Reviews for Mr. and Miss Anonymous

The average rating for Mr. and Miss Anonymous based on 2 reviews is 1.5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2012-01-07 00:00:00 Terry Coughenour This could have been a good book if the writing hadn't been so awful and if some of the story elements had been reconsidered. The basic premise had a lot of potential, but the sentence structure was incredibly choppy and the dialogue was terrible. The same character would go on about something for several paragraphs in a row without interruption, then suddenly change the subject in the last sentence. Also, the characters used each other's names excessively. It's almost like the author had to keep reminding herself who was speaking to whom at each point in the story. The jacket copy made it seem like this book would be more of a romance, but in reality the mystery/suspense elements of the plot were much more important than the romantic ones. I enjoy romantic suspense novels so the switch didn't bother me that much, but I do wish the romance between Pete and Lily had been better developed. The prologue outlines the single time Lily and Pete met when they were in college, so we know from the outset that they didn't know each other well back then. However, when they meet again 19 years later, the author tries to convince us that there was a lot more between them than there really was. For example, Lily miraculously knows details such as Pete's donor number, which I don't think he mentioned during their first meeting. Even if he did mention it, it's incredibly unrealistic to expect that Lily would remember such a tiny detail after nearly two decades had passed. Pete and Lily decided that they were in love with each other WAY too quickly. When they meet up for the second time, they spend nearly every second focusing on finding Josh and figuring out the secrets behind the fertility clinic. They have almost no personal conversations at all, yet somehow within a couple of days Pete is telling Lily how much he loves her and asking her to give up her entire life to get married and move to Montana with him. Really? They know virtually nothing about each other and suddenly they're both going to walk away from their companies to move to Pete's ranch in Montana? It didn't make any sense to me at all. Aside from the speed of their courtship, Pete was such an arrogant egomaniac that I couldn't figure out what Lily could possibly see in him. Lily herself was an afterthought for much of the story; other than one short chapter in the beginning of the book, the story is told from Pete and Josh's perspectives, with occasional glimpses into what's going through Tessie's mind. Even though she was supposed to be the story's female lead, I really didn't get to know Lily well enough to understand her character. The part of the story that featured Josh and the other children from the school was incredibly bothersome as well. First of all, Josh mentions several times that the Internet is his life. Why on earth would the people in charge of the human testing program allow the children to access the Internet? Wouldn't they want to keep the kids cut off from the world so they wouldn't be able to tell anyone what was going on at the school? Second, Josh knew way too much about the outside world for someone who had been so isolated from it. Sure, his teachers probably told him a lot, but he still should have found it a lot more difficult to get along outside of the school. Third, what was the author thinking when she decided that Josh should start talking to ghosts? I nearly quit reading right then and there because it was just so out of left field. I'm really not sure why I kept reading since we already knew who was behind the fertility clinic and that they were using the children as human lab rats. I guess I just couldn't stand the thought of not finishing what I had started. I should have saved myself the time and aggravation because the story only went downhill from there. Overall, I would not recommend this book for anyone. Thank goodness I was able to find it at the library because I would feel incredibly ripped off if I had actually paid money to read it. I've read a few books by Fern Michaels in the past and don't remember them being so poorly written. Either it's time for her to retire or the other books I've read were so bad that I've blocked them out of my mind. In any event, I won't be picking up anything else of hers in the future.

Review # 2 was written on 2010-05-16 00:00:00 Bruiser Larue 2.5 stars PG-rating-equivalent: Everything more than the merest kissing takes place "off camera", and though there is pre-marital sex, it is clear that they'll be getting married just as soon as the Horrifying Mystery is cleared up and they have enough time to put together a Spectacular Wedding Event. A fun read, but chock-full of plot holes and stuff that makes you go "whuh?!" SPOILERS BEGIN HERE * S P O I L E R S * Ok, so Pete and Lily both feel guilty about their donations. But really, the implication that EVERY donor did makes no sense. And neither does the degree of guilt before they know what's going on. Plenty of people donate sperm or eggs without the slightest twinge. Neither seems to be guilt-susceptible in general. So yeah, that didn't work for me. But the biggest issues were with the whole we're-breeding-guinea-pigs scenario. In the US?!? And then doing what, using them as test subjects (with no signed waivers, and with underage subjects) and submitting the results to the FDA? Obviously that wouldn't work, so this must be before the "real" FDA tests . . . so HOW does this help them get back on top? And given the high rate of med-taking noncompliance among their subjects (at least 3 of about a dozen), not the most reliable studies, anyway. Now, selling organs in black markets overseas, that I might have bought. ;) Also, they both went from can't-pay-college-tuition to truly-SHOCKINGLY-rich? Oh, come ON. :P And don't get me started on the ghosts.