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Looks Aren't Everything
Rosie suspends her heavy dating schedule to pursue her best friend's older brother and coach her inexperienced mother and best friend in the fine art of dating
- GenresYoung AdultContemporary
183 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1990
20 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
March 12, 2025
Charming, fun, witty and takes place at a MALL. What more could you ask for? 🛍
Jeanie's BFF Rosie falls for a dude in a potato suit at the mall, Jeanie herself is in love with Rosie's older brother "Handsome Harry Higgins", and they all work at the Higgins's family shop called La Maison de Trash in the mall, a cross between Spencer's Gifts and Heaven...which sounds like heaven indeed!!
But DUDE...what kind of mall is this?? There's a friggin chapel in there (referred to as Our Lady of the Mall). AND a multi-level dance club for teens where the DJ plays exclusive mixes of New Order's "Bizarre Love Triangle" which segues right into Nitzer Ebb's "Murderous". YOOOOO I haven't thought of Nitzer Ebb in decades!! TAKE ME TO THIS CLUB ALREADY.
This is a charm of a book where oysters are described as "the antipasto of sneeze", then turns around and drops knowledge on you like "Letting someone hide from you is a form of hiding from yourself." PROFOUND.
Loved being immersed in this world and will definitely seek out more from author JD Landis!
Jeanie's BFF Rosie falls for a dude in a potato suit at the mall, Jeanie herself is in love with Rosie's older brother "Handsome Harry Higgins", and they all work at the Higgins's family shop called La Maison de Trash in the mall, a cross between Spencer's Gifts and Heaven...which sounds like heaven indeed!!
But DUDE...what kind of mall is this?? There's a friggin chapel in there (referred to as Our Lady of the Mall). AND a multi-level dance club for teens where the DJ plays exclusive mixes of New Order's "Bizarre Love Triangle" which segues right into Nitzer Ebb's "Murderous". YOOOOO I haven't thought of Nitzer Ebb in decades!! TAKE ME TO THIS CLUB ALREADY.
This is a charm of a book where oysters are described as "the antipasto of sneeze", then turns around and drops knowledge on you like "Letting someone hide from you is a form of hiding from yourself." PROFOUND.
Loved being immersed in this world and will definitely seek out more from author JD Landis!
January 25, 2017
I looooved this book, and for once it had a good message (unlike any Sweet Valley books, etc.). Thank god there are people on the internet devoted to remembering "the book about the guy in a potato costume" or my life would be incomplete...
January 24, 2025
Giving this a high 3 because it’s the funniest book I’ve read in a while.
Our protag Rosie is a self-proclaimed boy-obsessed serial dater who wants to help her best friend and mom each find the love of their lives. An expert at first dates (but not seconds), she gently guides both of them as they enter the dating the world, while reflecting on her own less than ideal romantic life.
Perhaps she can learn some life lessons from her best friend being in love with…a potato.
Just kidding—she admits she’s shallow and is actually really self-aware about what she wants lol—which is, her best friend’s brother. Because he’s hot. So she sets out on a mission to get him.
The potato scenes were my favorite (this guy is literally dressed as a potato every time they see him?? After work? On the dance floor? Meeting her friend’s mom?), as was the dialogue involving the potato (“Spud”), and the scenes at her best friend’s store, La Maison de Trash—a chaotic Spencer’s-meets-Willy Wonka novelty gift shop of sorts.
This book doesn’t have much of a plot but it does have a decent amount of heart and depth, and an eclectic cast of goofy characters.
Our protag Rosie is a self-proclaimed boy-obsessed serial dater who wants to help her best friend and mom each find the love of their lives. An expert at first dates (but not seconds), she gently guides both of them as they enter the dating the world, while reflecting on her own less than ideal romantic life.
Perhaps she can learn some life lessons from her best friend being in love with…a potato.
Just kidding—she admits she’s shallow and is actually really self-aware about what she wants lol—which is, her best friend’s brother. Because he’s hot. So she sets out on a mission to get him.
The potato scenes were my favorite (this guy is literally dressed as a potato every time they see him?? After work? On the dance floor? Meeting her friend’s mom?), as was the dialogue involving the potato (“Spud”), and the scenes at her best friend’s store, La Maison de Trash—a chaotic Spencer’s-meets-Willy Wonka novelty gift shop of sorts.
