A Compromising Position

by Carole Matthews

When Emily's boyfriend posts compromising photos of her on the internet, her life goes into sharp decline. Emily is about to lose everything - including the man she thought she loved.

Her best friend Cara is determined to mend Emily's broken heart and she believes that a little magic is all that's required. But will Cara cast the right spell to get Emily out of her current position? Or will it go horribly wrong when they both fall for the same man?

Genres: Chick Lit, Romance, Fiction, Contemporary, Romantic Comedy, British Literature, Contemporary Romance

451 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2003

About the author

Carole Matthews is an international bestselling author of hugely successful romantic comedy novels. Her unique sense of humour has won her legions of fans and critical acclaim all over the world.

A Minor Indiscretion and A Compromising Position both reached the Top 5 in the Sunday Times bestseller chart in the UK. You Drive Me Crazy reached number 8 in the original fiction charts. The novel Welcome To The Real World was shortlisted for RNA romantic novel of the year 2007.

In 2006 Carole co-edited - with writer Sarah Mlynowski - two new editions of the hugely popular Girls' Night In charity series called Girls' Night Out - one for the USA and one for Canada. All proceeds go to War Child.

Carole has presented on television and is a regular radio guest. When she’s not writing novels, television or film scripts she manages to find time to trek in the Himalayas, rollerblade in Central Park, take tea in China and snooze in her garden shed in Milton Keynes which is near London, England.

Reviews

[Nessa · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a wonderful book, which I have thoroughly enjoyed from start to finish. I always know that when I read a Carole Matthews book I know I'm in for a treat.

The story was entertaining, funny and heartfelt throughout. So very well written and I thoroughly enjoyed getting to know all of the characters.

[Helen Walford · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book made me laugh out loud lots! The characters were brilliant and the story line was brilliant.

[Melea Rose-Waters · Rating 2 out of 5]

I had the HARDEST time getting through this book and I'm not sure why. The story was good enough, and the writing was fine, but for whatever reason every time I picked it up I seemed to fall asleep. Because of that, I have to rate it "just ok". I wish I could figure out why this book didn't draw me in but I can't for whatever reason.

[Elizabeth · Rating 2 out of 5]

I "liked" this book so much I didn't bring it back from vacation. I like Carol Matthews but she was scrapping the bottom of the barrel with this one.

[Janette Townend]

Not my usual choice of reading but an enjoyable light read. Predictable in parts especially the ending but some good plot lines. Brought back memories of the 'scandal sheets' of the 70's and 80's/

[Lauren Johnston · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was a bit of a slow starter for me, but by the end I couldn’t put it down. I love Carole Matthews, what an amazing author! Had me laughing and crying! Fab read.

[♥ Marlene♥ · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received this book a few days ago from a friend through bookcrossing. We call this a rabck which stands for a bookcrossing random act of kindness.
She sent me 2 books of my wish list and made me very happy.

Finished it this morning and it was a fun read.

Think about it. Your boyfriend of a few years has put the sexy Santa photo's you 2 have made on the Internet!! eek!


Last night I was reading and all of a sudden I was laughing like a lunatic. Very loud and really a big belly laugh. It was so funny and I could just picture what they were doing. (thinking about it makes me laugh again)



One thing, if there is one pet peeve I have concerning books it is when the main character does stupid things and keeps on doing this, or how do I say it when there is too much coincidence, and that was definitely the case in this book. The main characters keep on missing each other which would normally piss me off big time)

Weirdly enough I did not mind it that much as I would normally do.
This book started out slow but after a while I got into it and it is just a funny, ridiculous chick lit book. Guess I needed that.

3.5 stars. Will give it 4 because a book that can make me laugh so loud and for so long, deserves that.

[Wendy · Rating 3 out of 5]

A silly fun book about another girl who has her heart broken by her guy and how her best friend helps her through her misfortune. Declan, the boyfriend, has staked everything...home, savings...on his dot.coms that are going belly up save for the soft porn site that he used Emily's saucy photo on, without Emily's knowledge. Things bust open when Emily discovers her "bum" on the Internet...she even loses her job as a school teacher.

Didn't disappoint although I could "see" the ending coming. If you want a happy ending, this is a book for you. British author. Previous book For Better For Worse was on Kelly Ripa's reading list...don't hold that against it.

[Anne · Rating 5 out of 5]

An entertaining book, very funny, very enjoyable. The heroine, Emily, a school teacher, is taken in by her sleazy boyfriend, Declan, who has posted naughty pictures of Emily on the Internet. As if that isn't enough he has taken her to the cleaners financially.

All of this leads to Emily losing her job and also having to find a new home, luckily for her she has a good friend, Cara, who is heavily into new age and magic, plus Bach's Rescue Remedy, which she dispenses to her friend in need. Cara has a job on a newspaper, falling in love with Adam, the photographer. Meantime, Declan is distraught and looks for solace elsewhere.

There are so many adventures, twists and turns, some of which involve Adam and his son, Josh and his ex wife, set to move to Australia. There is a look at the world of glamour photography, the good, the bad and the ugly, all of which are dealt with in a light hearted and amusing way. This was a very good read, to pick up your spirits, ample laugh out loud moments and slapstick humour in abundance. Will there be a happy ending for Cara and for Emily, will Declan get his come-uppance, will Emily ever be able to live down her moments of shame as her vital assets have been unleashed on the world! Who can say.

An excellent book worth reading for its qualities of humour and uplift. Can greatly recommend it. I loved it.

