Reviewed by Audria L.
November 14, 2004
"...I literally laughed out loud."
I have to say I haven't read a book this good since I don't know when. I really enjoyed the characters in Not Quite as Advertised because they have this love-hate relationship.
The story is about Jocelyn "Joss" McBride, an overachiever advertising agent who seems to be losing at everything lately. She can't win the battles with her Siamese cat or with her mother who thinks Joss should be trying harder to up her career. She also lost the advertising award she had been eyeing and the clients to go with the award. And if that's not bad enough she lost them to ex-lover Hugh Brannon who she also kinda lost!
Hugh Brannon however is on the top of his game. He's slowed down a lot due to the heart-attack his older brother had, but that still doesn't stop his creative side and in advertising, that's what it's all about. Hugh doesn't mean to be so lucky as everyone likes to put it, he just is. It's even better luck in his eyes when his company buys out Joss's company. Now they'll be working together. Maybe he can get Joss to slow down with him. He's sure gonna try!
I absolutely loved this book. I thought it was funny, romantic and serious all at the same time. When Joss and Hugh are in the same room with each other you can feel the sexual tension. I think in part because of the way their relationship ended the first time. You just feel that the characters have unfinished business with each other.
Some of the scenes Ms. Michaels wrote in Not Quite as Advertised were so believable, something that would happen in real life, that I literally laughed out loud. When Joss found out she was going to have to work with Hugh part of me felt so sorry for Joss because she is such a perfectionist and Hugh is the one person who drives her to insane. You can sense the panic Joss feels when she and Hugh have to work side by side.
And if having to work with Hugh is not bad enough, Joss sends her very first clients to the emergency room-- how's that for proving herself to him! I liked this scene because it shows who Hugh is now and show's how he's changed from the person Joss knew before. The new Hugh showed kindness and affection to Joss at the emergency room and he let her know that it was not her fault the food was bad. The old Hugh would have gloated over the client she had lost.
When Hugh and Joss finally decide to be intimate again, Hugh messes that up with his big mouth, telling Joss "he told her so" that they would eventually end up in the sack together. Well, that could have been said with a little more tact, or better yet, not said at all. I felt sorry for Hugh because I think he just got caught up in the moment and didn't really mean it the way it came out. Hugh really admires Joss and respects her for her abilities. He understands that sometimes you can't win them all and he's trying his best to show Joss that, but she just won't listen.
At the end, I didn't even realize I was holding my breath until I had to breathe, it was so awesome. I don't want to spoil it for anyone but I will tell you this. Joss has been offered a job in New York which is thousands of miles away from Texas and Hugh. You have to read this book to find out the ending but I want you to know that reading it is well worth it. There were times that I couldn't put the book down.
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Book Description for Not Quite As Advertised
For a person convinced second best simply won't do, all of a sudden Jocelyn "Joss" McBride can't seem to win. Not in the battles with her snippy Siamese or skirmishes with the fire-breathing dragon who's her mother. Or even more annoying, losing advertising awards and clients to the infuriating Hugh Brannon, her not-quite-perfect ex-lover whom she, um, sort of lost, too.
Well, enough already.
Like any overachiever, Joss is determined to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat — meaning beating Hugh, of course. Unfortunately, her attempts at evening the score bounce right off the Teflon man and a new suspicion dawns — if life was absolutely perfect, wouldn't it be a bore?
