About Books #14: That Kind of Girl

So last week I wrote a review on What a Girl Wants, by Kate Perry. Basically: I loved it, so you can imagine I was pleasantly surprised when I realised there was actually a sequel. What’s more: it focussed on George, the best friend I liked so much in the first book. Naturally, I had to go and get my hands on That Kind of Girl – and here’s my review!

Plot

You just gotta love Goodreads for this bit, right?

“With grease under her fingernails, wild hair and unfortunate overalls, mechanic George Connolly is hardly your quintessential San Francisco girl. Loss and tragedy have distanced her from sensuality and femininity.

Enter Remy Savage, a sexy mysterious artist with a tragic past looking for love in all the wrong places. When he’s commissioned to paint a mural on George’s garage, he decides he’s found his tango partner—for life. But can her get her to let go of her past and strap on a pair of tango shoes?”

Now, this outline of the plot is taking quite some liberty with the actual storyline. For one thing, Remy Savage’s not so much commissioned to paint a mural on George’s garage. He’s actually send to her by her mother who thinks they would be perfect for dancing the tango together. He’s also not so much looking for love in all the wrong places, as he has just sort of closed of his heart completely after his wife died.

That doesn’t take away from the fact that these two end up having your classic “I don’t want to be in to you and you don’t want to be in to me, then why do we find ourselves… dancing the tango together“.

Well, kind of, anyways 🙂

There’s actually a second couple being formed in the background of this story. What’s more: it’s couple that I also found myself rooting for! More on that in the characters-section!

Characters

George Connolly is actually called Georgina. As she keeps reminding people, though: calling her by that name will most likely get you hurt. She inherited a garage from her grandfather, who also raised her. Now, however, she finds herself struggling to figure out which direction she wants to take it – the garage, as well as her life.

It’s her attempts at finding this new direction that leads to her thinking Remy Savage is actually a painter, commissioned to create a mural for her garage. When she figures out he’s not that, but rather a dancepartner-with-greetings-from-her-mother, she’s understandably less than enthousiastic.
Then again, Remy isn’t really jumping at the chance to move on with his life either. After all, he loved his wife wholeheartedly, and is sure he’ll never love anyone (like that) again. Cue George, naturally.

Finally, there’s Dana – after getting divorced, she’s found a job she actually thrives at. Then, just as she’s about to be good at it to the extent that she’s going to get a bonus, she’s fired. Her attempts at getting what her due, see her interacting with all the other characters in Fillmore & Greenwich, as well as facing her ex-husband, new friends, and the very cute lawyer from the company that just fired her.

Again, I find myself mentioning the “background characters”, because again, they are – to some extent at least – what really made the book speak to me. They added colour, fun details and just a general depth to the book that I thoroughly enjoyed.

Overall: 4/5

I would definitely recommend you to read What a Girl Wants first, although this one could definitely be read as a stand-alone as well. Either way, if you’re looking for a book that will have you smiling, rooting for the characters and that will lighten up your day just that bit? This might just be the one for you!

If you do want to give this one a try now, you can find it at Kobo or most other ebook-stores!

-Saar