Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I was sucked in by the four and five star reviews - never again. I expected the author, having published thirteen previous books (how?), would have had an editor or at least a reliable reader. The book had multiple printing mistakes (omitted words, double words, etc, which leapt off the page at me. However, my ultimate favorite was Bernie's love iterest, at an outdoor Hawaiian party in February in Philadelphia, wearing a peach hyacinth behind his ear. I've never seen a peach hyacinth, but if there is one, I can't quite imagine how anyone could have it dangling from their ear. I'm pretty sure the author meant a peach hibiscus. The heroine is the least appealing human being I've ever read. Let's see, how to describe her: pathetic, irresponsible, unreliable, gluttonous, self-pitying, self-righteous, self-important, irrational, and with a seemingly unlimited capacity to be nasty and unforgiving. The dog was likeable, Bernie was not. When she wasn't tormenting her grief-stricken brother, attacking clerks at the mall, neglecting her recently widowed mother, or angering her life-long friend, she was crying and wallowing through most of the book and feeling sorry for herself. That any of these people loved her was a complete mystery. I was happy her husband had left her. He deserved a far better life. The book of crytograms her father left her had been a reason I bought the book, as the teaser seemed to infer there was some family mystery to it - but no, not even that. It was merely random motivational quotes.