pretty cute for chick lit, nothing earth shattering. ( )

Practive Makes Perfect
4 Stars

As lawyers in the same firm, Payton Kendall and J.D. Jameson, have kept their mutual dislike secret by avoiding each other for eight years. Payton resents J.D.'s privileged background and easy charm in a male-dominated profession while J.D. is irritated by Payton's feminist views and contemptuous attitude. Then a new client forces them to put aside their differences, and their animosity quickly turns to attraction. But the revelation that they are competing for the same partnership position puts them at odds again. Can they put aside their rivalry to find happiness together?

It is impossible to ignore the similarities between this book and The Hating Game by Sally Thorne. Yes, James's story was published earlier, but Payton and J.D. cannot hold a candle to Lucy and Josh's hilariously snarky banter and intense chemistry. That said, there are some decidedly funny moments during Payton and J.D.'s prank wars, and their romance is ultimately entertaining despite a couple of rocky moments.

J.D. is not at all appealing in the beginning, mainly due to his chauvinistic perception of women and one particularly egregious comment. However, he does redeem himself, and his obvious love for Peyton makes it impossible not to forgive his initial asshattery. In contrast, Peyton is delightful from the start. She is intelligent, confident, and resourceful and handles her feud with J.D. without resorting to cruel or mean-spirited attacks. They have a strong emotional connection and solid chemistry despite the almost fade-to-black sex scene.

Overall, an entertaining read with an engaging couple, and the resolution to the conflict is very satisfying. ( )

Well the only redeeming thing about this book is that I realized in hindsight I could count the terrible thing towards Kill Your Darlings. There is something silver on the cover, the douche-bag hero's cuff-link. Bah to this terrible book.

I have really enjoyed Julie Jame's FBI/US Attorney series and stupidly thought this was a book that was part of that universe. Nope, this is part of a two book series she did and I guess she threw in the towel in. This book was initially published back in 2009. I suppose she thought this was her clever take on Pride & Prejudice. Nope. Not even a little. Besides profoundly mis-understanding Elizabeth and Darcy it seems, I don't think Darcy went around telling their boss that he banged her on his desk and then goes, but hey I realized I did that cause I loved you. I would have grabbed this fool by the tie and choked him out If I didn't think he would have enjoyed it.

Sorry, I just don't have a lot of patience with romance books like this these days. I want some romance and some chemistry. But I hate/loathe romance books that have strong women just going along with a man treating them like crap. What gets me is that I don't think the hero (JD) changes at all in the end. He still has appalling as hell views of women/equality/liberals and the heroine (Payton) I don't see putting up with that in the end.

"Practice Makes Perfect" has two rival attorneys Payton and JD doing their best to one up each other. It's been 8 years since they met/started working together and they are both on the partner track at their firm. When a high stakes case comes their way, the two are thrown together. When they are both told due to plot reasons (seriously though) that the firm can only offer one person under 40 a partnership that year, the two of them are now in direct competition.

Payton is developed more than JD in my opinion. I do wish though that James had followed up a bit more with the fact that Payton's father (who has nothing to do with her) came from money and maybe had some conversations with her best friend/mother about it. I don't know, it just pops in the story and pops back out. She also is dating a very nice guy named Chase, but hey, he doesn't treat her like dirt so she goes around saying something is missing there.

JD sucks. He comes from a wealthy family and his father is a judge. His views on women would serve him well in this new world we seem to find ourselves increasingly these days. I will say this, JD would fit right in with those guys suing Google claiming them being white and male they are being discriminated against.

‘Forty Women to Watch Under 40,’ ” J.D. emphasized. “Tell me, Payton—is there a reason your gender finds it necessary to be so separatist? Afraid of a little competition from the opposite sex, perhaps?”

I have met some JD's in my life. I have so far managed to not bludgeon any of them to death.

“. . . how do you think it would go over if the magazine ran an article called ‘Forty Men to Watch Under 40’?” He took the liberty of answering for her. “You and your little feminista friends would call that discrimination. But then isn’t that, per se, discrimination? Shouldn’t we men be entitled to our lists, too?”

That's the other thing that drives me nuts about this character, he doesn't even get how far up his own ass he is.

"J.D. ignored the sarcasm. “The playing field isn’t level—that’s the problem. Now maybe you’re comfortable accepting that, but I’m not. You know as well as I do that these days, if a man and a woman are equally qualified for a position, the woman gets the job. It’s this socially liberal, politically correct society we live in. Men have to be twice as good at what they do to remain competitive in the workplace. Women just have to stay in the race.”

Expletive you.

"He pictured her place as being a tad . . . plebian. That probably wasn’t the most politically correct way to say it. What word did liberals prefer nowadays? Granola? Organic? In reality, however, Payton was none of those things. In fact, if she never spoke, one might actually think she was quite normal."

I call it now. These two marry and eventually divorce.

“See, you just don’t understand women the way I do, J.D. They want it all: a career, apple martinis, financial independence, great shoes; but at the same time—and this they’ll never admit—they are drawn to patriarchal men who are dominant and controlling. That’s the essence of the Darcy complex. He may be an asshole, but he’s an asshole that gets the girl in the end.”

Somewhere Jane Austen just gave Tyler and JD a middle finger.

Seriously the whole book was JD just being a jerk and Payton being drawn to him cause he's attractive. When the inevitable sex scene happens I yawned. The only interesting that James had going for with this book was who would get the partnership, but she gets rid of that over some 11th hour BS I love you thing and then these two fools dance off happily into the sunset. ( )

This book isn't going to change anyone's life but it was a quick, fun read - and I really enjoyed it. It was funny, witty and had both a female and a male character that were fully flushed out which is rare to find in these types of books. This is the first Julie James novel I've read and I'd feel confident in seeking out another. ( )

Solid writing, setting and jargon feel really credible, characters and their backstories well-sketched out such that they feel complex enough to be real. The romance plot actually felt like a secondary point. It was really about the dynamic between the two MCs changing because of how they each evolved individually when they took a chance and allowed themselves to think: What if I was wrong about this person?

Actually this as a modern Pride and Prejudice (with a touch of Beatrice and Benedick) sort of works. Good job.

I was talking about it with a friend and we agreed that it would make a good movie. ( )