7th out of 29 books
—
19 voters
Here I Go Again
Hilarious new fiction from the New York Times bestselling author of Bitter Is the New Black and If You Were Here .
Twenty years after ruling the halls of her suburban Chicago high school, Lissy Ryder doesn't understand why her glory days ended. Back then, she was worshipped...beloved...feared. Present day, not so much. She's been pink-slipped from her high-paying job, dumpe...more
Twenty years after ruling the halls of her suburban Chicago high school, Lissy Ryder doesn't understand why her glory days ended. Back then, she was worshipped...beloved...feared. Present day, not so much. She's been pink-slipped from her high-paying job, dumpe...more
Hardcover, 308 pages
Published
January 29th 2013
by NAL Hardcover
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I asked for an ARC because I'd heard Bitter is the New Black was outrageously funny, and I'm pretty sure we're going to be carrying this book at work. Plus all the reviews on GoodReads were positive, so I thought I'd give it a go. I made it through forty pages on the first day. Second day, I struggled a bit more. By page forty-five, I pulled out a pen and started editing as I read, and marking all the cliches, exclamation points, and parts where characters seemed less-than-believable if not down...more
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
A copy of Here I Go Again was provided to me by NAL/Edelweiss for review purposes.
Lissy Ryder is that kind of girl in school that is super popular and you can't help but love/hate her. I know we all went to school with at least one Lissy-type. Her 20-year high school reunion is coming up and shortly before, everything about her life seems to falling apart at the seams. She's kicked out of her swanky gym for not paying the fees, she gets fired from her job and her husband j...more
A copy of Here I Go Again was provided to me by NAL/Edelweiss for review purposes.
Lissy Ryder is that kind of girl in school that is super popular and you can't help but love/hate her. I know we all went to school with at least one Lissy-type. Her 20-year high school reunion is coming up and shortly before, everything about her life seems to falling apart at the seams. She's kicked out of her swanky gym for not paying the fees, she gets fired from her job and her husband j...more
You know what I'm going to give it the full 5! It was fun, hilarious, cute, emotional and ended perfectly. It was exactly what I needed right now!
I love books and movies where people go back to high school to learn a lesson or change their lives. I've seen Peggy Sue Got Married a million times. LOL I mostly only read Chick Lit from Sophie Kinsella but I'm so glad I accidentally requested this because it was so much fun. Seriously made my day. Similar to Kinsella it was laugh out loud hilarious,...more
I love books and movies where people go back to high school to learn a lesson or change their lives. I've seen Peggy Sue Got Married a million times. LOL I mostly only read Chick Lit from Sophie Kinsella but I'm so glad I accidentally requested this because it was so much fun. Seriously made my day. Similar to Kinsella it was laugh out loud hilarious,...more
A cross between "Mean Girls" and "The Butterfly Effect" this novel is narrated by thirty seven year old Lissy Ryder. Lissy was one of the most popular girls at her high school, dating the star quarterback of the school's football team. She was also a cheerleader and one of the meanest humans you'd ever encounter. Her selfishness and shallowness knew no limits and she'd pick on the disabled, intelligent and just plain ignorant alike. With her Southern society Mama as a role model, it's no wonder...more
Apr 03, 2013
Regret7
rated it
3 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
adult women/lovers of chick lit
Shelves:
adult-chick-lit,
favorite-author
While nothing beats Jen Lancaster's memoirs, this one surprised me (mainly because, having read all of her memoirs, I was afraid that she would put too much of herself into the protagonist - a fair concern.
However, the novel had quite a few unexpected twists and turns (read: time travel!), and while I expected to be more than a little disappointed, I was more than a little pleased with it (read: I'll most likely read it at least 2-3 more times as I purchased it on my nook).
I think that the main...more
However, the novel had quite a few unexpected twists and turns (read: time travel!), and while I expected to be more than a little disappointed, I was more than a little pleased with it (read: I'll most likely read it at least 2-3 more times as I purchased it on my nook).
I think that the main...more
Can you say, "Peggy Sue Got Married". Does anyone remember that movie? Well, it was better. I've never read so much self center, cliche' whining in my life! The main character, Lissy Ryder, poops on everyone, even people who have stuck by her side her whole miserable 35 years of life. Miss Prom Queen, Miss head cheer leader, Miss Mean Mouth. And even when she gets pulled back in time, where it's obvious she's suppose to change her ways, she's still a bi-ch! I get the concept, but I GOT the conce...more
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i don't know how the hell this happened, but i am pretty into jen lancaster's books now. when i heard she had a new novel out, i raced to add it to my library queue. when i was notified that it was on the hold shelf for me, i dropped everything & ran over to pick it up (one of the joys of living right across the street from the library). & then i read the whole thing in one day, even though i have a baby to take care of & a million other things that i am (or ought to be) reading.
i u...more
i u...more
It is super evident that Jen wants to write YA fiction and this story would have been perfect as just that. Her voice is unique and I need to accept that it is going to come through in her fiction more than it should.
