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Between Boyfriends

by Sarka-Jonae Miller (Goodreads Author)

3.91 of 5 stars 3.91 · rating details · 66 ratings · 35 reviews

At first glance, twenty-one-year-old Jan Weston has it all: a gorgeous boyfriend, fun friends, and wealthy parents who take care of all those pesky credit card bills.

Then her boyfriend dumps her, her friendships fall apart, and her parents cut her off. Suddenly without money, without a man, and without a plan, it’s time for Jan to grow up.

Determined to get her life back o...more

ebook, 309 pages

Published September 20th 2011

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Jul 05, 2012 Kathy rated it 3 of 5 stars

Jan is a pampered,self centered, boy crazy, snoby brat. Jan is dumped once again by her boyfriend of eight months, and has sworn off of boys. Jan goes through a journey of self discovery to find out why people boys inparticular find her "unloveable" .Her mother disowns her after finding out she dropped out of college to become a massage therapist and she is cut off financially from her wealthy parents and is forced to look after her self. Through learning how to take care of herself with the hel...more

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Dec 16, 2012 BestChickLit.com rated it 3 of 5 stars

Very few people are lucky enough to know exactly what they want to do in their lives, or have the funds to get them there, and this is the perfect book for anyone who is struggling with this area of their lives. Jan is a spoilt diva who has unlimited funding behind her and a world of opportunities at her feet. The one thing that she doesn’t have is an emotionally supportive family or even many loyal friends. Between Boyfriends takes a close look at her life and shows exactly what it takes to tur...more

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Oct 18, 2012 Rebecca rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: review-copy

I am not a huge fan of chic lit, but once in a while I read one I like. This is one of those books. I found the characters believable, the story enjoyable, and the writing pretty good. I liked the main character's growth and the way her relationships with those around her slowly change and develop. There were some things in the ending that left me a little dissatisfied, but what happened was true to the characters and probably more believable than what I wished for.

It wasn't without its flaws. T...more

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Aug 06, 2012 Jessica rated it 3 of 5 stars

Jan Weston is about to receive a hard knock that she wasn't expecting. Entitled, selfish, pretentious, and manipulative - Jan finds herself suddenly single, disowned by her family, cut off from her familial line of credit, and a nuisance to her so called friends. What's a girl to do? Can Jan survive getting a job, paying for school, living on oatmeal, wearing last year's fashions all while swearing off men? Between Boyfriends follows Jan through her hard fall to reality and rise to self reliance...more Jan Weston is about to receive a hard knock that she wasn't expecting. Entitled, selfish, pretentious, and manipulative - Jan finds herself suddenly single, disowned by her family, cut off from her familial line of credit, and a nuisance to her so called friends. What's a girl to do? Can Jan survive getting a job, paying for school, living on oatmeal, wearing last year's fashions all while swearing off men? Between Boyfriends follows Jan through her hard fall to reality and rise to self reliance. Jan takes it all on the chin and keeps on swinging for the fences.

The book is a well written exploratory view into the life and inner machinations of a drama riddled juvenile group of girls. And while the exhibition is spotless, it smacks more of spectacle than of spectacular. I had an excruciating time trying to relate to the main character - hating her pity parties, drunken binges, and temper tantrums. She was sophomoric, and the more that happened to her the less I cared about what else might happen to her.

This feeling of apathy didn't last the entire book. By the end, I was glad that Jan had found her sea legs and was off to start her own adventure. But I don't think that the end completely redeems the story. And here's why: some of her issues, that the author wraps up in tiny little bows of success stories, aren't actually fully addressed. Jan's relationship with her parents is a doozy, and cutting her back into the will - doesn't exactly translate to healthy boundaries or healing.

I felt like too much time was spent in laying out the minutia of Jan's problems (social and otherwise) that the solutions were mere flashes in the pan to glaze us on to the happy ending with the bowing and the skipping. The book just wasn't the lighthearted look at college angst that I thought it was. When you pull out heavy hitters like emotional neglect and abuse, I expect some concrete resolution.

