Seeing Me Naked

by Liza Palmer

Elisabeth Page is the daughter of Ben Page, yes, that's right, THE world famous novelist. And yes, she's also the sister of Rascal Page, world famous novelist in his own right. So what does Elisabeth do? Much to her family's disappointment, Elisabeth is a pastry chef. And a pretty damn good one, at Beverly, the hottest restaurant in LA.
The last relationship Elisabeth had was with Will, a man she grew up with and whose family ran in the same social circles as her family. But Will's constant jaunts around the world have left her lonely and brokenhearted in L.A.
That is until Daniel Sullivan bids on one of Elisabeth's pastry tutorials at a charity auction. Daniel is everything her family is not: a basketball coach, a non-intellectual, his family doesn't summer on Martha's Vineyard, and the only metaphors he uses are about passing the ball and being a team player. But somehow they fit.
Between her family, Will, and the new cooking show that Elisabeth is recruited to star in, Elisabeth's life is suddenly incredibly new and different--the question is, can she embrace being happy or has her family conditioned her to think she's just not good enough?
Liza Palmer expertly depicts a woman trying to come to terms with professional success, personal success, and finally dealing with a family that might love her from the bottom of their heart but doesn't necessarily have her best interest always at heart.

Genres: Chick Lit, Fiction, Romance, Contemporary, Adult, Adult Fiction, Family

295 pages, Paperback

First published January 8, 2008

About the author

Liza Palmer is the internationally bestselling author of Conversations with the Fat Girl , which has been optioned for series by HBO.

Library Journal said Palmer’s “blend of humor and sadness is realistic and gripping,..”

After earning two Emmy nominations writing for the first season of VH1’s Pop Up Video, she now knows far too much about Fergie.

Palmer’s fifth novel, Nowhere but Home, is about a failed chef who decides to make last meals for the condemned in Texas. Nowhere but Home won the Willie Morris Award for Southern Fiction in 2013.

Liza's seventh novel, The F Word, came out through Flatiron Books April 25, 2017.

Liza lives in Los Angeles and when she's not drinking tea and talking about The Great British Bake Off, she works at BuzzFeed.

Reviews

[Susan's Reviews · Rating 5 out of 5]

I gravitate toward stories with complex characters who are a little lost, but hopeful of finding their way. Liza Palmer never fails to deliver for me!

Elizabeth Page is a world class pastry chef, working at an exclusive Los Angeles restaurant - much to the dismay of her critical, high profile, over-achieving father. Ben Page has won a Pulitzer for his war-time novels (a modern-day Hemingway) and her brother Rascal has also penned a literary best-seller.


Elizabeth is in a go-nowhere relationship with her childhood friend, Will when she meets basketball coach, Daniel. Daniel is everything Will is not: decent, athletic, kind and attentive. I wanted my own pocket Daniel by the end of this story. Yes, the glob-trotting reporter, Will, had all the complicated and unattainable allure of prickly exotic fruit, but Daniel was available, supportive, good natured and soooo romantic.

But all is not paradise: Elizabeth's wealthy background intimidates Daniel, who comes from a middle class background. There are some explosive moments as Elizabeth and Daniel forge their own path between the social elite of Los Angeles and Daniel's down to earth, adorable family.



Liza Palmer always delivers intelligent, well-crafted, realistic stories with less than perfect characters who evolve and learn to overcome their shortcomings. I bought my own copy and keep it close by: I've even put bookmarks in my favourite sections. This is a must-read for those of us who love character-driven stories. Highly, highly recommended!

[Keertana · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was quite pleasantly surprised by how different this novel is from Palmer's latest, Nowhere But Home. And yet, both novels are written beautifully, gripping and energetic in their depth. I love the voice of these narrators, so honest and raw, yet flawed too. Usually, once I've read at least two books by the same author, I can sense a pattern of sorts. With Liza Palmer, her writer's voice is present and very much there, but subtle. What truly shines, instead, with her works is her talent for capturing the hearts of many different types of protagonists and thoroughly ensuring that her readers are enmeshed in their struggles. Seeing Me Naked, much like my first Palmer novel, only managed to both impress me and delight me - a feat which is rare, but all the more rewarding just the same.

