The Basics
Book Title: $10,000,000 Marriage Proposal
Author: James Patterson with Hilary Liftin
Pages: 115
ISBN: 978-0-31-631719-1
Genre: Romance, Short stories
Summary
A billboard is displayed in L.A. stating that a man is looking for a serious candidate to marry, in which the "winner" will also receive 10 million dollars. The story follows three women who reply to the ad.
Thoughts
It has taken me a while to get this review out because I truly didn't care for it. I picked it up with the intrigue that it was about 100 pages long and romance, hoping that I could get my romance kick, which I occasionally have, fulfilled within a couple of hours. Ironically, I think that was one of the reasons I didn't really like this book. I felt like I had no time at all to get to know these characters at all and by the end, I didn't really care who the guy ended up with (even though I pretty much knew who it would be). The whole point of reading a romance book is to enjoy the relationship that develops between the two characters and there's none of it here. The only time the "winner" and the guy actually talk to each other is in the last chapter or two of the book! No joke!
Secondly, I didn't like the stereotypical, bland character stories for the three women in the first place. One is made out to be extremely smart with technology and shows a complete disinterest in getting attached. So...she's obviously not an option. The second is a TV producer who's show just flopped and can see the potential of making this same scenario into a TV show that could put her back on top. She's written in a way as if she's just in the running to scam the guy and make money off of him. There are a couple of times where it seems she genuinely wants to find a guy, but the author makes it BLATANTLY in your face that she's all about her job, as if it's a bad thing.
Then, we've got the social worker who still lives with her mom and has huge problem with her self-esteem.
-.- *deep breath*
When describing her job, she states that all the kids she works with are so happy to talk with her and feel like their voice is heard in the midst of the foster care system. Now, I worked with social workers and I've worked with at-risk youth and I can tell you now that most of those kids didn't have a good relationship with their social worker. There would be some days that they want to talk to them and some days that they don't. Every social worker I worked with was extremely pleasant, but overly exhausted. These people are overworked, underpaid, and under appreciated. There's no way that this character would get satisfaction from the kids alone because sometimes their reactions to life are the most heart-breaking of all. I'm not saying that social workers don't get some reward from their kids. Sometimes they are glad to see them and sometimes the social worker is able to pull through for their kiddo and make things work. Those moments DO happen, but not often enough. I'm glad her job title doesn't take too much of a spotlight in the story because it's one of the character developments that pissed me off the most. It also irks me that she's still living with her mom, as if someone with her personality couldn't live on her own. The story does state that she's having financial and previous roommate problems, but still. They make her out to be incredibly needy instead of having her be a strong woman. Because believe me, if you're a social worker, you have to have some backbone in you.
Okay, off my soapbox there. Like I mentioned earlier, not much of the story actually has interaction between the millionaire and the ladies in the story. There's multiple stages they have to get through and there's a few times where the ladies are talking to a man, so we "wonder" if that's the millionaire or not. I closed the book not feeling satisfied with it at all. The relationship wasn't there, the romance wasn't there, and I couldn't relate to any of the characters at all. I do have to say that one positive aspect of it was that I did keep turning the page to find out how things ended. I was curious about how they would reveal the millionaire and if there would be side romances with the other two ladies who didn't get the guy. So, I didn't put the book down and I did keep turning the page, but it had no payout at the end.
Pros vs. Cons
- Pros
- Kept turning the page to find out what happened
- Cons
- Poor character development
- No romance in the story
- Poor representation of women's roles/identities
- Didn't get that "happily ever after" feel by the end
Overall Rating
⭐⭐
What are your thoughts? Should I give a different "Bookshot" a try? Is there one you would recommend that might change my mind about such a short book?
