I swear, Susan Elizabeth Phillips has sacrificed more virgins than the Aztecs.

Usually (by usually, I mean the 8 books I just inhaled), she wins me over with her banter and zaniness, but Glitter Baby was unappealing from beginning to end. I spent the first half of the book uncomfortable with the various plotlines and loathsome characters, and by the time the first "love" scene rolled around, I was mentally grabbing a habit and ruler and yelling, "STOP RIGHT NOW!"

In romance books, you know which characters are *breathy sigh* MFEO (made for each other -- shoutout to Sleepless in Seattle). I can forgive a lot of plot ridiculousness as long as there's fun and chemistry along the way. And okay, some smut. However, there was too little fun and too much fuckedupness in this one. Belinda would win the Dina Lohan Parent/Pimp of the Year Award. Alexi would get the Woody Allen Parent/Perv one. By the time you get to Fleur, the main character, you're so disgusted by everyone else that it's hard to care. Then there's Jake, the tall, handsome, basketball playing movie star/playwright. When alllllllll that (and basketball!) doesn't immediately win ME over, you know there's a problem. I wasn't cheering for the couple to get together even though I liked them individually. There's enough to the story to keep you reading, and I think Fleur developed into a strong character, but it wasn't enough for me to like the story overall.

Another problem I had was that this book is part of the Wynette, Texas series and yet there's no mention of Wynette or Texas. After Book 2, Lady Be Good, I was really hoping to hear more about the townspeople and check in on Kenny and Emma, but there's nothing. Fleur and Jake make cameos in Book 6, Call Me Irresistible, but Glitter Baby (Book 3) doesn't have anything to do with Wynette. I wonder if the book was meant to be a standalone but then later marketed as part of Wynette because of Call Me Irresistible.

I'm glad this wasn't my first or second SEP because it probably would've made me stop reading her books altogether. Of course, then I would've slept way more this past week, but I do really enjoy her other books, especially the Chicago Stars series. Read those or skip this one and go straight to Call Me Irresistible.