All in all, I give the book a 3 for standard stock. I truly enjoyed the writing style of the author and would be happy to read future works. :)(less)

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Jun 30, 2012 Christa Bistretzan rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: review-books

BETWEEN BOYFRIENDS BY SARKA-JONAE MILLER: A REVIEW
CHICK LIT, Printed in 201, Smashwords Edition.

This is a story of a young woman, Jan, who grows and matures as the story goes on.

When the reader is first introduced to Jan, our main character is being broken up by her boyfriend of 8 months named Mike. Jan is spoiled, rich, snobby and shallow. She appears to have more money than brains.
We learn that Jan has dropped out of college before even taking a single class, and the only ones that know are he...more BETWEEN BOYFRIENDS BY SARKA-JONAE MILLER: A REVIEW
CHICK LIT, Printed in 201, Smashwords Edition.

This is a story of a young woman, Jan, who grows and matures as the story goes on.

When the reader is first introduced to Jan, our main character is being broken up by her boyfriend of 8 months named Mike. Jan is spoiled, rich, snobby and shallow. She appears to have more money than brains.
We learn that Jan has dropped out of college before even taking a single class, and the only ones that know are her now ex boyfriend, her girlfriends and her father. She is taking classes at a massage school to become a massage therapist on the advice of the now ex-boyfriend.
Due to the break up, she swears off dating all boys. This includes Juan, a classmate that she bonds with after being really nasty to him. She takes up new hobbies on the advice of her neighbor/ best friend.
We see her really grow when after a dinner party at her mother’s house. It was during this party that her mother learns that Jan has quit school and is now becoming a massage therapist. This results in Jan being cut off financially and being disowned by her mother. Jan now has to get school paid for, get a job, and support herself completely. Gone are the days of MAC cosmetics, Starbucks Chai Teas and fancy hair salons.
Through a comedy of errors of jobs that she does get, we see her becoming less shallow, more of her own person.
It is through her relationships with her girlfriends and two new friends that she connects with, Jan blossoms into a woman, from the girl that she was.

This is an excellent read! I enjoyed it from the first page and was sad to see the last one. It has a rich story line, characters that you can relate to and a story that any woman can relate to/see her own story in. I was able to read this book in just over 12 hours… because I enjoyed it so much. This would be a welcomed book to have with you in the summer as you travel, read at the beach or enjoy on the deck with a good glass of wine or favorite cocktail.

Highly recommended by this reviewer.

Can be found at smashwords.com, amazon.com, goodreads.com

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Aug 28, 2012 Laura rated it 4 of 5 stars

This was a cute book, the character Jan is a rich spoiled girl and expects people to do everything for her. She is finally forced to be responsible when her parents cut her off. She is forced to get a job and she learns to be a "real friend" to those around her. I am looking forward to reading part 2, hopefully Jan will continue to grow into a more mature person who is responsible and likable. I enjoyed how Jan made a complete turnaround and changed how she acted.

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Apr 20, 2013 Caroline Fardig rated it 5 of 5 stars

BETWEEN BOYFRIENDS is a great read. It’s got everything you’d expect in a chick-lit book: good friends, fun, and a little romance, but the thing Sarka-Jonae adds to this story is a journey. The main character, Jan Weston, is at first a snobby rich girl who judges her worth by what her boyfriends think of her. She is rude to her girlfriends, wastes money, and spends way too much time looking down on others. As the story goes on, however, you realize that Jan is the way she is thanks to a lot of b...more

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Dec 06, 2012 Angella Graff rated it 4 of 5 stars

Between Boyfriends is a contemporary fiction novel about Jan, a woman who seems to be rather unlucky in love. The book starts out with Jan being unceremoniously dumped by her boyfriend over the phone after he’d been avoiding her for several days. The ex, as he’s referred to for most of the book, describes her as shallow, clingy, obnoxious, and rich. Rich and spoiled, he says, and we soon find that to be true.

