Rating: 
Summary: Fabulous!
Review: Are you looking for a delightful paperback to read on the beach? Get Making Minty Malone! It is a fascinating novel about a woman who's had enough. Her fiance has left her. Instead of crying her little eyes out, she decides to throw her wedding bouquet over a bridge. Her new and exciting life has just begun! Read this fabulous book. You will love it.
Rating: 
Summary: Simply fabulous!
Review: I just loved this book! I read "The Trials of Tiffany Trott" and liked it, but this far surpasses Isabel Wolffs first novel. I laughed endlessly from start to finish.Any book that can make me do a complete turnabout on one particular character - like Ms. Wolff did with the character of Amber - is one for me. I started out thinking Amber was rather selfish and ruthless without much heart, and I ended up thinking Amber was selfish and ruthless with a whole lot of heart. I was crazy about the Bridget Jones Diaries, but I think I like this even more. I eagerly await Isabelle Wolff's next book!
Rating: 
Summary: Formula read..., but catchy
Review: If you're a regular reader, you'll figure out every plot twist in this book WAY before poor Minty! Very formulaic, but cute and sweet at the same time. If you're looking for a romantic little get-away that won't tax your brain (in the least), you might enjoy this beach book......
Rating:
Summary: I love Minty Malone!
Review: I loved Tiffany Trott and I adore Minty Malone. Well done Isabel Wolff! A very well-written and hysterically funny account of how one woman gets over the emotional trauma of being dumped - on her wedding day! I couldn't stop turning the pages and kept laughing out loud which is very unusual for me. There are so many brilliant characters from Amber - the bossy worst-selling novelist and her talking parrot, to Melinda - the world's worst radio presenter. I also loved Minty's mad dash to Hollywood to try and find her Mr Right. With so many twists and turns in the plot I was kept on the edge of my seat right to the last page. Summing up, The Making of Minty Malone is beautifully described with sparkling dialogue in Wolff's brilliantly ironic style.
Rating:
Summary: Entertaining with a Novel Message
Review: I'm currently plowing through the Thirty-Year Old Woman's reading list (Getting Over It, Welcome to My Planet, Otherwise Engaged, Lucy Sullivan is Getting Married, etc.). If you like those books or those kinds of books, this one is definitely worth checking out. It's less, ummm, "literary" than books such as "Otherwise Engaged" or "Welcome" nor as it as quick a read as those two books. It's not as much of a cartoon as Bridget. It's really more like Lucy Sullivan, but I liked this book MUCH more. It is a book with a sense of humor, but not a laugh-out-loud book. What I like so much about this book is that you can't help but wonder if Isabel Wolff is watching Oprah when Dr. Phil comes on (Does Oprah even come on in London?). Dr. Phil preaches that "We teach people how to treat us," and that there are no victims. And THAT is the message of this book. You'll read in the other reviews that this is a story about a woman who got jilted at the altar. Yep- sure did. And it is a story about her recovering from this- but it's MORE than that. It's about her having to realize that SHE could have prevented the jilting, and that getting jilted was not the worst thing in the world (The 28,000 pounds spent on the wedding, notwithstanding). She has to realize that she was too nice and too much of a doormat and that the fault is not all his, nor is it all hers. This seems to me to be a new sort of theme for these kinds of books. This genre of books tend to be more about "Oh poor me- Bad men treat me wrong and I need to find a good man." Minty Malone is more about learning the lesson of, "I *chose* the bad men who treated me wrong and that's my fault. I need to value myself more." It's a subtle but important difference. I really liked that message. Along these same lines, it's about realizing that the negative things that happen to you in your life may actually be positive. I very much like Wolff's philosophy and attitude towards life. My only complaints about this book are as follows: First, Minty is SUPER wimpy at the beginning, but I expect that's necessary to show her growth. In other words, it's not really a fault with the book- I just don't think that early-book Minty and I would have been friends. The same goes for the roommate/cousin Amber- She's SO bossy- I wanted to squash her. Second, Minty and her roommate/cousin Amber take a trip which is extremely distracting. It's is an element of the plot, but there are extremely distracting elements to it. It's almost like Wolff took a trip there herself and just HAD to write about it. Other than that, I really recommend it- I expected a superficial, cute romance novel, but there was slightly more depth to it than that, which I very much appreciated. Don't get me wrong- it ain't a work of Shakespeare- but it is definitely worthwhile reading.
Rating: 
Summary: how many books remind me of this one?
