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You Could Do Better
Daphne tells herself that being glued to the set counts as research for her job at the Museum of Television and Radio. But the truth is that sex with fiancé Charlie just isn't making the ratings. Then Daphne meets sexy, successful writer/producer Jonathan and the picture comes in loud and this man can turn her on like a remote control. So what about her imminent marriage? What if Daphne could do better?
272 pages, Kindle Edition
First published August 1, 2006
1 person is currently reading
208 people want to read
About the author
Stephanie Lehmann
13 books77 followersMy novels are The Art of Undressing, Thoughts While Having Sex, Are you in the Mood?, and You Could Do Better. They aren't as sexy as they sound, which could be good or bad depending on your point of view.
My new novel is Astor Place Vintage, and that will be published by Simon and Schuster in 2013. It's about a woman who works in a department store in 1907 Manhattan and a woman who owns a vintage clothing store on the Lower East Side in 2007.
I'm currently building a website for the book at http://www.AstorPlaceVintage.com with lots of photographs and historical information I wasn't able to use for the novel but loved to learn about.
My new novel is Astor Place Vintage, and that will be published by Simon and Schuster in 2013. It's about a woman who works in a department store in 1907 Manhattan and a woman who owns a vintage clothing store on the Lower East Side in 2007.
I'm currently building a website for the book at http://www.AstorPlaceVintage.com with lots of photographs and historical information I wasn't able to use for the novel but loved to learn about.
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Displaying 1 - 24 of 24 reviews
July 28, 2008
You Could Do Better is a very ironic title, because really - You could read a better book!! I dont mind cookie cutter chick lit books, but this kinda bad. Most of the characters had very annoying habits and were unlikeable.
August 5, 2008
This was in the dollar bin at a used bookstore and served its purpose of entertainment. Not bad at all for a book to read by the pool.
October 2, 2017
I really couldn't get into this storyline even though its a quick read.
April 18, 2024
I grabbed this one off of a clearance shelf in the local bookstore and 3 chapters in I could tell why it ended up there. The book tells the story of Daphne, a television buff and a thorough New Yorker, girl-next-door. You would like to immerse yourself in her world but the sharp cuts and bumps in the story would challenge you along this very brief journey. That was my foremost frustration with this book: that it is extremely choppy. Not in flow of plot or the story, instead the conversations, situations, and scenes are written in extremely incoherent way. Dialogues seemed to be patched together without any logical flow in the conversation. Things happen brusquely and suddenly without any evident impetus (more on this later). It makes one think that the book is not professionally edited and chunks were removed without any thought for the fluidity of reading.
The second major issue with the book is poor character development. Our protagonist Daphne is not a likeable character: she is deeply suspicious of her former super successful sister, who by the way paid for Daphne’s college. Plus, there is not a single instance in the book, not even the memory of one, where Daphne’s sister does anything to sabotage her in any way. Despite the fact that her own life is a train wreck, she shows up for Daphne whenever needed, and even tries to clean her mess whenever possible. But our self-righteous Daphne keeps believing that she fears, and actively repels, success because her sister’s life would fall apart if anything remotely good ever happened to her despite there being zero evidence to back up her delusional presumptions. As the story unfolds, you don’t feel for your protagonists in fact she comes across as extremely insecure, and not in an adorable way.
The last major issue is that the story tries to accommodate too many tropes, in fact, almost everything that one could think of when writing a rom-com is included: an insecure leading lady, check; a hot, rich, successful, divorced leading man, check; sibling rivalry, check; parents dead at a young age, check; a non-starter relationship, check. Perhaps it is because of author trying to accommodate too many themes that things seem to happen too brusquely and there is very little build up for anything. Even the build-up of the central romance is so tepid that you don’t feel at any point that they should be falling for each other. While you obviously know that they would, by definition, since they are out leading couple, there are no moments of chemistry where you would feel “yeah, that’s got to make one fall in love”. The sequences are patched together in such a slipshod way that it becomes evident that the author decided before hand what tropes to include in the story rather than letting the story progress organically.
So, I am going to give it a 2 star, not because I cannot enjoy a mindless read, I think Sophie Kinsella has perfected the art of making them a smooth sail. This one, in contrast, is one bumpy train ride.
The second major issue with the book is poor character development. Our protagonist Daphne is not a likeable character: she is deeply suspicious of her former super successful sister, who by the way paid for Daphne’s college. Plus, there is not a single instance in the book, not even the memory of one, where Daphne’s sister does anything to sabotage her in any way. Despite the fact that her own life is a train wreck, she shows up for Daphne whenever needed, and even tries to clean her mess whenever possible. But our self-righteous Daphne keeps believing that she fears, and actively repels, success because her sister’s life would fall apart if anything remotely good ever happened to her despite there being zero evidence to back up her delusional presumptions. As the story unfolds, you don’t feel for your protagonists in fact she comes across as extremely insecure, and not in an adorable way.
The last major issue is that the story tries to accommodate too many tropes, in fact, almost everything that one could think of when writing a rom-com is included: an insecure leading lady, check; a hot, rich, successful, divorced leading man, check; sibling rivalry, check; parents dead at a young age, check; a non-starter relationship, check. Perhaps it is because of author trying to accommodate too many themes that things seem to happen too brusquely and there is very little build up for anything. Even the build-up of the central romance is so tepid that you don’t feel at any point that they should be falling for each other. While you obviously know that they would, by definition, since they are out leading couple, there are no moments of chemistry where you would feel “yeah, that’s got to make one fall in love”. The sequences are patched together in such a slipshod way that it becomes evident that the author decided before hand what tropes to include in the story rather than letting the story progress organically.
