What I Did for Love

They grew up together on America’s favorite television sitcom. Georgie York was young, naïve, and overprotected. Bramwell Shepard was a callous youth, whose trouble making brought down the show. All grown up now, Georgie’s famous actor husband has left her for another woman. And if things couldn’t get worse, Georgie and Bram find themselves waking up in a Las Vegas hotel room with a marriage license with their names on it and no memory of how they got there. In this fairly predictable, but thoroughly enjoyable, story, Georgie and Bram struggle to keep up appearances and launch serious careers under the scrutiny of the public and the paparazzi.

When actress Georgie York's film career hits rock bottom along with her marriage, the paparazzi has a field day with her misfortune, which is only complicated by the reappearance of her sexy, unscrupulous former costar, Bramwell Shepard.

SEP is one of my favorite authors, but this book wasn't as much fun as many of hers are. One of the reasons I like her so much is the fact that her stories have so much humor but this title was more serious. It was entertaining and a quick read, but not one of my favorites.

What I Did for Love is predictable Phillips, which is a compliment. In this latest rendition of her contemporary romances we meet America’s sweetheart, TV sitcom star Georgie York, just after her famous husband has left her for an Angelina Jolie-like Hollywood save-the-world stunner. The last person she wants to see as she’s recovering from her loss is her former sit-com co-star and ne’er-do-well Bram Shepard. Things went all wrong when they worked together – from Georgie’s rejected infatuation to Bram’s out-of-control bad-boy behavior, so the worst thing that could happen would be a reunion both on screen and off. Imagine their mutual amazement when they wake up in Vegas to find they’ve imbibed drug-laced drinks and show more gotten married overnight! Now they agree the best thing for both of their sagging careers would be to pretend to the public that they’ve reunited as the star-crossed lovers America dreamed they would be. Of course, life away from the cameras is hell, until they each realize they’ve changed in ways that are extremely attractive. Always a talent with snappy dialog and provocative, but tasteful, situations, Phillips absolutely does not disappoint with this entertaining and fun story. show less

SEP books are usually a hit or a miss for me. This is the first one of hers that landed somewhere in between. The story surrounding the main characters in this book were interesting, as were some of the side characters. But what almost killed this book for me were the hero and heroine. Georgie would have been an okay heroine if she wasn't paired up with such an ass. It was interesting to watch her slowly take control of her life and transform from a doormat into a person who stands up for herself. But it was often painful to watch this transformation because of the hero, Bram. He was such an awful person that I felt did not go through any real transformation over the course of the plot.

Bram was horrible to Georgie when they worked with show more each other on a popular sitcom called "Skip and Scooter". Then when he pops back up in her life with plans to use her to clean up his image he is once again just an awful person. The only difference is that this time Georgie isn't a 15 year old girl with rose tinted glasses on. She knows he's an ass when she agrees to maintain a fake marriage with him but we see her slowly start to fall in love with him. As we see Georgie slowly start to change her life, we see Bram maneuvering his way into getting a huge break for his career that will put him back on the map. While there are a couple of moments that vaguely hint that Bram is slowly developing feelings for Georgie he is just such an incorrigible ass that when he does finally figure it out you wish Georgie would just find someone else. Bram doesn't even go through all that much to make up for the way he's acted towards her.

Like I said, the story was interesting in a kind of train wreck way. And I liked the premise of it. But Bram really just killed this book for me. show less

Phillips' other novels are a pleasure to read, filled with compelling, interesting characters and genuine chemistry. Georgie York and Bram Shepherd are initially so unlikable that I had a hard time sticking w/the story. Georgie is whiny, shrill and self-pitying. We get so few glimpses of what Bram is thinking throughout the story that it makes it nearly impossible to sympathize or understand why he's the hero.

The plot is interesting and the thinly veiled Aniston-Pitt-Jolie device is a guilty pleasure. But overall, not Phillips' best work.

I'd say 3 1/2 stars. Thinking back on this book, I really enjoyed the supporting characters. The one scene between Georgie and her dad made me cry. There are also lots of references to Haiti, which is kind of funny and unexpected. Not that the references are funny, just that it's funny to me to read them while in Haiti, if that makes sense.

A pesar de que lo mal que me cayo el personaje de Bram ya que la escena de la primera vez con Georgie me resulto demasiado chocante como para dejarla de lado , cuanto mas leo libros de Susan ELizabeth Phillips ,mas me convenzo que es autora de romance como hay pocas . Todos los libros son diferentes y , hasta donde yo lei al menos ( ymas alla de que hay un par de sus novelas que me causaron un profundo desagrado) , ninguna trama se parece a la otra .

Esta en particular seguramente basada en el escandalo que fue la separacion de Brad Pitt y Jennifer Aniston (con una cuasi ANgelina Jolie incluida) , pero con una final feliz para la esque-Aniston .

MUy entretenido .