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Babe in Toyland: A Hilarious Romantic Comedy About a Career Woman Finding Love Beyond Her Boring Job
Dive into the sometimes sexy, sometimes sinister, always hilarious world of love and action figures in the toy industry with Eugenie Seifer, the quirky, smart new author for Avon Trade. Toby Morris is 25 and ready for some excitement. Her job at a large toy company is long on stuffed animals, radio–controlled racers, and activity sets, but short on real satisfaction. When her former art school buddy lands a job at a local TV station and Toby tunes into the weekend news, she soon finds all the excitement she'd ever asked for––through an infatuation with a young, handsome weatherman. As she slowly becomes obsessed with Doppler radar, storm trajectories, and cloud cover, Toby begins to send him anonymous poems ("if you like these poems/and the feelings I speak/please wear your green tie/on Thursday next week) and letters begin flying. It seems as though Toby has almost found her true love, until a botched prank leaves Toby wondering how she'll ever weather the storm. But what's coming up for Toby is something no weekend weatherman could ever predict.
336 pages, Paperback
First published March 30, 2004
4 people are currently reading
69 people want to read
About the author
Eugénie Seifer Olson
5 books1 followerEugénie Seifer Olson is an American-born author of three books. Raised in Verona, New Jersey, Eugénie has lived in several locations on the Eastern Seaboard including Princeton, Philadelphia and Boston. She currently lives in Somerville, Massachusetts, with her husband David, their two cats, Kiddun and Loki, and their fish, Lulu.
Eugénie's first book, Babe in Toyland released in March 2004 from Avon, follows Toby Morris, a twenty-five-year-old working in a toy company who falls for her handsome weatherman, J.P. Cody. Her second, The Pajama Game, was released a year later in March, 2005 (Avon). The Pajama Game is a story about Moxie Brecker, an ex-science teacher gone lingerie store employee who is bored with her job and just about everything else. Moxie deals with an attractive repeat customer, disappointment, and depression, although the story remains humorous and enjoyable. Her third and most recent book, Love in the Time of Tafetta (Avon, March 2006) is about Iley Gilbert, a struggling photographer, and her encounter with her married boss, William.
Eugénie's first book, Babe in Toyland released in March 2004 from Avon, follows Toby Morris, a twenty-five-year-old working in a toy company who falls for her handsome weatherman, J.P. Cody. Her second, The Pajama Game, was released a year later in March, 2005 (Avon). The Pajama Game is a story about Moxie Brecker, an ex-science teacher gone lingerie store employee who is bored with her job and just about everything else. Moxie deals with an attractive repeat customer, disappointment, and depression, although the story remains humorous and enjoyable. Her third and most recent book, Love in the Time of Tafetta (Avon, March 2006) is about Iley Gilbert, a struggling photographer, and her encounter with her married boss, William.
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
June 2, 2013
The characters were 25 years old and all acted like they were teenagers. I don't recall being so naive and immature at that age. Maybe I would have enjoyed reading this in my early 20's, but now? Pass.
March 2, 2025
It was fun but it didn't ring true that she would end up with who she did.
January 6, 2009
Toby works at Toyland as a graphic designer – she’s the one you want to yell at if your “some assembly required” toys don’t throw together all that easily out of the box, as she’s the one who’s written those instructions you can’t fathom. She’s not sure she likes her job. She lives with her friend, Michael, a musician, whose earns his primary income through giving music lessons to little kids. He’s dating an evil turtleneck and scrunchie wearing wench whom Toby loathes. Toby hasn’t had the best luck with relationships – in fact all she’s got going for her right now is a crush on the new TV weatherman, J.P. Cody. In a ploy to get his attention, Toby starts sending J.P. Cody love poems based on his weather reports.
Toby’s a likable character – she’s smart, funny, good with kids, and she has her brash and crazy friend, Kerrin, who’s also immensely likable. Toby gets into her share of scraps – culminating in a proof that she’s sure she never checked at work that gets put into production with her “insert dummy quote” in instead of an actual quote. Pair that with the picture of a kid with Down’s Syndrome and you’ve got a huge negative publicity problem.