This held my attention - but again - is the same variation of brand-name dropping narcissism that has put Jen on the map. It is WAY better than "If You Were Here", but still not as good as her memoirs. When I was reading the parts in high-school, I was recalling "Bitter is the New...more
This held my attention - but again - is the same variation of brand-name dropping narcissism that has put Jen on the map. It is WAY better than "If You Were Here", but still not as good as her memoirs. When I was reading the parts in high-school, I was recalling "Bitter is the New...more
http://charlotteswebofbooks.blogspot....
My twentieth class reunion is coming up this year *gulp* so I found myself imagining my classmates and what our reunion will look like. I also found myself LOVING all of Lissy's pop culture reference from my high school days. As usual with anything Jen Lancaster writes, I found myself laughing out loud many times. She created this horrible character, Lissy, that at first I just wanted to slap sill. But the change in Lissy was pretty noticeable and drastic...more
My twentieth class reunion is coming up this year *gulp* so I found myself imagining my classmates and what our reunion will look like. I also found myself LOVING all of Lissy's pop culture reference from my high school days. As usual with anything Jen Lancaster writes, I found myself laughing out loud many times. She created this horrible character, Lissy, that at first I just wanted to slap sill. But the change in Lissy was pretty noticeable and drastic...more
I think I have read all of Jen Lancaster's books. I started with Bitter is the New Black, and laughed so hard I hurt myself. I loved this book....BUT: I really think if you haven't read her, this is not the book to start with. Go read Bitter, and maybe two or three of the others she has written, more semi-biographical/snarky bloggish....THEN graduate to this one. I say that because this is the first novel of hers I have read, and if I hadn't already fallen in love with her wit and self depricati...more
Lissy Ryder, the gal who had it all, is within a few days shorn of all her glorious toys and relationships. A graduate of a Chicago high school, she came from money, married money, and knew all the right people. Now, she’s just discovered that her mega-buck membership to a gym where only successful, notable people work out is canceled, her credit card is capped, her husband wants a divorce and no one has any sympathy for her at all. Why? Quite simply, she’s a notorious –itch; place whatever nega...more
Make no mistake -- Jen Lancaster writes well. She has a way with narrative and many passages of this book made me smile. (For example, I loved both takes on "Duke of Hurl.") She also does a wonderful job expressing the schadenfreude of high school social life, how so much "mean girl" behavior is tolerated because fragile teens are just so grateful they aren't the targets of scorn. But there's something lazy and formulaic about this effort. "Self absorbed heroine gets kicked in the pants by life...more
As a story, Here I Go Again sucked. Wait! Keep reading! (Even you, Jen, if you do things like read Goodread Reviews.)
It was a smarmy, unrealistic mishmash of It's a Wonderful Life and Mean Girls.
I know, you're thinking, um, it's about a time-travelling jerkface, it's obviously not meant to be realistic.
And I know. I know. But, for me, even my unrealistic stories need to tie up their loose ends, and make sense in the alternate reality they've forced into existence. And Here I Go Again doesn't do...more
It was a smarmy, unrealistic mishmash of It's a Wonderful Life and Mean Girls.
I know, you're thinking, um, it's about a time-travelling jerkface, it's obviously not meant to be realistic.
And I know. I know. But, for me, even my unrealistic stories need to tie up their loose ends, and make sense in the alternate reality they've forced into existence. And Here I Go Again doesn't do...more
I always find Jen Lancaster amusing, whether it be in her memoir-type books: "Such a pretty fat", "Bitter is the New Black", "My Fair Lazy", etc. as well as in her first 2 fictional books: "If you were here" and now "Here I Go Again".
Here I go again is about the horrible Lissy who was the queen "bee" in her high school and now facing her 20 year reunion: Her husband dumps her, she gets fired from her job and she is living at her parents again. In attending her HS reunion, she is confronted with...more
Here I go again is about the horrible Lissy who was the queen "bee" in her high school and now facing her 20 year reunion: Her husband dumps her, she gets fired from her job and she is living at her parents again. In attending her HS reunion, she is confronted with...more
There are two kinds of people--those who couldn’t wait for life after high school, and those whose lives peaked in high school. Melissa Belle “Lissy” Ryder is the second kind, but she hasn’t spent the last twenty years pining for her glory days; rather, she’s been living them as if she were still in their midst...despite all contrary evidence, which includes losing her job, her home, and her husband. But she’s in for a rude awakening at her high-school reunion, as one classmate after another con...more
Every high school has a Lissy Ryder. The head cheerleader. The homecoming queen. The girl who makes everyone else's life a living nightmare. After high school, that girl is forgotten by the people she tortured as they move on to bigger and better things. But what ever happened to the mean girl from high school ...
