Jane Green (1) (1968–)

I don’t usually read reviews of a book before I read it. If I’m considering ordering a book online and the star-rating is low, then I may second-guess it, but as a rule I don’t go looking for opinions ahead of time. This time, I wish I had.

I’m not sure I’ve ever felt so insulted by a book, both personally and intellectually. And because I don’t want to encourage anyone else to read it, I’m not going to hold back on the spoilers.

On its face, this starts out like it’s going to show more be your typical “fat girl gets skinny and finds herself” story. Which is fine. Only mildly insulting, in the way that it insinuates that a fat girl can’t be loved. But as soon as Jemima starts to change her life, things go downhill, and fast.

The entire beginning of the book is spent telling us how fat and pathetic and hopeless Jemima is. People stare at her, she has problems getting around, frankly, she’s as big and ugly as a house!! So when she decides to go and join a gym in anticipation of meeting her online boyfriend, and has to step on a scale, I am expecting a number in the 300lb range. Or at least in the high 200s. Something in Biggest Loser territory.

So what’s the magic number? 204lbs. 204. Seriously. The average 200lb woman probably wears a size 18 pant. Maybe 16. Sizes that you don’t even have to go to the plus-size section of the store to find. I don’t mind telling you that I weigh more than 204 lbs, and I certainly am not stared at by random passers-by, nor do I have problems getting around, nor do people look at me weird when I eat. I do not evoke feelings of pity from the general public. I do not have problems fitting in chairs. But Jemima? Poor sweet Jemima is horribly hindered by her ginormous bulk. At 204 pounds.

I almost stopped reading there, but then I got curious about just how bad it could get. And yes, it got worse.

Jemima’s approach to losing weight is simple: eat almost nothing, and exercise as much as possible. But don’t worry! According to the author, she is definitely not anorexic! She says so, right there! No, this is a perfectly healthy approach! Anyone can survive on mineral water, lettuce, and a chicken breast every day! And look at those results! Not only has Jemima lost roughly 80 pounds in 3 months, she has a fabulously tight, perfect, body! Never mind that this is absolutely unrealistic…it’s impossible. And a horrible message to send.

But it doesn’t stop there! I actually didn’t have any problem with her rather successful meeting with her online boyfriend, but the reason why their relationship doesn’t work out is ridiculous. We are supposed to believe that he loves his fat (supposedly – who really knows) assistant, but that it would ruin him professionally if anyone knew about it. Really? Really? And their solution to this problem is for him to find a trophy wife? Just how exactly was that supposed to work out? He would just cheat on both of them forever? They’d become polygamists? How?

The entirety of the story was so ridiculous that I didn’t even care about the “hey girls, get skinny and you can find love too!” message. Or the constant switch between 1st person and 3rd person.

And don’t throw that “it’s just a fairy tale!” crap at me. Fairy tales are allowed to make sense.

It’s obvious that not only has the author never been overweight, she doesn’t even know any overweight people. Or at least has never asked them what they really weigh or how they really feel. I have read (and enjoyed) Jane Green’s books before, but this book made me angry enough that I will think twice before I pick up another.

So yeah. Don’t bother reading this book. show less

I love how it feels when you find a book at the exact time you needed it. My maternal grandmother went into the hospital a few weeks ago and I've been trying to come to terms with the idea that we could lose her. As a result, reading about a reunion between three sisters and their own very sick mother struck me on a particularly personal note. It provided a strange way to escape my own reality without the burden of a dark and gloomy read. I can't explain how much I enjoyed this story about show more the incredibly selfish movie star Ronnie Sunshine and her three daughters Lizzy, Meredith and Nell. Each of their relationships were fully formed. I could sympathize with the push/pull that comes with being around the people who know you better than anyone else and the frustration of trying to maintain your adult identity.

I really loved the quote "It doesn't matter how many years go by, how grown-up we think we are, how much we presume we have changed or evolved, when we are back in our childhood homes, we become exactly who we have always been."

This book deserves to be a beach book and book club favorite, through Labor Day and Beyond. Refreshing and so entertaining. show less

When I think of Jane Green, I automatically think 'chick lit'. Promises to Keep is chick lit, but with a lot more depth than I expected.

Steffi just goes with the flow in life. When she's tired of a job, she moves on to the next one. She's great at what she does though - she's an amazing cook. It is this skill that introduces her to Mason, a well to do publisher, who loves her cooking. When things start to fall apart with her latest boyfriend and her current job has lost it's oomph, Mason's show more out of the blue offer looks really good. Dogsit for a year while he's in London - and stay at his country home in Maine. Steffi jumps at the chance and as a bonus she'll be closer to her big sister Callie.

Callie has it all from the outside looking in - two great kids, a job she loves (photography) and a husband who loves her, even though he works too much.

