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Pick Me Up

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Introducing this season's most delightful new heroine.

Yesterday Izzy was a happily single, full-fledged New York gallerista, selling hundred-thousand dollar paintings, and in line for a whopping promotion. Today? The ancient owner of the gallery dropped dead, leaving Izzy's entire professional future in the hands of the new owner, Avery Devon. And if all goes right, her personal future as well. Because if there's one thing Izzy is well-acquainted with, it's the fine art of love.

280 pages, Paperback

First published June 6, 2006

4 people are currently reading
507 people want to read

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Zoe Rice

9 books11 followers

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5 stars
92 (19%)
4 stars
163 (34%)
3 stars
156 (32%)
2 stars
41 (8%)
1 star
23 (4%)
Displaying 1 - 30 of 47 reviews
Profile Image for casey.
228 reviews
July 3, 2007
I really liked this book. It is about a girl who works in an Art gallery, and the owner of the gallery dies and they hire a new dealer. It is a light book, very easy to read. And of course it has a happy ending.
Profile Image for Preet.
3,383 reviews233 followers
June 20, 2011
This is one of the few books I've read set in the art world that I've actually enjoyed. Isabel Duncan is a 27 year old up for a promotion at the Emerson Bond Gallery, when the owner of the gallery dies. Isabel, is better known as Izzy to her friends and family. She's been hurt many times in love and has decided not to trust any male, yet she can't stop herself from daydreaming about potential mates. There's Avery Denton who's going to be the new dealer for the gallery, and Isabel's new boss. And then there is the irreverent artist Grady Cole, who she manages to offend at a subway station, before she knows he's the new artist they will be showcasing. This leads to some discomfort and antagonism between them, and it shows!

I'm a fan of women who are able to give as good as they get. Isabel's a darling with her blushes and rapid imagination, but with Grady she's able to zing him with her sarcasm. Her best friends Jamie and Dix are also given fair air time, although I do feel like Dix wasn't given full justice. All of the characters were written very well. I like how knowledgeable Isabel was about her job and how much she loved it. I also liked how Isabel dealt with her pesky cousin Mimi and the journey in self discovery she took.

I do wish there were more books by Zoe Rice to read. Unfortunately, this is the only one! Please write more!
Profile Image for Sophie.
15 reviews
August 8, 2021
Pick Me Up is an artsy, romance novel by Kate Lace who writes about Izzy, a girl with her dream job working in an art gallery hoping to get a promotion to work her way up to having her own art gallery one day. In order to get her promotion though, Izzy must work to please her new, amazingly handsome boss Avery, all the while keeping sarcastic yet charming artist Grady happy when promoting his work for the gallery. Izzy thinks that she has found the love of her life with Avery, but is he as innocent as he makes himself out to be? And will Grady surprise Izzy with secrets that show his true colours?

Firstly, I loved how the characters of this book were all incredibly memorable. The characters were all developed really well, and the main character in particular was not your average female romance protagonist which was quite different but nice to see. I felt that the bond between Izzy and Grady was developed really smoothly, and there were parts about Grady that made the book quite interesting. I also felt that the ending of the book came to a really nice conclusion; it was nice to see everything come together!

My reason for only rating this book two stars was the fact that I felt that the entirety of the plot was overall quite slow-paced and not too enjoyable to read. I found myself getting quite bored in some parts, and the book definitely had a rocky beginning. However, once the book was over halfway I did find that I began to enjoy it more, and that the plot did pick up the pace a bit, which was a shame though as most of the book had already passed by at this point.

Whilst I wasn't too keen on this particular book, I would highly recommend this to any art lovers as I feel as though this would be right up your street. I wonder if maybe the fact that the majority of the book had a lot to do with art and the fact that it was pretty much the main discussion of the book was what lost my interest seeing as I'm not a huge fan of art in the first place.

I do think that this book is quite an easy read, however, and it is definitely a light-hearted chick-lit that people will most likely enjoy. I can guarantee that everyone will fall in love with the characters in this book!
5 reviews
April 10, 2021
It’s a really funny story, in my opinion. The central romance is your typical “enemies”-to-lovers trope but with an extra twist that I appreciated. I mostly enjoy this book for the voice of the author, which is quirky and fun while displaying a good sense of humor.
2,421 reviews6 followers
April 3, 2021
I’d have liked it a lot more if it had just been a bit shorter.
Profile Image for Krystal.
217 reviews
January 22, 2008
I'm so annoyed. The fifth book that is leaving me with this depressing question: Have I lost the ability to pick up a good book? The plots usually sound, if not ingenious, at least intriguing enough to pick up. These books on my currently reading list are inane fluff that can't seem to properly lasso a great dialogue or flowing action. I haven't become so disgusted by any of them enough to relegate them to the "probably won't finish" shelf, but I'm fast approaching that threshold.
A book that might have been cute if things flowed better and the author didn't have this slow descent to "pure romance" book. The friendships could have been a great story, and instead they're explained in inconsequetial asides. GRrr...I need a good book.
Dix, one of the friends, would have been a great story. Unfortunately, the book didn't do anything well, so Dix remained on the periphery.
All in all this book was wasted effort.
Profile Image for Hawley.
461 reviews13 followers
February 15, 2010
I stumbled upon this book in a rush at the library, and was attracted to the fact that it seemed light and cheery overall, with an art history slash modern art bent (due to the main character working for a gallery). I really enjoyed the character development and the story's ability to bring me into it. I read it in 3 days, just because it's such an easy, entertaining, enjoyable read. I recommend it for someone who just wants a fun, good read - closer to the "summer reading" genre, but written by a yale graduate!
15 reviews
May 4, 2010
I persisted and was rewarded at the end. What I like about this book is that we finally have a protagonist who is truly intelligent or at least book-smart. She knows her work well and she is very cultured. However she is not that street-smart and far too gullible when it comes to men. I love her best girlfriend (who is so damn supportive, edgy and cool!) and her gay boss, Freddie. I absolutely abhor the day-dreaming episodes and would have loved to read more about the interactions between the protagonist and Grady. Definitely looking forward to more Zoe Rice.
Profile Image for Rosina.
665 reviews13 followers
October 11, 2016
I've not had much luck with the Little Black Dress books I've picked up in the past. They've mostly turned out to be romance novels but I've still put them on my chick-lit shelf.

