Grace Emerson is a history teacher at a stuffy prep school, devoted sister and daughter, and a Civil War buff (who participates in re-enacting the battles), but she also has a small problem: she invents imaginary boyfriends in time of crisis. For instance, in middle school she wanted to be accepted by the cool kids, so she invented an older, much cooler boyfriend who attended a different school. Worked like a charm. The same thing worked for her in high school when she invented a beautiful, Fren More...

Meet Grace Emerson. She's thirty, she's a prep school history teacher, Civil Was enthusiast, member of a Civil War reenactment group, proud Highland Terrier owner, old Victorian house owner, middle child, jilted three weeks before the wedding...But that was more than a year ago.

Now, her ex-fiancé is dating her younger sister (that's the reason he broke up with her), she's indulging in too much Ben and Jerry's, she invented a boyfriend so people wouldn't pity her, and she recently assaulted her h More...

Grace Emerson's ex-boyfriend is a prick. Seriously. And her younger sister? A spoiled moron. Grace sure isn't perfect either.

Luckily, she has better luck next time around in the love department with her neighbor Callahan (I love the name Callahan, by the way). She accidentally hits him with a hockey stick...and then a couple of other times too. Luckily, he has a well-developed sense of humor. He also appreciates that Grace's neurotic tendencies can be construed as cute instead of completely insa More...

This book is so fantastic, i laughed so many times. It is honestly one of the funniest books i have ever read. Absolutely amazing book. There is a scene in this book in a restaurant, i laughed so hard I thought I might pee my panties. seriously :)

Favorite lines - "Jesus is my wingman." & "Was it me, or did a lot of men leave in handcuffs when i was around"

Grace ha trent'anni, fa l'insegnante di storia al liceo, partecipa alle rivisitazione storiche della guerra di Secessione, adora Via col vento (il romanzo, non il film...anche se poi ;)) e sogna l'uomo da sposare.
Peccato che l'ultimo tentativo sia andato così male che ora è stata costretta ad inventarsene uno per tranquillizzare l'adorata sorellina, che si è appena fidanzata con il suo ex (che sfiga eh?!). Senza contare l'evidente effetto anestetizzante sulle ansie dei genitori invadenti con con More...

2.5 stars....

Im beginning to think chick-lit genre is really not my cup of tea for good romance.

Overall i think is was a good story, but had many glitches along the way..technically speaking.. i would say she had many writing inconsistencies and lacked structure... As far as the story itself, i didnt think it was terrible,but the character`s reactions.. towards certain situations..lacked so much depth.. idk.. There were some parts where i found my self laughing, and waiting for the bloom of the More...

The writing was good but the plot was not very... believable?, interesting?, appealing?
And the characters... well.. I liked the dog!

I loved Cal until the lying thing, then he went bersek and made a huge deal about someting so stupid!, the whole scene didn't make sense to me.

Grace... ugh! I just feel soooo sorry for Grace, she's so busy worrying about what other people think of her that she forgets about living and ejoying life.
But forget about that, my main problem with Grace is the fact that h More...

okay 3 star...and one more for the familiarity lol. everyone makes up fake bfs...atleast i did. i used to had this friend and i told him about this perfect(imaginary)boyfriend i had...and continued the whole charade for more than 2 years because i was trying not to complicate things with him...anyway the whole book just reminded me of that time. ah. memories.
nice book by the way...i liked the happy ending, for once i wont bitch about predictability and cliches.

I'll give kudos to Ms. Higgins that she knows how to write laugh-out loud scenes, but that's where the fun stops.

This story is about Grace, a high school history teacher with her fair share of romantic issues. Her fiance dumped her three weeks before the wedding, only for him to later hook up with her sister. To complicate matters she has a history of making up boyfriends to avoid pity (gag me now).

I think the problem with Grace was she cared way too damn much about what other people thought. En More...

