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151st out of 360 books
—
1,503 voters
Dedication
by
Emma McLaughlin (Goodreads Author),
Nicola Kraus (Goodreads Author)
What if your ex was famous and adored by millions? What would you do if you had one chance to make him regret his entire existence? How much would you risk? Kate Hollis's ex-boyfriend's face plasters newsstands and TV, the Internet, and the multiplex. Jake Sharpe is one of the biggest recording stars on the planet, and every song he's famous for is about Kate. For over a d...more
Hardcover, 279 pages
Published
June 5th 2007
by Atria Books
(first published January 1st 2007)
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There are two ways to appreciate this book, either by giving 2 stars or 4 stars. 2 stars because the protagonist of the story acts like 13 year old girl than 30. Well, that made the story interesting and it changed in the end. She grow and so do her love to somebody else, if you believe to things that aren't we used to be we can get it like a falling star waiting to be catch by the dreamer. 4 stars because I can't stop from reading the book, it was simple but the concept was far different to oth...more
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
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6 likes
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like
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Jul 02, 2007
Amy Formanski
rated it
3 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
chick lit fans
I wish I could say I liked this one as well as the other books by these authors. It was cute, I guess. The story alternates between 2005, when the main character is confronting her ex-boyfriend in their hometown, and flashbacks to their high school years. Her ex became a famous musician and his most famous song is about losing his virginity to the main character. There are about ten zillion pop culture references to the early 90s, some of which are funny, but others just feel like they're trying...more
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like
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I saw the book in the bookstore...and of course I had to read the jacket cover, and now am counting down the days until I get it and bring it to its new home :) I'm such a bookjacket whore, I get sucked in by a well written synopsis. Imagine my delight when the little teaser lives up to its name. I'm hoping this will be one of those times.
Currently loving this book. The characters, the story...I've become invested in the ending, and am really hoping it doesn't disappoint. I started reading this...more
Currently loving this book. The characters, the story...I've become invested in the ending, and am really hoping it doesn't disappoint. I started reading this...more
Oct 15, 2007
Lina
rated it
2 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
people looking to relive a high school love?
Shelves:
fiction
This comes from the same authors who produced 'The Nanny Diaries,' and I was really hoping that this book would capture the same light, witty charm the earlier book did. Unfortunately, the excessive teenage angst-iness and the awkward flashbacks make this read feel like you're being held hostage at a girls sleeopver that's 250 pages too long.
I've read great books that revolve around romantic relationships and their ensuing demise or success, but in my view, in order to be a good read, the reader...more
I've read great books that revolve around romantic relationships and their ensuing demise or success, but in my view, in order to be a good read, the reader...more
I think i forgot to add this one - not a very good sign, but it was about four books ago so i think that is why - anyway, very much a 3 star-er - the nanny diaries ple, so there is a lot of witty stuff in here, tho at times she was annoying in a jodi picoult sort of way; everyone has the same sense of humor, everyone magically has these pithy lines at the close of each chapter - but it was light with enough momentum to keep me interested, and the ending, which was really what earned it three sta...more
The third book from the authors of 'The Nanny Diaries' does not hold up to the high standards set by their first book.
The book jacket reads great: a girl returns to her hometown to make her high school sweetheart (who's now famous) regret capitalizing on their intimate relationship through his chart-topping songs. However, the back story is told in a series of flashbacks that try too hard to be shocking (e.g. backstabbing, infidelity, mental illness).
It's easy to finish the book because you want...more
The book jacket reads great: a girl returns to her hometown to make her high school sweetheart (who's now famous) regret capitalizing on their intimate relationship through his chart-topping songs. However, the back story is told in a series of flashbacks that try too hard to be shocking (e.g. backstabbing, infidelity, mental illness).
It's easy to finish the book because you want...more
New plan: cranium candy + cardio = sleek Sarah. Nothing can go wrong.
Update: did not do a lick of movement while reading this.
I'm a little ashamed of liking this book. I'm skeptical of the joint writing process, the plot was about as implausible as they come, and it was nostalgia-heavy to the point of needing a forklift. However, the girl opts out of the guy at the end, which in itself is worth noting, and perhaps respecting, chick-lit-wise, and withing the characters' world that seems like a p...more
Update: did not do a lick of movement while reading this.
