Fancy Pants

Rating:
Summary: Her Worst
Review: Hated the characters, especially our hero(?). In real life he and his friend would have spent many years in prison for kidnapping. All SEP's other books are great.

Rating:
Summary: Not her best - just too long!
Review: Having come to this book after reading "IT had to Be You" and most other SEP books I have to say I was disappointed with this work. The first half -establishing the background of the main character -was way too long. The most interesting part of the story was the character transformation of the heroine but this was lost amongst all the other sub-plots!! Still love Ms Phillips' work but Dream A Little Dream and Heaven Texas are much better than this.

Rating:
Summary: Not your normal romance, but still delivers the goods
Review: Huge SEP fan here. I found Fancy Pants to be out of the norm of the regular "boy meets girl" romance formula, but loved it anyway. I liked the fact that both Francesca and Dallie were not very likeable characters in the beginning, and though most characters grow and change, no two characters needed to more than these two. I liked that details of their lives (like Danny's death) popped up throughout the story, surprising us. The only thing that seemed a bit "much" was the large amount of time spent on some secondary characters (did Naomi, Chloe, Black Jack and Miranda need so much time in the story?) I did almost wish Francesca had bumped into Nicky, or someone from her old life at the end so they could have seen how much she had changed.
In any case, this was a bit different, but the payoff at the end was great (as usual).

Rating:
Summary: Not your normal romance, but still delivers the goods
Review: Huge SEP fan here. I found Fancy Pants to be out of the norm of the regular "boy meets girl" romance formula, but loved it anyway. I liked the fact that both Francesca and Dallie were not very likeable characters in the beginning, and though most characters grow and change, no two characters needed to more than these two. I liked that details of their lives (like Danny's death) popped up throughout the story, surprising us. The only thing that seemed a bit "much" was the large amount of time spent on some secondary characters (did Naomi, Chloe, Black Jack and Miranda need so much time in the story?) I did almost wish Francesca had bumped into Nicky, or someone from her old life at the end so they could have seen how much she had changed.
In any case, this was a bit different, but the payoff at the end was great (as usual).

Rating:
Summary: Excellent!
Review: I absolutly loved Fancy Pants! I couldn't pull myself away from it. Francesca is someone I can relate too.( unfortunalty) I loved this book!

Rating:
Summary: My Favorite Book of All Time
Review: I bought this book 10+ years ago and have read it over 20 times. I love it! I thought Francesca and Dallie were deliciously complex characters and the story that evolved over years and years was great. I have since actively sought out the rest of SEP's titles and while they have been somewhat interesting, they paled in comparison to Fancy Pants. A fascinating read.

Rating:
Summary: Probably my favorite book of all time
Review: I could not put this book down and have read it twice, and will probably read it again. I have given it to several other friends and they all felt the same way. It is a great book!

Rating:
Summary: Great!
Review: I couldn't help myself. After reading about the first 100 pages, I couldn't put the book down so I stayed up all night long finishing this book. I enjoyed the difference in style here than in the other books by Susan Elizabeth Phillips that I have read. That is one things that I love about her, each of the three books that I have read have been written in a different manner. It's weird but I like it. But back to this book, I liked the backstory on the characters before and after they had gotten together. That's not really something that other authors put several chapters into doing. They usually take several pages. Furthermore, this is one of the best romance novels I have read. I get a kick out of SEP's character interactions. She is terrific with dialogue and situation. I can't wait to read all the others I have missed out on.

Rating:
Summary: A Different Taste From SEP
Review: I decided to buy Fancy Pants because the character, Dallie and Francie, appeared on her book "Lady Be Good". I enjoyed all of SEP's books I owned and so I wanted to try this one also. This one was rather different than those I had. It had lots of flashbacks, very complicated characters, and of course the taste of the 80's. I can't say that this was one of her best, but I don't think it was a disappointment for me also. I did managed to finish it :0). But if you don't consider yourself a truly SEP fan, I think you should try her newer books, like Dream a Little Dream or It Had to be You. If you are SEP big fans like me, I think you should give this book a try to taste some different experience.

Rating:
Summary: Ehhhh....
Review: I definitely have mixed feelings about _Fancy Pants_. Susan Elizabeth Phillips is one of my all time favorite authors and the first book of hers that I read was _Lady Be Good_. I fell in love with Francie and Dallie in that book and couldn't wait ot read more about them. _Fancy Pants_ somehow manages to fall flat. I was looking for some SEP belly laughs to come out of this one and I was sourly dissapointed. Basically, _Fancy Pants_ felt too long. SEP takes about fifty pages to actually start talking about Francie, another fifty to introduce Dallie and then another hundred to actually get them together. When they actually have a little fling, there is no real passion or heat between them. Dallie comes off as an abusive, unsuccessful golfer, and Francie seems like a spoiled little rich girl. The book gets better in the second half. Francie becomes a lot more down to Earth and a lot easier to like. She becomes a lot like a person I would like to know and not one that I would never get along with. Unfortunately, Dallie doesn't change too much and it seems like he didn't deserve Francie or their son. SEP does the whole eighties thing where she doesn't focus on the story that she's pushing (the relationship between Francie and Dallie) and moves totally off the subject to talk about Francie's grandmother and mother, her every acquaintence, and just about every single person who makes an appearence in the book. I totally did not understand or appreciate the telling of Dallie and Holly Grace's love story. It slowed the book down and wasn't all that interesting. Still, SEP shows her promise in this book and there are some of her traits hidden in areas that reveal what is to come in the future. For die hard SEP fans, _Fancy Pants_ is an okay read. For new comers, stick with the new stuff. Her Chicago Stars series is absolutely fantastic and _Kiss an Angel_ as well as _Lady Be Good_ are must reads.