So, I am going to give it a 2 star, not because I cannot enjoy a mindless read, I think Sophie Kinsella has perfected the art of making them a smooth sail. This one, in contrast, is one bumpy train ride.
February 1, 2019
Maybe my 3rd time rereading it. It makes me happy, and the main character is endearing. It won’t win any prizes, but you won’t regret spending a few hours with these characters either.
August 20, 2021
Cheesy, predictable, very entertaining!! Perfect beach read.
May 27, 2008
I hated this book. I mean, deep in my dark little heart.
My main issue with it was the heroine, who I found to be the least likable main character since Mein Kampf. There is nothing endearing about this woman. She's shallow, television-obsessed, and has a sense of entitlement that dwarfs that of Prince William. She cannot turn a reality show off long enough to get a proposal from her boyfriend.
Beyond the fact I hated the main character, a general word of warning for people considering reading this: if you aren't fluently conversant in modern television, particularly sitcoms and reality television, huge numbers of the references herein will mean absolutely nothing to you. Since the shallow bimbo the book revolves around is morbidly obsessed with TV, all of her references hinge on characters, and most of the time they meant nothing to me. After awhile I stopped googling people, realising I really just didn't care.
In the end of the book, this woman gets far more than she deserves. If you like books, avoid this work as you would a rabid dog. If you like television more than literature, this is probably your speed, but you wouldn't be on this site anyhow. I'd give this work less than one star, but I can't figure out how.
My main issue with it was the heroine, who I found to be the least likable main character since Mein Kampf. There is nothing endearing about this woman. She's shallow, television-obsessed, and has a sense of entitlement that dwarfs that of Prince William. She cannot turn a reality show off long enough to get a proposal from her boyfriend.
Beyond the fact I hated the main character, a general word of warning for people considering reading this: if you aren't fluently conversant in modern television, particularly sitcoms and reality television, huge numbers of the references herein will mean absolutely nothing to you. Since the shallow bimbo the book revolves around is morbidly obsessed with TV, all of her references hinge on characters, and most of the time they meant nothing to me. After awhile I stopped googling people, realising I really just didn't care.
In the end of the book, this woman gets far more than she deserves. If you like books, avoid this work as you would a rabid dog. If you like television more than literature, this is probably your speed, but you wouldn't be on this site anyhow. I'd give this work less than one star, but I can't figure out how.
September 6, 2007
I really enjoyed this book and think that it deserves a lot more credit than just chick lit. It's about a young woman in her 20's living in NYC who isn't sure about her current relationship and deciding where she wants it to go. She also works a the NY Television Museum and there were a lot of TV references (to older and new TV shows) and I would really recommend for those who love TV and also like chick lit. This book for me had a lot of substance and although a bit predictable. I still really enjoyed it and look forward to reading more of her books.
October 11, 2008
Wow, this book was SO not for me. I don't watch much tv at all, and there are so many tv references in this book that I just couldn't get interested. I found that I did not enjoy reading a book about watching tv, but I tried to at least soak up some knowledge on the history of tv so that I could take at least a little something away from it. That said, this book would be great for someone that is tv obsessed, and when they do want to read, they want to read about tv!
January 27, 2008
I enjoyed this book, although I did not love it. I did find it entertaining and interesting but I felt like in certain circumstances we could have learned more about some of the characters earlier in the book. I felt that some of the character development occured too late and by the time you really got a good feel for them the story was over.
December 19, 2008
i read this book because i bought it the same time i bought thoughts while having sex.
no other woman got the man first this time, but the antagonizing character was her sister. it annoys me that the main characters are these weak women letting others walk all over them all the time.
it was a quick read though.
no other woman got the man first this time, but the antagonizing character was her sister. it annoys me that the main characters are these weak women letting others walk all over them all the time.
it was a quick read though.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 17, 2008
yeah, more trash from the B&N sale
March 31, 2008
This was good. A nice, easy, light book, which is what I needed after reading Middlesex!
May 12, 2008
No award winning, earth shattering book here. It was a fun summer read.
July 21, 2008
It sort-of paralleled the drama that is occurring in my life right now, which made me really enjoy it.
July 8, 2009
havent finished yet
be patient....
be patient....
July 27, 2011
Not that good a read. Gets monotonous and too irritating at times.
Though the TV addicted Daphne Wells gave me the creeps about my Internet addiction. A Rehab? :P
Though the TV addicted Daphne Wells gave me the creeps about my Internet addiction. A Rehab? :P
June 26, 2012
Would not read again or recommend.
January 28, 2013
A girly book to pass the time.
September 2, 2018
Well, that was a waste of time!
December 20, 2013
When I pulled this from the library shelf...I chose poorly.
February 22, 2014
Light reading, but the story is quite silly, even for chick-lit . In sum: you can do better.
June 25, 2014
I'm not a fan of those that are complacent with life... The main character is. It's written okay and it was entertaining. It's just not one I would highly recommend.
December 31, 2019
woman who'd rather watch TV than plan her wedding, a woman, may I say, after my own heart
Displaying 1 - 24 of 24 reviews