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Barcelona Calling
How far would you go to become famous? Annie Shaw will seemingly do anything to get Oprah's attention for her latest novel. From bestselling author Jane Kirkpatrick comes this bold, fresh story about a close-knit group of five women and their pursuit of life goals. You'll be encouraged and entertained!
ebook, 276 pages
Published
September 20th 2011
by Zondervan
(first published September 6th 2011)
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Jan 02, 2012
Kathleen Ernst
rated it
5 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
contemporary-fiction
Since I'm a fan of Jane Kirkpatrick's historical fiction, I wasn't sure what to expect from this contemporary. I loved it. Ms. Kirkpatrick is stretching her creative wings and sharing a new type of story with her readers. It takes some courage for a writer to do so, and I applaud her for it.
Protagonist Annie is a novelist who finds herself struggling to meet the standards and sales that are expected by her publisher. She and her friends hatch a plan to gain attention for her latest titles by gai...more
Protagonist Annie is a novelist who finds herself struggling to meet the standards and sales that are expected by her publisher. She and her friends hatch a plan to gain attention for her latest titles by gai...more
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So, this book is mainly about an author. A female author of light romance novels with very low self-esteem and a group of also female friends who love her and want to help her.
It portrayes her struggles during the editing of her latest book, her ambitions of seeing it promoted by Oprah Whinfrey, and her coming to grips with the past. She is divorced, and quite scared of taking the next step into love. There is quite a bit of romance in this book, as well as a comedy of errors.
I really enjoyed b...more
It portrayes her struggles during the editing of her latest book, her ambitions of seeing it promoted by Oprah Whinfrey, and her coming to grips with the past. She is divorced, and quite scared of taking the next step into love. There is quite a bit of romance in this book, as well as a comedy of errors.
I really enjoyed b...more
May 21, 2012
Katelyn Irons
rated it
3 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
reviewed-for-church-libraries-magaz
Where is the line between doing what it takes to become famous and trading what makes you you? This is a question that aggravates artists, musicians, and writers, like our main character Annie Shaw. Annie's first novel was a best seller, but since then nothing has come close in sales. Now she is making revisions for her new editor and desperately trying to get on Oprah to market the book.
Annie Shaw is a charming character. She is relatable in her flaws and lovable in her unlucky life. Readers wi...more
Annie Shaw is a charming character. She is relatable in her flaws and lovable in her unlucky life. Readers wi...more
Oct 21, 2012
Toni
rated it
3 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
Women, Women's Book Groups
I love Jane Kirkpatrick’s books and when I saw this at the library I knew I had to read it too. This book was a bit of a departure to Jane’s historical fiction books that I have read prior to Barcelona Calling. In the beginning I missed the historical part about it but soon was soon on the adventure with the main character Annie, who is a writer trying to finish her latest book while trying to help publicize her previous book. For some reason, I found myself connecting this character to the auth...more
This was an interesting book to me. An author writing about an author. And how hard it is to be an author! And yet more, much more. It was a novel about self-discovery, and writing your stories. I didn't find it to be cliche at all, however. I will admit there were times when I was losing patience with the story and the heroine, but it passed quickly enough. Overall, I appreciated the take home message of this book...or at least what my own personal take home message was. Worth reading...and thi...more
Feb 09, 2013
Deon Stonehouse
rated it
4 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
oregon-authors
Barcelona Calling had a working title of Oprah Doesn’t Know My Name. Trademark issues required a different title, but the talk show maven is still a presence in the book. Annie Shaw is an author being published by a romance publisher. Understandably her publisher expects the books to follow the program, boy meets girl, boy gets girl (or vice versa). Annie’s books don’t adhere to the format; they tell stories of people facing conflict and the choices they make in overcoming the obstacles in their...more
Review of BARCELONA CALLING
Reading Jane Kirkpatrick has meant for many of her followers a certain expectation. A sensitivity to historical context, matters of period speech, dress, daily life will be reliable. Accuracy of fact and emotion will be grounded in a Christian base, but not overwhelmingly so.
In BARCELONA CALLING, I met big surprises, starting with the fact that the settings, story and characters are contemporary….and funny. Annie Shaw, is the author of “cozy romances;” the books withou...more
Reading Jane Kirkpatrick has meant for many of her followers a certain expectation. A sensitivity to historical context, matters of period speech, dress, daily life will be reliable. Accuracy of fact and emotion will be grounded in a Christian base, but not overwhelmingly so.