Elizabeth has always lived under the shadow of her father, the famous novelist Ben Page. In fact, her entire family has. Whether it be her older brother, Rascal, who also made it big in the writing industry, or simply herself, a pastry chef, none of the siblings have been good enough for Ben Page or quite been able to live up to his expectations. Nevertheless, despite the broken family that plagues her, Elizabeth is happy and content with her role as a chef in a famous restaurant in L.A. Until, that is, she is offered a new job, one she knows her father will be disappointed by. Until, that is, she meets Daniel, a basketball coach who forces her to re-evaluate everything she thought she knew about love. And, really, life itself.

Seeing Me Naked is such a beloved novel merely because it follows a woman who, for all intents and purposes, seems content with her life. Elizabeth is wealthy, she has a stable job, and she has a boyfriend who she sees rarely, but still one who understands her, loves her, and is always willing for some great sex when he's not traveling on work. Thus, to see Elizabeth wake up to the reality that is her broken family, her terrible boyfriend, and a job that really isn't fulfilling her as much as she thought is both a unexpected and needed surprise. From the beginning itself, though, Elizabeth is a heroine we cannot help but feel for and sympathize with. After all, there isn't anything much like a family dinner gone bad, a father flirting with her son's latest blonde toy, and an inevitable sense of loss to kick start a novel. Seeing Me Naked isn't, though, a story of depressed and broken families. Palmer strikes a perfect balance between the serious issues Elizabeth faces with her home life and the heady rush of romance she shares with Daniel.

And Daniel. I am a sucker for the sweet guys, not the alpha males, so Daniel immediately won my heart. After winning a set of free cooking lessons from Elizabeth, Daniel's shy demeanor in the kitchen wins our heroine over too. What I love about their romance is that it isn't filled with drama, but it isn't easy either. It isn't the main focus of the novel at all, but Daniel provides Elizabeth with a stability she never had in her last relationship and, furthermore, her shows her that the love she's used to seeing at home isn't the type of love she should settle for. Palmer's novels are all about character and all about growth, so the journey Elizabeth undertakes in pursuing her dreams and goals is one you can't help but root for. Additionally, the tender family moments in this, especially Elizabeth's strong bond with her older brother, made me love the book all the more. Palmer manages to capture family relationships in all their messy strength and flaws, a talent which few authors share, but which this author has in spades. Although I haven't been too interested by the synopses of Palmer's other novels, I don't doubt that I will be reading more - much more - of her in the future. Here is an author whose books are comfort, words are chocolate, and stories take on a life of their own. I don't need anything more.

[Ciara · Rating 1 out of 5]

to be fair, it probably deserves an extra half-star. i just can't go with the two stars because goodreads says that means i think the book is "okay" & i don't think it's "okay". this was crummy chick lit that deserves the "crummy" assignation. the protagonist is elisabeth, a pastry chef in los angeles. her father is a famous novelist who has won two pulitzers & hung around with jack nicholson & warren beatty back in their good ol' slipping-roofies-to-teenagers days. her brother, raskalnikov (rascal), also becomes a novelist. the book open at one of his readings, where the audience is all excited that their father is lurking around in the back of the crowd. their mother is a well-bred, extremely wealthy philantrophist & heiress. i was hoping for something fun, something escapist, something about the wealthy underbelly of privileged los angeleans. & what i got was tedium, boredom, navel-gazing, & characters i could not care about any less if you paid me.

i hoped elisabeth's restaurant scenes would be fast-paced, brisk, & full of food language that would make me want to cook. but even they were slow & boring! elisabeth is the head pastry chef at a fancy L.A. restaurant, & she knows that one of her assistants is hoping to get her job eventually. which...i couldn't bring myself to care. her boss seems like a drunk...& i didn't care. at one point he calls her "petite chien," which i think wa ssupposed to be a shocking moment which illustrates his disrespect for her, but...i didn't understand why she was still at the job after all this time if the dude was so frequently such a raging asshole.

i think the book started losing me when it introduced us to elisabeth's long-time "lover" (hate that word), will. he is described as having "yellow hair". what? who the fuck has YELLOW hair? is that supposed to sound remotely appealing? not long after, another contender for elisabeth's affections is introduced: former basketball player daniel sullivan. he is described as having "crayola brown" hair. again, how is in any way attractive? all i could see in my imagination was a stiff, lumbering lego man (because much is made of daniel sustaining a career-ending knee injury, so he "cracks & pops" when he sits down--hot?). he's also supposedly from lawrence, kansas, & many references to the jayhawks are made. the reader is informed that after daniel's injury, he started coaching the "city college" basketball team while waiting to get the nod to coach up at KU. nice effort on the basketball references, but lawrence doesn't have a "city college". i toyed with the possibility that the author meant maybe kansas city, but much was made of how daniel was a small-town kansas boy. so i think she just didn't know what she was talking about lawrence-wise.

