Making over Mike

by Lisa Plumley

A rollicking modern romance follows Amanda Connor, who, in order to promote her business, decides to transform some poor slob into the epitome of masculinity, but instead, Amanda finds herself falling for her hopeless candidate, culinary genius and happy bachelor, Mike Cavaco. Original.

Genres: Romance, Contemporary Romance, Fiction, Contemporary, Chick Lit

363 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 2001

About the author

Best-selling author Lisa Plumley has delighted readers worldwide with more than three dozen popular novels. Her work has been translated multiple languages and editions, and includes contemporary romances, historical romances, paranormal romances, and a variety of stories in romance anthologies.

Her fresh, funny style has been likened to such reader favorites as Rachel Gibson, Susan Elizabeth Phillips, LaVyrle Spencer, and Jennifer Crusie, but her unique characterization is all her own.

Lisa’s alter ego is cozy mystery writer Colette London, whose Chocolate Whisperer mystery series featuring globe-trotting chocolatier (and amateur sleuth!) Hayden Mundy Moore includes Criminal Confections, Dangerously Dark, and The Semi-Sweet Hereafter. It will continue with Dead and Ganache in October 2017 (all from Kensington Books).

Reviews

[Suzie Quint · Rating 1 out of 5]

Writers are told to write what they know. If they don't know their subject they're supposed to do research. Ms. Plumley needs to learn how to do research.

Quite obviously, neither Ms. Plumley nor her agent nor any editor who touched this book has ever come within fifty feet of a pool table. I actually did a double take then stopped and read it again when, on page 64, the hero identifies the six ball as blue and white. Uh, no. The six ball is green. Always. Okay, so it has a white circle with the number in it but then so do all the balls. The two ball is blue. The ten ball is white with a blue stripe. This is a fact so basic, so easily checked, that I can't imagine how it got into a published book.

It gets worse.

"...he aimed his shot three inches to the left of the cue ball..." (page 68) What is Ms Plumley talking about? You aim your stick at the cue ball. You hit the cue ball so it hits the object ball. So what exactly is he aiming that's left of the cue ball?

I'm not done.

If anyone thinks a group of guys can move a pool table under a traveling cue or object ball so that an object ball goes into a pocket (laughably implausible) without that being noticed by anyone within twenty feet who's not comatose is living in a world where the physical laws don't even resemble the world I live in. I stopped reading here on page 70.

[Jenn · Rating 3 out of 5]

I seem to recall the other Plumley book I read was much more entertaining. This one didn’t quite do it for me. I found it less funny than I thought it was going to be. The sex scenes were a tad long with drippy descriptions. But it was cute. And in my chic lit genre, cute wins over raunchy every time. I think my biggest problem was that I didn’t like Amanda. And as a main character that can be a bit of a turn off.

[Em · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was so aggressively straight and perpetuated the “la di da I’m a girl so I love to shop” and “I’m a man so I love sports and hate talking about feelings” stereotype and both main characters were SO annoying and I’m sorry, their first time ever meeting Mike literally makes Amanda CRY and yet they’re “falling in love” after 3 days?? And get engaged after a month??? I was counting down the pages until I could finally finish it. Wasn’t the worst thing ever written but I’m glad it’s done😪

[Stephanie · Rating 1 out of 5]

I read a different book by this author. Enjoyed it enough that I bought this one in 2012 as an ebook. I buy a lot of ebooks and finally got to it. Found my taste for romance of this type has totally fallen off. Maybe it's my age. Maybe it's because I read a lot of crime novels. In any case, there is some humor in it but the plot is unlikely.

[Serenity · Rating 1 out of 5]

I love Lisa Plumley, but this book was horrible! Mike told Amanda several times he didn't want to be made over and she was pushy and aggressive. If the roles were reversed everyone would call Mike a sexist pig! I hope most people in real life would tell Amanda to fuck off! They had no chemistry, I don't understand how they got engaged.

[Serenity Ontario · Rating 1 out of 5]

I love Lisa Plumley, but this book was horrible! Mike told Amanda several times that he didn't want to be made over and she was pushy and aggressive. If the roles were reversed everyone would call Mike a sexist pig! I hope most people in real life would tell Amanda to fuck off! They had no chemistry. I don't know how they got engaged.

[Stacy Simpson · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is yet another book that I could barely struggle to get through the first 30 page as much less the 50 I’d logged previously. It was very poorly written and I could not get into the characters at all so I did not finish this book but I am having it in my read pile so I know never did read it or touch it again. If I could give negative stars, I would.

[Nancy · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fun read with a very happy ending! I enjoyed Making Over Mike.

[Chelsea]

The first ever spicy romance novel I can remember reading.

[Kelly · Rating 2 out of 5]

I wonder if I had read this in 2001 when it was first published if I would have liked it more. Now, I was bothered by how often the characters disrespected boundaries.

[Bradley · Rating 3 out of 5]

Adequate storyline. Funny in places.

[Fedora · Rating 2 out of 5]

Amanda is a polished sophisticated woman whose vocation is life coach; Mike's a man's man and a newly unemployed chef. Through some assorted shenanigans, he ends up declared winner of a Life Coaching contest she is hosting in conjunction with a local TV station in efforts to shore up her business. Sparks fly; she is incredibly attracted to him despite thinking that he's not at all her type; he endures being made over because he's hot for her...

Some of the scenes were pretty fun and funny; I enjoyed Mike's friends and his interactions with them. I disliked how he lost his job and his co-workers was a big secret that was dragged out for most of the book--that seemed unnecessary as a plot point.

Sadly I found Amanda kind of annoying. I disliked how convinced she was that her way was best for everyone concerned. I know that as a life coach, she's supposed to help direct them, but she was kind of a bulldozer, and it wasn't terribly appealing, plus it felt like she was willing to write people off who didn't fit her idea of how things/people should be...

[Izandra Mascarenhas · Rating 3 out of 5]

ENG / PORT-BR

A cute book, but nothing too exciting. A good novel to pass the time. The only thing I didn't understand is why the title translated into Portuguese was "the Tamed Beast" ... I will never understand the publishing houses!

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Um livro fofo, mas se nada demais. Um bom romance para passar o tempo. A única coisa que não entendi é por que o título traduzido para o portugês foi "A Fera Domada"... Nunca vou entender as editoras!

[Desiree · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was cute, and didn't have any trademark devastations of typical romances, but it was typical none-the-less. I did like it, but there wasn't much to it.