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It's All About Attitude #2
What Have I Done For Me Lately?
Jenny Hartmann's sizzling bestseller What Have I Done for Me Lately? has made her a minor celebrity, never mind sexually confident and savvy. Women across the country are snapping up her trendy advice book, and men . . well, men are avoiding the bookstore altogether!
Now Jenny's about to take her own "you go, girl" advice to heart -- by indulging in a fantasy fling with Ryan Masterson. Back in college he'd called her boring and unadventurous. Well, Jenny is going to show this former bad boy how dynamite she can be in bed. Except she isn't expecting how good Ryan can be at reading between the lines . .
Now Jenny's about to take her own "you go, girl" advice to heart -- by indulging in a fantasy fling with Ryan Masterson. Back in college he'd called her boring and unadventurous. Well, Jenny is going to show this former bad boy how dynamite she can be in bed. Except she isn't expecting how good Ryan can be at reading between the lines . .
256 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published April 1, 2006
2 people are currently reading
92 people want to read
About the author
Isabel Sharpe
153 books59 followersIsabel Sharpe began writing in 1994 after leaving her job to raise her son. A former “bored housewife,” she has authored over twenty Harlequin novels and now writes women-focused fiction for Avon/HarperCollins, embracing her unexpected career.
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
March 12, 2022
The whole time I was reading this I kept thinking, “WHAT IN THE KENTUCKY FRIED SEXISM IS THIS???”
The trick with a man like Ryan was to insinuate yourself into his life slowly, nearly imperceptibly, then just when he’d gotten used to having you around, when his brain no longer sounded the “possible female in pursuit of a relationship” alarm, then you pulled out the stops. Not all the stops all at once. Slowly, a bit at a time, one, then two, then the rest, before he even knew what hit him.
This starts off with who I thought was the heroine but she's really the secondary heroine, explaining how she has stalked and hunted this Ryan guy for the last six months. She's gotten herself placed at his place of work and an apartment ACROSS FROM HIS. Christine is from Georgia, grew-up poor, and now wants to live a rich sophisticated life and see's Ryan as the key to all that. Her planning has her getting him to ask her out on a date and she thinks it's smooth sailing from there.
However, a blast from Ryan's past is about to wedge their way in. The #1 heroine, Jenny, is in town and wants to meet up with the guy who used her for sex in highschool. I think they had a little more of a relationship than that but not much. This is a quote we get about the memories: Whatever he’d dished out, she’d taken, which was plenty. He’d been cruel to her often. Practically raped her more than once. Sobbed on her, shouted at her, been a general maniac.
Yeah, my eyes bulged at that, too. Jenny's in town because of a book tour, a book she wrote about women taking what they want and doing what they want. Turns out Jenny turned herself inside-out for her husband only to have him dump her and now she's all about doing whatever the hell she wants. Ryan was the bad boy in the past and now Jenny is the bad girl with Ryan wanting to be the good boy and settle down. You can probably see where this goes. Jenny tempts Ryan at every turn and slowly breaks down his walls to get him to bang her, while poor stalker Christine tries to be everything she thinks Ryan would want to live her imagined dream life. The secondary romance comes in with the building maintenance man trying to show Christine he likes her for herself and she doesn't need to pretend with Ryan.
I sped read through this because of the sexism and more lines like this: “Damn it.” He fisted his hands on his hips as if he’d much rather be putting them to good use on her face.
The message of being yourself but also caring about other people, good, great, but holy cow was it cloaked in gross drippings of sexism and maniac storytelling. Not a hidden gem and if I have any more books in this series, I'm not sure I'll read them.
The trick with a man like Ryan was to insinuate yourself into his life slowly, nearly imperceptibly, then just when he’d gotten used to having you around, when his brain no longer sounded the “possible female in pursuit of a relationship” alarm, then you pulled out the stops. Not all the stops all at once. Slowly, a bit at a time, one, then two, then the rest, before he even knew what hit him.
This starts off with who I thought was the heroine but she's really the secondary heroine, explaining how she has stalked and hunted this Ryan guy for the last six months. She's gotten herself placed at his place of work and an apartment ACROSS FROM HIS. Christine is from Georgia, grew-up poor, and now wants to live a rich sophisticated life and see's Ryan as the key to all that. Her planning has her getting him to ask her out on a date and she thinks it's smooth sailing from there.