i can't even get into the rest of the plot (familial dysfunction, TV show on the food network, love triangle, etc) because it was all so boring. daniel & elisabeth seemed to date for all of about a week & a half & she started thinking she was in love with him & he started getting mad when she bought a house without checking in with him first. they don't live together or share finances or anything, mind you. somehow this asshole just thought he should get to weigh in on his new girlfriend's property-buying decisions because they're "a team". fuck that noise. i'm a team with no one who isn't signing the mortgage with me. elisabeth actually APOLOGIZES for making a personal decision about her finances without consulting him--& i'm supposed to see this as step forward in emotional growth & maturity? ugh.

i could go on & on, but suffice to say: this book was a big disappointment.

[Bonnie G. · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a great vacation read (balanced as it was with The Crying of Lot 49.) Pure early aughts chick lit that somehow found its way to my bookshelves (I reach in and find mystery books pretty frequently.) Palmer is a good writer, and smart and funny. A lot of this is already dated, and the resolution of long brewing family dysfunction is way too rapid but it was moving and sweet and in a couple parts actually wise. It gave me all the feels while also making me laugh a lot. It was also a love letter to LA, which was nice to read. A high 3 that easily merits the round up to a GR 4.

[Christie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked this book. Nothing groundbreaking about the writing but I appreciated how the author went a different route with a love triangle situation and explored more of the internal struggle we all have about whether or not people will love us after they see us "naked", that is when we remove all the layers of self protection and allow them to see our true selves.

[Jake · Rating 5 out of 5]

Transcends Chick-Lit (men will love it as much as women)

First off, Palmer can write. Not 'construct a sentence, give us a few laughs', write, but 'weave emotion and detail and character with such style you're amazed she isn't a household name', write. This isn't fluff. This isn't the 'lost girl searching for the right guy,' although there is a bit of that. This is a novel in which character dynamics with family and friends are vivid and real. The dialogue is crisp and full of subtext that most readers will miss, thinking that, like many chick-lit novels, the characters are rather one-dimensional. The reason why this works is Palmer KNOWS how to write male characters, another rarity in this sub-genre. This alone elevates her prose to the point that male readers will enjoy the novel just as much as female readers.

Palmer now needs to pen a novel that goes beyond one member of the Page family. She knows these characters inside and out and it would be a shame if readers aren't treated to another helping of their wonderfully delicious family dysfunction.

[Sarah · Rating 5 out of 5]

Despite the two tiny inaccurate basketball terms, this was pretty freaking excellent.

[Jai · Rating 4 out of 5]

Review originally posted here

The Premise: Elisabeth Page is the pastry chef for a fancy restaurant in L.A. Her five-year plan was to one day open her own patisserie, but after the five years come and go, and then another five, Elisabeth wonders if that will ever happen. With a father who is world renowned novelist Ben Page, and a brother who is a publishing wunderkind, Elisabeth feels the pressure of unfulfilled expectations of her intellectual family. Her romantic life is no better than her professional one. Her relationship with Will, childhood-friend turned world-traveling journalist consists of a few nights of passion when Will breezes into town, then months of separation while Will is following a story. Then Daniel Sullivan wins the basket of pastries and private baking classes that Elisabeth donated to one of her mother's charity events, and Elisabeth's career begins to go in an unexpected direction. Can Elisabeth let go of her own expectations and try something different?

My Thoughts: I had to think a little bit to put Seeing Me Naked into a category. Even though this story has an obvious romantic arc, Seeing Me Naked is a lot more focused on Elisabeth and her personal growth than it is on the relationship to be a strict Romance. It does focus on a single woman and her career and relationship with her family but it isn't quite lighthearted enough to be put into chick lit (although there is some humor in it). I think the closest term might be "women's fiction", but that feels like it could be too big of an umbrella term. Really, this gave off the vibe of a mix between a literary novel and chick lit.

At first Elisabeth's life was rather bland and lonely. She lives alone in an apartment close to work, follows a set routine every day, and doesn't really socialize. Her life revolves around her stressful job making desserts at a high end L.A. restaurant with a tyrant for a boss. When she goes home to see her parents in wealthy Montecito, the dynamics there are similarly overshadowed by her father, a literary giant with a matching ego. While her high society mother (heiress to the Foster Family Fortune) is supportive of her children, Ben Page is a tougher, more critical parent. Dinner is a battle of wits and intellect with the great Ben Page presiding. As for her relationship with childhood friend Will, Elisabeth hardly sees him and is tired of them leading separate lives.