This book doesn’t have much of a plot but it does have a decent amount of heart and depth, and an eclectic cast of goofy characters.
February 26, 2018
I love this author because he has written, cute Y/A fiction, "serious" Y/A fiction and adult fiction as well. He does each interestingly enough that I have to constantly remind myself he has written the other books. This is my fave of his books with his "Lying in Bed" running a close second.
He's doing a poor man's version of Ellen Conford or Paul Danziger; a cheeky protag, a swoon worthy love interest and an absurd plot involving someone wearing a potato costume.
He's doing a poor man's version of Ellen Conford or Paul Danziger; a cheeky protag, a swoon worthy love interest and an absurd plot involving someone wearing a potato costume.
December 26, 2018
I don’t even know how to rate this one, because I got it as a gag gift from my book club and read it purely with humorous intent.
Here are some gems from the book:
Conversation between mom and daughter (whose name is Rosie.)
Rosie, is this what you’re like on dates? So brash? So outspoken? I mean what must the boys think of you?
I don’t give them a chance to think.
I’ll bet you don’t.
———-
Ahhh, the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. Further conversations between mom and daughter:
This man is the best looking man I’ve ever laid eyes on let alone spoken to. But he’s not just nice, he’s wonderful. He has great manners and a soft, strong voice, and he’s polite and kind and gentle and considerate and generous.
You seem to know this man pretty well, Mom. So just how long have you known him?
An hour. Maybe closer to forty-five minuets.
————————
Mom again...
What is that man’s name? I ask myself but of course I don’t have the faintest idea.
Mom you’re almost as bad as I am.
Because she loved me, she smiled at me. Why is that Rosie?
Because sometimes I don’t know the names of the guys I date either.
Now she pushed her book aside and held open her arms for me like mother like daughter, she said, as she gave me a hug and hung on to me as if she really believed that the secrets of love could be passed from one body to another.
———————-
It was Harry. He was looking better than ever. He must of spent all his La Maison de Trash [yes, that’s the name of the store they work in] on the coolest sweatshirts ever to hug the mail torso and on secret facial treatments for his great skin and invisible eyeliner for his shocking dark eyes that shown so bright I could never look into them without feeling my own eyes catch on fire. He made me feel so unwanted and inexperienced. Me! The tri-state dating champ!
—————————
We finally made it to the description of kissing a teenage boy:
Then they finally take you home from your great date and they try to kiss you and even if you let them their lips are like catapillars that have attached them selves to their faces and are now trying to attach themselves to your face. They squirm, they wiggle, and all of a sudden they seem to die for a minute and they just lie there press dead and hard against your own lips until they turn into the whale that swallowed Jonah, and they try to swallow your entire mouth.
————————-
Here he tried to break free from my grip. But I wouldn’t let him go. And I had to admit, his sinewy strong arms inside his sumptuous sweatshirt felt fabulous in my hands.
I was laughing through the entire thing because it’s just so 90’s teenager fluffy! But it’s clean, has a good moral story and of course everything ends happily ever after.
Here are some gems from the book:
Conversation between mom and daughter (whose name is Rosie.)
Rosie, is this what you’re like on dates? So brash? So outspoken? I mean what must the boys think of you?
I don’t give them a chance to think.
I’ll bet you don’t.
———-
Ahhh, the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. Further conversations between mom and daughter:
This man is the best looking man I’ve ever laid eyes on let alone spoken to. But he’s not just nice, he’s wonderful. He has great manners and a soft, strong voice, and he’s polite and kind and gentle and considerate and generous.
You seem to know this man pretty well, Mom. So just how long have you known him?
An hour. Maybe closer to forty-five minuets.
————————
Mom again...
What is that man’s name? I ask myself but of course I don’t have the faintest idea.
Mom you’re almost as bad as I am.
Because she loved me, she smiled at me. Why is that Rosie?
Because sometimes I don’t know the names of the guys I date either.
Now she pushed her book aside and held open her arms for me like mother like daughter, she said, as she gave me a hug and hung on to me as if she really believed that the secrets of love could be passed from one body to another.
