Fancy Pants Mass Market Paperback – June 3, 1991

I recently retired from a high stress job and now I find myself nearly nauseous when exposed to conflict. As a result, I rarely watch TV/news and immerse myself in “fluff”, feel good novels. …my therapy.It is not uncommon for me to leave a book in the middle. I dislike the graphic violence and gratuitous sex in so many of today’s novels. …and I confess, I skip most of the sex scenes – unnecessarily explicit, in my opinion.Reading Fancy Pants was such a conundrum for me! For the 1st half of the book, I didn’t like either character. Their situations and choices made me so uncomfortable, I’d walk away for a time & consider ending it. But they always drew me back – even if I didn’t want to return to their world. Yet once Frannie found her job, I was turning pages without interruption until the end. I find myself thinking about them as if they were real – I’ll buy a hard copy of the book (vs. Kindle) to add to my library.

Francesa is self-absorbed, spoiled, and pathetic in the first portion of the book, although I do think her turn-around is admirable. Dallie is gruff and rude, but I forgive him that when dealing with spoiled Francesa. I can't forgive that he remains an angry, self-destructive guy years later, even after getting sober. I didn't find it believable that Francesa's baiting of him to win would get the end result it did or that it would cause some sort of miraculous character reinvention. He's pretty awful to Francesa and his ex Holly.I'm giving this 3 stars, instead of 2 because Susan Elizabeth Philips is a great writer and she's not afraid to tackle emotional topics. Given that this book was writing way before #metoo, I think her handling of sexual abuse and how 2 young characters handled that was very well done. I didn't like the characters, but I thought that their actions were believable given their backgrounds (until Dallie at the end, who I don't believe would make a miraculous turnaround).Personally, I wouldn't recommend this book, but I would recommend this author, particularly the "Chicago Stars" series.

The book is told in flashbacks starting with Francesca's grandmother, her mother and how Francesca became spoiled and pampered her whole life. Yet, by the time she's twenty-one, she's down to her last quarter. Before she got to that last quarter, she got a ride from Dallie Beaudine, the golf player. Once they go their separate ways, Francesca finds out that in the land of opportunity hard work pays off. Phillip's brand of humor and wit keep the ball rolling. Her secondary characters play a big part in the stories plot and give added depth to the story. Francesca was not a character I really liked, but she learned her lessons well.

I first read this book when first released. I bought it again after I lent it and never got it back. This is my 4th time reading the adventures of Francesca and Dallie. The story does not get old. I love Susan Elizabeth Phillips' writing style. I felt like I was a friend of the characters and felt privileged to know them and be a witness to their story. This is a very complicated love story where the main characters grow and mature in a very satisfying way. I am now going to download the rest of the Wynette, Texas books and reaquaint myself with the other characters in "Fancy Pants." You will love this book. Enjoy!!

If you have not read a book by Susan Elizabeth Phillips, you're in for a treat with this one. She's got a wonderful sense of humor that comes through on all her books, but Fancy Pants is one of the best. Her description of the heroine in a pink antebellum dress had me laughing out loud in tears and it's her intro to the hero and his sidekick. I think I love the sidekick almost as much as the hero and heroine. And yet, even with the humor, she writes a thick juicy plot that is so different. A strong female heroine, good looking hero with a brain. Cannot recommend this book or the author enough.

FANCY PANTS is the first book in the Wynette, Texas series. It is the story of Francesca Day who is spoiled and self-absorbed when she comes to the United States to star in what she thinks is going to be an important film but turns out to be a B movie. In the process of running away, she meets Dallie Beaudine, a professional golfer who is surly and has dark demons. The two fight and argue and spar and end up lovers. It is not until ten years later, however, that the two end up resolving their romance.This is an epic story that covers over thirty years of history from Franscesca's parents and childhood to Dallie's first marriage. There are several characters that get a detailed history here. Phillips has complex stories as a standard, but this book was just too long for me. I kept feeling that there were sections that could have been excised so that the focus was clearer.I very much enjoyed the story of Francesca and Dallie and I ended up liking the characters even though they were rather unlikeable in the beginning. The book beautifully details the changes that Francesca especially goes through. Being an early book of Phillips, however, it does not fully reflect the finely crafted stories that she has told since.A particular like for me is the character of Dallie. I appreciated Phillips willingness to give her hero a weakness where he is so afraid of failure that he would rather not try. I think there is much truth in this character that makes his compelling and his ultimate victory so rewarding.If I read this again, I would probably skip portions of the book but I like the main storyline.

If history were to be determined by reviewing back copies of Hello magazine, it would have a not dissimilar result to this irreverent view of the irrelevant past.This book was first published in 1989 and world focus has shifted to such a degree that the satire might only be fully appreciated by the very old.Change is constant and fashion is fickle.

SEP's books are slowly winning me over, now I'm getting her situational sense of humour and the journeys the main characters go through before they live happily ever after. In this book the main characters are Francesca and Dallie, neither particularly likeable in the beginning of the book and Francesca pre-story a bit long IMHO. However, if you get past this part it's still a good read, the story flows, things keep happening and before you know it you're sucked in because you want to know how the author finally managed to the characters together. I also like a good strong heroine and Francesca grows a backbone - it's interestingly portrayed and quite realistic.I read this story as I enjoyed Ted's story in Call Me Irresistible which I enjoyed immensely.Probably not my favourite and one I wont revisit as it was a bit long but still enjoyable and I'm a sucker for books that belong to a series. Think SEP books are better though.A 3.5 stars if I could give one because I still enjoyed it.

First 30% of the book is the story of heroine's background, starting with her mother. Yes I get that we need to know heroine is rich, spoilt and pedigreed but I got really bored. The chirpy intro to the heroine mentioned on the book page doesn't occur until that far into the book. I didn't like anyone in this story and had a hard job crediting it was written by an author I loved. There should also be a note on the sale page that the book is set in the 70/80s and not contemporary. I wouldn't have bought it had I known.

Couldn’t warm to either lead character. Disappointing because I usually love SEP. I did love young Teddy though

Love this book and all the characters. It's the first on the wynette series. Love dallie and francesca and skeet. I've read it several times now over the years.