Loose Screws

by Karen Templeton

In the space of a few hours, thirty-year-old Ginger Petrocelli had gone from bride-to-be to bride-who-never-was. So here she sat, alone in her cramped apartment, wedding crinolines askew, drowning her sorrows in a hundred-dollar bottle of Veuve Cliquot, when her doorbell rang. And her trip to hell in a handbasket was about to escalate.

At the door: Nick, Ginger's "first." Only, he's a police officer now, and he wants to find out what she knows about her M.I.A. congressman fiance. When was the last time she'd seen him? She'd better not leave town . . .

And the spiral continues: her cozy little sublet (really, she liked having her shower in the kitchen) is about to be yanked away, and the prestigious little design firm where she works is about to go belly-up. So what's a girl to do?

Her answer, born of desperation: move in with her crazy, widowed mother -- who Ginger claims sucks the life force out of every creature within one city block of her -- and her grandmother, who spends much of her day engaged in heated arguments with her dead husband.

Well, it's a plan. But bizarrely, as the summer progresses, her eccentric but lovable relatives give her the courage to make choices based on what she wants, not what she wants to avoid.

Genres: Chick Lit, Fiction, Romance, Contemporary

331 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 2002

About the author

As the mother of five sons, now grown, Karen loves to write about real people dealing with the drama (and humor) of everyday life. Over the past fifteen years, Karen has written nearly 50 books for Harlequin/Silhouette and Red Dress Ink, and three of her Special Edition titles (A Mother's Wish (2009) Welcome Home, Cowboy (2011) and A Gift for All Seasons (2013) have won the RITA award, the romance industry's top prize for published authors. In addition, her November 2014 title, Santa's Playbook, earned the Romantic Times Gold Seal of Excellence, out of the hundreds of releases reviewed by the magazine for that month.

She is very active on Facebook, as both Karen Templeton and her full name, Karen Templeton Berger, running giveaway contests whenever she has a new release... or just feels like it. Or you can reach her via her website at www.karentempleton.com, which contains recent news as well as excerpts from both current and backlist titles.

Reviews

[Jess · Rating 1 out of 5]

So this is the story of a girl .... No the most annoying girl ever, who gets dumped at the alter, which after 90 pages you question why he asked her in the first place? Why????
Any way this author also seems to like to use lots of words. Words are great, but they are free and no one will ever take them from you, you do not need to use ALL of the words that ever were in your book. Some of the sentences have like 50 words in them, but they are not conveying a lot of info, they are just extremely wordy.
Imagine if you have an egg carton that holds a dozen eggs, but you have 17 eggs. 17 eggs will not fit in an egg carton that houses a dozen. Now I love eggs as much as the next person but these extra eggs will be a problem, they will sit awkwardly if not haphazardly in said carton, they could slip and slide all over the fridge, basically fucked up my day these extra eggs, they have. I sort of lost my train of thought and want breakfast.....Right the eggs are the words, cartons the sentence. Right. Ok so what Karen Templeton has done is taken like 22 eggs and put them into a carton, blasphemy! And I don't mind saying kind of a headache to read.
As you read this review something may occur to you and the answer is yes, this book made me dumber.

[Tricia · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was ok. It is about a woman who is jilted on her wedding day and then has a series of other things go wrong.

It was sweet but quite predictable. It is a light holiday read.

[Linda Smith · Rating 3 out of 5]

I hesitated on whether or not to call this book humorous but decided that the heroine's life was far too screwed up to laugh at. Within the space of a few weeks, Ginger is stood up at the altar, becomes unemployed after her boss is murdered, loses the apartment she has been subletting for over five years, is burned out of the new apartment she moves into, and ends up moving in with her mother and grandmother because she is out of money and out of options. It's more of a Greek tragedy than a comedy. And, while this might be splitting hairs, it appears that the person who wrote the blurb on the back of the book never actually read it. Because half of that stuff is just plain wrong. Anyway, I was looking for something different to read and this certainly is different.