———————-
It was Harry. He was looking better than ever. He must of spent all his La Maison de Trash [yes, that’s the name of the store they work in] on the coolest sweatshirts ever to hug the mail torso and on secret facial treatments for his great skin and invisible eyeliner for his shocking dark eyes that shown so bright I could never look into them without feeling my own eyes catch on fire. He made me feel so unwanted and inexperienced. Me! The tri-state dating champ!
—————————
We finally made it to the description of kissing a teenage boy:
Then they finally take you home from your great date and they try to kiss you and even if you let them their lips are like catapillars that have attached them selves to their faces and are now trying to attach themselves to your face. They squirm, they wiggle, and all of a sudden they seem to die for a minute and they just lie there press dead and hard against your own lips until they turn into the whale that swallowed Jonah, and they try to swallow your entire mouth.
————————-
Here he tried to break free from my grip. But I wouldn’t let him go. And I had to admit, his sinewy strong arms inside his sumptuous sweatshirt felt fabulous in my hands.
I was laughing through the entire thing because it’s just so 90’s teenager fluffy! But it’s clean, has a good moral story and of course everything ends happily ever after.
May 10, 2009
Cute and lighted hearted YA book that points out the morals of physical attraction and shallowness. It also acknowledges that there are different types of people and that there is someone for everyone. Cute lesson about how people protect themselves from being hurt by other people.
April 10, 2009
This was a perfect very '80's teen novel! (Although it was published in 1990, there is no mistaking the style. ) Cute story, real characters, makes me miss being a teen!
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August 3, 2024This book is 0 stars and simultaneously 100 stars.
This is a book written by what an old man thinks teenage girls are like. It’s fucking hysterical. There are no lessons to learn in this book, just laughs that some clueless white man having the audacity to even try. I encourage everyone to read this, I stole my copy from the library when I was 16 and I have no regrets.
This is a book written by what an old man thinks teenage girls are like. It’s fucking hysterical. There are no lessons to learn in this book, just laughs that some clueless white man having the audacity to even try. I encourage everyone to read this, I stole my copy from the library when I was 16 and I have no regrets.
June 5, 2017
Girl dates a guy in a potato outfit. Mildly funny. Mildly
November 20, 2024
Wild book and very confusing with its message for the audience. Had some funny parts but overall, don't really recommend
February 20, 2011
YA Romance. Rosie Dupuy will go out with anything wearing pants, but she's never gone on a second date and she's never been in love. Until she takes a closer look at Handsome Harry Higgins, her best friend's older brother, a boy famously immune to romance.
Look, I knew rereading this book after so many years was a bad idea, but I loved it so much when I was a kid. It held deep appeal to my teenaged self. My adult self wants to pat that poor girl on the head and say, "Oh, honey."
This book is shallow in every respect. And not in an enjoyable way. Everything is about men; Rosie never for a second thinks about anything else.
Two stars, mostly for its pioneering work in the genre of Magical Mall Realism, and for Spud, a guy dressed like a potato.
Look, I knew rereading this book after so many years was a bad idea, but I loved it so much when I was a kid. It held deep appeal to my teenaged self. My adult self wants to pat that poor girl on the head and say, "Oh, honey."
This book is shallow in every respect. And not in an enjoyable way. Everything is about men; Rosie never for a second thinks about anything else.
Two stars, mostly for its pioneering work in the genre of Magical Mall Realism, and for Spud, a guy dressed like a potato.
October 27, 2014
Oh dear, even for fluffy 90s YA, this was just not good. The dialogue was that circular repetitive kind that appeared on The Secret Life of the American Teenager. Exchanges went something like this:
Tell me what he said.
I'm not going to tell you what he said!
Why won't you tell me?
Fine, I'll tell you what he said.
The main character is a self-proclaimed shallow girl who 'loves' a gorgeous shallow boy. I am sorry to say there was nothing in this book to redeem it. Even if I were still 12.
37/60 tbr box.
Tell me what he said.
I'm not going to tell you what he said!
Why won't you tell me?
Fine, I'll tell you what he said.
The main character is a self-proclaimed shallow girl who 'loves' a gorgeous shallow boy. I am sorry to say there was nothing in this book to redeem it. Even if I were still 12.
37/60 tbr box.
July 2, 2015
Haha I can't believe this book is on here! It was my favorite when I was 12. It is perfect chick-lit for the adolescent soul.
Want to read
March 4, 2015Listed as Q4 = Exceptional!, P4 = A book everyone wants to read
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews