Fools Rush In

Despite the conclusion to this novel being socially AWKWARD! it was actually a really fun read. I love it when the reader knows something ages before the protagonist and Kristan Higgins is a master at that.

Millie Barnes has been in love with Joe Carpenter since high school, and now that she's nearly 30 with a promising career as a doctor, she's decided that it's finally time to do something about it. When she's not working at the local clinic, she's focused on a self-improvement regimen that will surely cause Joe to notice her as something more than just a friend. She begins running, gets a new haircut, and asks her friends for makeup and clothing tips. She even plans out her daily routine so that she can "accidentally" bump into Joe. But Millie also begins spending a lot of time with Sam Nickerson, a local cop who just happens to be her sister's ex-husband. Although Sam has a good life and a wonderful teenage son, Millie wants him to show more fall in love again, this time with a woman who's worthy of him. When Joe finally starts taking notice of Millie, she's ecstatic; but as the two of them begin dating, she's shocked to discover that something is missing. And the more time she spends with Sam, the more she realizes that her platonic feelings for him may have developed into something much deeper -- and much more complicated.

I always enjoy Kristan Higgins' books when I'm in the mood for a light contemporary romance. This book has a lot of her trademark qualities, like a neurotic/insecure heroine with a tight-knit family and an adorable dog, but the romance here didn't work for me as well as in her other books. I just couldn't get past the fact that Sam was once married to Millie's sister. The novel goes into a lot of backstory to explain why that marriage fell apart and why they weren't a good match, but it just wasn't enough for me. I feel like the book minimizes the difficulties Millie and Sam would actually experience in pursuing a relationship, especially with Millie's family and Sam's son. I did like the contrast between Millie's relationship with Sam and her relationship with Joe, and I also liked the fact that Joe is not a bad guy. Often in love triangles, the third person is portrayed as a horrible human being so that the protagonist's choice will be obvious; here, Joe is a sweet man with a lot of good qualities, but he's just not the right guy for Millie. Overall, this was a pretty good read, but the romance is so problematic that I wouldn't really recommend it. Try some of Higgins' other books instead! show less

I started this book without reading the synopsis first, which made for a pretty interesting experience, as (for once!) I got to figure out who the love interest was myself. (Seriously, publishers, please don't give away the love interest of a story so breezily in the synopsis? It takes away from my investment in the story.) I wasn't such a fan of Millie, with her fanatical obsession with Joe Carpenter and misguided attempts to catch his attention. As a result, I wasn't as involved in her romantic and personal development. Still, you know, a fairly fun read, though I felt that this Higgins female protagonist was somewhat more annoying than her other ones.

Fools Rush In by Kristan Higgins (Audio Edition)
Narrated by Xe Sands

3.5 Stars

I have had this book in my tbr pile for a while. Some of the reviews were not that favourable, so it kept getting pushed down the line. However, I finally decided to listen to it, largely because I love listening to Xe Sands (the narrator) and also because Kristan Higgins hasn’t steered me wrong so far.

The characters: Millie, she seemed a bit immature to me for a good chunk of this story. The whole “stalking a crush” is very much a high school girl thing and just seemed a bit pathetic for a smart woman, on the other hand I can see how she’d perhaps kept that crush alive in her mind for so long, that she just wanted it to happen….albeit desperately. show more She had some good growth in the book, which I liked to see and in the end she was a decent character.

Joe.. oy! That guy was too much. Some of the crap he pulled mad me just plain angry.. Then for Millie to just accept it! UGH!!! Whatever.. His immaturity matched Millie’s during that part of the book so, I guess I can’t complain too much. He had his sweet guy moments but he definitely wasn’t a normal Higgins hero that I would fall in love with.

Enter in Sam. Here’s the hero.. He’s a good guy, sweet, funny, caring. All the good stuff. I enjoyed his straightforwardness and conversations with Millie. The naturalness between these two is one of the reasons I kept reading… (the other pretty much was the narrator, I truly love her voice). Sam's teenage son Danny was also a great addition, and I really enjoyed the bond between him and Millie.

Now.. for the subplot… I will admit that I did get weirded out by the whole “ex-brother-in-law turned lover”, for the sole reason that he had a kid that, if this turned to marriage, would have to switch from her being Aunt Millie and now think of her as his step-mother.. But I must say.. Kristan Higgins even wrote this well. When it came right down to this part of the book.. I was fine with it.

In the end, this wasn’t a favourite of mine by this author but I am glad I read it.


Original review posted at: http://paragraphsandpetticoats.blogspot.ca/ show less

I found this to be a delightful, funny story. It more plain fiction than romance as we never hear the corresponding viewpoint of the men. The heroines friends, family, loves, aquaintences and dog all round out the story as we see her grow over the course of approx. 9 months. She starts a new career, makes herself over and finds joy and embarrassment and pain but ultimately joy. A person could call it chick lit but only if they also use the term dick lit for books typically written by and targeting men as they're audience. Otherwise, it is all simply fiction.

This book starts with a nice bouncy energy, but it wears thin. I realized it was a bit too true to life, which made it a bit too boring for me. By the time the heroine figures out she should stop stalking her high school love, I wasn't engaged anymore. And there was something about her falling in love with her brother-in-law (scarcely a spoiler, it was telegraphed pretty strongly) of 17 years, that just threw me off. I guess I'm too close to my sisters, but the thought of sleeping with their long term spouses - this isn't sleeping with someone your sister sleptwith/married in college and now it's 20 years later, this is someone who was at your Christmas table for years and years... it just didn't ring and romantic bells for me. So I show more read about 100 pages, skimmed the rest, don't need to reread and would not necessarily look for this author again. I did like the descriptions of Cape Cod, though. show less

Millie returns to Cape Cod and sets her plan to make HS crush Joe Carpenter notice her in motion; except her sister's ex-husband, Nick, seems to continually turn up. Would he be better husband material than Joe?