back up to the top, I really liked and admired her. Dallas on the other hand, I never liked. He used violance against women when it suited him and seemed to think he should be able to coast through life on his good looks. He does a variety of bad things in the book (like not telling Francesca that his is married), but we are supposed to feel sorry for him. I never did. If he would have been a more likeable hero, this would have been a much better book.