Cat Johnson Braves Doll Lil’s Word Association Challenge!

Author: Susan Elizabeth Phillips
Title: The Great Escape
Release: July 10,2012
Series: Wynnette Texas #7
Reviewer: Noa
Source: Personal Library
Purchase: | Book Depository
Where do you run to when your life has fallen apart?

Lucy Jorik is a champ at never embarrassing the family she adores—not surprising since her mother is one of the most famous women in the world. But now Lucy has done just that. And on her wedding day, no less, to the most perfect man she’s ever known.

Instead of saying “I do” to Mr. Irresistible, Lucy flees the church in an ill-fitting blue choir robe and hitches a ride on the back of a beat-up motorcycle plastered with offensive bumper stickers. She’s flying into the unknown with a rough-looking, bad-tempered stranger who couldn’t be more foreign to her privileged existence.

While the world searches for her, Lucy must search for herself, and she quickly realizes that her customary good manners are no defense against a man who’s raised rudeness to an art form. Lucy needs to toughen up—and fast.

Her great escape takes her to his rambling beach house on a Great Lakes island. Here, she hopes to find a new direction . . . and unlock the secrets of this man who knows so much about her but reveals nothing about himself. As the hot summer days unfold amid scented breezes and sudden storms, she’ll also encounter a beautiful, troubled beekeeper; a frightened young boy; a modern-day evil queen; and a passion that could change her life forever.

This is really a very hard review for me to write; one might say it is part 2 of the review I wrote for the last Susan Elizabeth Phillips book – Call Me Irresistible. This actually makes sense since The Great Escape actually happens parallel to Call Me Irresistible.

That’s where we met Lucy Jorik (the grown up version) who was about to marry Ted (the hero of Call me Irresistible) but she fled the wedding … and now we learn what happened to Lucy.

Why is it hard for me to write? Well, I love Susan Elizabeth Phillips books and after the disappointment of Call Me Irresistible I was hoping that Lucy’s book would bring back the magic…sadly not the case. Like Call Me Irresistible something was just missing.

Lucy, daughter of the former president of the united states (also a previous SEP heroine) runs out on her wedding only to find Panda (yes, Panda AKA Patrick) waiting on his motorcycle outside and offering her a ride. So what does she do? Get on his bike of course! He then acts as obnoxiously as possible to try and get rid of her (Lucy, would this not be a good time to question why he agreed to take you for a ride?) and after a bit of a road trip…and a few other things I won’t disclose for spoiler purposes, he drops her off at the airport and tells her its time to get back to her real life and stop running away. He also tells her why he picked her up to begin with.

What does Lucy do next? Find out where he lives, break in and move into his home. Yeah, really, she does that. Now, what would we call a man that did that? Yup, that’s what I thought.

Now, as this is a Susan Elizabeth Phillips story, there was still wonderful dialogue, and there was a supremely engaging cast of supporting characters but this time, it just wasn’t enough to save the story.

I usually love Susan Elizabeth Phillips heroines. In fact, last time around I thought Meg (the heroine of Call Me Irresistible) should have just forgotten all about Ted and left the town. This time, I thought Panda needed to get Lucy out of his house pronto. Maybe by calling some secret service guys to take her away, I hear they like to party…

To me, The Great Escape felt like a “How not to act when you have a breakdown” book.

See Lucy run out of wedding without first talking to groom? Don’t do that.
See Lucy completely ignore her family’s concerned calls, and fail to even apologize to groom in person? Don’t do that.
See Lucy get on complete stranger’s bike though she should know better? Don’t do that….
And well, the list is endless! She decides to go goth, she decides to act like a teenager, and most importantly – she fails to ever ask Panda about his own issues. Ever.

Yes, there were good points… but just not enough. And then there’s the ending; I can’t and won’t spoil but I will say this: Any heroine that does to Panda what Lucy did does not deserve a happy ending. She deserves to be put in the naughty corner – a fitting punishment for childish behavior.

I would still recommend Susan Elizabeth Phillips books – there are so many that I adore, and are on my keeper shelf – The football series, Ain’t She Sweet, but the last two books will not be joining them.

Noa first fell in love with books when she discovered 100 acre wood and its inhabitants. To this day, the last pages of “The House at Pooh Corner” make her cry. In a good way. From“Calvin and Hobbes” to “The Iliad and the Odyssey” and lets not forget “Martha Stewart’s Cupcakes”. Biographies, mysteries, history books and romances all have a place on her bookshelves. Who needs furniture? This 29 year old singleton’s dream is to invent the zero-calorie chocolate. But until that day arrives, she tries to create sweet confections with whatever chocolate she can find. An MA in conflict studies (need a mediator?) means Noa loves a good debate, especially when she wins. If she were in charge, books would be free for everyone.

Doll Noa

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