Here I Go Again is set in Chicago, Illinois and tells the story of Lissy Ryder, who has spent her entire life being the Queen Bee of absolutely everything. That was until she lost her j...more
Here I Go Again is set in Chicago, Illinois and tells the story of Lissy Ryder, who has spent her entire life being the Queen Bee of absolutely everything. That was until she lost her j...more
A glorious mash-up of "Back to the Future" and "Pretty In Pink" with a lot more cursing and snark, this was a very enjoyable and thought provoking book to read. Lissy, the original queen bee Mean Girl of her 1992 graduating class crashes and burns at her 20 year high school reunion. A trippy classmate gives her an herbal drink that transports her back to her high school years for a few weeks to make amends and change things. However, upon returning to the current day Lissy finds that the changes...more
Have you ever wondered how your life would be changed if you made different decisions in high school? Lissy Ryder is about to find out. Here I Go Again is an early 90s twist on It's A Wonderful Life. What would the world be like if Lissy Ryder wasn't a mean girl?
I thought this book was so much fun! Lissy is a great character - she's so self-absorbed, I just wanted to strangle her but at the same time I thought she was really funny. I was surprised by the way her classmates present day lives chan...more
I thought this book was so much fun! Lissy is a great character - she's so self-absorbed, I just wanted to strangle her but at the same time I thought she was really funny. I was surprised by the way her classmates present day lives chan...more
I opened and closed at least five different books before I settled in with this one, so I was feeling pretty picky. I'm not a "chick lit" reader, but I like stuff that's snappy and funny and smart.
The thing about HERE I GO AGAIN is it doesn't ask for serious brain power. I have classified it as "fluff" and it definitely falls in that category. But just because it's fluff doesn't mean it can't be funny and satisfying and better than a lot of other serious books you'll read.
The setup (MEAN GIRLS...more
The thing about HERE I GO AGAIN is it doesn't ask for serious brain power. I have classified it as "fluff" and it definitely falls in that category. But just because it's fluff doesn't mean it can't be funny and satisfying and better than a lot of other serious books you'll read.
The setup (MEAN GIRLS...more
First of all, I want to say THANK YOU from the bottom of my heart to Jen Lancaster for leaving out the million and four footnotes that generally speckle the pages of her books. They are a terrible little beast on e-readers and it was such a pleasure to see her use parentheses instead (god, they're my favorite). It made this book much more pleasurable. I read it in two afternoons!
I haven't been a fan of Jen's lately, due in part to the disaster that was her first attempt at fiction, If You Were H...more
I haven't been a fan of Jen's lately, due in part to the disaster that was her first attempt at fiction, If You Were H...more
I really wanted to love this book. But I didn't. I liked it. I was entertained, it was a very quick read and pretty mindless.
But what I love so much about Jen Lancaster is her writing that makes me laugh out loud with the silliness and the inane things that make it relatable.
As a child of the 90s, I would think I'd somewhat relate to a number of things in this book of flashbacks. But I didn't. There was a 90210 reference and no references to Hypercolor (look it up if you're not familiar). But...more
But what I love so much about Jen Lancaster is her writing that makes me laugh out loud with the silliness and the inane things that make it relatable.
As a child of the 90s, I would think I'd somewhat relate to a number of things in this book of flashbacks. But I didn't. There was a 90210 reference and no references to Hypercolor (look it up if you're not familiar). But...more
**I received an ARC copy of this book from Amazon Vine**
I was elated to see this novel in my offerings from Vine this month as Jen Lancaster is one of my favorite authors. I liked her first foray into fiction and was looking forward to her second that seemed to be a completely different take as the first was more of a fictional version of her life where this novel is completely original. I was sorry to see no Fletch-like character though ;)
I enjoyed the book but I must admit that reading about...more
I was elated to see this novel in my offerings from Vine this month as Jen Lancaster is one of my favorite authors. I liked her first foray into fiction and was looking forward to her second that seemed to be a completely different take as the first was more of a fictional version of her life where this novel is completely original. I was sorry to see no Fletch-like character though ;)
I enjoyed the book but I must admit that reading about...more
Lissy Ryder may or may not have peaked in high school. Back then, she was the Heather Duke (or Regina George, as you prefer) of her school. Everyone feared her, even her boyfriend and best friends. Now, though? Her husband wants a divorce and her boss just fired her. She's back with her parents and, as an added bonus, her class reunion is coming up.
