The Thing About Men

by Elizabeth Bevarly

When a fan leaves her with custody of a rambunctious toddler, famed lifestyle diva Claire Willoughby finds herself dealing with the unfamiliar world of a young child and with the tyke's tempting uncle, hell-raiser Ramsey Sage, who also wants custody of the youngster. Original.

Genres: Romance, Contemporary Romance, Contemporary, Humor, Chick Lit, Romantic Comedy, Adult

384 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published December 30, 2003

About the author

Elizabeth Bevarly was born and raised in Louisville, Kentucky and earned her BA with honors in English from the University of Louisville in 1983. Although she can’t recall ever wanting to be anything but a novelist-oh, all right, she toyed briefly with becoming an archaeologist, until she realized how awful she looked in khaki and flannel, and there was a brief fling with the interior decorator thing, until she realized she had trouble distinguishing chintz from moiré, and… (Where was I? Oh, yeah. My brilliant career.) Anyway, her career side trips before making the leap to writing included stints working as a bartender, a waitress, a movie theater cashier, a soap-hawker for Crabtree & Evelyn, an apparel-hawker for The Limited, and a bridal registry consultant for a major department store. She also did time as an editorial assistant for a medical journal, where she learned the correct spellings and meanings of a variety of words (like microscopy and histological) which, with any luck at all, she will never use again in this life.

She wrote her first novel when she was twelve years old. It was 32 pages long-and that was with college rule notebook paper-and featured three girls named Liz, Marianne and Cheryl, who explored the mysteries of a haunted house. Her friends Marianne and Cheryl proclaimed it “Brilliant! Spellbinding! Kept me up past dinnertime reading!” Those rave reviews only kindled the fire inside her to write more.

Since sixth grade, Elizabeth has gone on to complete more than 60 works of contemporary romance. Her novels regularly appear on the USA Today and Waldenbooks bestseller lists, and The Thing About Men was a New York Times Extended List bestseller. She’s been nominated for the prestigious RITA Award, has won the coveted National Readers’ Choice Award, and Romantic Times magazine has seen fit to honor her with two-count ‘em TWO-Career Achievement Awards. Her books have been translated into two dozen languages and published in three dozen countries, and there are more than ten million copies in print worldwide. She has claimed as residences Washington, DC, northern Virginia, southern New Jersey and Puerto Rico, but she now resides back in her native Kentucky with her husband and son and two very troubled cats where she fully intends to remain.

Reviews

[Gail · Rating 3 out of 5]

Heroine is the front woman for a “lifestyles” show much like Martha Stewart, except all the lifestyle belongs to her friend Olive. Except Olive is afraid of people, cameras and pretty much life. So Claire does the TV show and puts her name on the books and such. Only now her Number One Fan has left her a baby. To keep the child out of the foster system—where Claire grew up—she takes her on, just until the toddler’s uncle turns up. Only when he does, he’s on a motorcycle, looking very disreputable, and the social worker won’t let him have her. The social worker actually notices Olive, though she’s trying hard (as usual) to avoid notice. And we get two nice romances for the price of one in this story. Some don’t like this sort of thing, but I do.

[Debbie · Rating 2 out of 5]

"The Thing About Men" was an okay book. The writing style was fun, which is what kept me reading. However, the plot was pretty predictable, the characters were one dimensional, and I found myself not really caring what happened. It wasn't a bad book, it just wasn't a really good book.

[Vikki · Rating 1 out of 5]

The worst written book ever! Absolutely no dialogue. All you read is what they are thinking about each other. Took forever to read. I just didn't want to give up so stuck with it. Shouldn't have....

[Julie · Rating 1 out of 5]

After 3 chapters of constant innuendo I gave up.

[Josie]

The pacing here was so slow and there were far too many secondary characters involved throughout. This was a DNF for me.

[Joy · Rating 5 out of 5]

A definite "must read" for those who enjoy romantic comedy. Apparently, one must not be bothered by "excessive" self-talk to truly enjoy the book. For myself, the self-talk makes the book what it is. A treatise on "The Thing About Men".

I have to disagree with reviewers who find Ms. Bevarly's writing verbose. Her writing may be intended for those who expect more from a book than a play-by-play of sexual interaction. If one takes the time to read this book the verbosity is part of the character's internal thought process as well as the narrative for the book. Not everyone thinks in small "sound bites". Some ramble endlessly, go off on tangents and eventually return to the original subject . . . I should know. I'm like that internally and in conversation with others.

I found the book to be hilarious. I enjoyed it immensely. If one enjoys romantic comedy, Elizabeth Bevarly rates right up there with Jennifer Crusie.

[Kikiflower · Rating 2 out of 5]

Took me at least two years to finally finish this book. For some reason, I just couldn't get into it! Maybe it's because the author would have half a page describing how the characters felt about something in particular and in three lines, talk about something that happened rather than writing about how it's happening.

[Ashley Rothberg · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was an ok book. It was not my favorite by her but I am glad I read it. It can drag at times, where there is little dialogue and a lot of description. I feel like it ended kind of abruptly but overall I am glad I read it.

[Naira · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really enjoyed Olive's sidestory, but unfortunately the ending wasn't so interesting or even emotional for me.

[Ainsley · Rating 3 out of 5]

I thought that this book had the right combination of likeable characters, interesting plot and a little bit of yes, no, yes, no!!

[Trudy Whatnot Books · Rating 3 out of 5]

http://florida-house.ecrater.com/p/11...

[The Solitary Reader · Rating 3 out of 5]

Plot was okay and characters were well drawn. Would have been more interesting if the story wasn't stretched beyond limit.

[Marijayne Stegman · Rating 3 out of 5]

Had trouble getting through this which is surprising for this author. I generally really like her books. Not crazy about these characters, didn't like their relationship.

[Sylvia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Modern

[Susan · Rating 1 out of 5]

Skimmed thru bec 2mch intrnl dialg tryg 2be fnny, not; boring, predictbl