Callahan O'Shea. If you're not a pile of goo after just hearing that name, then I don't know what's wrong with you. BUT *clears throat* this review isn't about the tall, handsome, utterly charming hunk of a neighbor who just happens to be an ex-convict. (Really, who cares about the convict part when there is the tall, handsome, utterly charming hunk part to focus on?) All goofiness aside, though, Too Good to Be True is, really, almost too good to be true. For me at least. As a cross between two More...

I took up this book around 12 yester-night, as I was having trouble sleeping.. A major mistake on my part, for I remained awake all night long. And when i finally hit the sacks, six hours later, it was the satisfied sleep of a satisfied reader.
Too Good To Be True had me laughing, crying, sighing, and wishing it would never end... Grace Emerson "as in Ralph Waldo" is a beautiful character, both inside and out. Your heart just melts as she tries to keep her head high after her fiance calls off the More...

The characters of Grace and Cal are really good, they have a lot of chemistry but there is also a lot of laugh out loud moments from the moment they meet throughout the rest of the book. Higgins fills the book with great one liners and truly funny moments.

While this is a romance novel, there is a lot more going on in the story than Grace falling in love; she’s also trying to find herself again after being dumped by her fiancé and learning to stand up for herself. Her family plays a pivotal role More...

Decent enough. Callahan was a nice character, Grace was a bit dull for me. And that dog of hers...ugh, even reading about it was annoying. I can't imagine if you'd ever have to deal with one like that in real life, biting everyone who came over, yapping incessantly, getting into something every time you left the house. What bad behavior! After the twentieth description of Angus and her baby-names for him, I was rolling my eyes. I can get goofy about my dog, too, but it feels a little over-the-to More...

So I love Kristan Higgins. We know that, right? I rave about her all the time, I gave away one of her books, and I can't get enough of how she writes. So it will come as no surprise that I really liked Too Good to Be True.

Grace Emerson is the middle child of bickering parents. Her father is a lawyer, while her mother crafts glass sculptures in the shapes of female reproductive organs. Gorgeous older sister Margaret, also an attorney, is in a complacent marriage not improved by her caustic observ More...

My Rating: 3.5


With a book blurb dealing with imaginary fake boyfriends, Too Good to be True immediately caught my attention. A gorgeous next door neighbor? Check. A sisterly twist? Double check. An author I've heard good things about who wrote the book? Triple check. If there was such a thing as a triple check.


My first thought when I read Too Good to be True was what kind of sister is Natalie?, seconded by how can Grace be so kind and understanding? I understand that Natalie nearly died and h More...

Come accennato nel mio post di pochi giorni fa è nata una nuova linea di romanzi Harlequin Monondadori che da giugno mese potrete trovare in tutte le librerie. I primi tre titoli presentati sono uno più affascinante dell'altro. Ed il fatto che la collana proponga solo i migliori bestseller internazionali dalle autrici di punta del panorama americano e si rivolga a un pubblico femminile mi assicura sulla scelta fatta. Ho voluto deliziarmi proprio con "Troppo bello per essere vero" di Kristan Higg More...

So far this is my favorite book by this author. Callahan O'Shea was wonderful. The author usually writes really great leading man characters, but they always have some major emotional hurtle to overcome. Callahan (love the name) had baggage but he had dealt with it and moved on. In typical Higgins fashion the family of the heroine were judgmental and opinionated. However, for some reason they did not bother me as much in this book as they usually do. This book was also the most humorous I have r More...

Not quite as funny as "Just One Of The Guys" but I thought the romance was a lot more satisfying. The ending in general with the entire cast of characters was just more satisfying - especially the beat down. One of the stupid things that bothered me about this book was the weird religious swearing. I'm not religious but the sayings were just so bizarre. What the hell does "God's nightgown!" mean? It was the MC's favorite phrase and it was too corny.


On a side note, I'm starting to see a pattern w More...

OK. I liked it. I really did. However, I was so lost in Grace's first person musings that I almost stopped reading the book. I am normally so charmed by the quirkiness of Higgins' female characters that this shouldn't have bothered me but it just seemed to be too much. Let me say that I did find the book to be funny and it tugged at my heart strings a few (appropriate times) but COME ON!