As we say our goodbyes in the foyer, I look around at all that defines me. The rubric for success in my family has always been about legacy--what imprint will you make on this world. I have tired to live by these standards all my life. Measuring success and love by the teaspoon, always falling short, the goal constantly out of reach. My five-year plan has become an unending road to nowhere, both professionally and personally.

Despite all this, Elisabeth wasn't actively trying to change her life. Instead she continued on while the stress made her stomach hurt. Elisabeth struck me as a steady type of character with a quiet creativity, a love of food, and gently sarcastic voice. But I was worried about a certain amount of ingrained judgementality she had. Maybe judgementality isn't the right word -- it was just that she seemed to have a self-imposed set of restrictions on herself and was trying to adhere to what she thought were her family's unspoken expectations. For example, it felt like there was an assumption of who she should be and who she should be with. Any relationship outside these parameters is assumed to be temporary, like all of her brother Rascal's "giant lollipop head" girlfriends. When regular guy Daniel enters the picture, he seemed to me like the most honest person in her life, but I wasn't sure that SHE saw that. I think that this first impression could turn some readers off. I'm thankful that the back blurb of this book hints that the story is about Elisabeth having "the guts to let others see her naked...and let them love her, warts and all" because that made me trust that this story would go to a better place. That, and the setting of the story which kept me interested by giving me fascinating glimpses into a life that's set in L.A. and revolves around food.

Seeing Me Naked takes its sweet time, but there is satisfaction in reading Seeing Me Naked all the way to the end. It's enjoyable to sit back while the nature of the characters is revealed organically, their dialogue and actions and Elisabeth's own reactions to them deftly sculpting clear personalities. And then there's Elisabeth's own character. She doesn't actively seek change, but Elisabeth is smart enough not to fight it when a good things fall onto her lap. And the best part is she works to keep these good things. If you can handle Elisabeth in her rut, you will be rewarded by a very cathartic last few pages. Where things ultimately go left me quite content.

Overall: I enjoyed this one but I can understand why this is an under-the-radar book. It's not quite literary fiction, not quite chicklit, and not just about self-discovery, but it has elements of all three, so it falls in a difficult to categorize place which can mean you're unsure as a reader what you're going to get. Also, the story doesn't start in the best point of Elisabeth's life and rolls forward quietly, without much fanfare -- so the reward of reading isn't immediate. It's much later in the story that the big gestures happen, so you have to be OK with waiting and watching characters grow, enjoying the way the writing builds the story layer by layer, experiencing food and L.A. through Elisabeth's eyes and trusting that things will get good. They do though.

[Chachic · Rating 4 out of 5]

Originally posted here.

Seeing Me Naked by Liza Palmer was a book recommended by Angie of Angieville and my copy was sent as a gift by Nomes of Inkcrush when I won her giveaway. I was craving for some contemporary romance reads along the lines of Unsticky by Sarra Manning and What Alice Forgot by Liane Moriarty so I asked Angie for suggestions and this was one of the titles that she mentioned.

I was pleasantly surprised when I discovered that Seeing Me Naked is so much more than its flirty title and cover. I have the UK edition with the white cover but I think I like the US edition with the yellow cover more because it's understated and less smexy. I was expecting a light and fun book crack that will go down just as easily as the milk tea drinks that I'm currently addicted to. What I got was something more complicated. Elisabeth's story deals with some weighty issues tied to her relationships with the people around her - her unusual family, her inconsistent childhood sweetheart and a guy that she just met named Daniel. Added to all that are her problems balancing her hectic schedule as the pastry chef in L.A.'s hottest restaurant. I have a cousin who's a pastry chef in L.A. and I know hard that kind of job is - staying on your feet the whole day while cooking delicious treats, not having holidays because those are actually the busiest days for restaurants and thriving in a highly competitive industry. Elisabeth's situation is no exception. She chose this career path because she wanted to stay away from her father's literary shadow. I'm a huge fan of pastries and desserts in general so that's one of the reasons why I was curious about this book.

