Review: Who's That Girl?

By Mhairi McFarlane
Available now from Harper (HarperCollins)
Review copy

Edie and her catty friend Louis are at a wedding for two of their coworkers, but when Edie leaves for a breath of air the groom follows - and kisses her. This is witnessed by the bride and instantly makes Edie persona non grata for trying to break up the happy couple on their wedding day.

I love that Edie never blames herself for this act. Jack's the one who chose to kiss her. However, throughout WHO'S THAT GIRL? she grapples with the messages they exchanged and the attention she encouraged. She's got to figure out why she was content to get strung along by a cad like Jack if she's going to be confident in herself.

Since Edie's boss appreciates her talent, he finds her a job outside the office in her hometown: ghostwrite the autobiography of popular TV star Elliot Owen. Things get off to a horrible start, but Edie soon realizes Elliot isn't just a spoiled primadonna. In fact, she rather likes him, but is determined to be professional and keep her distance. Unsurprisingly, both of them manage to make a hash of actually communicating their feelings.

WHO'S THAT GIRL? is a fun later-in-life coming-of-age (Edie is 36), with a romance that builds believably. It's a gentle read, despite the turbulence of Edie's love life and the sadness in her past. She's learning how to reconnect with her sister, makes a connection with her father's bitter elderly neighbor, and reunites with her two best friends who are both terrific. (I'd read books about them!) There's a good sense of place, and I enjoyed figuring out what the British slang meant.

Don't be fooled by the thickness of the spine. I finished WHO'S THAT GIRL? in a single, breezy afternoon. I enjoyed seeing Edie come to believe that she was as vivacious and attractive as her true friends told her. (And man, there is a great scene in this novel for seeing a toxic person get their comeuppance.) I'm definitely planning on giving Mhairi McFarlane's other books a try.

Review: The Walk-In Closet

By Abdi Nazemian
Available now from Curtis Brown Digital
Review copy

Kara and Babak, called Bobby, have been living together for years.  Now that Kara is turning thirty, Bobby's parents are upping the pressure for them to get married and have kids.  The only problem is that Kara really is just Bobby's roommate; they let his traditional Persian parents think otherwise so that Bobby can stay in the closet.  It helps that she loves his family's traditions.

I swung back and forth on whether I liked THE WALK-IN CLOSET.  I laughed quite a bit, and enjoyed the peek into the lifestyle of Tehrangeles.  One of the themes of the novel is that both Kara and Bobby need to grow up.  Their immaturity can make parts of THE WALK-IN CLOSET a difficult read.  For instance, when Kara confronts her ex-boyfriend and he gives her some lame philosophical line about her inability to have multiple relationships, she decides that he's right and she should just have some casual sex.  Thus, she has Bobby set her up a profile on Craigslist.  Craigslist.

(And let's not even get into the scene where Kara tells a man that only women can use "No means no."  I probably would've stopped the book there if I wasn't reviewing it.)

These attempted hookups lead Kara to Kyle, a man she can see herself having a relationship with.  Her continued relationship with Kyle and the pressure from Bobby's parents push her to finally confront what she wants and to stop being complacent about her life.  It's a bit of well-needed character development, but the pressure definitely gets to Kara.

THE WALK-IN CLOSET is fairly fun if you accept the heightened reality and the arrested development of the characters.  The final twist is fairly telegraphed, but it still added a strong plotline that the book needed.  This was a good enough summer read, but I prefer something somewhat more mature.

Review: Where We Belong

By Emily Giffin
Available now from St. Martin's Press
Review copy

Despite Emily Giffin being one of the most popular authors of contemporary women's fiction, WHERE WE BELONG is the first book I've read by her.  It is told through the points of view of two women.  Thirty-six-year-old Marian Caldwell is a successful television producer, living in New York and attempting to convince her CEO boyfriend of two years to pop the question.  Eighteen-year-old Kirby Rose is about to graduate from high school and deciding whether she wants to go to college, take a gap year, or do something else entirely.  Before she makes her decision, she wants to meet her birth parents, which is why she comes knocking on Marian's door.

Giffin has a talent for characterization.  Marian and Kirby have very different perspectives due to the divide in their ages, goals, and concerns.  I loved Kirby's parents, who want the best for their daughter but are somewhat threatened by her interest in her birth parents.  I liked reading about Kirby's struggle with her future, even though it was one I never experienced.  I never questioned going to college, but now that I'm older, I know it isn't the right choice for everyone.  It's tough to suddenly be in charge of decisions that will affect your entire life.

Marian, meanwhile, is not only having to own up to her pregnancy, but also the fact that she never told the father, Conrad Knight.  Now Kirby wants to meet him as well and Marian has to face the decisions she made at eighteen.  I liked that Giffin didn't try to simplify teen pregnancy to a moral issue.  The characters certainly have opinions about adoption, abortion, et al., but none of the opinions are presented as the absolutely right one.  Marian made the choices she thought best for herself and her daughter, but it was still cruel to not tell Conrad.  In addition to meeting Kirby and figuring out how best to help her, Marian must make decisions about her own love life and career.

