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LILY MARRIED THE MAN OF HER DREAMS.THEN SHE WOKE UP.
“Never marry a man unless he’s short, bald, fat, stupid, and treats you badly.” That is the advice that twenty-nine-year-old Lily Burns has heard her entire life from her grandmother Dolly and her mother, Selma. Despite this, when she meets Gogo, the handsome, successful pediatrician who treats her like a queen, she has no choice but to let her heart take over. When she agrees to marry him, Dolly and Selma are inconsolable. They decide it’s time to tell her the truth: their family is cursed. If she marries for love, there will be unimaginable consequences.
Nevertheless, Lily and Gogo elope. Unable to believe her good fortune, Lily asks Gogo to pinch her—to make sure all this isn’t just a dream. The moment he does, Lily finds herself transported back to the house she lived in when she was single. Gogo is gone. When Lily tracks him down, she finds that he’s married to someone else and has no memory of her. In this modern fairy tale, Lily must find a way to break the curse and turn her nightmare back into a dream come true.
Adena Halpern is the author of the novels 29 and THE TEN BEST DAYS OF MY LIFE and TARGET UNDERWEAR AND A VERA WANG GOWN- NOTES FROM A SINGLE GIRL'S CLOSET, a memoir which was based on her popular "Haute Life" essays for the back page of Marie Claire magazine. In addition to Marie Claire, Adena has written for Daily Variety and The New York Times. She has a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in dramatic writing from New York University and a Master of Fine Arts degree in screenwriting from The American Film Institute. A proud Philadelphia native, she resides in Los Angeles with her husband, television and screenwriter Jonathan Goldstein.
KrittersRamblings
Posted May 19, 2012
What a cute book! Lily grew up with a mother and grandmother who thought that a family curse ruined each of their relationships with men. After they went through their fair share of men, they decided that raising Lily to avoid relationships would be best for her. I think that since they raised her that way, she wanted even more to find the man of her dreams.
Lily finds the man that she wants to marry in Gogo (I know why would you name a character Gogo?). Even after all the warning from her family she runs off and elopes. I thought it was endearing to still believe in love even though she didn't have an example to live up to. The curse really does exist, which gives this very chick lit read a little twist.
With an ease to its reading, this book was a quick read that would be perfect for a week at the beach. I thought it was a great take on a chick lit classic storyline. It made the story feel fresh and new. I would recommend this book to all the fans of the chick lit genre.
Anonymous
Posted March 10, 2012
I wanted to like this book but I just couldn't. The writing was very awkward; I kept editing it in my head. The story's premise is very weak and plot lines silly. And the final clincher is simply wrong. There is no raw egg in Ben and Jerry's chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.Lily Burn's family is cursed. They never can find true love or there will be devastating effects. So this was told to Lily all her life by her mother and grandmother and she never dated anybody she liked or for that matter, attracted to. But then she meets Gogo and falls in love. Not such a good thing, because when she believes that he is too good to be true, he pinches her, and everything disappears. Lily is then determined to break the curse to get the man of her dreams.
This humorous present-day fairy tales is a delightful piece of fluff that will keep the ready entertained and chuckling. If you are looking for a light summer read and want to get away from the harshness of reality, this is the book for you. I found it to be an amusing piece of romantic comedy.
Pinch me is an easy, entertaining story about a woman who's family curse ruins her life. One minute she is a happy newly wed and the next minute she is single, back in her old house and her husband is married to someone else and has no idea who she is. The entire story follows Lily as she tries to break the curse and get her husband back.
In the beginning of the story Lily lists all the things that makes Gogo perfect but almost halfway through she lists all the things that drive her nuts about him. That... was something that I enjoyed, a lot. So many books create these characters that are perfect and flawless and at first I started to feel like that was the case with Gogo. However, Lily goes on a rant for a few pages on the little things that Gogo does that bother her, like the fact that he can never admit when he is wrong or that he is a hoarder and cannot seem to throw anything away because they might have a use for it later.
There were a couple of times in the book where, and I will admit it, I yelled at the computer screen. You need to give this woman credit, Lily is relentless on trying to get her man back, to the point of embarrassment. Very rarely do I react so strongly to a book but I just couldn't help myself. Here I am all quiet reading and then Lily does something so embarrassing that I smack my face with my hand and groan "Oh no, what are you doing?!?" -Yeah it was that bad. HaHa
However, this book does have flaws. Throughout the entire book I could not get the grandmother and mother straight. The two, in my mind, were more like twins than Lily's mother and grandmother. They were too active and all over the place (physically) that I just couldn't picture someone like my grandmother doing that stuff. Like for instance, creating a fire pit and rotisserie spit in the front yard and lugging huge heavy logs out there for it. I just don't see it happening, so I was always confused thinking "wait is Selma the grandmother?" Also, the other thing I didn't care for personally was the ending. I really wanted to be surprised or just... something. Instead I got the typical ending to a book (I'm trying to be vague here so bare with me). I felt let down because the book was so crazy and kooky that I thought that for sure the author was going to end the story with a bang. Oh well... what can one do?
Either way I found this story to be entertaining and polished it off pretty quickly. It is the perfect summer book for when you are out at the beach and just want something light and fun.
Lily Burns' grandmother Dolly and affirmed by her mother Selma beat the drums all her life with the hymn "Never marry a man unless he's short, bald, fat, stupid, and treats you badly." Instead she ignores their sage advice and marries perfect pediatrician Gogo Goldblatt.
Her hunk treats her kindly and with respect. In love they elope. In shock over her good fortune, which ignores the matriarchal mantra, Lily asks Gogo to pinch her to insure she is awake. When he playfully does, she finds herself back in her home before she wed Gogo. Stunned Lily locates Gogo but he fails to recognize her and is married to someone else. Now she understands the refrain as the women in her family are cursed.
With a nod to Penelope, this contemporary fairy tale is a fun tale as Lily works to break the curse of love that has destroyed her immediate ancestors. The complicated story line is entertaining as Lily and readers wonder what happened to the happily ever after since the pinch finds Gogo married to someone else. Although the key player Lily is not fully developed and the support cast stereotyped purposely from fairy tale 101 to emphasize the Curse, Pinch Me is an enjoyable lighthearted twist on the Curse of love.
Harriet Klausner
ADENA HALPERN'S "PINCH ME" (REVIEW)
This book is hilarious and sweet at the same time. Lily Burns is a woman cursed to never find true love. With the advice given to her by her mother and grandmother she decides to forgo this and find love anyway only to realize it was all a dream. In order to get back the man she fell for she has to go through a whole new scenario and convince him that he's in love with her regardless that he's already married.
This book was delightfully funny, with just the right touch of romance that keeps you reading to the end. Adena Halpern is a wonderful writer with the ability to keep you interested. I highly recommend this book!
-Kitty Bullard / Great Minds Think Aloud Book Club
Anonymous
Posted May 13, 2012
No text was provided for this review.
Overview
LILY MARRIED THE MAN OF HER DREAMS.THEN SHE WOKE UP.
“Never marry a man unless he’s short, bald, fat, stupid, and treats you badly.” That is the advice that twenty-nine-year-old Lily Burns has heard her entire life from her grandmother Dolly and her mother, Selma. Despite this, when she meets Gogo, the handsome, successful pediatrician who treats her like a queen, she has no choice but to let her heart take over. When she agrees to marry him, Dolly and Selma are inconsolable. ...