I'm a little ashamed of liking this book. I'm skeptical of the joint writing process, the plot was about as implausible as they come, and it was nostalgia-heavy to the point of needing a forklift. However, the girl opts out of the guy at the end, which in itself is worth noting, and perhaps respecting, chick-lit-wise, and withing the characters' world that seems like a p...more
This book was not even fit for an MTV/Lifetime movie. It was juvenile, implausible, and absurd. At NO time during the book did I ever believe that a woman of 30 years old would still pine for and be deeply affected by the boy she dated for a few months in high school, whether he’s famous or not. Maybe if they dated for an extremely long time, had an long passionate affair with each other subsequent to the high school break-up, etc., I could believe it a bit more but not the way the story present...more
This book is by the women who wrote "The Nanny Diaries" and I picked it up solely because I liked their first book so much. I'm glad I did! There was so much to like about this book. It is about a 30-year-old woman who was jilted by her high school boyfriend and has never gotten over it, while he has gone on to become a rock star. As the story unfolds, present-day activities are interspersed with stories from her young life, starting in sixth grade when she meets her best friend, up through coll...more
It isn't unheard of to be hung up on your first love, nor to want revenge on somebody who wronged you. But come on. This book is about Kate Hollis dropping everything in her life, a decade after her high school boyfriend Jake left her to become a famous rock star, to return to her hometown to confront Jake on what he did to her and her friends. I read this book thinking it would be a cute revenge/chick-lit book where Kate comes out on top, but instead it's about her letting Jake walk all over he...more
If you're expecting a typical romantic comedy with this book, look elsewhere. I have to say I was a bit disappointed with the ending, mainly due to the fact that we the readers never really get to know the male protagonist in an unbiased light, only through the heroine's eyes, and therefore his 'unexpected act' does not come off as shocking as it should be. I also had a hard time cheering for the heroine and her concluding decision since the entire story was spent building up her pursuit and pas...more
This book is decidedly bipolar. And by that I mean it can't make up its mind whether it's a bittersweet tale about growing up or a less cerebral, jilted-woman-pwns-asshole-ex story. Love the narrator's quick wit and her lively dynamic with the other characters, and the plot is decent as far as chick lit goes, but trust me when I say that the novel ends on a really, really weird note. The high school flashbacks build up the central romance so much--- employing a fair amount of that sense of restl...more
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
click here.
This is just one of those books that's a quick read. The F bomb is dropped more than several times, there are quite a few crude moments, and to be honest when I was finishing up the last hundred pages or so, I couldn't wait to be done with it. It was enough to keep me distracted for 3 hours tops, but I won't find myself pondering the meaning of life over this book anytime soon. The 30 year old main character, Katie, acts more like a 13 year old with hormone issues; her "I love him now, no I don'...more
Dedication by Emma McLaughlin and Nicola Krauss is about Kate Hollis and the man she wants to make regret ever leaving her. Jake Sharpe has made it big, using Kate's life to write award-winning lyrics of the songs on his platinum albums. Kate Hollis has waited thirteen years to confront him and finally has the chance when her best friend calls her up in the middle of the night to tell her he's back in small town Croton Falls where they grew up.
Kate barely thinks of what she's doing when she hops...more
Kate barely thinks of what she's doing when she hops...more
what if your high school boyfriend was a super-mega-huge rock star beloved by millions? & what if all of his big #1 singles were about you? & what if he ditched you the day of your high school prom & disappeared to los angeles to become a star, leaving you to muddle through life without so much as an official break-up, all the biggest milestones of your life marred by his soundtrack?
these are the questions posed by this novel, which starts when 30-year-old kate gets the call from her...more
these are the questions posed by this novel, which starts when 30-year-old kate gets the call from her...more
I thought The Nanny Diaries was an okay read when it first came out, and I really enjoyed listening to Citizen Girl in the car on my way to and from work; Dedication, however, rests somewhere in the middle. Katie and Jake have known one another and have had an on-again/off-again relationship since middle school. Now, Jake is an accomplished singer/songwriter known around the world with almost every song written for or about Katie. He is about to be married to another singer and is making his way...more
I loved The Nanny Diaries but had trouble getting into Citizen Girl so I wasn't sure how much I'd enjoy this book. However, I thought the premise of a 30-year old woman meeting up with her high school sweetheart, now a huge megastar, to be very intriguing and relatable. I really enjoyed the book. It was fun, light-hearted and as much about friendship and the relationship between parents and children as they leave the nest as it was about the central theme of first love and loss. I loved the way...more
I don't know why I continue to read their books (so far, I've only liked Nanny Diaries). This one is about a girl whose high school sweetheart turns into a major rock star and returns to her hometown to try to rekindle their romance - can we say cliche?! I hate the authors' style of writing - It's so confusing and I had to read and re-read several sentences, which is a waste of time for a book that's meant to be a fast read. I think they're trying to make the conversations between the characters...more
May 07, 2008
Darshan Elena
rated it
2 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
insomniacs with nothing to lose... or gain... in the twilight.
I've come to realize that I need novels of nothingness, not just novels of note, to get through the hard times. Simple in structure and mundane in plot, this book was an insomniac's obsession for two days. Perfect for start-of-new-quarter reading; doesn't tax the brain... but it didn't do much else either. As I think more about it, I am aghast at my reading selections. Ah, well, it can't all be Kushiel. Teasing. It can't all be Krauss, Troung, and Chabon.