The book continues on the story of Jan, from her lamenting over a boyfriend she had very...more Between Boyfriends is a contemporary fiction novel about Jan, a woman who seems to be rather unlucky in love. The book starts out with Jan being unceremoniously dumped by her boyfriend over the phone after he’d been avoiding her for several days. The ex, as he’s referred to for most of the book, describes her as shallow, clingy, obnoxious, and rich. Rich and spoiled, he says, and we soon find that to be true.

The book continues on the story of Jan, from her lamenting over a boyfriend she had very few fond memories of, to her hiding her status at school from her powerhouse lawyer mother. She’s a daddy’s girl, and we see him chuckle at her antics and then fill her life with cash so she can join a gym, get her hair done, and continue at massage therapy school.

Things don’t stay all peaches and cream for Jan, but I don’t want to give away the central plot of the book. Jan is forced to re-think her life, her choices, and make decisions she never thought she’d have to.

The book itself is well written. The author has an obvious talent for writing, and that’s to be commended. The events in the book are detailed enough for me to assume that the author, herself, has gone through some of the “ugly boyfriend” issues, which, as a woman, I can definitely relate to.

The cons about the book are mostly the main character. I understand the idea of making the main character rough, so the reader can grow along with her as she does, but I found Jan to have very little redeeming qualities about her, to the point where when she started learning her lessons, I didn’t really care. The idea that all of Jan’s spoiled, self-absorbed ways change simply because she has to do what every average American does– work– is a little hard to swallow. Sure she loses her cash cow (daddy) and has to pay for her own way, but for anyone who has really struggled in life, the book is hard to relate to.

The ending was probably the most difficult for me, because it showed that Jan hadn’t changed much. While she agreed not to give up on her dream to appease her mother, and they did come to a compromise, Jan jumped on the idea of letting her parents pay for her life all over again, proving that the only thing she really learned was how to put her foot down. Sort of. Lastly, Jan immediately jumped when her mother offered her a peace offering. It showed that her utter desperation for acceptance and love, even from people who don’t really care about her (as a mother I just can’t ever see having luke-warm feelings for my child) when they should, eclipses the real problem.

My first reaction was to give this book three stars, simply because the main character, even after all of her lessons, was unrelatable. But I realized that is simply a personal opinion, and truthfully, there are probably many people who can relate, in some ways, to this character. The writing got a little Sophomoric from time to time, but all in all, the story was well told and the writing was done with skill. I’m giving the book four stars, and I hope the author continues to explore her talent and the world of writing!(less)

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Nov 06, 2012 Anna Tan rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: e-books, review-copy

Right from the beginning of the book, I started getting really annoyed by the protagonist of the story, Jan Weston. I find ditsy, blond-stereotype girls very annoying, especially when they seem to believe that the whole world owes them a living. And this girl was all that. So she’s broken up over her break up (to non-functional extremes), her mother practically disowns her for ditching a proper University degree to attend massage therapy school (most Asian moms would, just saying), and to top it...more

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Nov 19, 2012 Vidya-BooksAreMagic rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2012-reads, chick-lit, blog-tour

Jan is a rich and spoiled girl, who quits her college to join massage school (without her mother's knowledge). She just got dumped by her boyfriend -- again. Tired of the opposite gender, Jan decides not to date again - ever. To a girl who has always had boyfriends, this is going to be a big feat. Her mother who has been paying her bills so far, disowns her, as soon as she knows that Jan had dropped out of college. Financially helpless, for the first time in her life, Jan has to worry about mone...more

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Nov 15, 2012 Melissa rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: books-read-in-2012

I really enjoyed reading "Between Boyfriends" by Sarka-Jonae Miller. After Jan is dumped, she swears off men. Her mother "disowns" her after finding out she dropped out of State school and is going to massage school instead. Jan is cut off financially from her wealthy parents and has to find a job. Her first job is giving dog's haircuts and she gets fired. Her next job is working for a wireless company and she quits because she doesn't agree with ripping customers off. Finally she got a good jo...more

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May 16, 2012 Susan rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: first-reads-providing-reviews

This story is about being young and making impactful decisions. Jan is the only child of two wealthy yet distant parents who pay for her college, her apartment, her fabulous clothes, her MAC makeup...basically everything! When Jan makes a pivotal decision to drop out of college and to go to massage school, Jan loses her parents' financial support. Jan has always had boyfriends. However, under these dire financial circumstances, she decides to give up on having boyfriends and focus on herself.