I love that while Elisabeth's romance with Daniel is an essential part of the story, it doesn't necessarily take center stage. It's actually more subtle than the other relationships in Elisabeth's life. What she has with Daniel is what keeps Elisabeth calm and steady in an otherwise turbulent existence. It doesn't mean that their relationship is easy because they still had to resolve some issues but it was nice to know that Elisabeth could rely on Daniel. Even though Elisabeth tried to stay away from her father's profession, her whole family still has a huge influence over her. She craves for her dad's approval, she finds comfort in her mother's love and her brother Rascal is actually her closest friend. My favorite scene in the book is actually a pivotal moment for their family. I'm not going to spoil it but let me just say that it was the banquet towards the end of the book and that particular scene had me in tears. Like I said, I didn't expect to get emotional over Seeing Me Naked but I'm glad that it surprised me. For me, the mark of a good book is when it can make you feel like you're right there with the characters. I think it's great when you get to laugh and cry with them. After finishing this, my first thought was that I want to read more books like this. I'm going to look for Liza Palmer's other novels and I'm hoping that they will be just as good as this one. If you have similar suggestions, please let me know. Highly recommended for contemporary romance or women's fiction readers.

[Angie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another great Meg Cabot recommendation. Last time she led me to the funny and quirky novels in verse of Sonya Sones. Now I find myself completely immersed in Liza Palmer's second novel, laughing out loud, wiping tears from my eyes, as DH stares at me warily and scoots a bit closer to the far side of the bed. The title, cover, and marketing indicate your standard chick lit fare. But I found Seeing Me Naked to be a distinct cut above the rest.

Elisabeth Page is a pastry chef at the most exclusive restaurant in L.A. She chose the culinary arts as a way of escaping the overpowering influence of her father--a double Pulitzer prize winning Norman Mailor/Truman Capote/Ernest Hemingway composite. Elisabeth and her big brother Rascal (full name: Raskolnikov. Yeah.) have spent the majority of their privileged lives trying to get out from under dad's shadow. As a favor, Elisabeth donates a set of baking lessons at an auction for one of her mother's charities. Enter Daniel Sullivan: newly transplanted from Kansas assistant basketball coach at UCLA. Daniel bids on the lessons after Elisabeth rather snobbishly questions what a guy like him would do with baking lessons. And, just like that, we have a recipe for conflict. Elisabeth and Daniel have nothing in common and, after the first lesson, Daniel seems quite keen never to set foot in a kitchen again. But. He doesn't know who her father is. He's kind and funny and oh so far away from the cutthroat, upper crust, grin and bear it world Elisabeth has been living in. Plus (if she can manage to quash her knee jerk overeducated patrician reactions, aka Big If) he just might help take her mind off Will Houghton--her war correspondent boyfriend who she sees once every two years for one night at the most. A host of interesting and funny side characters fill Elisabeth's life and keep the story interesting.

This book is a treat from cover to cover. The characters are complex and carefully rendered. There is no black and white in the intricate web of family relationships they navigate. Difficult, messy, and painful as they are, Palmer shows how such relationships shape us, how influenced we are by our roots, and how, despite all this, we are still capable of becoming more than the sum of our parts and of allowing more people into our hearts than we thought they could hold. I look forward to checking out Palmer's first novel.

[Darnell · Rating 1 out of 5]

I first heard Liza Palmer on a podcast and I was immediately drawn to her brash attitude and humor. She seemed down-to-earth, and I assumed that earnest world-weary wit would be reflected in her writing. I was severely let down by the completely uninteresting characters of SEEING ME NAKED, perhaps the blandest book with the most provocative title and cover I've seen. This amounts to lazy chick-lit, where the character is put-upon because she can't decide whether or not she was offered do a TV SHOW because of her culinary talents or if she's just living in the shadows of her rockstar novelist father and brother. Yeah, I can relate. She also whines because her boyhood crush is a WAR CORRESPONDENT who's too busy traveling the world in the shit to listen to her nonsense. She then falls for someone with Crayola Brown hair but thinks he's declasse because he's just a basketball coach...FOR UCLA!!! What will she do? Who will she choose? I couldn't care less because Liza Palmer struck me as someone who could do much stronger work than this inane novel.

[Racquel · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5
My first Liza Palmer!

[Holly · Rating 4 out of 5]

Originally published here.

