Rating: 
Summary: No regrets
Review: Charlotte Clapp is overweight, single, and locked into a rut in her hometown of Gorham, New Hampshire. When her doctor tells her that she only has one year to live, Charlotte decides that she will not die with any regrets. She quits her dead-end job at the bank and then turns around and robs the bank of 2 million dollars. She heads out for the adventure of a lifetime, first to New Orleans and then to Hollywood, California. She buys an expensive place with a pool and lives out the life of her fantasies. She takes advantage of living by a pool and begins swimming every night. She meets the handsome pool man and falls in love. From then on it's a wild ride with Charlotte living her dream life while the officials in New Hampshire are in hot pursuit. The whole concept of this book is delightful and though the writing is a little uneven in spots and the story turns out to be too good to be true, it's still an entertaining read. Charlotte Clapp will have readers rooting for her all the way!
Rating: 
Summary: Really really badly written, just awful
Review: Every once in a while I come across a review or several of what looks like a perfect light summer read, put it on hold at the library, and enjoy. In most cases, the books are fun and just what I expected. in this case, i wonder how all the reviewers here could have missed the fact that this "light novel" was badly written (wooden dialogue which, if read aloud, sounds like nothing normal people would ever utter), simple copy-editing mistakes (such as mentioning a certain concert is held on Thanksgiving, then a page later it's "next saturday night" and still later, it occurs on Thanksgiving Day), stale pop-culture references (the big star who our heroine adores and simply HAS TO meet is: Tom selleck. And considering this is suppsoed to be a current day book, why are the only celebs mentioned the kind your mother likes (Tony Bennett, Gene Hackman, Tom Selleck) and the character takes a face name of "Blossom McBeal" and not one person ever comments on the "Ally McBeal" similarity?), ridiculous plot devices (sure, a person can buy a million dollar home with a suitcase of cash and not presenting any ID, yeah, right).
This was so well-reviewed that i kept going, waiting to see if it could possibly improve. It never did. In short, i have to wonder if all the reviews here are written by either a. shills for the author, or b. subliterate people who do not even recognize bad writing.
If you are a smart reader who wants fun trash (and I personally LOVE fun trash, e.g. Bridget Jones, Jemimah J., Good In Bed), for god's sake run don't walk away from this horribly-written, unfun book.
Rating: 
Summary: Night Swimming
Review: I can't say enough good things about this book. It's fantastic. Dreams do come true for Charlotte. When told that her life was going to end in a year she took her chance. It makes you think about doing the same thing. Enjoy life but think about what changes will do to your life.
What's amazing is that you get a great story that's well written by the author and keeps your attention, even when you want to stop for the night. This book kept my attention for hours.
I could not put this book down.
I can not wait until her next novel comes out.
Great Book.
Rating:
Summary: A melodramatic waste of time....
Review: I don't necessarily feel compelled to write reviews of books, b/c I feel to each his own. But in exceptional circumstances, I don't want people to suffer like I did while reading this book. Usually I steer clear of the stereotypical 'chick lit' movement, mostly because I think these books completely belittle the female intellect. However, I decided to test out this book b/c a friend suggested it. (This friend has a lot of explaining to do.) The premise and plot are extremely implausible and filled w/ trite prose on lessons of love and life. The main character mistakenly is told she only has 1 year to live so she steals 2 million dollars, moves to Hollywood, loses a mass amount of weight and falls in love with the pool man. In the end she learns deep lessons of love and living life to the fullest. Please. This author needs to learn a lesson in subtleness. Sorry for the harsh review, I just feel passionate about it....
Rating:
Summary: Absolute waste of time and money!!
Review: I hesitate to give this even 1 star. I read the reviews and decided that it is something that I would like. What a waste! This book is so full of crap that I can't believe someone would write this and expect its readers to like. Who can buy a million dollar house in CASH?? Why such a hokey name like Blossom McBeal?? Who tells their boyfriend to go out with their best friend? When Blossom/Charlotte is in jail, is there no survelience monitors? Who talks about jumping bail in a rec room of a jail? Is there no supervision or cameras is this jail??
Bottom line, pick something else....anything else would be better than this crap I was stupid enough to buy.
Rating:
Summary: Very good first novel!
Review: I just finished reading Night Swimming and found it to be very
thought provoking, good story line and different from the average
first novel. I think a person looking for a light, yet good story to read will enjoy it immensely. Can't wait for her next
book.
Rating:
Summary: A Fun First-Time Novel w/a little room for Improvement
Review: I really enjoyed this book, and found myself more and more interested as each chapter progressed. When I wasn't reading this novel, I was looking forward to picking it up again, and seeing what happens next to Charlotte/Blossom. This is a sign of an excellent writer, in my opinion - when a reader can't wait to see what happens next, as it means that the author has the reader's full attention, and the story is moving along at a steady pace.