I felt like WHERE WE BELONG was a refreshing, original novel.  Kirby's storyline gives it crossover appeal to the young adult audience while Marian's is more typical of women's fiction.  And sometimes it's just fun to read a novel entirely about relationships, with no bad guys in sight.  If you're looking for a complex tale about family and choice, look no farther than WHERE WE BELONG.  I think I'll be reading more of Giffin's books in the future.

Review: Beach Season

Available now from Kensington
Review copy

BEACH SEASON collects four novellas by a variety of popular authors including #1 New York Times Bestseller Lisa Jackson.  All four romances are set in beach towns and perfect for a little summer beach reading.  (Or perhaps summer-wishing-you-were-at-the-beach-reading.)

June's Lace by Cathy Lamb

The anthology opens with my favorite of the four novellas - "June's Lace" by Cathy Lamb.  June MacKenzie is almost at the end of a long, contentious divorce.  It's been two years of fighting with her ex and the last thing on her mind is romance.  But then she's rescued from a sneaker wave by Reece, a hunky songwriter.  Now she's tempted to trust and fall in love again; however, her ex is trying to claim half of her successful wedding dress business.

What I loved most about "June's Lace" was the focus on June's business, friends, and family.  I just believe in a romance more when the leads have a life outside of their relationship.  And June definitely has a fulfilling life with our without Reece.  But he fits with her and I believed in their happy ending.

Second Chance Sweethearts by Holly Chamberlin

Holly Chamberlin's contribution is also about a woman escaping from a bad marriage - in this case, a physically abusive one from a man who turned out to be a thief and a con.  Thea Foss escapes to the seaside town of Ogunquit, Maine only to run into her first love, Hugh Landry.  The two separated, partly due to their parents, but now they're old enough to ignore their parents' class differences.

I thought "Second Chance Sweethearts" was a sweet story, although the confrontation between Thea and her ex was more cartoonish than cathartic.  It's your basic, simple romance, but there's nothing wrong with that.

Carolina Summer by Rosalind Noonan

"Carolina Summer" ups the suspense elements that were slighly on display in "Second Chance Sweethearts" (due to Thea's worry about her ex finding her).  Jane Doyle is on the run from someone who wants to kill her, but she gets waylaid halfway to her brother's house in Florida.  Luckily she gets stuck in a North Carolina town with a hunky sheriff, Cooper Locklear.

There was a bit too much going on in "Carolina Summer" for a novella.  It was an enjoyable read, but both the romance and the suspense were thinly developed.  Not to mention Jane did one incredibly stupid thing that really annoyed me.  I might've forgotten about it except for the fact that she does this boneheaded thing towards the end of the story.

The Brass Ring by Lisa Jackson

Although it is not mentioned on the front or backcover, Lisa Jackson's story is a reprint.  However, I doubt any but her diehard fans already own a copy.  Bantam Loveswept published "The Brass Ring" in 1988 with Jackson writing under the name Susan Crose - not something a casual fan would come across.

Fans of Nicholas Sparks' THE VOW will probably enjoy this one.  I found it overly dramatic.  Maybe it was just the eighties, but I rolled my eyes a few times.  Shawna's fiancé Parker is in a car accident the night before their wedding.  When he wakes up, he can't remember the past several years of his life.  Even worse, an eighteen-year-old girl has shown up claiming he's the father of her baby and he needs to take responsibility no matter what the situation.

There's nothing really wrong with "The Brass Ring," but the plot felt over-the-top to me.  Amnesia and a baby daddy scandal?  It's hard to cover one of those topics in a novel without drifting into cliché, much less a novella.

BEACH SEASON is exactly what you'd expect based on the title and cover.  All four authors do address some serious topics, but none of the darker aspects are explored in depth.  I'm not sure they should be, as it would spoil BEACH SEASON's tone.  The four novellas contained within are all a touch underdeveloped, but it's forgivable when they're all meant to be quick, fun reads.

Review: Why I Love Singlehood

By Elisa Lorello and Sarah Girrell
Available May 31 from AmazonEncore (Kindle edition available now)
Review copy



I loved the first AmazonEncore novel I read. I'll admit to being nervous when I started Andrew Xia Fukuda's CROSSING. I've wanted to rewrite the review of CROSSING, as I don't think I captured the novel well. I felt it exemplified the AmazonEncore statement of "exceptional yet overlooked books." I could see why it would be overlooked - the protagonist is often unlikeable and there is no happy ending. WHY I LOVE SINGLEHOOD had a lot to live up to. Unfortunately, I felt like the novel fit "overlooked" more than "exceptional," because WHY I LOVE SINGLEHOOD would be overlooked due to being average.

WHY I LOVE SINGLEHOOD is Eva Perino's journey from lying to herself and playing it safe to doing the things that fulfill her. That doesn't mean her life at the start of the novel is terrible. She has a thriving business – a coffee shop named The Grounds – and a group of fabulous friends. When her ex-who-she-remained-friends-with Shaun tells her he's engaged, Eva is hurt and realizes remaining close to the guy she used to love might not have been the best idea. Unfortunately, she just started the eponymous blog. Thus, she begins to turn it into a chronicle of her forays into dating again.