However, a blast from Ryan's past is about to wedge their way in. The #1 heroine, Jenny, is in town and wants to meet up with the guy who used her for sex in highschool. I think they had a little more of a relationship than that but not much. This is a quote we get about the memories: Whatever he’d dished out, she’d taken, which was plenty. He’d been cruel to her often. Practically raped her more than once. Sobbed on her, shouted at her, been a general maniac.
Yeah, my eyes bulged at that, too. Jenny's in town because of a book tour, a book she wrote about women taking what they want and doing what they want. Turns out Jenny turned herself inside-out for her husband only to have him dump her and now she's all about doing whatever the hell she wants. Ryan was the bad boy in the past and now Jenny is the bad girl with Ryan wanting to be the good boy and settle down. You can probably see where this goes. Jenny tempts Ryan at every turn and slowly breaks down his walls to get him to bang her, while poor stalker Christine tries to be everything she thinks Ryan would want to live her imagined dream life. The secondary romance comes in with the building maintenance man trying to show Christine he likes her for herself and she doesn't need to pretend with Ryan.
I sped read through this because of the sexism and more lines like this: “Damn it.” He fisted his hands on his hips as if he’d much rather be putting them to good use on her face.
The message of being yourself but also caring about other people, good, great, but holy cow was it cloaked in gross drippings of sexism and maniac storytelling. Not a hidden gem and if I have any more books in this series, I'm not sure I'll read them.
February 19, 2013
Well written and witty, it's a chick-flick, feel-good romance in a book version. With the underlying message of being true to yourself but also know when to compromise, this is not the usual sappy romance from Blaze Harlequin, these characters have some depth and there's even a surprising Alpha male, Fred, an older man, overweight, balding and yet so quietly strong. You still have the typical Alpha male, gorgeous and successful, the usual strong-minded independent gorgeous Alpha Female, the Beta female, apparently perfect in every aspect and the usual sizzling attraction turned love almost instantly, but at least these characters actually think and have reactions that make then, and the plot, believable and realistic. Isabel Sharpe at her best.
June 8, 2008
From the back cover....
This chick knows what she wants! Jenny Hartmann's sizzling bestseller "What Have I Done For Me Lately?" has made her a minor celebrity, never mind sexually confident and savy. Women across the country are snapping up her trendy adivce book, and men...well, men are avoiding the bookstore altogether! Now Jenny's about to take her own "you go, girl" advice to heart - by indulging in a fantasy fling with Ryan Masterson. Back in college he'd called her boring and unadventurous. Well, Jenny is going to show this former bad boy how dynamite she can be in bed. Except she isn't expecting how good Ryan can be at reading between the lines...
This chick knows what she wants! Jenny Hartmann's sizzling bestseller "What Have I Done For Me Lately?" has made her a minor celebrity, never mind sexually confident and savy. Women across the country are snapping up her trendy adivce book, and men...well, men are avoiding the bookstore altogether! Now Jenny's about to take her own "you go, girl" advice to heart - by indulging in a fantasy fling with Ryan Masterson. Back in college he'd called her boring and unadventurous. Well, Jenny is going to show this former bad boy how dynamite she can be in bed. Except she isn't expecting how good Ryan can be at reading between the lines...
December 13, 2011
Something about this read was off for me right from the get-go, perhaps it was all the stalking going on from the main characters, as well as secondary, if not that then it had to be Jenny's character who rubbed me the wrong way from the beginning. I know with the H/h in these books, you either love them, or hate them, but with her I didn't even like her until the very end
November 14, 2021
What Have I Done for Me Lately by Isabel Sharpe (Harlequin Blaze #244, It’s All About the Attitude) is also the title of the bestselling book that heroine Jenny Hartmann has penned. It’s launched her into a life where she tours and speaks about the book to women everywhere, empowering them to live their best lives.
Taking her own advice brings her face to face with Ryan Masterson, an old sweetheart who broke things off and broke her heart a bit along the way.
Isabel Sharpe’s story is in turns funny and relatable and sometimes a little painful as Jenny and Ryan and an interesting secondary romance unfold. Everyone learns a bit about love and relationships and themselves in the process!
Taking her own advice brings her face to face with Ryan Masterson, an old sweetheart who broke things off and broke her heart a bit along the way.
