Starstruck in Seattle by Juliet Madison

The problem with wowing your audience with an amazing book is your readers will expect that kind of writing and story from you all the time. Having loved Fast Forward and liked I Dream of Johnny, I was a tad disappointed with this one. I liked it, but not near as much.

As Ms. Madison has been dubbed the "Queen of RoMagic Comedy"...I expected to laugh out loud more than once. I did with Fast Foward, numerous times. I didn't find anything funny about this one though. It's cute, don't get me wrong; just doesn't have a big impact on me. It won't stay with me.

In a nutshell: a small-time actress has a huge crush on a big-time co-star, but he's a bit of a lady's man... Is her star-crush blinding her to other possibilities? An angel comes down to try to fix things by tugging on her ear and chewing her fingernails.

The angel business was cute. She even has an aPhone. (Angel phone).

I appreciated the theme/moral. It's good food for thought. Especially here:

"...you will know you are with your soulmate when you can simply be yourself. Your soulmate will bring the best out in you. They will enhance the beauty and uniqueness already there."

I don't normally have quibbles with novellas. Sometimes it's all I have time for. BUT I think the whole Angel thing could have been expanded some and it could have become funnier as a result.

I received this via Netgalley.

I Dream of Johnny by Juliet Madison

I loved JM's Fast Forward so I was really looking forward to reading this. It's a really cute premise with a terrific moral. And I love when there's a moral. You can pick up pointless entertainment anytime, but how often does it leave you sitting there after the last page going, hmmmm, I need to remember that myself...?

A young woman just getting over a breakup can have three wishes of her choice, thanks to a pink digital genie lamp.

And though the wishes come true...well...think about it. If you don't cook the meal, can you be proud of it? If you have it all, what's there left to strive to be?

And that's all I'm going to say about that. The humor in the story comes in the form of a man who just embarrasses the heroine like crazy, but also makes her the happiest she's been a while.

But...he's not Johnny. And I'm going to leave it at that. This was a short read and so I'm making it a short review. I'd hate to give too much away. Suffice it to say, it's a cute story with a strong moral and it will leave you smiling and feeling warm inside. You may even take a long look at your own life and be a bit more grateful.

My only quibble: While it was cute and made me smile, I didn't actually laugh my butt off as I did when I read Fast Forward.

I got this via Netgalley.

Fast Forward by Juliet Madison

This is already going on my "best books of 2013" list and I'll be watching greedily for anything else this author puts out.


I laughed so hard...and I sniffled from "I'm so touched" tears more than twice.

Imagine..You're 25, you're whole life is ahead of you, you're a supermodel with a sexy cameraman beau...what more could a girl ask for?

But then you wake up 50 and find you have two kids, a roll of fat, a husband named McSnelly, and wrinkles!

Kelli has one day to figure out why she's suddenly time-traveled 25 years in the future, what happened to change her life course, and decide what she's gonna do about it.

So incredibly funny!!! There's futuristic stuff, sarcastic wit, some kind of spandex bodysuit that may endanger the entire female race...I really can't say anything that will do this book justice. Let's just say I like to read in bed, in the wee hours of the morning, and my husband will be sleeping next to me...and I laughed so hard, I woke him up.

Here's what our heroine thinks as she's about to go bungee jumping with the son she woke up to find she had.

"...imagined myself launching off the edge to hang precariously above the water. I shuddered as I envisioned all my saggy bits sagging upside down, my loose turkey-neck sing falling over my face, covering my mouth and nose and cutting off my air supply. This could be fatal in more ways than one."

And this:

"Would you like a paper bag?" the receptionist asked.
"What for? Do you mean to put over my head? Geez! I know I'm not looking my best but have a little compassion!"

This is not the life Kelli envisioned, but if she learns to be...less materialistic and open herself to the joys around her, she may see things in a new light. And this is so well written that when the heroine sees an ugly old lady and an unappetizing life, I saw it too. And when she begin to see herself and what was around her in a new light, so did I. When she cried, I cried. When she laughed, I laughed.

This story was a real feel good story with a strong moral. Enjoy life. Go for your dreams and don't let others tell you what you should do, what is better, or not to pursue something. Be yourself, not what society thinks is cool. And...some of the best things in life are the simplest.

5 stars. I bought this on Amazon.