Love Reads!

Today I was doing my usual stroll around my favorite blogs and came across a post written by one of the very insightful women at Trashionista . The post was actually linked to another post, which within it a case was stated that there has been a huge downfall in the merit of YA lit.

Now, as of this Friday I turn twenty-four so I do not consider myself that far outside YA’s demographic. I grew up during the authors supposed indication of the downfall of the genre. When I was in grade nine the first Gossip Girl (yes, it was a book) came out and I totally ate those books up. Though the occasional sexual references and swears left a little to be desired I liked what I found to be the underlying message. That message to me was, though it may seem you are unlike anyone in the troubles you face you are not alone. Sure, those girls threw around more trendy brand names then there are fish in the sea, but the troubles are always similar.

Another is a word I resent having been put into said article, and am appalled as a writer at its use is the statement that popular YA in today’s world has been ghettoized! Classics such as To Kill a Mockingbird were mentioned and though I in no way am stating those are not crucially important titles to read at some point books such as that were never meant exclusively as young adult books at the time of their publications for the most part. Take The Pigman for example by Paul Zindel. That is not as much of a classically regarded title as KAM but has in the last ten years has been on many high school and junior high reading lists for various reasons.

My point is this: Look at studies if you must or read a few of more YA and you will find on closer examination that just as the rest of the world does, these books change with the times. The messages may be presented differently and sometimes outlandishly so, but writers tend to play to what they believe their audiences would be most likely listen to. It may be put in a different way, but it is in no way GHETTO it is just different packaging.

By Jane Porter

September 27, 2007

5 Spot

ISBN-10: 0446699233

ISBN-13: 78-0446699235

Recently, I started reading Mrs. Perfect, a story about an overachieving soccer mom whose world burns to the ground. That book is actually a sequel to another book by the name of Odd Mom Out.

Marta Zinsser is not you’re your everyday mother. She prefers combat boots to sensible shoes and prefers to wear jeans and a T-Shirt as opposed to clothes you would find at Lane Bryant. She has a nine-year-old daughter Eva who is desperate to fit in with her peers and constantly nags her mother about why she doesn’t act or present herself like the other mothers do.

Marta moved from New York to her home of Washington for a promotion, but was sacked soon after the company merged with another. Now she owns her own advertising firm called Z designs and is about to embark on her biggest opportunity yet, designing a ad campaign for Freedom Bikes a classic motorcycle company. She also moved back to be with her family, her mother was recently diagnosed with Alzheimer’s and she wants to be closer to be able to help and give Eva some quality time to make memories of her grandmother/

Things are starting to get very messy, however, as key parts of her life seem to be slowly slipping out of her grasp. Her mothers symptoms are getting worse, she is often wandering the neighborhood now at all hours. Eva is starting to approach that age where she begins to challenge authority and their once super-tight relationship is now becoming strained. Plus, she is trying to help Eva by making more of an effort to be a classical mom, but balancing these new duties with her parental and work ones leaves her often catching her breath.

I thoroughly enjoyed Odd Mom Out. Jane has a great way of storytelling where she interweaves the past with the present rather fluidly and the ending is harder to guess then is usually the case with chick lit. Reading this book is not necessarily a must to enjoy the sequel, but it is one I recommend to give you a fuller picture as a character she interacts with is profiled.

5 out of 5

I was surfing other book review blogs and such and I uncovered some GREAT news! Candice Bushnell, chick lit royalty, has a new book coming out! The books called One Madison Avenue and it is going to hit the shelves September 22, 2008. I promise on all that is S&TC that I will get my hands on a copy to review! I also plan on trying to wrangle an interview with her if possible. It is truly amazing how approachable many authors are these days.

This is turning out to be a great summer for Candice as the mega hit that is the Sex & The City movie (which I still haven’t seen!) has been raking in quite a bit of dough. I am sure that the movie only helps when it comes time for the new book to be published!

Hope everyone is having a great Tuesday! I just wanted to take a few moments to make you aware of our Feeds. For those of you not in the know, feeds are ways that you can read and keep track of my content without having to visit the site. We all have busy lives, whether its balancing kids, work, or life in general, sometimes life just gets in the way. This way you can still keep up with me even if you don’t have the time to find the site.

