Be Frank with Me

by Julia Claiborne Johnson

[Leigha]

A young woman, Alice, sets out to help a writer with her book, but finds herself a babysitter to Frank instead.

I picked up this audiobook during my library's Blind Date with A Book display in February. I'm torn on rating it. On one hand, I absolutely enjoyed the charming Frank. His characterization is outstanding, and the audiobook's narrator does a marvelous job bringing him to life. On the other hand, he's the only reason I'm not giving this book a lower rating.

I guess my biggest issue is with the main character, Alice. She never has a day off once arriving in Hollywood, and she is treated poorly by Mimi and Frank. Her motivations for staying for several months to "help" do not seem legit. Additionally, I never really got to know Alice. Her characterization is stunted compared to Frank and Mimi. I wanted to get to know her and root for her. Her romance with Xander pretty much summed up my thoughts of her as a character - pointless.

I ultimately feel let down. If you're interested in this book, I suggest listening to the audiobook. The narrator is absolutely fabulous, especially during the dialog exchanges between Alice and Frank. However, the rest of the story (for me at least) falls pretty flat.

tl;dr Absolutely phenomenally narrated audiobook about a charming young man and his mom's assistant.