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How (Not) To Kiss A Toad (2012)

by Elizabeth A. Reeves(Favorite Author)

3.78 of 5 Votes: 4

ISBN

1480272132 (ISBN13: 9781480272132)

languge

English

genre

Romance

publisher

Createspace

series

Cindy Eller

review 1: I'm a bit of a cheat. I sometimes download the freebies and usually they're the first in a series. I often don't read the subsequent books in the series. Not that I don't enjoy the book often, but well, I just have so many books to read on my kindle and have limited funds and so many books I want to buy. To remember them all.Cindy Eller has the unfortunate curse over her life of turning every guy she kisses into a toad. When she meets Timothy, she wishes she was normal, but when her magic is at risk, she realises she doesn't want to lose her abilities after all. Besides, they help her with her dream job of baking up a storm. But everything's going wrong. Cindy Eller becomes like Cinderella - her life hits dirt.Now I enjoyed this book so much, I really want to read the sequ... moreel. It was funny (hilarious actually), light yet layered with plenty of conflict, and full of magic and fantasy presented in a down-to-earth, believable way yet if you think hard about the magic, it's really zany and unlikely to happen in real life. I loved reading about all the different cupcake recipes - wow, the author has an imagination. And the characters were great fun!The romance was sweet yet I wouldn't say the strongest thread throughout the book, but I loved reading this book. It kept me gripped, entertained and enthused all the way through. I even felt inspired to open up my own bakery one day, lol.
review 2: This is one of those books I'll probably forget pretty quickly, and will most likely not read anything else by its author. I often felt as if I'd been dropped into the middle of the story. We get very little actual background on Cindy (and btw, her name and the fact that she works in a bakery [kitchen] and has half-sisters is the only clear connection to Cinderella). Character development is almost nil. More time is spent on the physical appearance (especially clothing) of Tansy and Jessi. Cindy, herself, isn't even very well-developed. I realize the book is part of a series, but I don't recall seeing anywhere in the description that it can't stand on its own, but it very definitely can't.*SPOILER ALERT* I don't have a problem with "predictable", as some reviewers do (although I knew what was happening from the get-go). What I have a problem with is that Timothy never really made up for what he did. As Cindy said it, he lied by omission about who he was, then he STOLE. That wasn't by omission, it was out and out theft and dishonesty. Basically, he bought her off after she found out what was going on -- and how DID she find out? How did Tansy know? There was no explanation at all. The ice cream truck? How did the three girls make the leap from "he has an ice cream truck" to "he's the one stealing ideas, not Cindy?"There was also no apology/atonement regarding the nasty letter from the Davies. Timothy allowed his aunt and uncle to believe that CINDY was the one in the wrong. He never corrected that. The only explanation was the sob story about how they were the ones who raised him, blah, blah, blah. Man up, and tell the truth.*SPOILER ALERT #2* At Cindy's trial, she's sent out of the courtroom, she hears shouting, then she's called back in and all is well. Her stepfather (the only good character in the book, IMO) tells her it was because of something her mother told them. I assume this had to do with Cindy's father, but who knows for sure? No explanation whatsoever.I get that this is a series, but I'm not a fan of books that don't stand alone well. There was far too much missing information to truly enjoy this story. I found myself skimming back to see if I'd missed something. Add to that some pretty glaring editorial errors and you have yourself a 3-star book. Not bad enough to say I didn't like it, not good enough to say I like it, just pretty "meh".Poor character development, too little information, a weak heroine, and an unlikeable hero. less

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