Love Reads!

By Jane Porter

May 2008

5 Spot

ISBN-10: 0446699241

ISBN-13: 978-0446699242

In Odd Mom Out we got to know Marta Zinsser, a single mom battling the working world while trying to get along with her teenage daughter. One of the obstacles in that story was that one of the PTA mothers at her daughters’ elementary school was often giving her a hard time. We finally get to hear Taylors side (the mom in question) in Mrs. Perfect the newest release by Jane Porter.

Taylor Young makes being a stay at home mom look like an Olympic event. She has perfected every task she has come up against, whether it be running the yearly PTA auction or figuring out the perfect anti-aging regimen; she has it covered.

This book starts a year after the last one ended and small cracks in Taylor’s perfect life are starting to show. The big event, however, that really gets the storyline running is when she finds out that her husband has been lying to her. For the past seven months he has been jobless and searching. The trouble is, he has also been keeping from her that they are in massive amounts of debt. The good news is he has found a job; the catch is that it is in Omaha!

So, off he go’s to acclimate to his no job and she is left with her head spinning. Not only does she have to prepare the house she and her husband built together to be sold, but she also has to figure out a way, all on her own, to get them out of debt without having to declare bankruptcy.

Mrs. Perfect was a great read! I enjoy how Jane can make a story more realistic and less fairy tale, but still make it that it is immensely enjoyable. It is heartwarming without being preachy and definitely shows that with hard work and some great friends to bring you through, life is not so impossible after all.

Finally! I loaded my favorite program and made this awesome new banner! I had originally thought I would have someone make it, but after a few outrageous price quotes I decided to try it again. So, I loaded my Adobe In Design and tinkered around with the settings a bit and what you see above is the result. Hope you like it! Feel free to post what you think!

This week I have got as least two reviews to post for new titles. One is the sequel to Shoe Addicts Anonymous titled Secrets of a Shoe Addict. The other is the sequel to Odd Mom Out called Mrs. Perfect. Marta from the first book even makes a cameo!

I also plan to interview Beth Harbison the author of SAA and SOSA and maybe if I get lucky I’ll even be able to finish an post it by the end of the week.

<3

By Alisa Valdez-Rodriguez

July 2008

St. Martin’s Press

ISBN-10: 031234967X

ISBN-13: 978-0312349677

Those fabulous sucias you have come to know and love are back in Dirty Girls on Top! We begin the story five years after the fact; each of the five friends has gone in their own separate directions, but have decided to come together in New Mexico to catch up.

This year Rebecca has decided to host the now yearly get together at a posh resort. She has a new house nearby and thought some quality time in a warmer climate would be just the ticket for a stress free girls weekend. For a number of years now Rebecca has been married to the perfect man and is mulling over the possibility of selling her super-successful Latina magazine so that she can be focused on starting a family.

Usnavy’s, whose name I still cannot pronounce correctly to save my life, has now been married to Juan for five years and they share a very tomboy daughter. She still, however, can’t seem to feel fulfilled with her life. Juan who is a great Mr. Mom is getting on her nerves; it is almost as if he is too perfect and too emotionally even. She’s bored and has started looking elsewhere for affection, specifically at the moment from a former golf pro named Marcus.

Elizabeth is still dating her partner Sel and they together adopted a beautiful baby boy. Sel though is disgustingly self involved and cannot stand the baby or the lack of attention she feels she is getting from Liz. Liz still is head over heels in love with Lauren and thanks to some strong alcohol finally has a chance to publicly profess it to her. Will it be reciprocated or will she feel worse then before?

Lauren is still pretty immature, the boyfriend she is with is a huge loser in my opinion and she could do so much better. She still writes for the Boston Gazette and has started to get quite a following, but her self esteem is not much better then it was before and before she can be happy with the world around her she has to be happy with herself.

Sara now along with Elizabeth has her own cooking show which is running quite successfully and her sons are thriving now that their abusive father resides in Argentina, hiding out so that he doesn’t get arrested for killing their former maid which happened in the last book. Robert is slowly trying to worm his way back into Sara’s life though which given his track record could get very dangerous. Can she finally stand up to him and get him out of her life for good?

