Helpful Score: 5
Eh...that's all I can say about this book. It was a struggle to get through, mainly due to my dislike of the main heroine, Lana. She whines throughout the book about her wants, needs, and doesn't care about anyone else. She gets pregnant by a guy, Ron, but doesn't know his name, where he works, or where he lives. It would be easy to feel sorry for her, but as you read, you find out that having mutliple encounters like this one is normal for her. I can't feel sorry for someone who has the morals and common sense of an alley cat! The hero, Eli, came across as pathetic and really not much more.
The author repeats herself ALOT and it reminded me of a car that has stalled on a hill. Everytime you try to go forward, you go back first. That is what this book reminded me of. I won't be picking up this author again.
The author repeats herself ALOT and it reminded me of a car that has stalled on a hill. Everytime you try to go forward, you go back first. That is what this book reminded me of. I won't be picking up this author again.
Helpful Score: 1
I wouldnt waste my time reading this book. I didnt like the main character Lana she acted like raising a child was the end of the world! Though she never said the words, it was obvious she viewed her child as a mistake. I hate when people call their baby an accident! As for Eli, he was a little too wimpy for me. He makes it clear from the beginning that hes in love with Lana and yet is very timid in expressing his true feelings to her. I would have liked him to be more demanding a la Nora Roberts. I thought Karen was just too darn depressing and I actually felt sorry for Calvert.
This book had such a wonderful premise but fell short of living up to its potential. Eli and Lana have been best friends forever, but they both have their secrets. Eli loves Lana (and not in just a friendly way). Lana wants out of her hometown and the chance to explore, but stays at the family business to support her sister, Karin. Karin is smart, driven, and looking to be a mother, but it isn't happening. Eli is wonderful - smart, well-traveled, and slightly wacky. Lana is family-oriented and quirky - and he loves her for all her perceived "flaws." But Lana ends up pregnant - and Eli isn't the father. Here is where Lana loses me - she is so flaky, and it isn't until just before the baby is born that she really gets that she is having a baby. She spends so much time hiding her pregnancy from everyone but Eli, but even then she doesn't open up. Her indecision is really a large part of the plot, and she ends up hurting the people around her. Lana and Karin are polar opposites regarding the notion of motherhood, but while the opposites had great potential, the characters felt one dimensional.
Summary: Sometimes love finds you when you least expect it. Lana Biel has always wanted to shake the dust of Vermont off her feet and see the world, one exotic country after another. But when a lighthearted spring fling changes her life forever, she turns to the one man whose strong shoulders can lighten any burden: her best friend, Eli Ward. Eli has always been there for Lana--after all, that's what best friends do. But Lana isn't the only one hiding something. Eli is keeping secrets of his own that threaten their relationship. Yet as summer turns to fall, new desires awaken between them, even as old fears tear them apart. Then, when another Vermont winter fills the valleys with snow, Eli and Lana are given the chance for an adventure greater than they ever dreamed possible...and a love that will last for all time.
I don't usually read the softer romance; softer being the lovey dovey baby kind of romance, so I wasn't one hundred percent sure what rating to give this book. I don't like giving bad reviews but, I have to be honest here or nothing I ever review can be trusted, and like everything else, its all about individual preferences. Anyway, I had to force myself to get even 3/4 of the way through this book. I don't get how two people who are supposed to be best friends can't talk to each other about anything and everything. I think the sister (Karin) in this story is a selfish (insert curse word for female dog here) and all she does is think about how she feels, not about how anyone else feels. Also, how in the world does Eli just "decide" that he is going to go after Lana right after he gets his butt kicked by Lana's baby daddy. Nothing made sense to me and the whole time I was reading this book, I honestly wished I wasn't. On that note...the reason for my undecided rating was because I don't think I like this sort of genre to begin with so maybe I am allowing that to color my opinion just a little bit. I don't know. It is what it is. This book did have one redeeming quality...it had beautiful alliterations, very beautiful and creative.
Also posted: http://www.bibliophilicbookblog.com/2009/11/book-review-it-happened-one-night-by.html
I don't usually read the softer romance; softer being the lovey dovey baby kind of romance, so I wasn't one hundred percent sure what rating to give this book. I don't like giving bad reviews but, I have to be honest here or nothing I ever review can be trusted, and like everything else, its all about individual preferences. Anyway, I had to force myself to get even 3/4 of the way through this book. I don't get how two people who are supposed to be best friends can't talk to each other about anything and everything. I think the sister (Karin) in this story is a selfish (insert curse word for female dog here) and all she does is think about how she feels, not about how anyone else feels. Also, how in the world does Eli just "decide" that he is going to go after Lana right after he gets his butt kicked by Lana's baby daddy. Nothing made sense to me and the whole time I was reading this book, I honestly wished I wasn't. On that note...the reason for my undecided rating was because I don't think I like this sort of genre to begin with so maybe I am allowing that to color my opinion just a little bit. I don't know. It is what it is. This book did have one redeeming quality...it had beautiful alliterations, very beautiful and creative.
Also posted: http://www.bibliophilicbookblog.com/2009/11/book-review-it-happened-one-night-by.html
This is an absolutely fantastic novel from a fresh new author! Highly recommend! I couldn't put it down! I absolutely disagree with any thoughts of these characters being one-dimensional.
First, you need to know that this book spends most of its time describing the main character Lana's feelings about being pregnant & not wanting to be a mother... the romance takes second place to this part of the story. If I had known this to start with, I would not have chosen this book. (I don't like babies in my romance novels.) The description mentions nothing about pregnancy or babies at all.
That said, I'm undecided about this book. I disliked the first book by this author (Simple Wishes), but I'd already ordered this one before I found that out. I was undecided as to whether to read this one or not, but finally decided to give Lisa Dale one more try.
I really wished that at times I could have written myself onto the pages of this book, merely to be able to step in and give each of the main characters a good smack or a shoulder shake when they truly needed one... I found myself talking out loud to them as I was reading- they got me so annoyed sometimes.
I found Lana to be quite flaky, one minute wanting Eli, the next not... wanting to be a mother, then on the next page she doesn't again, but for some reason I was feeling sympathetic towards her at the end.
Eli was my favorite character, but even he does some really lame things towards the end of the story... not really fighting for the woman he's loved for half of his life!
I guess the character that really most needed to be smacked was Lana's sister Karen... she was the ultimate in selfishness... demanding that her sister give her the baby after she changed her mind was horrible!
The story does wind up happily, (conveniently), but I can't truly say if I liked this one or not... it was just something I read. Would I try another book by this author? Probably not...
That said, I'm undecided about this book. I disliked the first book by this author (Simple Wishes), but I'd already ordered this one before I found that out. I was undecided as to whether to read this one or not, but finally decided to give Lisa Dale one more try.
I really wished that at times I could have written myself onto the pages of this book, merely to be able to step in and give each of the main characters a good smack or a shoulder shake when they truly needed one... I found myself talking out loud to them as I was reading- they got me so annoyed sometimes.
I found Lana to be quite flaky, one minute wanting Eli, the next not... wanting to be a mother, then on the next page she doesn't again, but for some reason I was feeling sympathetic towards her at the end.
Eli was my favorite character, but even he does some really lame things towards the end of the story... not really fighting for the woman he's loved for half of his life!
I guess the character that really most needed to be smacked was Lana's sister Karen... she was the ultimate in selfishness... demanding that her sister give her the baby after she changed her mind was horrible!
The story does wind up happily, (conveniently), but I can't truly say if I liked this one or not... it was just something I read. Would I try another book by this author? Probably not...
