Practice Makes Perfect (edition 2009)

Amazon preorder,Amazon received

I particularly enjoyed this Julie James romance, lawyers make for a great blend of hardworking professional with charismatic showmen. Add to that believable, competitive personalities on both sides of the court, and this made for great romance.

Re-read #1: J.D. and Payton hold up 100% on the second time around. Their chemistry and competitiveness plays perfectly. Reading thisalso made me fondly remember THE SEXIEST MAN ALIVE, definitely the next stop on my Julie James reunion tour. ( )

3 and 1/2 stars


This is the 2nd book by Julie James I've read so far. I love her writing style, her strong characters and the witty banter. I like love stories where the relationship starts off with tension. I guess I like the "challenge" or thrill of the chase.

The love scenes were bland. Actually, there weren’t even present. You read what leads up to the moment, then the moment is over. I would have preferred more but now I know what to expect when I read a book by this author. I'll take smart, witty characters over loves scenes any day, especially when they're well done - as this author has demonstrated.

Great read for fans of romance who like to do without heavy sex scenes. ( )

Another super cute book from Julie James! :)

This book did NOT include a famous movie star, but that's perfectly fine. It was about two lawyers, Payton & J.D. who started at the same law firm at the same time 8 years ago, and, despite an initial attraction, became fierce competitors... not to the point of being arch-enemies, but definitely rivals. Now they're a month away from the company announcing who will make partner (they're both up for it), and the competition is as fierce as ever, when they're asked to work together on a big project...

I have to admit. The legalese was above my head a lot of the time, which was a bit frustrating.... especially since I had to get up and google a few words, as my regular dictionary doesn't include all that legal jargon. But understanding every single technical term isn't that important in understanding what's going on overall. You can figure out the gist from context.

I loved the interaction between the hero and heroine. They're both so incredibly pissed at each other, yet it's SO obvious that they're both in total denial about how they really feel. (At one point, Payton feels a bit light-headed around J.D., and she blames it on the ALTITUDE... haha! From being on the 55th floor instead of the 53th. Yeah. RIGHT, Payton... you keep telling yourself that!) My point is that you can tell that even though they're arguing NONSTOP about EVERYTHING that there's something there. Not all authors can pull that off. When they finally DO get together, it's not like in some books where you're like, "HUH? They've been horrible to each other all book long, and suddenly they're in love? WTH, dumbauthorwhocan'twriteworthcrap?" NOPE, it's VERY natural... the masses (erm... their coworkers?) all cheered. You know... on the inside, I'm sure.

The ending! *le sigh* Super great! :) Oh, and I gotta say, near the end, you finally find out how their rivalry started in the first place... I was like, "Ok, I COMPLETELY understand how that could have happened.... but SERIOUSLY? You two wasted 8 YEARS over THAT? You could have been married with 2 kids by now! Geesh!" Not that I think Payton would actually have HAD kids before she made partner. Or maybe ever. But still! A cat! They could have had a cat! Or saved money on rent, at least! I think all three of us (you know... Payton, J.D., and I) share that sentiment.... What a waste of time!

Anyway, super cute! A solid 4 stars. Maybe 4.25. ( )

EDIT 14/06/11 : In a good mood so I'm going to up my rating! It deserves it if I'm being honest.


I needed to read a book exactly like this. I wanted funny, easy-going and sexy... I got it. I find there are times when I just want to escape all the classics, all the vampires, werewolves, fairies and whatever else we're trending with now in the supernatural world, and especially all the [a:Diana Gabaldon|3617|Diana Gabaldon|http://photo.goodreads.com/authors/1213918339p2/3617.jpg] (you know I love her really but 1,300 effing pages!). Before I picked up this book, I had reached the stage where re-reading [b:Bridget Jones's Diary|227443|Bridget Jones's Diary (Bridget Jones, #1)|Helen Fielding|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1292060045s/227443.jpg|3185154] sounded like the best kind of idea... and then I discovered [a:Julie James|1647762|Julie James|http://photo.goodreads.com/authors/1267631748p2/1647762.jpg].

It's chick-lit romance (I know, I know) and the ratings of all her books are 4 averages, not to mention the large amount of dazzling reviews. So I decided to do what every sane person would do and buy three of them in one go from ebay. Yeah, I'm joking, if I had half a brain I'd try out one first - right? Well, looks like the gamble might have paid off. This book delivered everything I was hoping to just curl up and relax with. I devoured the story and I loved every character, it was neither lacking in plot nor difficult to wrap my head around. It was just an all-round pleasurable read.

I wanted to give it 5 stars. I still kind of want to roll my mouse up and highlight that last star. I just... I've come to reserve my 5 star ratings for books that challenge my beliefs, make me think, shock me... you get the idea? I loved this book, but did it change my views of the world? No. Okay, I know that [b:Darkfever|112750|Darkfever (Fever, #1)|Karen Marie Moning|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1295617637s/112750.jpg|108558] doesn't exactly contain some hidden message about the state of humanity but, come on... Barrons. There are exceptions to every rule ;)

So, yeah, this book was hilarious. No seriously, it was funny enough to give [a:Louise Rennison|65189|Louise Rennison|http://photo.goodreads.com/authors/1217261779p2/65189.jpg] a run for her money. There's this one part that I'm dying to comment on that made me laugh out loud... in fact, I'm here laughing just thinking about it. Yes, that's right, I'm sat here typing and laughing to myself... it's only a matter of time before they turn up with a straight jacket. What's with the tangents today? Back to what I was saying, there are some extremely funny moments. [a:Julie James|1647762|Julie James|http://photo.goodreads.com/authors/1267631748p2/1647762.jpg] creates easily imaginable situations and people so that when she delivers her humour the reader can just imagine it happening.

As for the characters, well, Payton is lovable and I recognised something of myself in her because she's a modern independent woman and a feminist, she's ambitious and she's a lawyer (well, I did take a Law A level in sixth form...) but she also wants a man who's a bit of a challenge. A force to be reckoned with wants something to reckon with it, not a pushover. There's a few mild political issues tackled in the story as Payton's mother is a really hardcore feminist and in-your-face vegan. Payton recognises the importance of feminism but that some extremes are unnecessary and cross the line between pro-woman and anti-man. I think it's fair to say I liked her.

The sexual tension between Payton and J.D. was really hot, the romantic aspect worked well and (thank you so much Ms James) no insta-love! In fact, at the start of the book they pretty much hated each other... well, in the way two hot lawyers competing for the same job position hate each other (i.e. "I hate you so much I want to rip your clothes off"). By the way, J.D. is hot. He's got the whole naughty thing going on without being a complete ass, he made me laugh, he wears a suit *sigh*... and he has short hair, no fangs and isn't called Raphael, Vishous or Angel. Finally!

The sex scenes are not graphic but neither are they a 'fade to black' scenario. Sometimes I actually find leaving something to the imagination can be a good thing. That being said, I just finished [a:Julie James|1647762|Julie James|http://photo.goodreads.com/authors/1267631748p2/1647762.jpg]' other novel, [b:Something About You|6642402|Something About You|Julie James|http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51foQ90hsTL._SL75_.jpg|6836876], and it seems she's decided to get just a tad dirtier with that one. He goes down on her on the stairs!!!!

It was so very very enjoyable and I look forward to reading more books by [a:Julie James|1647762|Julie James|http://photo.goodreads.com/authors/1267631748p2/1647762.jpg]. There's something about love/hate banter that really rings my bell. Highly recommended to anyone looking for a lighter kind of read!! ( )