Review: By the Book by Mary Kay McComas

By the Book by Mary Kay McComas

Published November 20th 2012 by Open Road  

ebook, 212 pages

Series: Standalone

Genre: Adult Chick-Lit
Source:  Courtesy of Open Road Integrated Media through NetGalley in exchange of an honest review. 

Summary from Goodreads

This good girl can’t help but go after the alluring, unpredictable man who is just passing through town . . .

Is it possible that the gorgeous guy across the street is actually staring at her? Ellen Webster can hardly believe it; she thinks she’s far too ordinary to attract the attention of a handsome, edgy man like Jonah Blake. Yet he continues to stare. Ellen has always been unfailingly kind to others, and on this particular day it has cost her a parking spot and her place in line at the deli. On top of it all, she is about to be passed up for a promotion she rightfully deserves. She has reached her wits end, and with the aid of a small volume of helpful go-getter hints, Ellen sets her sights on what she wants, starting with the striking, dangerous Jonah. But this man is clouded in mystery, and may be more than Ellen bargained for

 Review

 
Ellen Webster is a good girl, she let's people basically push her around. She feeds left overs to her neighbor who always asks her for the left over food, runs grocery errands for her elderly neighbor during her own lunch time, passes up a line at the grocery store to a man who then wins the customer sweepstakes instead of her, and is about to not get a promotion she rightfully deserves. So Ellen gets this little green book that basically tells her to shape up and go after the things she wants. She cannot believe that the 'dangerous' hunky photographer next door is staring at her and not her friend! So Ella sets her sights on what she wants, and the first thing on her list is Jonah.

Okay, so I was interested with the blurb of the book – IF the book was anything like the premise, it probably would have been a lot better. Unfortunately... it wasn't.

First, Jonah had no signs of dangerous or edgy, he was kind of dare. He was a man she was interested in that had father troubles, that's it. There wasn't that big a mystery around him and the whole line that he is more than she bargained for.... I don't see it. If anything, this entire book was of Ellen saying no to people, trying to no be a push over and apparently everything she wants, ends up actually being bad. Which in turn EVERYTHING that she fixed, ended up actually having a bad blow back. I didn't get it, I really did not...

What she did with her brother was actually kind of stupid. She knew he had money trouble with Krane, and she was even warned about him from a cop friend and what does she do? She goes and demands that Krane – this dangerous guy – gives a job to her brother Felix in hopes that it will cancel out his debt to him. REALLY!?

I didn't understand why everything she went after turned out to be so bad. She finally gets confidence, grows and everything back fires. I also could have went without the long winded ending where she was explaining everything she did and what happened to Jonah, it felt like filler and it was boring. I was greatly disappointed that this book was not what it was promised to be in the premise. I wanted to see this dangerous side of Jonah, but as far as it went, there was also no real chemistry between them.

What I did like about it was the fact that Ellen grew. She went after the things she herself wanted (even thought I thought she was too snobby to her elderly neighbor) and I liked Jonah, or what little we saw of him. Also the fact that she was trying to get Jonah to forgive his father was touching. Those were the only saving grace of this book, unfortunately .