Thi...more

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Nov 10, 2012 Riley Banks rated it 3 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Chick lit aficionados

Recommended to Riley by: Sarka-Jonae Miller

Shelves: could-not-finish

I was excited to read this book but unfortunately, it did not live up to my expectations. I made it half way through the book but could not push myself to finish, feeling there were too many flaws that were spoiling my enjoyment.

Overall, the book was not the worst I have read. There were some flashes of brilliance in the snappy dialogue, witty remarks and descriptive sentences. But the technical flaws outweighed the brilliance in the end and ruined my potential to enjoy.

I have posted a full re...more I was excited to read this book but unfortunately, it did not live up to my expectations. I made it half way through the book but could not push myself to finish, feeling there were too many flaws that were spoiling my enjoyment.

Overall, the book was not the worst I have read. There were some flashes of brilliance in the snappy dialogue, witty remarks and descriptive sentences. But the technical flaws outweighed the brilliance in the end and ruined my potential to enjoy.

I have posted a full review on my website (http://www.rileybanks.net/riley-revie...) but will post a condensed version here.

Length: At over 100,000 words, Between Boyfriends is long for a chick-lit novel. I have no problems with long books but feel a large portion of the content was just filler that should have been edited out. There were whole chapters that did nothing to move the story forward. Chapter 5 could have been cut back to one or two pages instead of 11. In fact, the whole story could have been told in half the word count.

Characters: Jan was patently annoying and infantile. I found her to be really unlikeable, which made it impossible for me to connect with her. She acted 10 instead of the 22 she was supposed to be. None of the characters were particularly likeable and I lost interest in waiting around for them to become more likeable.

Point of view: Chopped and changed in places. Writer needs to choose one point of view and stick to it.

Grammar, spelling and syntax: I always make allowances for the odd error. Even the pros make mistakes. But there were too many to brush off as having slipped through the editorial net. I have to wonder if an editor ever read through this book. Writer also needs to watch her passive voice and the overuse of speech markers. Stick to said and don't try to get too creative with whispered, announced, yelled, shouted, suggested, laughed, replied, remarked, asked, commanded.... They draw the reader out of the story.

Has potential but needs work, especially if the author is planning a sequel, as suggested on here.
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Apr 06, 2013 Kathy Brown rated it 5 of 5 stars

This book was hysterical. The characters are insane, in a good way. The main character Jan is a bit of a pampered princess, but she's in for a rude awakening when her parents take back their financial support. I can totally relate to her scrambling to pay her bills, figuring out what she wants to do with her life, and trying to keep her big mouth shut. I also love the flirtation with Juan. He's pretty funny too. I'm a sucker for a good "will they, won't they" storyline. I love how this book is r...more

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Jul 14, 2012 Cathy rated it 4 of 5 stars

Jan was a prissy, stuck up, shopaholic, boy obsessed, little rich girl who dropped out of school, lied to her parents, and didn't value her friends. When her rich parents disowned her for lying to them and dropping out of school. She changed herself for the better. She focused on herself, massage school, and her friends. She learned how important it was to have a job, friends, and family. This was a great coming of age story with a little humor and romance thrown in. Hoping the author with write...more

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Apr 14, 2013 karmaforlifechick rated it 4 of 5 stars

This book was a great surprise! I must admit that I really did not like Jan at the beginning of this book. She was such a spoilt and selfish individual that she is certainly a personality that one would love to dislike. It was great seeing her grow up, primarily out of necessity, but when the gradual changes begin to happen, I could not help rooting for her. She had a great group of friends who really called it like they saw it and we all need that sometimes to bring about the positive change to...more

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Aug 16, 2012 Mom_in_a Ali rated it 4 of 5 stars

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Sep 22, 2012 Jan Moran rated it 5 of 5 stars

Between Boyfriends is a delicious slice of chick-lit! Snappy dialogue sets this story apart from the pack as it follows a young woman who, financially cut off by her parents when she fails to attend school, learns that life is more than her Amex card, and reunites with a mother who has endured her own brand of pain. A colorful cast of friends spices up the action. A fun, 5-star foray. A good read for Candace Bushnell "Sex in the City" fans who are looking for a new author to read.