It seems that things are finally going right for Toby, when J.P. Cody starts writing back to her. And she’s practically on Cloud Nine when they set up their first date. That’s just around the time Michael has a huge fight with his girlfriend – about what he won’t say. And then on the eve of her date, he finally reveals that it was the “wench” who had been writing to Toby. Toby could have been more upset, except that she’d come to realize that she was pretty fond of Michael. And he, after breaking up with the wench, discovered that he was pretty fond of Toby. So, turns out that no one needed J.P. Cody after all (and certainly no one needed the evil turtleneck and scrunchie wearing wench).
Cute story. Pretty girly, definitely chick lit. Amusing.
Toby’s a likable character – she’s smart, funny, good with kids, and she has her brash and crazy friend, Kerrin, who’s also immensely likable. Toby gets into her share of scraps – culminating in a proof that she’s sure she never checked at work that gets put into production with her “insert dummy quote” in instead of an actual quote. Pair that with the picture of a kid with Down’s Syndrome and you’ve got a huge negative publicity problem.
It seems that things are finally going right for Toby, when J.P. Cody starts writing back to her. And she’s practically on Cloud Nine when they set up their first date. That’s just around the time Michael has a huge fight with his girlfriend – about what he won’t say. And then on the eve of her date, he finally reveals that it was the “wench” who had been writing to Toby. Toby could have been more upset, except that she’d come to realize that she was pretty fond of Michael. And he, after breaking up with the wench, discovered that he was pretty fond of Toby. So, turns out that no one needed J.P. Cody after all (and certainly no one needed the evil turtleneck and scrunchie wearing wench).
Cute story. Pretty girly, definitely chick lit. Amusing.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 19, 2012
It took quite a while for the main story to come into focus. At first, i thought the story would be about Toby's work issues. Further along, i considered it was about her relationship with her family. Could this be about her and her (non)platonic relationship with her roommate Michael?
I think the author spent a great deal of the book establishing the necessities -- her work life, family, friends, her lovelife (or the lack of it)-- that the story felt a little all-over-the-place.
But it also has its moments. The love poems she sends to the local tv's weatherman is a romantic ploy injected by the author that provides a unique meet-cute scenario. Of course, it got a little too stalker-y, but you get the point, it's meant to be cute and funny.
But aside from that, Babe in Toyland offers nothing new or different that keeps you hooked you can't stop turning the pages. No interesting characters to love or be annoyed at. Not even the main character leaves a mark to the reader. She's named Toby, and even that doesn't get an explanation.
I guess i just wanted something more.
I think the author spent a great deal of the book establishing the necessities -- her work life, family, friends, her lovelife (or the lack of it)-- that the story felt a little all-over-the-place.
But it also has its moments. The love poems she sends to the local tv's weatherman is a romantic ploy injected by the author that provides a unique meet-cute scenario. Of course, it got a little too stalker-y, but you get the point, it's meant to be cute and funny.
But aside from that, Babe in Toyland offers nothing new or different that keeps you hooked you can't stop turning the pages. No interesting characters to love or be annoyed at. Not even the main character leaves a mark to the reader. She's named Toby, and even that doesn't get an explanation.
I guess i just wanted something more.
June 4, 2016
While the premise was good, I found the characters very juvenile and the ending was predictable and seemed rushed. I liked the author's style of writing though so I would give another of her books a chance in the future.
May 21, 2014
I loved it! Predictable ending, but flushed out nicely. You can see it coming but not quite sure if your right, gives it just enough suspense to make you keep reading but not enough to make it tedious.
May 11, 2009
Quirky, well-written chick lit though the end was a little rushed and predictable. One of the better ones I've read this year.
March 27, 2012
Cray and ridiculous, but not in a good way.
April 25, 2012
Fun, entertaining summer reading!
January 21, 2017
Kind of bland. This didn't really belong in the romantic comedy section. It was okay. The story was hard to follow because it would skip ahead and the character would backtrack later.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews