book 5

Been There, Done That by Carol Snow
270ish pages (I forget!)

As I understand, Been There, Done That is the debut novel by Carol Snow.  I've read one or two of her other books, and I enjoyed them, so when Amazon recommended others, I gobbled them up.  I really enjoyed this book.  It was not as predictable as I'd expected (although there were no huge surprises).  I didn't want to put it down.  The book had just enough characters to be interesting, but not so many as to where you lose track of who is who in the overpopulation.  The premise is not entirely believable, but it is *somewhat* believable.  I am incredibly good at suspending disbelief, though, when reading.

Been There, Done That is the story of a 32 year old journalist named Kathy.  Previously, she had been in an 11 year relationship with this dude Tim, who reappears when he gets a lead about a supposed prostitution ring at a liberal arts college in the suburbs of Boston, MA.  Since Kathy can easily pass for a teenager, Tim asks her to go undercover at the school to see if she can find out the skinny on the ring and break a huge story.  She enrolls in the college and the story follows her through about eight weeks.  She meets some interesting people and gets to live the life of a college freshman with the wisdom of a 30-something.  I think this was a very interesting premise, though there is definitely more that could have been done.  I am not holding this against the book, though, because overall, it may have added to the density and changed the story.

Carol Snow is a great writer with some very nice ideas, and I am looking forward to reading more of her novels as soon as possible!  In fact, I have two more at home (though I have them a little spaced on my list so as not to either OD on Snow or run out if they're amazing!)

Been There, Done That comes highly recommended by me for my usual recommended group: people who enjoy a breezy, if not fluffy, read for an escape or on vacation.  There isn't much to not like about this novel!