Books Tasted - Everything bookly (and a few other things)

Make Him Look Good is a book by Alisa Valdes-Rodriguez, author of the popular chick lit book The Dirty Girls Social Club. I picked up a hardcover copy of this 2007 book for $5 in the book store's bargain bin. It was not worth it.

The novel is about the women who are in some way involved with the Latin crossover singer Ricky Biscayne. This includes Milan, an obsessed fan who becomes his publicist, her sister Geneva, his wife Jasminka the pregnant model with a sad past, Irene the mother of his illegitimate child, and Jill Sanchez, a pop singer/dancer/movie star with whom Ricky is having an affair.

The characters are mostly unlikable and caricatures of real people. Milan seems to be the book's main heroine but she's pretty hard to stomach - like many protagonists in chick lit, she's constantly making stupid decisions.

As soon as you meet all the main characters, you can guess the ending (at least, you can guess who gets a happy one and with whom); it's just a matter of seeing how Valdes-Rodriguez gets them there. The denouement is completely unrealistic and silly, but draws almost all the women into one sphere together, a tidy little bundle.

The most ridiculous part of the book is the Jill Sanchez character, a clear parody of Jennifer Lopez, right down to Ben Affleck and Jennifer Garner characters. If the book was more popular, I'm sure JLo and especially Affleck would sue - the characterization is so obvious and extremely unflattering.

If you hadn't already guessed - I do not recommend Make Him Look Good. Check out her first couple of books instead.