And it turns out that all the people she bullied are all crazy successful (as opposed to recently fired, newly single and living in their childhood...more
And it turns out that all the people she bullied are all crazy successful (as opposed to recently fired, newly single and living in their childhood...more
Lissy Ryder is living the life of her dreams. Married to her on-again, off-again high school boyfriend, she's working PR, hanging out at a swanky health club, and is still the leader of the pack in every way, shape, and form.
Or so she thinks.
When her husband asks for a divorce, she loses her job, and finds herself back at her parents' house in her childhood bedroom, reality hits Lissy hard. She tries to rally, looking to use her 20-year high school reunion as an opportunity to troll of clients f...more
Or so she thinks.
When her husband asks for a divorce, she loses her job, and finds herself back at her parents' house in her childhood bedroom, reality hits Lissy hard. She tries to rally, looking to use her 20-year high school reunion as an opportunity to troll of clients f...more
Lissy was the girl everyone wanted to be in high school: pretty, well dressed, popular, all the boys wanted to date her, her parents spoiled her but along with that she was the Queen bee and MEAN. She felt it was right that everyone wanted to be her because clearly she was the best. They should follow her lead and those who weren't a part of her world were ripe for the cutting, sarcastic remarks that she made about them. She didn't think about how her comments might hurt.
Now it is 20 years later...more
Now it is 20 years later...more
Lissy Ryder is an asshole. You can call her a Mean Girl or a Queen Bee or whatever the hell you want, but it’s all just code for asshole. She was the biggest asshole in her high school. She learned that having rich parents and decent looks meant she could have everything handed to her on a silver platter, so she took liberally from the platter. Is that her fault?
At the beginning of Here I Go Again, Lissy is literally no different than she was in high school. At 37, she thinks the rules of life d...more
At the beginning of Here I Go Again, Lissy is literally no different than she was in high school. At 37, she thinks the rules of life d...more
My Thoughts
Loved IT
Lissy Ryder is a sharp tongued viper and rules her high school with her quick cuts and it doesn't hurt that she is cheer captain, homecoming queen and the best dresser. Of course, everyone knew a Lissy in high school. That b*tch that really made your life miserable. You really hope that karma comes back to bite them on the butt. Well, karma does come back to get her and it isn't pretty. Twenty years later, Lissy is a PR hack, her marriage to the high school prom king is falter...more
Loved IT
Lissy Ryder is a sharp tongued viper and rules her high school with her quick cuts and it doesn't hurt that she is cheer captain, homecoming queen and the best dresser. Of course, everyone knew a Lissy in high school. That b*tch that really made your life miserable. You really hope that karma comes back to bite them on the butt. Well, karma does come back to get her and it isn't pretty. Twenty years later, Lissy is a PR hack, her marriage to the high school prom king is falter...more
HERE I GO AGAIN is in reality just a rehash of the "Back to the Future" theme with a bit of 13 Going on 30 merged with the theory of the butterfly effect. The story is built on the fantasy/daydream that each one of us has entertained at some point in our lives; how different our lives would be if we could just go back in time and "tweak" some of the events and decisions made by that younger version of ourselves.
In author Jen Lancaster's case she has committed her fantasy to the printed pages of...more
In author Jen Lancaster's case she has committed her fantasy to the printed pages of...more
Have you ever been so angry with someone for the way they treated you that you still think about it now and then? Do you wish you could have said the perfect snarky comeback to them? Do you wish bad Karma on them? Do you ever wonder if she/he "got theirs?" Well, you're not alone. This book is about Lissy Rider, the perfect girl in high school who was the leader of the pack, prom queen, mean and bitchy. Twenty years after graduation, Lissy has been given a good dose of Karma. She has lost her job...more
| topics | posts | views | last activity | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Audio book appropriate to listen to in front of kids? | 1 | 6 | Mar 15, 2013 07:51am | |
| Recurring Theme/Plot? | 2 | 19 | Feb 10, 2013 11:26am |
Jen Lancaster is the author of her own memoirs including: as Bitter is the New Black, Bright Lights, Big Ass, Such A Pretty Fat, Pretty in Plaid, My Fair Lazy, and the newest: Jeneration X.
She has also dabbled with fiction in her first book, If You Were Here.
More about Jen Lancaster...
She has also dabbled with fiction in her first book, If You Were Here.
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“Were I forced to describe this woman in one word, that word would be...herpes.”
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