There are two ways you can do this, Email or RSS. Both are called subscriptions but I promise that neither cost money. For the RSS Feed all you need to do is click the icon and choose which reader that you use to keep track of other sites updates. My personal favorite is the Google Reader, but there are many different ones that you can choose from. The second option is via email. All you have to do for that is enter your email address and your done!

So, please join one the other or both if ya like so you can keep up with the latest happenings here at Love Reads! Happy Reading!

By Lisa Daily

March 2008

Plume

ISBN-10: 0452289130

ISBN-13: 978-0452289130

She may not be as loud as Dr Phil, but in the relationship arena Darby Vaughn is the go-to dating guru for many who are lacking in the love department. Darby recently finished her latest relationship book Dream Girls Academy and is commencing her latest book tour. One of her first stops is a huge deal; she is speaking with Matt Lauer on the Today show! The segment is anything but hearts and roses, however, as she almost immediately is asked her opinion on the recent filing by her husband for divorce, which she hadn’t even heard about until that very moment. As you probably can guess, internal panic ensued and it got a little messy.

The rest of the tour stops have pulled the plug on her appearances after hearing the news. She spends the next twenty-four hours in bed with only junk food and liquor to keep her company. Finally, after a few days she is encouraged by her friends (the original dream girls) to head back home and pack her things. The next day her best friends join her and along with them and some hunky models turned movers they vacate the place.

For the next few months she tries to salvage what is left of her career. Not that many people pay attention to you when they think you’re a hypocrite, but she seems to find a way care of an upcoming reality show she is the star of. Will she ever get her career back on track again?? How will she dig her way out of this messy divorce? Will her heart ever be the same, let alone be able to love again?

This is a good book and a bit shorter then most but worth every penny. The sometimes sarcastic and funny wit lightens the darkest of situations and by the end you may believe that sometimes even a dating expert doesn’t know everything when it comes to matters of the heart.

5 out of 5

I love the book Dirty Girls Social Club! No, I do not mean some kinky website, I mean the smash debut novel from Alisa Valdes-Rodriguez! The book was one of my first chick lit reads and all time favorites. Ok, enough of my happy rant, I am writing to make you aware that the long awaited sequel is almost here! Dirty Girls on Top is set to be released July 8th, 2008! I received a review copy so that will be a posted review on the page in the near future, but I wanted to give you a bit of a primer to wet your appetite while you wait. Usnavy’s the most outspoken of all the sucias has a blog! It was created as part of the marketing campaign for the book and is filled with her straight talking attitude that we came to know in love. So, when you find some time go take a peek, there isn’t much there, but its worth reading. Word to the wise though it does cover mature topics so if your a lil sexy squeamish I suggest browsing with care. Happy Reading!

www.usnavysrivera.blogspot.com

By Amanda Goldberg & Ruthanna Khalighi

February 2008

St. Martin’s Press

ISBN-10: 0312362293

ISBM-13: 978-0312362294

Lola comes from a very famous family, her father a hot-shot director, her brother a sought after music producer. She, however, at twenty-five is still trying to find her niche, something that will make her famous in her own right, not just a daughter of.

She has tried many careers, after graduating from high school she went to art school for a year and created some interesting pieces, but she just couldn’t stay committed to it. She also tried fashion design, but was not able to come up with anything superb enough to warrant a full fledged career. Part of the trouble is partly because she has an addiction, one that not many know about, but to her can be just as devastating as any illegal substance. Lola is an Actorholic. This means that every boyfriend she has had to the present has been an actor, all of which having broken her heart into a trillion pieces, but she just can’t get enough!

He longest and most devastating was with SMITH (read it and you will figure out why there is a need for caps) a veritable nobody whom, (thanks to the leading lady having to go to rehab) she did a movie with and consequently fell for. Everything with them was great until the reviews came out and brutally ripped apart Lola’s performance, after which he breaks up with her because who in there right mind would want to be seen as such a failure? What a loser he is.