Isabel Sharpe’s story is in turns funny and relatable and sometimes a little painful as Jenny and Ryan and an interesting secondary romance unfold. Everyone learns a bit about love and relationships and themselves in the process!
August 27, 2016
Slow start, but fast read.
About mid-chapter one, I thought I bought the wrong book. I was worried I'd read the back wrong.
Who was Christine? She definitely didn't write the book. By mid-chapter two I raised my brow and murmured "Oh!" That's when the book took off for me. So if you're going to read this, beware chapter one is a bit ... Dull. After that, I felt like the plot took off.
While I loved the book and thought it was well written, there are some things I didn't like. The stringing along one woman with the whole marriage ideal then using another woman for sexual desire. Although the plot is believable and I can understand why the author did this, I just can't really see the romance in that.
Having two woman at each end of the spectrum was an interesting play on the topic of female desires and wants. And let me be the first if not on of the many when I say "Where the hell are all these men who are trying to settle down?"
Multiple times I had to put the book down and shake my head at the absurdity that these two guys went into a relationship with "I'm gonna marry her," on the brain.
The ending bugged me. I wanted to know about Jenny's next book. I wanted to see her come full circle and give another lecture, show us that character development. Unfortunately that didn't happen.
It was still a great, quick hot read. I'd give it the four stars for that. I just wanted a little more and I felt like the author came up short.
About mid-chapter one, I thought I bought the wrong book. I was worried I'd read the back wrong.
Who was Christine? She definitely didn't write the book. By mid-chapter two I raised my brow and murmured "Oh!" That's when the book took off for me. So if you're going to read this, beware chapter one is a bit ... Dull. After that, I felt like the plot took off.
While I loved the book and thought it was well written, there are some things I didn't like. The stringing along one woman with the whole marriage ideal then using another woman for sexual desire. Although the plot is believable and I can understand why the author did this, I just can't really see the romance in that.
Having two woman at each end of the spectrum was an interesting play on the topic of female desires and wants. And let me be the first if not on of the many when I say "Where the hell are all these men who are trying to settle down?"
Multiple times I had to put the book down and shake my head at the absurdity that these two guys went into a relationship with "I'm gonna marry her," on the brain.
The ending bugged me. I wanted to know about Jenny's next book. I wanted to see her come full circle and give another lecture, show us that character development. Unfortunately that didn't happen.
It was still a great, quick hot read. I'd give it the four stars for that. I just wanted a little more and I felt like the author came up short.
July 17, 2014
WOW! What a great summer read!! I honestly loved every moment of reading this. I usually find it annoying going back and forth between character POV but I was excited to find out each character view the situation. Picking up the book my first thought is Harlequin? time for some goofy erotica. So I was totally surprised that this turned out to be so much more.
Jenny got her heart broken and wrote a best selling book about it and basically how to get your "groove" back. Ryan is a bad boy ready to grow up and Jenny's old flame. Christine has her eye on Ryan and is basically the whole package of what Jenny writes about NOT becoming in a relationship. I really liked that story had the message of not losing yourself in a relationship, something I think a lot people could benefit from. But also that Jenny wasn't this martyr of a person after writing the book. I like that she realizes that she doesn't have all the answers. Even though she wants to stick to her guns and follow her own advice she's forgetting to factor in what her heart wants.
Everything flows very well, the romance doesn't seem forced, and the sex scenes are great and do not disappoint. This a light and heart felt read with a few laughs thrown in. I will definitely be looking forward to more by Sharpe.
Jenny got her heart broken and wrote a best selling book about it and basically how to get your "groove" back. Ryan is a bad boy ready to grow up and Jenny's old flame. Christine has her eye on Ryan and is basically the whole package of what Jenny writes about NOT becoming in a relationship. I really liked that story had the message of not losing yourself in a relationship, something I think a lot people could benefit from. But also that Jenny wasn't this martyr of a person after writing the book. I like that she realizes that she doesn't have all the answers. Even though she wants to stick to her guns and follow her own advice she's forgetting to factor in what her heart wants.
Everything flows very well, the romance doesn't seem forced, and the sex scenes are great and do not disappoint. This a light and heart felt read with a few laughs thrown in. I will definitely be looking forward to more by Sharpe.
July 12, 2011
I had a hard time getting into this book. I thought it started out a little too slow for me and never really picked up the pace.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews