Amazon discontinued the ability to create images using their SiteStripe feature and in their infinite wisdom broke all previously created images on 12/31/23. Many blogs used this feature, including this one. Expect my archives to be a hot mess of broken book cover images until I can slowly comb through 20 years of archives to make corrections.

Sunday, March 13, 2011

Random Romance Sunday: The Immovable Forehead

The Book: Diary of a Domestic Goddess by Elizabeth Harbison

The Particulars: Contemporary romance, Silhouette Special Edition #1727, 2005, Out of Print

Is It In Wendy's TBR?: Nope, I've actually read this one!

The Blurb:
The Goddess Rulebook:

Rule #1: Figure out what you want -- and go after it

Columnist Kit Macy's dream house was almost hers. Then the entire staff of her old-fashioned household magazine was fired by the new, hip, handsome boss. No job meant no mortgage, and no backyard for her four-year-old son. She needed a plan...and decided to reinvent herself.

Rule #2: Change is good

Hotshot editor Cal Panagos intended to revamp the magazine -- from its staff to its stories. But the stubborn single mom's desire to succeed -- and her beautiful eyes -- soon got under his skin, while Kit's ideas breathed life into his publication. Working closely day after day, Cal began to forget the most important rule of all: Never mix business with pleasure....
Any Reviews?:  The Romance Reader (uh, my review) gave it four hearts (equivalent to a B grade):
"Diary Of A Domestic Goddess is a quick, charming read that succeeds thanks to well-drawn, realistic characters and witty dialogue. Frankly, the state of romance would certainly get a shot in the arm if there were more heroines out there like Kit Macy. She’s the woman you see in the grocery store, at PTA meetings, or at your son’s soccer games. She is Every Woman, and because she is, you really want her to have her happily ever after."
RT gave this three stars:
"Elizabeth Harbison's Diary of a Domestic Goddess (3) has an almost chick-lit tone, and it's a hoot at times. Kit's great -- witty and brave -- but Cal's not as well-developed."
 The average rating on GoodReads is 3.6 stars.

Anything Else?:  I stumbled across this old review of mine recently while looking for something else entirely, and this story came rushing back to me.  At the time I read it, I remember really loving it.  It felt fresh and lively, and featured a good strong heroine.  In fact, that's probably why I liked it so much.  Because yes, I do recall the hero is a wee bit underdeveloped, but the sheer awesomeness of the heroine sold me on the story.  I also loved that her ex-husband wasn't eviiiiiiiiil and her precocious young son wasn't cutesy-wootsy nauseatingly sweet. The heroine was very much an Every Woman, and I really dug that about her.

Although, yeah - this cover does creep me out.  I mean, it looks like the female cover model hasn't met a Botox injection that she didn't like......

Anywho....Harbison wrote several books for Harlequin before jumping ship into mainstream women's fiction.  Having moved to hard cover, she's still writing within that genre.

2 comments:

*Goddess* said...

Honestly when I first saw the title, I thought it was something you photoshopped as a joke. When I realized it was real, all I could think was that someone stole Roseanne Barr's bit..

Wendy said...

Goddess: The title makes a bit of sense when you read the book - but yeah, it's pretty awful. I remember when I got it in my shipment of review books I was gobsmacked by the cover in general. It looked like someone shellacked the heroine's forehead with floor wax......