Misery Loves Cabernet

The Review

On May 7th, I reviewed A Total Waste of Makeup. It was at that time that I discovered that there was a sequel and I got myself a copy. I gave A Total Waste of Makeup a 9 out 10 for the genre Chicklit. Can this sequel match up? HECK YEAH IT CAN! I actually enjoyed Misery Loves Cabernet MORE than A Total Waste of Makeup.

This book starts right up where we left off with Charlie and the gang. Although this book has a hippo caper instead of an elephant one, it is just as gargantuan in humor! Drew is still up to his high-maintenance needs, however he really shows a softer side in this book. Now, it may only be me, but I wish that he and Charlie would just get married. They are PERFECT for one another, in my opinion. I mean, why show more chase photographers and producers about when you have the World’s Sexiest Man Alive as your boss?

Once again, Charlie’s parents are just whacked out of their minds! They give me tons more laughs in this story. Her same gang of friends surround her with total absurd lives… and they are just as fun and juicy as ever.

Charlie really needs to stop obsessing over what men write and say to her and just be happy in her own skin. She is, after all, the only woman daring enough to wear a dinosaur costume to a Hollywood Halloween Party!

On Sher’s “Out of Ten Scale:”

Another great romantic comedy, Misery Loves Cabernet delivers giggles and smiles… enough to make this a perfect escape read. Here’s the thing, I think that these two books, together, make a really great set. I honestly believe that they are stronger together than they are separately. So, if you must splurge… go for both. Or, grab A Total Waste of Makeup from the library and just pick up Misery Loves Cabernet from Amazon. If you love Chicklit as much as I do, let me promise you that for a vacation read… you can get no better!

For the genre Fiction:Women’s Fiction/ChickLit, I am going to rate this book a 9.5 OUT OF 10. show less

This is not your typical chick-lit ~I thought it was wonderful. This is Kim Gruenenfelder's second novel and I love her quirky humor and her quick wit. I was laughing out loud several times. Charlie's thoughts in reference to Olive Garden:

"...You know the restaurant that advertises when you're here, you're family? I wonder who on earth ever thought that was a selling point? Do you think people want to walk in to have the maitre d' tell them they never lived up to their potential? Then be seated to have the waiter ask them why they're not married yet, then remind them that their biological clock is ticking?"

I especially liked the list of advice Charlie has started for her future great-granddaughter, some very true, some just amusing: show more

"If you are going to show up at someone's house unannounced, call at least five minutes in advance. This gives your hostess four minutes to race around the house collecting dirty dishes to throw in the sink and another minute to plan your death."

I was really impressed that Gruenenfelder didn't lapse into typical chick-lit formula. All her characters were lively and three dimensional —and there was real growth for almost all of the characters in the story too, not just for Charlie. The ending is refreshing and realistic, with a great twist. (You go, Charlie!)

It was a light read and very amusing. I'm looking forward to going back and reading A Total Waste of Makeup, Gruenenfelder's first novel.

http://girlsjustreading.blogspot.com/2009/05/jenns-review-misery-loves-cabernet.... show less

The beginning of this book gives you a huge déjà vu, and not in a good way. It’s too repetitive, way too similar to the first book, and not in the writing style but in the writing itself. Three major examples are:
☹ Exotic animals: Book 1 Drew buys an elephant and Charlie has to deal with it, Book 2 Drew buys a hippo and Charlie has to deal with it.
☹ Toilet accident: Book 1 Drew gets stuck with one arm down the toilet while he’s wearing only boxer shorts and Charlie has to pull him out. Book 2 Drew gets stuck with one arm down the toilet while he’s wearing only boxer shorts and Charlie has to pull him out. (Not joking it’s exactly the same thing)
☹ Wedding theme: Book 1 There’s a wedding being planned and the author show more rambles about dyed-to-match shoes, and bridesmaids’ dresses. Book 2 The wedding theme is bit more subtle, but the rambling about dyed-to-match shoes and bridesmaids’ dresses stays the same. I thought she was going to repeat the whole wedding hustle-and-bustle, luckily for the book she doesn’t too much, it’s more in the beginning.

Then the books gets better, it goes back to being original, funny (in new ways, with new jokes), and catchy.

However, there still are some major bumps:

☹ Kate’s story. The beginning is far-fetched, A guy that you haven’t seen in ten year does not propose on the day he bumps into you at a party, even if he’s your ex-boyfriend. it just doesn’t happen. Is pushing it a bit too far with the fiction. The ending of this side-story is also too rushed, underdeveloped, and not really exhaustive.
☹ This one really is personal, many will disagree. But in the book Charlie has two guys, and the author leans towards the wrong one. I totally had a reader-crush on the other one!! The author choice was so wrong, it was such a letdown that I wanted to scream.
☹ Then, the very end. Like its predecessor this book doesn’t properly end. It hints at a possible ending, but the actual goods are not there. I could understand it if there was a third book (it would have been annoying, because I think that even books in series should have a proper ending) but not being there a third book, it was just hyper annoying. I don’t want to imagine an ending, I want to read it.
☹ And finally, the little ending you get, besides the wrong guy, is sort of depressing, and I quote “So I think I’m going to spend a little while being single. Not because I don’t want to be in love with someone. But because I’ve decided—at least for now—that I need to love myself more. And part of loving myself is taking care of myself. This is what you tell yourself in real life when something goes wrong, it’s not the ending you want from a romantic book that should make you dream, and not give you a reality check. (And I’m not saying it in a bitter way because I’m married.)

