Looking for Mr. Goodbunny

by Kathleen O'Reilly

Her ideal lover is reliable, silent, and always leaves her satisfied...

Elle Sheffield wasn't always Elle Sheffield, life coach. Elle Sheffield used to be Elle Shields, with a painful high school past, a traumatic family secret, and a go-nowhere tech support career. Now she's re-created herself and found her true calling: guiding women to overcome their obstacles and fulfill their dreams. And speaking of fulfillment, Elle gets hers...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0743499417
• ISBN13: 9780743499415
• Release Date: July 2006
• Publisher: Gallery Books
• Length: 320 Pages
• Weight: 0.60 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 5.4" x 8.3"

Customer Reviews

fun read

Life coach Elle Sheffield is better at fixing her clients' lives than her own, but she was hanging in there, until her trusty Mr. Bunny vibrator dies. You wouldn't think that would be the end of the world, but it's just the start of a chain of events that leads her to making a deal with the devil... or her high school nemesis Leah, which is close enough. See, Leah knows someone who knows someone, and promises she can get Elle's fledgling business a profile in the Times, which would translate to more clients, more money, and quite possibly, solvency for Elle. Complicating matters is Harvey, Leah's ex-husband and father of her daughter. Leah wants Harvey back. Harvey wants Elle. But Elle needs to stay on Leah's good side to get the profile. Rounding out the story is Elle's eclectic group of clients: the submissive housewife, the abrasive 20-something, the widow who's just beginning to date again. There are a lot of very amusing scenes, as well as some emotionally affecting ones. Both Elle and Harvey grow and change during the book, with their romance as a result rather than a cause--always a good thing. Also excellent is that Elle is in her 40s. I enjoyed the book very much, but it didn't quite grab me deep down. Part of that is that I didn't quite get the life coach concept--how 3 clients that Elle seems to just hang around with and give very general advice to can pay enough to support her is beyond me. I also wasn't particularly impressed with Elle's advice or insights. Instead of a career, it seemed more like a scheme to make money without actually doing anything. I enjoyed the irony of Elle trying to fix her clients' lives while her own is such a mess, but on the other hand, it felt dishonest to me. Bottom line: I had fun with this book, but I liked it more when I didn't think about it too much.

Faust enters the chick lit realm

In Manhattan, forty-two years old Alle Sheffield gave up on cads over a decade ago. Her late night companions in her Upper East Side "Castle" are Letterman and Mr. Goodbunny, especially the latter, an expert on providing females with orgasms without unreasonable demands except for buying him batteries. However, as she struggles to become a life coach without her clients like Barbara, Tanja, and Joan killing her, crisis strikes in her life. Her father is being paroled after a stint behind bars, but that is minor league; her high school reunion is coming up soon and she is without a date and not much of a career so far, but that too is also minor league compared to the world shattering grief she suffers. Mr. Goodbunny just died leaving her to mourn the loss of her companion of almost a decade; finding a replacement vibrator will be nearly impossible as American craftsmanship now comes from China and she can't speak the language. She thinks of committing heresy and an insult to the memory of her deceased hero Mr. Goodbunny by trying a man this time. LOOKING FOR MR. GOODBUNNY is an amusing satirical chick lit tale starring an odd heroine who has her priorities in some sort of chaotic order. Fans will enjoy the irony that Alle is a life coach when she struggles to make sense of her own life, which in her mind provides her experience to go along with her training certificate. A strong support cast including the title character and a delightfully wacky queen of chaos star make for a fun tale that will send sub-genre readers seeking Kathleen O'Reilly's Faust enters the chick lit realm tale THE DIVA'S GUIDE TO SELLING YOUR SOUL. Harriet Klausner