Book Review: Just Say Yes by Phillipa Ashley

At First Sight: Lucy Gibson's life changed the moment hunky Nick Laurentis followed her out of the sandwich shop where he worked and asked her out, and soon she finds herself in a 'relationship'.

Lucy has her reservations - she doesn't really know much about Nick and their first couple of dates went really badly (as in they didn't happen 'cause he messed up) - but she tells herself she doesn't really want a relationship, but she's not against taking advantage of Nick's gorgeous body.

Things go well enough for a time, until Nick enters Hot Shots - a low-budget reality TV show - and actually wins. Suddenly he's proposing in front of a live audience and Lucy is left in the spotlight.

With the paparazzi following her around, and everyone against her because she turned Nick down, Lucy decides to escape with her best friend Fiona to a cottage in Cornwall.

There she meets Josh, a windsurfer who is trying to make something of himself after spending most of his youth getting by on his looks and doing the bare minimum. Soon Lucy and Josh hit it off, but there is one small problem: Josh's bitchy fiancé Sarah.

Second Glance: Just Say Yes wasn't the kind of book I was expecting - at first, I didn't even realize it took place in England, for example - and for me it was more chick-lit-ish at times than actual contemporary romance. 

Lucy was likable enough but the way she acts around and about Nick made me think she didn't have a healthy self-esteem (sure, she tells herself she's using Nick too, but that didn't rub well with me either), plus Nick isn't nice or sharp or anything really, other than good in bed.

Also I felt like the pace of the book was a bit off, it took a long while for the story to get going as the first seven or eight chapters are ALL flashback/recap of Lucy's relationship with Nick, so I felt like I never really saw that relationship develop and a lot of it was glossed over, and part of me just plain didn't care about this relationship that was obviously over and obviously bad for Lucy. 

Josh was okay, but I didn't feel anything even remotely swoony toward him (he's not a bad guy, I just didn't see the appeal). He is nicer though, so that gives him points. 

I did like Fiona and Lucy's neighbor Charles - I usually found the scenes where he was in to be funny. 

Bottom Line: I wasn't crazy about Just Say Yes, I thought the characters needed a bit more development and the pace was a bit off but it's not a bad book and it did have some enjoyable moments.

1/2