Review: You've read one, you've read them all. Yes, I know I'm being a little bit harsh, & I know that some of the "contemporary-light-easy to read-supposedly modern romances" are better than others. But after having read at least 20 of these, I'm starting to feel as if I've read one too many. "The making of Minty Malone" by Isabel Wolff was one of the books I bought this summer, while on vacation & desperate to have something to read on the plane. The truth though is that I could have chosen it anyway, in a bookstore, since I have a soft spot for this kind of book after reading everything by Marian Keyes & Helen Fielding. But that's the point: Marian Keyes & Helen Fielding write well, & their books stand out & would have done so even if they had decided to write about something else. The same cannot be said about all the other writers deciding to write this kind of novel: it's as if they all follow an exact formula. Single woman, living lonely & sad & usually ditched in London preferably. Two or three close friends around her. A job that, as the book develops, gets better, as new opportunities appear out of nowhere & our heroine becomes more assertive by the moment, "gets in touch with her true feelings" & grabs these chances. And of course in the end, there's always an almost perfect for everyone, (but definitely perfect for the heroine) man. They live happily ever after & we're left to wander what the hell is wrong with our everyday life, since it doesn't seem to change so dramatically & so easily... Isabel Wolff's book follows the above formula exactly. So it's both good & bad. It's a good plane-ride book, good for a few laughs (sometimes because of the incredulity of everything that's going on). But after the plane-ride (& the read) is over...so is the book. You immediately forget about it & go on to discover the next Minty Malone-Lucy Sullivan-Bridget Jones etc etc. The only thing I could wish were that more women had these heroins' luck because the world would be a better (& easier to live in) world. Since it's not, we can only dream, & once in a while, pick up one of these books....
Rating:
Summary: So how do you REALLY feel about your fiance running?
Review: I loved Minty Malone from the first page where she is found searching frantically for her grandmother's tiara, getting ready for "her day, exactly as SHE wants it" all alone! Of course, after nearly driving herself into hysterics she looks in the mirror and finds it on her head. "Her day" went downhill from there. This author, Isabel Wolff, is new to me, but I am ordering her prior book immediately after reading Minty Malone. Minty takes a good long while getting over her engagement gone bad, swinging from blaming herself totally to blaming him totally. She comes to the conclusion, as most of us do, that the relationship was a bust because both were at fault, although she has to painfully acknowledge her own shallowness in the process. Her class on how not to be 'nice' is so hilarious I think I'll either look for one myself or start one. The way she learns to trade insults with the gorgeous Joe gets wittier and wittier as they happily draw stares from the crowds of people who overhear them. How I love to laugh!
Rating:
Summary: Hell Hath No Fury....Well, Something Like That.
Review: "Making Minty Malone" by author Isabel Wolff (Author of "The Trials of Tiffany Trott") is a wonderfully delightful and charming romantic comedy about a woman who never thought she'd face a hand like the one she got dealt. All set to marry a man who she believed to be "the one," Minty faces the realities that maybe God is just laughing at her. Dominic is gone. She's alone. And, now the question of what to do next looms great and loud. So, what's a girl to do but, take those honeymoon plane tickets, grab the girls, and head to Paris. There she meets a man who could change everything. If she'll let him. "Making Minty Malone" is a very sweet, fun and wildly romantic tale that captures the hearts of anyone that will read it. I found it as enchanting as "Bridget Jones," "Jemima J.," "Getting Over It" and "Come Together." If you loved those....CERTAINLY give this wonderfully written book a chance on your summer reading list. Great Book!
Rating:
Summary: Veddy veddy good
Review: London radio reporter Minty Malone is a nervous wreck as her wedding to insurance guru Dominic is to occur in front of 280 guests. However, when the minister asks Dominic if he will marry Minty, he says "no," leaving her literally jilted at the altar. Dominic feels he can not live up to the seriousness of their vows. Minty and her bridesmaid use the intended honeymoon trip to travel to Paris where Minty meets an English writer Joe over a table football (soccer) game. He wants her number back in England, but she refuses to give it to him. She remains in denial believing that Dominic will return to her, begging her to marry him. However, Joe pursues Minty and soon they begin to fall in love, but will she be willing to risk a second jaunt down the aisle? MAKING MINTY MALONE is a humorous romantic romp predominately seen through the eyes of the lead protagonist. The audience will enjoy the comic tale, but at times, Minty's introspective panic seems real but slows the story line. Still, Minty is a wonderful lead character and the support cast brings London alive in this overall jocular contemporary romance. Harriet Klausner
Rating:
Summary: A great summer read!
Review: I purchased this book in London last year, and devoured it on the plane on the way back to LA. The book is funny, clever and well written. From the start you are commiserating with Minty, and cheering for her as she becomes her own person through her relationship disaster, coworkers from hell and assertiveness training. If you liked 'Bridget Jones's Diary' you will undoubtedly like 'The Making of Minty Malone'.
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