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I never to say never, but Chick Lit often doesn’t do it for me. I’m not a huge fan of Women’s Fiction set in big cities, so was ambivalent about reading and reviewing The Frog Prince. But the title and premise convinced me to give it a try.
Meet Holly Bishop. She fell in love hard and married charming Frenchman Jean-Marc, only to discover on their honeymoon that he didn’t love her, so she is now divorced and not even thirty. She loves her job in San Francisco as a party planner, but she isn’t happy at all. She’s too fat, her landlord doesn’t like her, her boss is taut, trim and beautful and she’s not, and her first date turns out to be a total boor. What a whiner!
That was my first impression of Holly Bishop, but as I read my feelings toward her warmed considerably. Her initial whininess didn’t last long, and hey – she deserved a pity party. As the book progressed, Holly grew as a character and I ended up liking her a lot. I think that a young woman in a large city could identify with her more that I could, but I still cheered her on.
The Frog Prince is told in first person. Holly is the only character we really get to know and as I said, she really grows on the reader. There is some plot, but this is mostly an introspective book, sometimes too much. I’ll have to admit I felt a touch of claustrophobia – there was too much Holly at times.
Holly’s main problem is her own self-image. She thinks of herself as a loser, and this is reinforced by her boss, an impossible to please woman. Gradually Holly gets more confident. She meets people, she makes friends, she meets men who are nice and whom she thinks she might like to see again. She even comes to a newer and better relationship with her mother. And when Holly’s boss pulls a despicable trick on her, the old Holly might have curled up and cried. The more confident Holly manages to come out of it with her personal and professional life intact and in excellent shape.
Fans of Chick Lit with a touch of fairy tale will really enjoy this. I’m more of a fan of romances set small towns, but I mostly enjoyed The Frog Prince. Holly really grows on you as a character.
Grade: C+
Book Type: Chick Lit
Sensuality: N/A
Review Date: 30/06/05
Publication Date: 2005
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Recent Comments …
Yep
This sounds delightful! I’m grabbing it, thanks
excellent book: interesting, funny dialogs, deep understanding of each character, interesting secondary characters, and also sexy.
I don’t think anyone expects you to post UK prices – it’s just a shame that such a great sale…
I’m sorry about that. We don’t have any way to post British prices as an American based site.
I have several of her books on my TBR and after reading this am moving them up the pile.