Cuitical is now a rock star and just finished her second album. She is still her fun loving and free spirited self able to get her message out to a much larger group of people. She still hasn’t been very lucky in love, which is only made harder by the fact that she is famous now. Every guy that shows interest in her she has to wonder, do they like her genuinely or because she is famous. She still has her best friend and manager Frank to lean on though; he from the beginning has been there for her and continues to be the sole person who understands her completely.

Sorry for the long review, but these five larger then life personalities cannot be cut short as it would be a huge mistake. Alisa has again woven a funny, thought provoking and heart tugging story. The characters are very real and their thoughts and emotions are totally relatable and if your Latin descent or not does not matter. The story is more about women banding together and realizing their inner strength, then where they come from.

5 out of 5

Hope everyone had a fantastic and safe Fourth of July! The day was also my birthday, I am now 24! Why am I telling you this? Well, I used much of the cash I was given to order books to review! All are current and by authors that either I know or seem promising. Do not worry I am still working hard getting upcoming titles as well, its slow goings at the moment because of the holiday, but as everyone trudges back to work with some semblance of a hangover still present I am sure I will hopefully be getting calls returned.

I also added a Amazon widget as you can see to my sidebar, I will continuously be updating it as I finish books. This way if you would like to read a book after reading one of my reviews all you have to do is find it on the widget and you are set! Hope you all enjoy the rest of your work week and don’t forget to keep your eyes peeled as I have a review and an interview coming out this week!

By Marian Keyes

June 2008

William Morrow

ISBN-10: 0061124028

ISBN-13: 978-0061124020

I have been reading Marian Keyes novels since I started reading Chick Lit. The first one I read by her was Watermelon and since then I have been hooked. Her observational style, along with her wit and deep understanding of emotions helps create stories that are not only readable, but worthy of reading despite the Harry Potter like length.

Paddy De Courcy is quite the ladies man, having probably had more girlfriends then most people have had cavities. Paddy also has a long string of women in his wake that have never been able to be the same after being in a relationship with him. Recently, Paddy has become engaged to a woman by the name of Alicia, from his checkered past, which causes some of the women who came before to wonder; why her?

Grace Gildee & Marnie Hunter are sisters who couldn’t be less alike, but despite their differences have always been each others best friend. Grace works at a local newspaper doing news and feature pieces and when she comes upon this new information and she knows now is the time to find the answers she has been looking for. Marnie, is a wife and a mother of two who unlike her sister lives with her family in London rather then Dublin. At first, it seems that she has quite a normal life, but despite all this she suffers from crippling fear most of the time and has developed a drinking problem over the years she just can’t shake.

Lola Daly is the most recent ex of Paddy’s and has gone as a result of the engagement announcement completely out of sorts. So much so in fact that she leaves her job as a stylist and Dublin behind in search of some mental and physical peace and quiet. I found this characters story to be the best as she is sweet, yet naive and well I will leave you to it with two words; cross dressers.

This book is a great read which takes turns telling the story that is the life of Paddy and his women in a sad, sometimes funny, relatable way. Though the story as is Marian’s trademark is long it at no point drags along and continuously keeps your interest the whole way through. A definite buy!

5 out of 5

I have recently been trying to be more proactive in terms of helping my blog reach as many interested readers as possible. The idea at first might seem easy, but let me tell you that it is not, especially if someone is just starting out such as myself. So, when I came across the Blogging Idol icon on Daily Blog Tips I was very excited at what I saw.

Daily Blog Tips, created Daniel Scocco has started a program that lasts the entire month of July and pits bloggers against each other in the quest for RSS and email subscription supremacy. The prizes for the winner are awesome, but as new as I am, I would be glad for just a few extra fans.

I want to be able as I said to reach as many loyal fans of chick lit as possible and I hope that in participating in this contest I can meet some of them. So, if you are so inclined please join the RSS or email feed. I have previously written a post about them here if you are unfamiliar with what exactly those terms mean. I plan to be running contests throughout the entire month to help bolster readership so sign up and maybe get some goodies in the process!