[Britta · Rating 2 out of 5]

"I still want to believe there's a good man out there whose smile is gonna make me grateful for every breath I take."

[Kim · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cute read. I enjoyed it.

[Becky · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was a true chick flick! Kept me busy for two evenings after work. I sat outside the second night reading by bonfire and peering at the words with my reading glasses and my mini booklite!

[Mafi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lido em ebook pt-br. Achei fofinho e divertido!

[Jade · Rating 1 out of 5]

One word : HUH?

[Virginia · Rating 2 out of 5]

A veces los títulos de los libros resultan muy reveladores, descubriéndonos que nos va a parecer la lectura. En Qué desastre de vida, la palabra “desastre” no está puesta de manera casual. Y, sorprendentemente con ella se puede definir toda mi experiencia con esta novela que, además, resulta aburrida y pesada con ganas.

No creo que haya leído nunca nada de la autora, Karen Templeton. Pero visto el panorama, me cuidaré mucho de volver a cometer ese error. Y es que Templeton es una escritora mediocre, con un estilo informal que, aunque consigue tener cierta gracia, literariamente hablando deja muchísimo que desear. Compuesta por una prosa penosa, aunque ágil, lleno de un insulso lenguaje funcional, unas descripciones que brillan por su ausencia (salvo en el caso de los “trapitos” de la protagonista y alguna cosa más) y un personaje principal con el que no tienes más opción que reírte, por que llorar es malgastar fluidos corporales, y esta aberración, no se lo merece.

Qué desastre de vida, tiene una historia simple con un punto malsano de estupidez. Empezamos con una boda frustrada. La de Ginger Petrocelli, diseñadora de profesión, que en solo 24 horas pasa a estar compuesta y sin novio. Después de la clásica ingesta masiva de alcohol, Ginger todavía le queda por superar la visita de un Nick, oficial de policía y exnovio de Ginfer, que le informa de la posible desaparición de su prometido, diciéndola de paso que es sospechosa. A partir de ese día, el destino se ceba con la pobre Ginger, que ve como en pocas semanas se queda sin casa y sin trabajo, obligándola a volver con su Madre, a la que, por supuesto, no soporta. Como no quiero aburriros más lo dejaré aquí, pero os advierto que la cosa sigue en el mismo tono hasta el insoportablemente estúpido (y curiosamente) contenido final.

En resumen, Qué desastre de vida, es una lectura penosa y previsible. Puede tener algún momento divertido, pero no os dejéis engañar, es la misma bazofia romanticona y poco creíble, que además, supuestamente contiene alguna lección, que yo no he sido capaz de ver o comprender. Mi consejo es que no perdáis ni un ápice de vuestro tiempo leyéndola.

[Becca · Rating 3 out of 5]

A light, funny story about how life can knock you down, but it's the journey back that matters most

[Amy Farley · Rating 3 out of 5]

Bought for 50 cents at my library sale. Fun romp. Made me laugh several times.

[Grandma Mush · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not enough of a mystery and too much pushing babies onto everyone. Also too many “disasters”happening to one person in a short period.

[Mary · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good mindless read. Would make a wonderful summertime beachside book. Definitely recommend.

[Laura Calderone · Rating 2 out of 5]

Delusione... Dal titolo pensavo a qualcosa di comico e divertente, invece a parte un paio di scene... Noioso.

[Agathe · Rating 1 out of 5]

Wow finally! I think this book cemented my un-love for contemporary books, urgh what a nightmare

[Luis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Me encanto me reí mucho y lo pasé genial leyéndolo.

[Isia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gezellig én best grappig!

[Mark- · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is another new author to me. I think this book wound up in my collection because of the title.

The thought of the main character getting stood up at her wedding alter, I found interesting.
That was just the first of many unfortunate things that happened to her.

The story is very compelling and this could have been the next great romantic comedy. The book received little publicity.