After some pretty literal soul searching she decides to make one last valiant effort in the working world by becoming a PR person for her BAF (best gay forever) Julian and try and get a few high ranking celebs to wear some dresses he has designed to get his name out there come Oscar night. Coming from a famous family, however, does not guarantee success, as she runs into one problem after another. Never has Hollywood seemed like such a zoo!

I enjoyed this book, Lola is funny and accident prone and you can’t help but root for her throughout the book. This title is a definite pick up, though panned by some other reviewers it has potential and is the perfect partner for your towel in that beach bag!

4 out of 5

Sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo sorry about last week! My reading speed was totally diminished thanks to real-life drama! I currently very engrossed in reading about about better blogging, when not reading to review and what I have gleaned so far is that consistency is key. To that end I am going to over the next few days include polls targeted to what you would like to see. I hope all of you can participate because the more feedback I get, the more I can make your stay here more enjoyable.

I also am receiving over this next week, quite a few books! I was able to get my hands onto the new Marian Keyes, This Charming Man & The Latest from Beth Harbison, Confessions of a Shoe Addict. I was also granted interviews with both so stayed tuned next week to see those!

This week I will be posting reviews for the two books I previously mentioned, Odd Mom Out & Celebutantes but, I was also able to quickly read Fifteen Minutes of Shame by Lisa Daily. So stay tuned this week and make sure to read, comment and participate in those poles! This baby is all about you & Happy Fathers day to all you dad’s out there. Happy reading!

This week you will see reviews of two books, one new release and one oldie but goodie. First up will be Celebutantes by Amanda Goldberg and Ruthanna Khalighi Hopper. This is a book about a daughter in a celebrity family trying to make a name for herself outside her fathers shadow. The second, will be Odd Mom Out by Jane Porter. Jane recently came out with a new book and though I haven’t been able to get my hands on that one yet, I wanted to review one of my other favorites. Hope everyone had a wonderful weekend andthanks a bunch to today.com for putting a link to one of my posts on the front page. Happy Reading!

By Lauren Weisberger

May 2008

Simon & Schuster

ISBN-10: 0743290119

ISBN-13: 978-0743290111

We’ve explored the workings of a fashion magazine and learned a bit about public relations, now get ready for a 180 because this time around, because the newest Lauren Weisberger title Chasing Harry Winston is nothing like its older siblings.

This story follows three friends Leigh, Adrianna and Emmy, all best friends, and all in dire need of a MAJOR life change! Each is very unsatisfied with the current state of their love lives and as they chat over dinner one night, they decide it is time for them all to stop just going with the flow and rewrite their futures. Each has a year and a major resolution to stick to. Will they make it through or lose steam quicker then they came up with the idea?

Leigh is a successful editor at the publishing firm of Brook Harris and has recently been assigned her biggest assignment to date. She will be the editor of genius author Jesse Chapman’s newest book! This is a big responsibility for a junior editor, but Jesse has asked for her specifically, after hearing her take on his previous titles. Outside the office Leigh has a very trying relationship with famous sports anchor Russell. Everything should be awesome but, for some reason Leigh does not feel anything remotely romantic kind of love when it comes to him. She keeps hoping the feelings will take root, but time is starting to run out.

Adrianna, daughter of a famous model, can have any man she wants. Her stunning looks and her mastery of men (thanks to her mothers teachings) she has had many a suitor. None of them, however, has ever turned into a full blown relationship. It’s always been that she pays attention for purely lustful and conquering reasons. So, Leigh and Emmy challenge her to have a full blown monogamous relationship with someone, which seems easy in theory, but not so much in practice

Emmy is in love, for five years she been dating Duncan, who she thinks is the perfect man for her. They have been together five years and she is waiting in anticipation for that meaningful piece of bling that will make her dreams come true. So, when Duncan drops the bomb that their not only breaking up, but he is leaving her for his twenty-two year old personal trainer, she is furious. Needless to say Emmy is devastated and at a complete loss for what to do next. So, her resolution the other two decide is to treat her love life more like Adrianna and not obsess that every man she comes in contact with could be the “one”.

The same insight that Lauren has became famous for with her books is throughout this novel, though in different packaging so to speak. The story is a little long and frustrating in places, but definitely worth reading.

4 out of 5