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Jun 26, 2012 Michelle rated it 5 of 5 stars

In the beginning I was very unhappy with the main character Jan. As the book progressed however, and Jan was disowned by her parents, her character changed to a very likable person. I found that I really liked Jan after she had to learn how to live by earning her living herself. I am looking forward now to a book 2. This is a great feel good book that everyone will should enjoy

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Apr 06, 2013 Kelsey rated it 4 of 5 stars

This novel was great! I am normally not a chick-lit reader, but I found myself captivated by the story. I just want more, more, more (especially more scenes with Jan and Juan). The character relationships were very realistic, and the characters themselves were captivating. I really enjoyed this novel and will be looking out for more books by this author (and hopefully a sequel to BB...?).

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Apr 03, 2013 Lilian Roberts rated it 5 of 5 stars

I highly recommend this book!! Jan is one of the most amusing and real characters I've read about in a long time. She is not your typical rich girl or typical mean girl, but she may seem like that on the surface. Underneath, she is lonely and doesn't feel good about herself. Just look at her parents and you will know why! Many young women struggle to make friends, maintain relationships, and learn to love themselves. You see all that in Jan. I loved watching her change, though she was actually b...more

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Mar 28, 2013 Lisa Buckley rated it 1 of 5 stars

I was disappointed in the book. From start to finish this book was about a self absorbed girl whining about anything and everything. Glad this was a free download because I would have been disappointed if I paid for it.

Authors writing style was great but the storyline dragged on and on.

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Oct 24, 2012 Saisha Sandoz rated it 4 of 5 stars

i choose to read this book because of the wonderful reviews it was getting. it was a fast and enjoyable read. i think more young ladies need to take a break from dating nowadays!! i did have a hard time with the relationship between the girlfriends. for best friends they all seem to leave each other out alone quite often. I would like to have seen a more sisterly love, as friends help any situation. overall, i would recommend this book to anyone!!!
*i did receive a copy of the book from the auth...more

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Sep 24, 2012 Teresa rated it 5 of 5 stars

This book is a true LAUGH OUT LOUD read. I recommend it to girls of all ages! The author did a perfect job of defining the characters...Jan, Lisa & Nichole. I can see a little bit of myself in all 3 girls!! The perfect mix of heartbreak & humor!! 5 Stars*****

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Oct 24, 2011 Lewis rated it 4 of 5 stars

Funny and fun chik-lit. Sarka Jonae is a writer to watch. She is very entertaining and has a good command of language. I found the novel a fast and interesting read.

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Oct 29, 2011 Shelley rated it 4 of 5 stars

I know the author. She's smart and has a good sense of humor. I'm very much looking forward to reading her new book on my next vacation!

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Jun 18, 2012 Linda Quick rated it 5 of 5 stars

I loved this book! A funny "coming of age" story. I was disappointed when it ended and am looking forward to the next book.

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Nov 07, 2011 Lisa Knapp rated it 5 of 5 stars

It's super funny. A quick read and lots of fun. I highly recommend this book.

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Jul 06, 2012 Connie Mcelfresh added it

5 stars. Really enjoyed this book.Highly recommend this book.

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Feb 18, 2013 Tyler Gross rated it 5 of 5 stars

This book was simply amazing. SO FUNNY! It is a must read!

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About Sarka-Jonae Miller

Sárka-JonaeMiller is a novelist and freelance health writer. She has more than 4,000 articles published on topics such as fitness, sports, martial arts, yoga, nutrition, travel, spirituality, and natural health. Her work has appeared on websites such as LiveStrong.com, NaturalNews.com, WeightTraining.com, and MethodsofHealing.com, as well as in the "Post-Standard" newspaper and both the New York a...more

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