In BARCELONA CALLING, I met big surprises, starting with the fact that the settings, story and characters are contemporary….and funny. Annie Shaw, is the author of “cozy romances;” the books withou...more
Jane Kirkpatrick is a good Historical Fiction writer, and I have enjoyed a book or two of hers in the past. However, this foray into Contemporary Fiction is absolutely awful. The characters are dreadful, the writing truly bad, and the storyline is lacking.
In addition, the fact that the main character is an author discussing the editing process while the text is riddled with errors (Mrs. Clause? Really?) is unintentionally ironic.
Thankfully, the wine should be good at Book Club.
In addition, the fact that the main character is an author discussing the editing process while the text is riddled with errors (Mrs. Clause? Really?) is unintentionally ironic.
Thankfully, the wine should be good at Book Club.
After reading many of Kirkpatrick's historical fiction works, I was excited about this new
venture for her. However, I was disappointed. It was somewhat shallow--what I'd call a "chick lit" book. The Oprah pursuit seemed very artificial. The characters lacked depth while I felt as if the plot was contrived. One aspect I really did like is the comments on the writing process, editing, revising, etc.
venture for her. However, I was disappointed. It was somewhat shallow--what I'd call a "chick lit" book. The Oprah pursuit seemed very artificial. The characters lacked depth while I felt as if the plot was contrived. One aspect I really did like is the comments on the writing process, editing, revising, etc.
It was a dry read and the characters were 2-dimensional and unrelatable. I skipped several chapters out of boredom, and never felt like I missed any of the story. The main characters are about my age but seemed more like they were 40-50 year old women due to the tone of voice in the book. I wouldn't recommend this at all.
The message of the book spelled out in the last chapters and epilogue is very good. The rest of the book wasn't that interesting to me. I just couldn't get involved with the characters and their actions which just seemed stupid to me. If you can get passed that, this isn't a bad story.
This book is a very different one from what Jane usually writes. I usually find tidbits of wisdom tucked in as I read her books. For this one, I had to wait until page 301 for her wisdom. I personally, prefer it when she writes historical or biographical fiction.
Jane Kirkpatrick is one of my favorite authors, but I could barely finish this book. She tried to do it in the style of Yada books drawing on a group of friends, but I could never figure out the friends, none of them were unique and the setting as far as I could tell had very little to do with Barcelona, she should stick to historical fiction which she is really good at, because she does all the research and then weaves her story. The only thing I found mildly interesting was her telling of some...more
I generally like Jane Kirkpatrick, especially her historical novels. But this one I could not even get into. I tried and tried to finish it but I couldn't do it. The characters were lacking...
Mar 26, 2013
Kristin Lee Williams
rated it
2 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
books-read-2013
Did not really enjoy this. I have enjoyed Jane Kirkpatrick's historical fiction but this was not as good. Borrowed from Pam when she was visiting.
I actually listened to the audio of this, really enjoyed it. Annie learns so much about herself and what is really important in life.
This has got to be the strangest book I've ever read by Jane Kirkpatrick. Completely different than the usual books she writes but I'm glad I stuck with it because it ended up being a good read.
Although I have often found Jane Kirkpatrick's writing style difficult to read, I have always enjoyed the historical events narrated and the development of the characters in her books. In this particular book, I did not find the plot line or characters interesting enough to get past her writing style.
Could not even get past the 1st chapter.
Couldn't finish thios book.
Picked this one up at the Librarian's convention. Not sure what to think so far.
Drivel.
Drivel.
Jane Kirkpatrick is my favorite contemporary historical fiction author, but this modern-day tale about a somewhat wacky and confused woman didn't resound with me. Even when her character had (small) epiphanies regarding her life she continued to let her girlfriends lead her into one improbable situation after another. Enough already!
This one took me a while to get into (maybe it was just me). About a third of the way in, it got better and I'm glad I didn't give up.
May 03, 2013
Juli Cheer
marked it as to-read
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
just-for-relax-and-fun
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Kirkpatrick brings us a story of one woman's restoration from personal grief to the meaning of community."
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