Main character, Casey, was flat and one dimensional. Delinsky tried to give her depth, but there was still something flat and one dimensional about the writing. Just didn't much connect with her except in the beginning scenes when she was talking with her Mom. I thought those were quite creative.Jordon, similar to Pete, was too perfect.Before I get into the spoiler, I will say this book was a little hard to rate because what I most didn't like about it ended up having a legitimate reason for existing. So a bit of a ponder.************SPOILER***********************In reference to above: I was SO OVER Jenny and Pete I could gag. In fact I did something I never do when I truly like a book - I skipped whole pages. It wasn't even that I didn't already know Pete wasn't real - that was fairly obvious. I just couldn't stomach reading about the fiction.That said. When the "revelation" came, it was done well enough that it softened my opinion toward what had come before. Of course Pete and Jenny's time together was gag-me-with-a-spoon sweet - that was totally fitting to how he would have been imagined in Jenny's dreams. The abject reality of a life that would produce those dreams makes me want to applaud Delinsky - in how bad (sickly sweet) the relationship was, she captured it. Bingo! But at the same time, I didn't enjoy for a moment reading about it. So on which side of a rating to fall? I'm not sure how a writer could get around it.
What a page turner...I read it in one day as it was impossible to put down…Prepare to skip meals and not want to do anything else but read this one. The story will grab you from the very first page and won't let you go until you've turned the final page.There are some reviews that don't give this novel justice and I feel it must be because they don't understand the family dynamics that are presented on these pages. I could relate to these characters, have experienced and witnessed much of what was represented here and Delinsky was spot on with her storyline.The suspense, the memories, the illness, the career changes, the mystery, the love, the passion, the heartbreak, the abuse, the confusion, the determination, the hope, and I could go on…but this novel has many levels of emotion and corners the characters face.I was taken by surprise by what came out as the two stories entwined and pleasantly surprised by some of it as well as angered by other things. I'd tell you more but I don’t want to give up the story. Just read it…you'll not be disappointed.When you've finished the story and are feeling the lives of the characters, rejoicing as I am now, write me. I'd love to visit with you about the characters, their choices, and their healing.Happy reading…(-:
What do You think about Flirting With Pete (2004)?
There seems to be two stories going on at once and it take a long time to find any connection between the two. Raised by her mother, Casey has kept tabs on her absent father who has ignored her all her life, even following in his career footsteps. When he dies there is a huge surprise for her. In the other story, Jenny has been abused and manipulated all her life and Pete is the only way she could survive the return of her father who had been in prison for murdering her mother. Great interweaving of the two stories. Recommended reading. 8 out of 10. For more reviews: https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blo...
—Connie
Nice, light, easy and fun read!"Psychologist Casey Ellis never met her father, but that didn't stop her from following in his professional footsteps. Now he has died, and Casey is shocked to have inherited his elegant Boston town house, complete with a maid and a handsome, enigmatic gardener. When she finds a manuscript that could be a novel, a journal, or a case study of one of her father's patients in her new home, she becomes engrossed in the story of Jenny, a young woman trying to escape her troubled life. Convinced the story is true and that her father left it as a message for her, Casey digs deeper. As she pieces together the mysteries surrounding her father, Jenny, and the romantic new stranger in her life, she discovers startling links between past and present, and unexpected ties between what is real and what is imagined."
—Louise
I understand where they got the title, and it is appropriate to the book, BUT the title is misleading in that it leads you to think it's a light, fun romance. Far from it.Jenny is a 24 year old in stress as she awaits her father's release from his 6-year stay in prison. Jenny's only friend in town is the Deputy Sheriff, Dan. Casey is a practicing psychiatrist hoping against hope that her mother lying in a coma will some day wake up. Casey has attended her renown father's lectures but has never met him, never even talked to him. At his death, she inherits his house. Though she resents that he never contacted her she is still compelled to learn who the man really was, starting with the maid and the gardener who came with the house. What connection does Casey have with Jenny? A note from her dad says, "she's kin." Once you pick it up you'll be compelled to read "just one more page." The story is fascinating. it unfolds in perfect pace. Can't say enough about the ending - supurb. Barbara Delinsky hits it out of the park with this one.
—Peggy Parsons
