Rating: 
Summary: A Little Help from an Editor
Review: Though I'd read the reviews that warned that the main character, Shelby, was an unlikable shrew, I wasn't scared off. When handled right, an unsympathetic main character can be great fun. That is not the case here. It's hard when you're rooting against the main character.There wasn't a soul to like in this book. Shelby's portrayed as an appearance-obsessed, impatient and somewhat hateful self-centered witch and yet we're supposed to be cheering her on. Her sister Lauren is almost as selfish as Shelby herself. Minor characters are marched in and out only when it's conveneient for moving the plot along. And there are inconsistencies in the plot that ask too much of even an accepting reader. This book needed some help from a red pen. The device of the mother's intervention from above--a fun premise--was not used to great effect, the coincidences pulled me right out of the story, and my happiness when it was over was not for its fake-feeling ending, but for finally being able to toss the book.
Rating: 
Summary: The Predictable Soap Opera
Review: I have to agree with several of the previous reviews that stated that this was just like a soap opera. The first 50-100 pages were tedious to read, but it amuses me that the author even takes the time to make a comment about how the novel drones on for 73 pages about our heroine. The story was predictable, the coincidences were too much, and how many times did he "need to push her bangs back from her face." We got it, really. It almost appears that the author ran out of things to say to perpetuate the novel to the end so she needed to regurgitate the same lines and descriptions over and over again. The aspect that irritated me the most about the novel was the way that Shelby was portrayed as selfish, yet Lauren was the one with selfish motives all along and came out smelling like roses.
Rating: 
Summary: Highly entertaining
Review: I'm not even done yet and I cannot wait to find out what happens - you just know Shelby is going to find a heart. I recommend it. I LOVE the way she writes.
Rating:
Summary: " A MUST READ"
Review: I could not put this book down until I finished!! I can't wait until the next book comes out from Saralee Rosenberg easy reading kept me laughing, crying, and also rethink the way I treat my baby sister!! I truly identified with Shelby. I have given a copy to all I know and love!!
Rating: 
Summary: NEVER JUDGE A BOOK BY ITS CLEVER COVER!
Review: I learned today that one should never judge a book by its clever cover! The day I picked up this book, I was prepared to read a lighthearted story about relationships with a mother on the other side. My own mother being on the other side is why I was drawn to it. Then I started to read it and became increasingly disturbed by the mean-spiritedness of the main character, Shelby, and the author's sad attempt at humor through obvious prejudice.) The author is doing a great job of alienating anyone who might be overweight and Christian. I am particularly referring to the "shikseh nailed to the cross" comment, which someone must have told her was funny. It's not. Especially in the context in which she uses it. In the author's world everyone may be primarily Jewish, but the real world who would buy her book is not. If she is wondering why the New York Times bestseller list is escaping her efforts, she doesn't have to look further than her own book. If this author hopes to publish a next book in the future, she might want to think about not making jokes at the expense of others. She might also want to have characters with at least some redeeming qualities.
Rating:
Summary: This is like a soap opera SPOOF.
Review: Assuming you've already read the book description, I won't rehash the plot, as it would just make me dizzy. So many things going on, so many coincidences, so many unlikable characters. Still, I kept reading, knowing that the author was going to have somehow make these people redeem themselves. And they do, sort of. By the end of the book everyone was happy. That is, everyone except for me. When I picked the book up, it was just for light reading. The description was cute. But the angry, vindictive main character turned me off right from the beginning. There were many times I wondered how the editor, let alone the author, could read this book and think it plausible enough to be published. Talk about twisting a plot. This book was much too contrived to be believed.
Rating:
Summary: Sweet, funny, satisfying
Review: This book was one of the best books I had read in a long time. Yes, the main character is highly self-indulgent, but that's pretty much where the annoyances end. It moves along nicely, there are so many different stories to be told it keeps you interested in a 'can't put it down' kind of way. My only complaint is that the ending is a little too neatly wrapped.
Rating:
Summary: Makes you want to kick the dog
Review: If you are basically a nice person who does routinely trash your family and friends with derogatory remarks, I recommend that you not bother with this book. I can't remember the last time I read a book with a main character who is so rude and annoying that I don't even want to see her reformed by the end of the book. The basic premise is that Shelby, the main character, has led a miserable and unfulfilling life since her mom died when she was ten. Her mom decides to interfere from heaven by getting her father and her aunt (who is also her stepmother, in a soap-opera twist) into an accident, forcing Shelby to speak to her family again and make amends. Also, Shelby, at 38, is loveless, so thrown into the mix is the boy next door who moved away the week her mother died. Shelby says such awful things to everyone she meets, like her overweight sister Lauren, whom Shelby taunts with fat jokes at every possible opportunity while subtly reminding her that she's never had to work on being thin. And she's so obnoxious about it that I couldn't even love to hate her. Saralee Rosenberg also actually throws in lines like, "As she looked around the parking lot, it occurred to her that men were like parking spots. The good ones got snapped up right away, and the only ones left were disabled.", as if "Shelby" had thought up this very original line herself. I can't believe that a few reviewers thought this was like "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" and gave it five stars! I'm giving it two stars because the writing wasn't bad, if you overlook the cliches and kitschy sayings. Don't buy this book just because the cover is cute. The story isn't.
Rating:
Summary: bring on the tissues!
Review: I lost my mother a year ago. I picked this up and debated on whether or not I actually could read it. It was great. I was so engrossed. I sat and cried for an hour after I finished it. Yes it made me sad, but it also made me hopeful that my mom is out there watching over me as well. I sent a copy to my sister!
Rating:
Summary: Amusing but no substance
Review: If shallowness could speak, this book would roar. Family dysfunction, selfishness, and intimate secrets have their literary places, but this book misses the boat. Full of preposterous coinicidences, underdeveloped characterers, and a foul-mouthed rather hopeless heroine, I would say a light beach read, but no more. The "lessons on life" were too trite to carry much weight. If looking for a view from heaven, check out Lovely Bones, but this one is very skippable.
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