What’s the point of reading a chick-lit if you get reality instead of possibility?? Don’t we have enough reality in our day-to-day life? And I don’t say it should be something crazy and unbelievable like Kate’s story, because I don’t like far-fetched, but I like happy endings.
I want to go to page 347 and rewrite everything that follows. If the book had stopped there I would have loved it, but the last ten pages are a huge no-no. show less

Please note that I gave this book 4.5 stars. However, Goodreads does not have half stars so I rounded this up to 5 stars.

I loved and laughed out loud so many times reading the first book in this series. The second book following personal assistant Charlize (known as Charlie) Edwards while she tries to navigate her job, her family, and her relationship with her boyfriend Jordan who has left for a two month assignment to work on a movie.

I am going to be honest. I really didn't feel the character of Jordan at all in the first book. Nothing that happens in this book had me in his corner at all. I actually felt for Charlie trying to deal with wanting her relationship to work out and realize that she is feeling attracted to another man. One show more of the reasons why I didn't give this book five stars, was that we had Charlie treading water and obsessing on and on about Jordan and I didn't get what was so special about him. At all. I think if the book had showed them while dating I could have seen what made him so attracted to Charlie. Instead we go to the point where Jordan is off doing his assignment, and Charlie is freaked out about their breakup (or just a break).

We once again have funny asides with Charlie's best friends, Kate and Dawn. And we have her family once again showing how crazy they all are. One of the funniest scenes was Charlie recounting how their family was going to keep away from certain topics during Thanksgiving due to what has occurred at previous family gatherings.

The writing and flow was great. I thought the whole book worked together quite well.

The ending I also really didn't feel at all. I think it was because the ending hints at possible more drama and not really a happily ever after for the main character. show less

Charlie Edwards lives a chaotic life as a personal assistant to famous Hollywood movie star Drew Stanton. Her personal life offers no relief, with her divorced parents who still sleep together (just in order that her mother might conceive a child to have in her relationship with her new boyfriend), friends Kate and Dawn who either have too many boyfriends or want none at all, plus other a host of siblings, cousins, and grandparents to keep things lively. Add to all of this, she has just broken up with her newest love, Jordan, thinking it was best given that he would be photographing on a movie set in Paris. In comes Liam, an old crush, who wants Drew to star in his low budget art film. Charlie is torn between her lust for Liam and her show more feelings for Jordan, and spends much of this book see-sawing between the two. She also has a major career decision to make – does she really want to continue as Drew’s personal assistant (dealing with hippos and frozen dressing rooms among other responsibilities), or are there better alternatives out there which would take advantage of her skills?

This is a fun read, definitely worth the time over a nice glass of cabernet or at the beach with an iced tea. Charlie is writing an advice book to her future great-granddaughter with inserted phrases stating the obvious in a humorous way, such as “You won’t meet your future husband at a bar”, “Nothing great comes without some failure” and “Never mix wine and email”. Sometimes it all seems a bit much, and it could be as humorous without as many chaotic events (like when Drew “kidnaps” Charlie’s great-grandmother). The book will quickly date itself by including modern culture references like “save the cheerleader, save the world”. I’ll definitely look for Gruenenfelder’s earlier book "A Total Waste of Makeup" for a fun summer read. show less

First, I have to say that I loved this book. I smiled, I laughed uproariously, I grinned, I cried, I chuckled, I ran the entire gambit of emotions while enjoying this book.
The main character Charlie (female) is in her late twenties and watching the lives of her friends and family move forward while she appears to be treading water. So she decides to make a list of the lessons that she learns so that she can pass them along to her great-granddaughter (should she ever have one).
Charlie lives in Hollywood and her job is personal assistant to movie star, Drew Stanton, a spoiled, charmingly child-like character. She juggles her numerous jobs (cleaning the pool of hippo poop, assisting in the transformation of Drew's dressing room to a winter show more wonderland) with family and friend , occasions/events.
Charlie's main efforts are centered around her love life and her involvement with two different men - Jordan who goes off to Paris for a job and Liam the producer of Drew's current film. The ending is totally unexpected and leaves the reader wanting more. Definitely I a book that I will revisit after I read more by this writer. show less

I've been waiting for this book ever since I stumbled across A Total Waste of Makeup in the library. Thankfully, it did not disappoint.

Misery Loves Cabernet still has Charlie writing advice for her great-granddaughter and working for Drew, but some of the other things have changed. She’s in a relationship (with Jordan from the last book), but he’s in Paris for a movie and the actual status of the relationship is a little vague. Enter Liam, a friend of her sister’s and an old crush. Charlie convinces Drew to take a part in Liam’s movie because it will eventually shoot in Paris. But will working with Liam lead to more than just a crush?

I completely loved the pieces of advice Charlie writes to her future great-granddaughter as well show more as Jamie’s (her brother) articles on men. My favorite piece of advice is:
“You are beautiful.
Okay, so in your head, you just said to yourself, ‘No. I’m not.’ Didn’t you?
You are beautiful.
Wait, no, shut up….You are beautiful.
Now, how would your life be different in you actually believed me?” show less