I was looking forward to the end of the story and seeing how the author was going to conclude Charlotte's "adventure." I wondered how high of a price her year of growth and "freedom" were going to cost her, and what, if any, consequences she would face. The author had me all the way until the last 3-4 chapters, when, unfortunately, the story seemed to loose some of its momentum, when it should have come to a more satisfying conclusion.
I won't give away the ending in any way, but I felt that the last few chapters were a little too "rushed" and once Charlotte's future was determined, the story seemed to wrap up just a little too "perfectly" with no surprises or suspense. Don't get me wrong, I'm happy with how Charlotte's story went full circle and for what the future has in store for the book's heroine. The ending just seemed a little too "sugar coated" compared to the rest of the story and what led Charlotte back to this place in the journey of life. After all of the paths that Charlotte had taken, it seemed that her ending was just a little too perfect and "nice."
I wouldn't exactly call this book "chick lit" but it is definitely "women's fiction." I'd compare it more to the novels of Debbie Macomber, Kristin Hannah or Jill Marie Landis. If you enjoy the stories that these authors write, you should thoroughly enjoy this heart warming story of friendship, love and survival from first-time novelist Robin Schwarz.
I do look forward to future books written by this promising new writer. Overall, I thought the story was great and was very well written. It had everything needed to capture the reader's attention, keeping them turning the pages to find out what happens next. The ending just seemed a little too "perfect" and I would have liked to have seen it played out just a little bit more once Charlotte returned from her adventure.
The characters were well developed and thoroughly believable. There aren't too many "over-the-top" moments and it's easy to fall in love with Charlotte/Blossom and cheer for her along the way. You'll smile at her ups, and may even cry at her "downs", but I'm sure that most readers will find themselves cheering along with the friends of her past and her present, and will be routing for Charlotte all the way to the end.
I read this book after an ad in "People" mag grabbed my attention. It would be nice to see this book given a little more exposure, as I think it holds a lot of promise. It would even make for an entertaining movie, I think surpassing even "Bridgette Jones" as I think the characters of this novel are much more believable, and could be easily brought to life on the "big screen."
Overall, a fun, entertaining and very fast read from an author who shows plenty of promise.
Rating: 
Summary: Tries Too Hard
Review: I wanted to like this book and I did to a certain extent, but in my opinion, it fell short of it's promise. I won't go into the storyline and ruin the plot, but even though I'm looking for entertainment and can suspend reality, this one went over the line of believability.
However, Charlotte Clapp/Blossom McNeal was a simply unbelieveable character - too good to be true. On the other hand, she did some surprisingly questionnable things for someone otherwise so wonderful. Even so, I would have probably enjoyed the book a lot more if three of the main characters didn't do what was supposed to be so much profound thinking and speaking to one another - they turned into sermons. It just got to be too much and too often and turned tiresome - started to seem like a self-help/positive thinking book posing as a novel.
In many ways, it tried too hard, with writing that was intended to be lyrical and magical but started to seem contrived and surgary.
Yes, I enjoyed it, but not as I would have if it had been a little less preachy.
Rating:
Summary: Enjoyable, pleasant read
Review: Night Swimming is a pleasant book. It's probably not going to change your life, but if you're looking for something to read at the beach that goes down easily, then this is a good book to pick up. The positives to this story are 1) its (somewhat generic) plot of fat girl loses weight when she stops thinking about it and of course in the meantime meets a fantastic guy who sees through the fat and then hooks up with her when she's thin, and 2) the inspirational message of finding yourself and breaking out of your everyday routine, and 3) the part of the story that is unconventional, which is that she robs a bank to get her financial independence. The negatives are 1) Charlotte's name changes to Blossom about 50 pages in, and then back to Charlotte at the end, which is marginally annoying, 2) the hokey courtroom ending, which made me roll my eyes, since up until that point I was interested in how Charlotte would find her way out of this mess, and 3) the fact that author pounds into the reader's heads how Charlotte is changing; given that Charlotte has basically no personality faults besides her weight insecurities, it gets a bit repetitive. I would certainly recommend this book if you're looking for a fast read that makes you think, but not too hard.
Rating:
Summary: A forgettable but fun read
Review: OK, this book has lot of editorial mistakes. I won't spend time listing them as previous reviewers already have. But why not take it for what it is-- a light-hearted, feel-good summer book that, at the end, will make you smile? It is funny and touching and entertaining. Perfect escapist fun for the summer. Who said a fun read had to be perfect? Ligthen up!
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