Reinventing Mona

Author: Jennifer Coburn
Genre: Chick Lit
Pages: 336
First Published: 2005
First Line: "It was the first truly impulsive decision I'd ever made."

Synopsis: Mona is a 30 year old woman who has never done anything spectacular in her life. When the company she works for offers early retirement she jumps at the chance to take some time off from engineering and see what she'd like to change about herself.

One of Mona's main goals is to win the heart of Adam Ziegler, her grandmother's accountant, who she has loved from a far for 7 years. The problem is, Mona is so meek and quiet that she really has had no experience with men. She decides to hire Mike "The Dog" Dougherty, author of a male advice column to give her tips into the male psyche. Mike is a "man's man" in the most rude, egotistical and misogynistic way. Mike designs several stunts in order to make Mona appear more enticing to Adam. Along the way Mona has her best friend and therapist Greta whispering her doubts about this plan and trying to get Mona to find happiness outside of a relationship with a man. Mona also meets up with colourful characters in her quest to get Adam and make her life perfectly complete. Mona learns quickly that what you expect and what you get are not always the same.

My Thoughts: This was a decent chick lit read. It started off a little too slow for my liking but overall was just ok. The plot was predictable but the characters were quirky and quite varied (from a stripper, to an elderly captain ...) and the ending was a little too abrupt for me.

The idea for the storyline was good (woman finding herself and learning to stand on her own) but the execution fell a little flat. The book was touted as a funny chick lit read with lots of laughs but the funny parts, to me, were only mildly amusing (if that).

The pace was good and kept my interest but I guess I was hoping for more. It felt like the author touched on a good point but never got down and dirty with explaining things. With a title that has "Reinventing" in it I expected more of a metamorphosis to happen. Not for Mona to lose 10lbs, find a man, get a slightly bigger backbone (as opposed to the non-existent one she had before) and end up with the guy you expect from the beginning. Her very troubled past was mentioned many times throughout the book but, for some reason, I never felt like the author dealt with the aftermath of Mona's childhood well. Some of Mona's decisions were merely silly and not really based in reality, which I find off putting. Overall, just an OK read.

My Rating: 2.5 stars