Susan Mallery’s books are guilty pleasure reads. They’re rarely very good but somehow I keep coming back for more. Despite a potentially interesting premise, Falling for Gracie is one of my least favourite of Mallery’s romances.
Fourteen-year-old Gracie Landon suffered from an unrequited crush on the local heartthrob, Riley Whitefield. When Gracie’s stalker tendencies made her the subject of public ridicule, her mother sent her away to live with an aunt and uncle. For some inexplicable reason, Gracie never visited home again.
Fourteen years later, Gracie returns to Los Lobos to help plan her sister’s wedding. She now runs a successful cake decorating business and has long since recovered from her obsession with Riley. Gracie hopes that her time in Los Lobos will serve to repair her relationship with her mother and her two younger sisters, all of whom treat Gracie like crap. Why Gracie puts up with being treated like a doormat is one of the many mysteries of this book.
For dubious reasons, Riley Whitefield is also back in town. Riley has inherited a fortune from his late uncle, with one important proviso: in order to collect his inheritance, he must successfully run for mayor of Los Lobos. The current mayor – Frank Yardley – is lazy and corrupt. The town is ready for a change and that’s exactly what Riley represents.
As part of a ridiculous subplot, Gracie stakes out Riley’s house on her middle sister’s behalf. Riley discovers Gracie and the two join forces to find out whether or not Gracie’s brother-in-law – and Riley’s campaign manager – is having an affair.
Just in case you haven’t started banging your head against your desk yet, the plot gets worse:
- Someone is trying to sabotage Gracie’s cake making business by planting cake mix boxes in her kitchen.
- Although Gracie is described as a successful businesswoman, she doesn’t seem to be capable of actually charging people for her cakes.
- Gracie’s youngest sister calls off her wedding, then decides it’s back on again, then calls it off once more, then decides it’s back on…lather, rinse, repeat.
- The mayor is having an affair with his nubile, young assistant.
- Gracie “forgets” to tell Riley she’s not on the pill, and Riley “forgets” to use a condom.
- Both Gracie and Riley “forget” to consider the option of emergency contraception.
- Gracie is Fertile Myrtle and Riley is the Sperminator.
The best that can be said for Falling for Gracie is that is made me laugh out loud. Although it was amusing for all the wrong reasons, I found it a highly entertaining read. For that reason alone, I can’t quite bring myself to give it lower than a C-.
{ 19 comments }
After your review I am glad I didn’t get this one when it was re-released and when I was glomming Ms Mallery’s backlist, which to date remain unread on the shelves.
Very nice review!
Sarah I love your reviews. You have your own unique perspective on things and are so dead-on. Everyone has their guilty pleasures. One of the reason I love Lori Foster books. Predictable, but that’s the comfort of them. But now that I think of it, I don’t really feel all that guilty about reading them….
*pout* I wanted more snark!
And now that I have read the review I realise I have read it and had blocked it out.. I am good with that.
I dunno — the bit about the mayor having an affair with a nubile young assistant seems all too plausible these days…
@Pearl Some of Mallery’s books are enjoyable comfort reads. This one simply didn’t work for me.
@Stacy ~ I’ve never read anything by Lori Foster. Even Mallery’s bad books have their good points, which is probably why I keep going back for more.
@Edie I need to more irritated to do serious snark. This was too amusing. Less entertaining was Mallery’s Under Her Skin, which annoyed the hell out of me: http://www.monkeybearreviews.com/2009/05/26/review-under-her-skin-2009-by-susan-mallery/
@Magdalen Sadly, yes. It was the most credible plot thread in the book.
ROFLMFAO I haven’t read Under Her Skin, but I am almost tempted.. It sounds very similar to some of her SSE titles.
So we have nasty sex going on with the Mayor and his nubile assistant. And a TSTL heroine who gets knocked up by the hero who doesn’t wear a raincoat for the occasion? Dare I assume the hero blames the heroine for getting with child?
Sounds like one of those Harlequin Presents books.
@katiebabs Surprisingly enough, the hero does not blame the heroine in this book. The hero of Under Her Skin did that spectacularly well (see link in comment above).
You gave me an idea for the blog post because you used the word “nubile”. hee hee.
@katiebabs Now I’m intrigued!
Ha – love this review!!
I re-read your review about Under Her Skin where stalking also seemed to come into play. Do you remember if stalking also appears often in Mallery’s other novels?
Reminds me of high school when we would drive around after work to stalk the homes and hangouts of all my co-worker’s love interests.
@Mandi Glad I could amuse you!
@Andrea Stalking does feature in a few of Mallery’s books, although the unplanned pregnancy thing is a more popular recurring theme. My personal favourite storyline is the heroine who divorces her husband because he doesn’t want kids, goes to a sperm bank to get knocked up, then reunites with her ex.
I once aided and abetted on a stakeout. We even had binoculars. A school friend was obsessed with a guy who lived near her and we basically stalked him one midterm break. Highly embarrassing in hindsight.
OMG how dare you! I adore Susan Mallery she is the bestest evah!
::pout::
LOL I have never read this book and don’t even own it cuz I have always thought it sounds horrid. She can be very hit or miss. I have the most love for Sizzle (I think that is the name of it) the baseball player book in one of her HQN series. Liked the last one she did as well but started with the middle book so it was my fave *g*. She does some grand SSE too (sez me), wish she would do more. Haven’t read her new HQN series yet… (pause to read your other review)
Still staying away from this book. BUT Under Her Skin… ten to one I will like that one *eg*. Great reviews.
@sybil LOL Sybil, I would LOVE to read your review of Under Her Skin! I also enjoyed Sizzle. The first Bakery Sister book was one of my favourites. Never read her Silhouette titles.
Susan Mallery is the sort of author who keeps me coming back for more and I can’t seem to pinpoint why. She does family interaction very well – apart from those bloody Marcelli grandparents. She has enough bitter-sweet to make me care about the characters. The WTF moments are generally so hilarious that they add to the whole reading experience in a weird kind of way.
I will see if I can find it. I am going to attempt to start reviewing again. Honeslty I have only done a few since I started to take the topamax and since I did those I switched a few things around (medwise) and am wondering if I make sense AT ALL. bah… I often only make sense to myself as is so this could be bad.
Reading the comments in your review though (for UHS) I liked Buring Wild
.
My grandfather is a big Susan Mallery fan. In fact, I think he loaned me this book. But I got rid of it. Thank god. Books like these are why I don’t read a lot of contemporary romances.
Psst http://kbgbabbles.blogspot.com/2009/09/questions-surrounding-nubile-nubby-and.html
heh heh
@sybil Yay! We need more Sybil snarktastic reviews.
@heidenkind Your grandfather reads romance? That’s cool! Who are his favourite authors?
@katiebabs I saw that! I think I’m still having nightmares about nubbles