*****I usually don't do spoilers but this deserves it*****

Grace is a jilted woman. Three weeks before her wedd More...

Delicious! This book was instantly funny, fabulously quick witted, riddled with heartbreak and hopefulness and more than a little lust, but it was, mercifully, not at all overdone or trite. An imperfect girl with her little white lies, freakish family, devoted friendships, nasty coworkers, even a delightfully quirky little dog named Angus...this book has it all. I quickly fell in love with Grace, her family, her friends, her house, her crush (even the name, Callahan O'Shea, was enticing). All of More...

Grace Emerson lives in Peterston, she is a school teacher in a Prep School. She loves history, especially the Civil War. During her free time she likes to Reenact the Civil War with hundreds of others. She also likes to make up boyfriends. She has done it through high school and college. This time she invents a Pediatric Surgeon/Feral Cat lover/Married to his profession boyfriend.
Why, you may ask? Her little sister, Natalie is dating her ex-fiancee Andrew, and she is tired of people pitting her. More...

Gag, this cover. But cute pup!

I've gotta give it to Higgins, she knows how to bring the funny. The MC of this novel, Grace, is in a (train wreck) class all by herself, as well as her judgmental and mean grandma, sex-organ-art-making-mother, crazy dog that chews up everything, and bitter but hilarious sister Margaret. The characters are just a lot of fun, even though their situations got a little ridiculous and their reasoning for acting like the way they did was a little more than unnerving.

This More...

I loved this book! I enjoy all of Kristan's books--her characters are fantastic: flawed, yet always seem like people you'd love to get to know in real life, and by the end of her books they feel like friends--but this one will always stand out for me. Its heroine, Grace Emerson, is a history teacher and weekend Civil War reenactor. As a history teacher and reenacter wannabe, I just loved reading her story! (One of my favorite parts will always be when Grace, reading an email from a parent asking More...

I enjoyed the couple’s relationship, but I didn’t care for Grace’s ponderings and the Margaret subplot.

STORY BRIEF:
Grace is a high school history teacher engaged to Andrew. Andrew fell in love with Grace’s younger sister and broke up with Grace. Grace made up a fictitious boyfriend. Grace’s family is an eclectic mix of people who cause a variety of discomforts for Grace. Grace has a good heart, and she wishes her family would stop doing certain things. She continues making up lies to deal with t More...

Las primeras 250 páginas fueron solo entretenidas pero a partir de ahí fue imposible no leer.
Odie a Natalie porque no puedes ser tan tonta como para creer que no hieres a tu hermana hablando de tu novio o que quieres casarte con Él. El colmo fue con lo de madrina, en parte se merecía lo que le paso, sinceramente ni simpatía sentí por ella en esa parte.

.Grace, oh Grace. Ella fue G E N I A L. Muy bueno lo del médico pediatra cirujano, el super amor a su perro(yo estoy igual) la manera de sobrelle More...

Encore une romance facile. Oui je sais, je sais... j'a tellement d'autres choses à lire. Mais pourquoi pas?! Après toute, c'est l'hiver... un peu de chaleur... de légèreté... Non? Il faut que j'arrête de me trouver des excuses. Oui je lis des romances légères. Mais je préfère attirer l'attention sur mes autres lectures... Hmmpf. Bien.
"Too Good To Be True" est (encore) une (autre) romance de Kristan Higgans comportant tous ses éléments fétiches: une héroïne pas pas aussi classe que ses deux soeu More...

Fluff, but cute fluff. I think this is what Sophie Kinsella and (and to a lesser extent) Emily Giffin WANT to be, but never quite achieve. Good dialogue, endearing main characters, appealingly quasi-embarassing (but thankfully, not entirely cringeworthy) plot, and funny side characters.

I never completely got into the level of indulgence of the family members for each others' abysmal actions (and I'm looking at you especially, Meme), but I don't have a big family, so who am I to judge (I guess). More...