This book though...this was actually a great piece of chick-lit.

The characters were great, the writing was lovely and I devoured this book so quickly. It was so nice to read some American chick-lit when most of the stuff I read is British. Which isn't a problem but sometimes I'm just in the mood for New York.

A great book.
20 reviews1 follower
August 2, 2008
This was another cute chick lit fast read. My only disappointment in the book was the fact that the only decent guy was Cole, with the exception of the gay boss and the groom at the cousin's wedding (who we only met in passing). It kind of bums me out that there couldn't have been one other available guy who stayed decent throughout the entire book. Maybe I'm asking too much of a lite read, though. Otherwise, I enjoyed the tone and the attitude quite a bit!
155 reviews
October 30, 2010
Izzy Duncan's about to get a huge promotion but everything goes wrong. First Emerson Bond dies, then Izzy accidentally offends her next star artist, and then her love life takes a turn for the worse. Things start to look up when Izzy finds out her boss just might be her dream man, but then she discovers that the new boss has some secrets. Jamie is Izzys best firend who writes a newspaper column about pick up lines. Every chapter starts with a pick up line.

117 reviews5 followers
February 8, 2013
I had low expectations for this book. In fact, it kicked around in the trunk of my car as a "book to have on hand in case I get stuck somewhere" for a few months.

But I finally started to read it and then raced through it. What a delightful read. The characters are a little eccentric and a little zany but easy to sympathize with and to cheer.

Loved it.
1,150 reviews8 followers
November 11, 2022
Gallery assistant loses joy of her work when beloved owner dies, new owner fires director and takes gallery in extreme art. She finds new direction and love.
Pick me Up Rice, Zoe 4 F Art NYC art gallery asst. Until owner dies & family make changes new "artist" gets close & new director crazy 2015 4/1/2015
Profile Image for Danette.
99 reviews34 followers
July 15, 2007
I love the occasional chick-lit book, but this one horrible. I forced myself through half of it and then wondered why I was torturing myself when I have so many other great books on my list to read.
Profile Image for Sharon.
597 reviews
April 15, 2009
Could have been better if the author had actually done some research and found that Australia and Britain are two separate countries on opposite sides of the world to each other. Could not understand why one character who was Australian was described as having a Robbie Williams type accent!
Profile Image for Andrea.
48 reviews
November 21, 2010
Lovely! Kept me constantly wondering about the ending. Quite unpredictable. Makes a good change.
Characters not completely developed. But then again, maybe that was the point-for reader to figure out himself.
Profile Image for Jaclyn.
12 reviews
December 21, 2013
Although it was predictable, and the plot kind of reminded me of P&P, I did enjoy the build up and the whole art scene. Just wish more time was spent on the relationship part and less on the quirky friends.
Profile Image for Mariam.
27 reviews
June 24, 2020
I thoroughly enjoyed this book. it kept me glued to it, there were many ocassions where I wasn't expecting something to happen, which makes it a plus. it was very descriptive too so I would recommend you read it if you're into young adult reads.
Profile Image for Paula.
167 reviews
August 4, 2007
This was a cute easy read. The main character has an inner monologue that was really funny. It is a good vacation book, very light!
Profile Image for Mary.
1,519 reviews5 followers
January 15, 2009
This was perfect nonsense. Nothing serious, plot easily predictable, but a good fun easy read. Loved it. Okay perhaps three and a half stars but fun.
Profile Image for eRin.
702 reviews35 followers
April 17, 2008
More chick lit. Fun and brainless with a few laugh out loud moments. Totally predictable of course, but an enjoyable quick read.
32 reviews1 follower
November 16, 2008
Very predictable and sometimes drawn out but it was cute and a nice break from school stuff.
87 reviews6 followers
December 26, 2008
i really liked it. towards the end, i just wanted to finish. i knew there had to be some twist/catch i wasn't able to figure it. will definitely check out more books by this author.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 47 reviews

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