[Lupurk · Rating 2 out of 5]

Non mi aspettavo un capolavoro di narrativa, ma sinceramente speravo in qualcosa di più. Poco divertente, poco interessante, alcuni passaggi sono al limite dell'assurdo...va bene la lettura di svago, ma un minimo di qualità si può avere lo stesso. Giudizio tiepido, non completamente bocciato, ma nemmeno promosso a pieni voti.

[Izandra Mascarenhas · Rating 4 out of 5]

Eu fiquei muito indecisa sobre que nota dar para esse livro. Confesso que, no início, não gostei muito dele. Parecia meio chatinho, e Ginger pensava demais... Porém, um fato era certo: eu não sabia o de a história ia dar. Nada nesse livro era previsível, sabe?
A quantidade de coisas que acontecem com a Ginger é absurda - e tudo de uma vez. Qualquer pessoa no lugar dela ficaria confusa.
Acabei por gostar, especialmente da metade em diante. Houve algumas situações engraçadas, mas se esta procurando por um chuck-lit de comedia, eu indicaria os da Sophie Kinsella. Este livro daqui mostra mais uma jornada de autodescoberta, tanto por parte da Ginger como dos personagens secundários (que eu adorei, por falar nisso).

[Tracy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Sigh. I have come to the conclusion that I am just too old for Chick Lit anymore. Which is sad to say because I still have several of them on my bookshelf that I haven't read yet. (Luckily, they are mostly books I either found on airplanes or found in the dollar bin at the half priced book store.)

For anyone interested, this is the story about, god, I finished it yesterday and I've already forgot her name. Ginger! Ginger gets dumped at the alter, loses her job and her apartment all in one week. Naturally, within another week she has a new place to live, a new job and a new guy. Really??? Pretty sure life doesn't work out this way....

[Julbs · Rating 2 out of 5]

Initially, I thought of giving this book a single star (No wonder they no longer sell this book in stores). However, I enjoyed the latter half of the book so I'm giving it two stars.

Come to think of it, I think the author adjusted her writing style to mirror the life of her protagonist; the writing style was full of run-ons at the start of the book (reflecting the busy state of mind of the lead character) but the narration gradually became smoother and more bearable at the end (just as we see the protagonist's life all ironed out neatly).

Definitely a no-brainer read. Enjoyable, nonetheless.

[Sarah Hadd · Rating 4 out of 5]

When I was in my early 20's I devoured Red Dress Ink books, they were all I read. Now, the last few I've somewhat painfully made my way through have been so predictable and the heroines so stupid, I've come to the realization that I've probably outgrown these. This one was very predictable, and the MC was annoying and stupid - but somehow I ended up enjoying it. This may be the last one I read so I can go out on a good note (though I still have a shelf full of ones I haven't read, so probably not).

[Cynthia Conley · Rating 5 out of 5]

I can't believe this book only had a rating of 3.14. I LOVED this book! It was hilarious...so much so that I was laughing OUT LOUD. Granted, she had a LOT of terrible things happen to her but the way Karen wrote this book, it was awesome! Highly recommend!

[Christy Olesen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Karen Templeton had a great sense of humor and good comic timing, yet her book are not intended to totally comic. She had a talent for working every day life humor into her stories without it seeming forced of out of place.

[Charity · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cute and funny story about being stood up at the altar and the unfortunate chain of events that follow. Quick, fun read.

[Jamie · Rating 4 out of 5]

this was a cute book but it tended to drag at times. but who doesn't love a good i've been left at the alter, lose my job, lose my apartment and live back with my mom book.

[Kayleen · Rating 2 out of 5]

Things happen. But the stories that seem to be started are never really finished. The interesting situations that develop are resolved off stage. Disappointing.

[Frances · Rating 3 out of 5]

needed something a little lighter this time!

[Sara · Rating 3 out of 5]

A quick, girly, no-brainer to read between book club books. It had an actual gasp-out-loud moment and didn't end as neat and tidy as most other chick-lit books do.