[Rebecca · Rating 2 out of 5]

Emily's boyfriend Declan has put risque photos of her on the internet. She breaks up with him because of the betrayal. Everyone finds out and she gets fired. She moves in with her friend, Cara (not sure why they're friends, she's annoying and downright mean sometimes). Cara is in love with Adam, who she works with. Adam and Emily end up meeting (kind of) but they don't know the connection to Cara or exactly who the other is. This was not a great book, I've read a fair few other Carole Matthews books and liked those more. This just felt like it dragged too much and could have been tied up earlier. Also, it doesn't seem to suit Emily's character to do nude photo shoots and her future career is left up in the air at the end (although it seems like she might continue with it which again, doesn't seem like something she would do).

[Marie-Pier Deshaies · Rating 4 out of 5]

Je ne sais pas encore, même après avoir terminé ma lecture, comment je me sens à propos de cette histoire. Je l'ai dévorée, je ne voulais plus dormir pour connaître la suite, mais surtout parce que mon envie de voir leur sort s'améliorer était hyper fort. Les personnages sont extraordinaires, même si au début, rien ne fait de sens. Je me suis attachée à Emily et Adam. GROS SPOILER... Le plus gros hic dans tout ça, c'est que j'ai dû attendre le dernier paragraphe pour enfin toucher à ce que j'attendais depuis au moins le milieu du livre. Au final, j'ai l'impression qu'on m'a niaisée pendant quelques chapitres pour me voler leur bonheur.

[Élie lit · Rating 5 out of 5]

Going through my library and all the books I have read before having goodreads so I will be active updating and posting reviews today oh boy.
Read this book when I was in highschool back in 2008 although I could have sworn in was 2006 but the book wasn't publishe yet. I remember reading this book having my share of boy problems and rumors and being immersed in this story during the 30minutes of reading/homework period before class. I was feeling like an undercover famous star amongst unknowing peers. Was a big fanatic of all the GIrls in the CIty books during that time but I don't remember all the ones I've read still. Will keep doing research.

[Emily · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love Carole Matthews, but I struggled to get through this book. I kept putting it down and coming back to it sporadically. It just didn’t draw me in as much as some of her other books. I won’t let it put me off reading her other books as I absolutely loved Million Love Songs. I really like the characters in all of Carole Matthews books, and this book was no different. However, I struggled to enjoy the storyline. At times it was slow and needed a bit more action or drama to keep my interest.

[Allison Hurst · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book up until the last few chapters. As a practising Wiccan, I had to laugh at the love spell, they don’t work like that lol. You don’t see sparkly things swirling about and they don’t work straight away. And I was a bit disappointed by the ending. I was hoping when they finally got to meet it would be sooner in the story and we’d get to read a little about them. But I did enjoy the story as I do all of Carole’s books. I would still recommend reading it

[Adeline Kam · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book so much. Very difficult for me to put down the book. I read late into the night and early in the morning before work starts because it is just so interesting to read. It's a normal storyline but very well written. Loved all the characters. Very short chapters. The story just flows well....highly recommended book!

[Pippa · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm a big fan but this one didn't really do it for me. It's probably about 100 pages too long and it lacked the emotional depth of other titles I have read. This is one of her earlier books and most of the ones I have read are later ones so maybe it is a case of me preferring her developed style? Okay for a light read.

[Lauren Russell · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book wasn’t it for me. I had the hardest time getting into this book. It was way too long for what happened throughout the story, I get the point of missed meetings to add thrill but it didn’t do that, it was just dragged out.

Nothing really exciting happened throughout the book, only the beginning. It will definitely not be a memorable book for me. Very plain which is such a shame.

[Claire · Rating 5 out of 5]

Emily’s boyfriend Declan puts compromising pictures of her on the internet without her knowledge. Devastated she leaves him and moves in with her friend Cara. Emily’s invited to the opening of a new bar where she embarrasses herself in front of a very handsome man and leaves suddenly. With no idea who he is or even his name will Emily be able to find him again?

[Cheri M · Rating 3 out of 5]

Light and easy fun. Need a little bit of fluff every now and again and this fit the bill. I like the style and energy but I do wish it wasn’t so utterly predictable. Good as a beach read or palate cleanser in between heavier reading.

[kayla · Rating 4 out of 5]

hit and Miss

I’m saddened to say this wasn’t one of my favourites. To begin with I did nearly give up on it but I’m glad I didn’t was lovely to have a happy ending. Some funny parts aswell

[Orly Telisman · Rating 2 out of 5]

My friend gave it to me. I needed a quick easy read.
It was fine and somewhat humorous. But It’s not held up to 2002 technology references. And the story is meh. But if you want something easy to breeze through, this is it.

[Ann-Christin Grünke · Rating 3 out of 5]

Normally I Love Carole Matthews, but this Book was quite boring. Not a lot happens and After the tenth time of the love interests just missing each other again, it loses its charme. The end is nice, but After all the foreplay should have been more about them together.

[Eleanor · Rating 4 out of 5]

Probably more of a 3.75 idk
Tony Blair, porn “potentially” being big on the internet and a book costing £5.99, the book is so 2003 lol
Defo felt a bit rushed at the end and obvs not particularly high brow stuff but I was a rly fun bit of chick lit lol

[Sophie Gautier · Rating 3 out of 5]

La romance n’est pas assez présente pour mon goût mais le récit est bien traité.

[Aishu · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars. An illogical book that strangely enough made for a fun, light-hearted read.

[TamaraY · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.8/5
Quick easy read. Nothing earth shattering. Just your typical chick lit.

[Zara]

Dnf

[Kristin · Rating 2 out of 5]

short chapters, quick read

[IMANE · Rating 4 out of 5]

Adorable book ❤

[S.L. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not my usual cup of tea but an interesting will they, won't they, love triangle. Bit of a let down that we only find out on the last page...