What starts out as an idyllic summer changes everyone's lives forever when unexpected news arrives.

I fell in love with Steffi as soon as she was introduced. She's warm, caring, thoughtful and someone you'd like to know. Callie is as well, but a bit more reserved. As the book progressed, Callie's character is opened up more and I became more invested in her. Green's exploration of the relationships between the sisters is genuine. The supporting cast is filled with rich characters as well. Callie's best friend Lila is larger than life. The relationships between parent/child/spouse and friends are all thoughtfully examined and portrayed.

I don't want to reveal any of the details of the plot, but I had to grab the Kleenex box by the end.

Green also infuses Promises to Keep with chick lit elements as well. Steffi's romance or lack thereof is a great subplot. Also included at the beginning of most chapters are some of Steffi's recipes. (The spinach quiche with quinoa crust was absolutely delicious!)

A contemporary novel about the ties that bind us - family, friendship and love - and what happens when those ties are threatened. Promises to Keep will make you take a second look at your own life - don't wait until 'someday'.

It wasn't until I read the author's notes at the end that I realized how much of a personal note Green has injected into her latest novel - more Kleenex was needed.

Fans of Jennifer Weiner and Emily Giffin would enjoy this book. show less

So here's the thing. Before I purged all of my Amazon reviews I think most people would have realized that I used to be a huge fan of Jane Green. I loved Jemima J, Mr. Maybe, and even loved Bookends. Then I started to really not get many of Jane Green's later books and after a while just stopped making them my always have to buy books. However, I still re-read Jemima J, Mr. Maybe, and Bookends once every year or so. Jemima J holds a special place in my heart just because it was my first Jane show more Green book and though there are problems galore with the entire story-line and ending. I loved the character of Jemima so much that I always over look it. And up until now I would have probably have still given it 5 stars. However, I actually read this book with an offline friend of mine at the same time and we later on discussed it. And I didn't realize until she pointed some things out, how seriously messed up this entire story is. So I can say that this book is probably going to come out of my rotation for future use.

Told in the third person, we follow Jemima Jones. Overweight by 100 pounds (apparently she is obese), Jemima feels despair that her crush on coworker Ben is never going to realize how perfect for him she could be. Due to being sent off to a computer course with Ben and their colleague Geraldine, Jemima gets to know more about Ben and even becomes his confidant. However, due to the three of them talking on chatrooms on the internet, Jemima starts an online relationship with a guy named Brad in California. The only problem is that Jemima has lied about her job, her hobbies, and oh yeah about how she looks. Jemima uses this lie to push herself to being the thin woman that she has always wanted to be.

As I said above, I can't help liking Jemima. Maybe it's because part of me wanted to give her a hug and tell her that her weight isn't her problem, it is her crippling self esteem.

So below you will see my comments on the book and my friend's comments which seriously had me wondering if I just have really bad taste in books when I don't see some of the problems that she did.

Most of this book is following Jemima being treated horribly by people until her weight loss transformation. Jemima does start getting treated differently by people around her and she is still focused on being what she considers a "hardbody" and losing so much weight that someone will practically be able to see her ribs.

My friend thought this book was pointing out the wrong things to women and she got worried that if someone younger read it, they may try some of the same things that Jemima did to lose weight. For example, somehow Jemima loses almost all of her extra weight in 3 months. And I kid you not, I don't know how in the world I overlooked that detail all of the times that I read this book previously. It took my friend pointing it out to me that this was something that Jane Green had included in this book. I kept wondering as I re-read this how in the world did she not have any loose skin anywhere.

Second, Jemima has really bad self esteem. I think things would have been better in the book if Jemima acknowledge she had some issues to work through, and saw a therapist. I guess it doesn't make for a chick lit type of book though.

My friend loathed the character of Ben. Her exact words were and I quote:

For goodness sake! Every woman I know has some idiot like this in their past. You just become the guy's sounding board and you think to yourself if only I lost some weight, or were more funny, or something that he would be into you. The only problem is that Ben doesn't even start to think about Jemima until he realizes he doesn't have someone to listen to his shit! Ugh! I hate him!

Yeah...up until talking to her I always thought how romantic it was that Jemima was secretly in love with Ben.

The writing I always thought was quite good, though in parts I remember initially not understanding what a lot of terms means (British chick lit novel) and I thought the pacing was quite good.

My friend thought the writing was not as advanced as she would like it, and she thought the pacing was all over the place.

Apparently my friend booed the ending.


in the end she and Ben end up married



I stupidly said, well come on. I mean look at how in the end she realized that she needed to stop trying to force herself into being someone she was not. And she responded, that whole part where she went to California was awful and I wanted to scream throughout it.

So there you go. A book I used to keep on my comfort read list is now going on my shelf of shame. show less