Elisabeth Page is a pastry chef. Not the run-of-the-mill éclair and cheesecake chef, but the overachiever type who works at the hottest restaurant in LA. The Page family have their standards – her mother runs the Foster Family Foundation, her father is a Pulitzer prize-winning novelist and her brother Rascal is literature’s next big thing. Why her goal to own a patisserie is taking years longer than planned, Elisabeth’s father Ben has no idea, but he still has hope for his daughter. At least he approves of her childhood sweetheart Will, who has an ambitious journalist career of his own taking him all over the world. No one in Elisabeth’s family seems to care that he’s never around, including Elisabeth, who is a slave to her Blackberry’s rigid schedule, until she meets Daniel. Rugged, gorgeous Daniel, who is the new assistant basketball coach at UCLA. A Midwesterner raised in a modest, small town, he’s everything her family is not, and Elisabeth likes that. But can her snobby family ever accept him, and can she make room for him as an exciting new career knocks on her door?

My contemporary romance/chick lit reading choices have been fortuitous of late, and Seeing Me Naked is no exception. Liza Palmer’s sophomore novel transcends its lightweight appearance, surprising with layered characters and overall emotional depth. Elisabeth is well drawn as a driven woman with a routine that beyond being stuck in, works, despite the added length to her career path. She thinks Will’s hot but brief semiannual visits are healthy for both her heart and her schedule. But then Daniel wins the bid on her cooking class, and Elisabeth is charmed by his utter cluelessness in a kitchen. More importantly, he likes her for her, not her famous family or her profession. But there’s much more to this novel than Will-Elisabeth-Daniel, which is thankfully a far cry from the traditional love triangle. As most chick lit is, with whom Elisabeth ends up isn’t meant to be unpredictable, but it’s how she gets there that is. The Page family has quite the messy dynamic. Elisabeth’s father Ben has for lack of a better word, issues that have affected the entire family since Elisabeth and Rascal were young. Daniel, who is unschooled in the etiquette of the charity dinner so common to the high society Pages has a lot of new territory to traverse. Even when I expected them there are no simple, easy solutions, and I liked the complicated realism that grayness lent the novel. Naturally some things are just fun, like Elisabeth’s career opportunity, and a scene involving a blanket, the beach, conversation, and kisses. Happily, Daniel and Elisabeth’s relationship develops at a steady pace, gradually enough to enjoy the getting-to-know-you phase. I would be remiss not to mention the writing, which stood out but is hard to define. Effortless and subtle, I loved the wit and hints of figuration. I sighed happily as I turned the last page and wouldn’t hesitate to recommend Seeing Me Naked to casual and seasoned readers who like complex, multivalent chick lit.

[Amy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another enjoyable "chick lit/beach read" book. Second one Ive read by this author and I've enjoyed both of them. Her main characters (so far) are quite relatable - I think it's the inner dialogue that does it -- how many of us have not said something to an attractive guy and then had a rapid fire "OH GOD did I just say that? Im such a loser, I can't believe I said that" conversation with ourselves? This one is a take on the family outcast story - a woman who is confined by her father's, and then her brother's, literary success and fame. She breaks out of the mold by becoming a pastry chef, but then feels confined by the family disappointment in her. Her disappointment in herself doesn't help. A lot of angst over breaking out of what's comfortable and safe makes a decent story -- I particularly liked the fish in the aquarium analogy... the new aquarium might be great, but it requires some time in a plastic bag first....

[Beth · Rating 1 out of 5]

I think the snarky cruelties of talented, privileged people are just not my cup of tea. I rather liked the main character and narrator, Elisabeth, because she had flashes of self-understanding that were interesting and believable. No one else in the novel was likable, and they weren't terrifically believable either. This is probably because none of the characters, save Elisabeth, are developed beyond stereotype. The story is a predictable one. That in itself isn't a bad thing; sometimes one *wants* to read a story that's already been told. The bad part is that Ms. Palmer adds nothing creative or interesting to a story we all know.

[Danielle · Rating 5 out of 5]

I knew when I picked this book up I wouldn't be able to put it down. This is a fantastic, quick read. I didn't want it to end. I loved the narrator, Elisabeth, and her disfunctional family and all the talk about pastries. The dialogue is rich and the characters are very well formed. I wish I had written this.

[Joood Hooligan · Rating 2 out of 5]

I had to fight myself to continue reading this book. The first half is, to be blunt, ridiculously dumb. I can't even take it seriously. That's how bad it was. I almost marked it DNF. But then I was at a playground that was for kids only, so I couldn't even go onto the actual equipment and my phone was dead and this book happened to still be in my backpack... so my boredom powered me through the first half. I would like it noted that it came with great pain and a lot of sighing.

Read more here:
http://www.platypire.com/j-hooligan/s...

[Michelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

Much to her father's disappointment, Elisabeth Page deliberately selected a career as far removed from his own (Ben Page! The two-time Pulitzer Prize winning author!) as possible. She became a pastry chef. Despite Elisabeth's obvious success working at one of the hottest restaurants in LA and her brother Rascal's celebrated author status, the pair continually find themselves falling short of their father's ideal of success. But the strain is starting to wear and Elisabeth is ready for something to give when she inadvertently finds herself giving cooking lessons to a recent LA transplant, Daniel Sullivan, who just happens to be utterly clueless in the culinary department. As a UCLA basketball coach from Kansas, Daniel is utterly unlike her patrician, snobbish family and her longtime boyfriend Will, who she only happens to see once every year or so. All it takes is for Elisabeth to spend a few days with easygoing Daniel for her to realize that different is good. Very good. But old habits die hard and Elisabeth isn't sure she's ready to remove all those layers of self-protection and let Daniel see her 'naked' self.

Witty and introspective, Seeing Me Naked is not your typical chick lit fare (despite its misleading cover and title). Elisabeth is so controlled and focused on her full yet unfulfilling life that you cannot but help cheering her towards Daniel - even if her first attempts are awkwardly hilarious. I do so love it though when a couple truly brings out the best in each other, and Daniel and Elisabeth are quite the pair. Although Daniel is a large part of Elisabeth moving forward, much of the story is dedicated to the highly explosive Page Family Dynamics. Liza Palmer has crafted a deep and layered family of individuals who fight each other just as fiercely as they love one another. Even though I tore through Seeing Me Naked, it's a book I can see myself sinking into time and again, discovering something new about all those messy and beautiful relationships every single time. See, I told you it was a winner.

[Hallie]

This was *just* the book I wanted to read at the time I picked it up. It was a romance without being too much just Romance, it was funny without pushing too hard to get the laughs at any cost, and I loved Elisabeth's family problems. Part of that was because the parents' backgrounds (and the father being a famous writer) were amusingly familiar, and part because I love stories about kids who have a parent they can't ever hope to 'match', and how that affects them. Add to that a bit of fascinated horror at what top chefs have to go through in training and working their way up from training, and this book was a definite must-try for me.

A few bits were slightly OTT, like the baby-shower and Elisabeth's inability to play along at all with that kind of social occasion, given her acknowledged poise at a variety of society events. But I loved her way of finding something she could do that was her thing, when her five-year-plan-become-eleven-year plan just wasn't working for her. I also really liked the romance, with both of them having trouble with this new and very different relationship, and failing to meet the challenge a time or two. I loved Elisabeth's inner monologues about not being an elitist bitch - with her occasional reversions to family type - and really liked that Will didn't have to be an asshole just because he wasn't right for Elisabeth. All in all, found this very satisfying, and will be reading more by Palmer soon.

[Lisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book, it stayed with me after I finished reading it.

I commented when I was on page 100 that it was going slowly, but on reflection it was right where it needed to be.

The back ground information and family dynamic - the dysfunctional relationships that have been Elisabeth’s example in life of how a relationship works are all important parts of this story.
Professional success with awards and recognition is the only measure of greatness in the eyes of her famous (infamous novelist father) – personal happiness does not count.

Once I finished reading this book I felt like I had been on a journey with Elisabeth while she tried to juggle the expectations of her dad, how to be happy and how to have a normal healthy relationship with a guy.

I enjoyed this book more than I enjoy the traditional chick novels that wraps everything up with a nice wee bow when girl meets boy and rides off into the sunset.
It very much feels like a real human story which was a nice change.
Will be keeping an eye out for other books from Liza Palmer.

[Lisa · Rating 3 out of 5]

After coming off two really good reads in a row, this book was like the rebound boyfriend -- it never really had a chance! It was definitely entertaining, and I definitely enjoyed it. But it wasn't "all that and more." Elisabeth Page has sort of just been living her life through work as a pastry chef at a chi chi French L.A. restaurant. Her family is comprised of a famous author father and a possibly even more famous author brother, and they show their love for each other by trying to cut each other down. She comes from a privileged background and she sleeps with and is in love with a childhood friend who has commitment issues and is a bit of a jerk due to the fact that his mommy never loved him enough. Yeah, I know. Elisabeth falls in love with the guy from the wrong side of the tracks and has to come to terms with showing her feelings to him. It was okay.

[Leah Hess · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book interested me because it sounded as though the story told would be about a strong female character overcoming obstacles and creating her own expectations, rather than following those of society. What I found was a highly bland novel. Elisabeth is not a character I fell in love with. She was underdeveloped and just kind of "there". The storyline seemed too cliche, and the ending didn't develop enough for the reader to see the main character triumph and succeed.