Another author (or in this case authors) that even though their books suck, I always pick up whatever they write. But always at the library, so it’s not like I am giving them any money. Same authors from the Nanny Diaries, which was horrible, no matter what anyone says. Because I am an addict tho, I do want to see the movie. Why do I torture myself like this? Who knows.
ANYWAY. Girl is obsessed with her first love, Guy, who became a famous musician and left all his high school garage bandmates in...more
ANYWAY. Girl is obsessed with her first love, Guy, who became a famous musician and left all his high school garage bandmates in...more
I’m happy to tell you that I really enjoy reading this book, and even managed to read it in one sitting. Dedication is a fun read, and I believe that it is a better book that The Nanny Diaries and Nanny Returns. Don’t forget people loved The Nanny Returns so much they made a movie out of it. Dedication tells the story of Katie, now Kate, who is a successful and single women in her early thirties with a wonderful job, but no man in her life. Her high school boyfriend Jake pulled a real number on...more
The Nanny Diaries was a funny book. Dedication was pretty bad. It made me want to cry. Not one of those, "Oh that's so sweet" cries, a cry of agony, of disbelief, of frustration that modern writers feel the need to paint the teenage (and adult, in the case) female as some sort of love-sick masochist who gets off on being treated poorly by her male "soul-mate". GAG! At times I thought, "Ok, I remember feeling this way about boys in high school." But then I grew up and developed some self-esteem....more
Loved this book. Loved it. As a child of the late 80s/early 90s, the details (Salon Selectives, anyone?) made this book completely believable to me. I was expecting this to be just plain old pleasurable chick lit, but Katie, the heroine, is so likable. I almost had to blink tears away during the very last page - the last flashback. Such a good story. I liked it even better than The Nanny Diaries, and I wasn't expecting to.
I got this as a clearance book at Books a Million. I'd had it sitting on the shelf for over a year, and almost got rid of it without reading it, but then I noticed it was written by the same authors who wrote "The Nanny Diaries", and I decided to give it a try. Verdict? I'd probably be upset if I'd paid full price for this book. It was okay, but just okay. There were times I found myself wanting to hit the narrator-- her high school boyfriend has become a big rock star, by writing songs about he...more
What does it take to make one's ex regret his entire existance?
McLaughin and Kraus explore that mission in detail here, but this book is less about revenge than understanding the complex history that has formed the present moment.
Kate Hollis has had to live with Jake's songs for years--they're number one hits, and they're all about her and their high school romance. Instead of being flattered, Kate is mortified and has even moved several states away rather than be in the same town with her high...more
McLaughin and Kraus explore that mission in detail here, but this book is less about revenge than understanding the complex history that has formed the present moment.
Kate Hollis has had to live with Jake's songs for years--they're number one hits, and they're all about her and their high school romance. Instead of being flattered, Kate is mortified and has even moved several states away rather than be in the same town with her high...more
Light, fluffy, fun, and moderately amusing, with a few layers of sappy, and a dollop of cheese - Dedication is the book equivalent of a fairly well-made "Girl Who's Been Dumped" - type movie, that you might find on the Oxygen Channel or Lifetime. Having just completed three fairly heavy books in a row, Dedication was a nice change of pace for me.
The book is narrated in first person, by the main character, Kate Hollis, and alternates between sort-of present day (2005) and her childhood. If you've...more
The book is narrated in first person, by the main character, Kate Hollis, and alternates between sort-of present day (2005) and her childhood. If you've...more
Although I enjoyed the various music references littered throughout Dedication, and tried to find merit in the rest of it-I just couldn't. I just did not like this book. I really didn't care for the characters-especially Kate. I was bored with the plot, I felt as though I had already read/watched the story before. Worst yet, I thought it was poorly written. I was constantly stumbling over badly written paragraphs that caused the narration to die. I could forgive that, if it only happened once or...more
I found this book while browsing for more books by these authors (having read Nanny Diaries and Citizen Girl). The story was immediately captivating and I had a difficult time putting it down, especially at the end. I especially enjoyed the format of the storytelling, which alternated between the main character's past (seveth grade through college) and current day events (age 30). This format would probably translate very well onto the screen given the right screen writer...
Although I really en...more
Although I really en...more
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My partner, Nicki, and I have been writing together for 12 years. We're obsessed by what makes a satisfying story. I'm excited to hear from our readers what does it for them -- and what doesn't. As a working mom, the only book time I manage to steal these days is right before bed. I'm not the girl who can watch SVU and go to sleep with a smile. Ruling out kids/the economy/the world in peril as sub...more
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