Put simply, the book is 290 pages of background, talking about the main character's family, and depicting the strange family dynamics. The other 6 pages are about Elisabeth, her struggled, and her successes.

While I made it through this novel, it's certainly not one I would recommend.

Find more at http://leahslitandcoffee.blogspot.com

[Annet · Rating 3 out of 5]

Every holiday I take one chicklit book with me. Although I have to say lots of chicklit books just don't interest me really. There are only a few, which have that rare humour in it like Bridget Jones and a good story, that I like. Liza Palmer's first book, Conversation with the fat girl, was exceptional for me in the chicklit category, really enjoyed it. This book shows Liza Palmer can write in an entertaining way, putting up an enjoyable story. I liked the first book better though and oh.. this type of book is always so predictable. Oh well.. Still, for a quick easy read, I give it an entertaining 3 stars.

[Ginger · Rating 3 out of 5]

I spent the last 2.5 hours finishing this book, when I couldn't fall back asleep. It had been a few days since I had read it and I didn't want to put it down until I knew what happened! Chick lit, fast read without too much depth, but entertaining and different. I was rooting for the heroine and wanted everything to work out in the end. It's always nice to mix in a quick read with the "heavier" stuff.

The story follows the life of a pastry chef and her "L.A." family, which has its own history. She's been going along with her day-to-day routine for a few years and things finally get a little shook up.

Why do I find myself reading so many books that center around food? :P

[Jacqueline · Rating 5 out of 5]

I absolutely LOVED this book. It was really great, funny at times and I loved the main character. She was trying to distinguish herself from her famous and wealthy family while dealing with the dysfunctional relationships they have with each other. She really opens up and allows people to "see her naked" and learns to do what she wants with her life. I also liked the love story that went along with it and the way the main character progressed from having a "fling" with her wealthy neighbor to having a meaningful relationship with a man unconnected to her family's world. Really a great read and well written. I am looking forward to reading more books from this author!

[PacaLipstick Gramma · Rating 2 out of 5]

I guess in all honesty, I don't do predictable, no-brainer, fluff, "chick" books!
I thought it would be better because of all the positive reviews I read. Elisabeth is privileged, snobby, and condescending of most people around her. Her father is the supreme narcissistic jackass who doesn't have a clue what the real world is. And her mother? She is so out of touch with reality with all her "charity work and galas" that her head is in a perpetual cloud. Her brother Rascal ~ well ~ he has a lot of issues.
As for her boyfriend Daniel? What was it? The sex?
The whole story was just too unbelievable and far fetched.

[Keris · Rating 5 out of 5]

Elisabeth Page lives in the shadow of her legendary novelist father, Ben Page, and hip literary adonis brother, Rascal.

Trying desperately to avoid comparisons with her stellar family, she carves her own successful career as a head pastry chef at a top LA restaurant. Naturally, this isn't up to her father's exacting standards, and even Elisabeth has started to wonder what happened to her five-year-plan to

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[Deb Migyanko · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book! I felt as though the author peeked into my life when she wrote this book. It wasn't an everything is perfect in my life romance book. The main character, Elisabeth, is a mid 30 something professional woman who struggles with issues regarding her career, her family (parents, brother), and a relationship with a guy she's known she they were both very young. Guy #1 is seldom home due to his career and she begins to question if he truly loves her...guy #2 happens to come along. He's very different from guy #1 and she struggles with feelings she's developed toward guy #2.

[Joy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book! I thought it was witty. I loved that it didn't quite fit the formula of a typical "romance comedy" where girl meets boy, they hate each other at first, they get together, they have big fight/misunderstanding and break up, and get together finally in the end. I loved the concentration on the family as well, and the history of it all. There was only one person in the book whom I didn't like, but I wasn't supposed to like that character, so it all works out well. A definite nice, easy read with some recipes in the end!

[EssentiallyMeagan · Rating 3 out of 5]

I chose this book because it was recommended by Meg Cabot. Well, I must have read her reco on her blog before because I realized (after a few pages) that I had read this book before! I still re-read it because I am a sucker for chick lit and this is a pretty enjoyable light read. I found myself wishing that I could take a trip to LA and see all of the markets and little shops that Elizabeth frequents to find inspiration for her desserts. I have requested a few more of Liza Palmer's books from my library, I hope I enjoy them as well.