I liked that it wasn't immediately apparent which guy in Eva's life would be the one she ended up with. She has several good choices, including The Grounds' manager Norman and regular customer Car Talk Kenny. While WHY I LOVE SINGLEHOOD is chick lit rather than romance, the romantic storyline is the strongest. Other aspects of Eva's life are interesting, but the book meanders. There isn't a strong sense of structure.

In some ways, that's good. The way things unfold in the story feel organic. At the same time, it's sometimes confusing. The Grounds contains the Originals and the Regulars, a reoccurring cast of customers. Members of this supporting cast disappear and reappear. There's quite a few and most are minor, so I kept losing track of who some of them were and what they'd previously done in the story. (I forgot Jan and Dean were dating until it became important, long after it was first mentioned.) It felt like some of them could have been cut.

I also feel like the setting is slightly misued. Elisa Lorello and Sarah Girrell focus on the people that inhabit the coffee shop. The coffee itself is rarely mentioned. (Eva dislikes coffee.) As for the baked goods, two are mentioned in detail - a lemon tart and a halfmoon cookie. Both are excellent, evocative scenes. How is it through the rest of the novel that the sensual power of food is ignored? WHY I LOVE SINGLEHOOD lacks a sense of taste and smell that's right there. Instead it is content to remain floating on the surface of the coffee shop.

WHY I LOVE SINGLEHOOD is definitely the kind of chick lit I prefer. It tends to be humorous and light rather than dramatic and angsty. There are moments of drama. Terrible things happen to some of the characters. But even when a character lands in the hospital, things quickly return to normal.

WHY I LOVE SINGLEHOOD will appeal to those who enjoy stories about women reevaluating their life choices, told in a way that isn't overly serious. Eva is a decent heroine – she's hard-working and a bit controlling, but she's willing to own up to her own mistakes. At the same time, I didn't feel a spark. I found the novel fun, but I'm already forgetting the details and I just finished.

Review: Love in Mid Air

By Kim Wright
Available now from Hachette (Grand Central Publishing)
Review copy



To be honest, I haven't finished this book yet. I like the premise - Elyse is married to a good man, but she hasn't truly been happy for some time when she meets another man on an airplane. To paraphrase something I heard recently, "Cheating is always black and white. It's wrong. But the circumstances around it are nuanced." Elyse has tried. She's made therapy appointments, she talks to her friends. Yet nothing changes the fact her marriage has failed.

So why haven't I finished it yet? Because it took me a long time to reach the part where Elyse chooses to pursue her own happiness and thus starts an affair with Gerry. (At least, I assume that's where she begins choosing her own happiness. She is still married.)

Right now, I've been having a hellish semester. I am extremely eager to be done with college and actually working, but at the same time I'm apprehensive. I've been going to school since I was five or so. Yes, I'm tired of it, but it's a known quantity.

And part of getting out of school isn't just getting and job but moving on with my life and becoming a true adult, if there is such a thing. The beginning of LOVE IN MID AIR is one of the most depressing looks at marriage ever. Kim Wright writes:

"What she means," Nancy says patiently, as patient as a saint, "is that in novels women run off with their lovers. In real life, women stay."

"Women stay" becomes a refrain. To me, it's a terrifying one. I don't want to stay in a situation that doesn't make me happy. I know I might. I know other people do. It's a very cynical worldview, and I am too young to be that cynical.

Of course, one of the reasons women stay is their children. For instance, Elyse has elementary-aged Tory, who gets along wonderfully with their father and whom she wonders about, how much she knows about her mother's discontent. The answer, from a girl with divorced parents who has spoken to many of her peers: We know. Your children know that you're unhappy. Sometimes we need to be twelve or so to get it, but we do. You don't make us happy by making yourself unhappy.

I'm still reading LOVE IN MID AIR. And I'm going to keep washing it down with happy-go-lucky romances for balance.

This is part of a blog tour. Today's other participants are:
http://www.madeleineeatbooksandphotos.com/
http://dixie-afewofmyfavoritethings.blogspot.com/
http://booknaround.blogspot.com/
http://psychoticstate.blogspot.com/
http://bookinwithbing.blogspot.com/
http://blesstheirheartsmom.blogspot.com/
http://dreyslibrary.blogspot.com/

Review: B as in Beauty

By Alberto Ferreras

"He is someone who finds you attractive," Madame said as if she had never said anything more serious in her life. "Be humble, and be grateful to anyone who pays you a compliment." Her tone was so ominous that for a second I thought she was quoting the Old Testament.

The strange part is that she was somehow right. Her I was -- whining about being rejected -- and then, when some guy paid attention to me, I felt entitled to dismiss him. I realized that I was wrong, but I still tried to defend myself by beating on a dead horse: my self-esteem.

"I guess I'm not used to hearing too many compliments."

She looked me in the eye and added, "I'm sure you get many compliments. You just don't know how to listen."

-pp. 70-71, ARC version

B would prefer not to be named Beauty. She's known she was fat since her parents left her with a terrible nanny, and she'd prefer not to have the name to live up to. She can't get ahead in her job because of her looks and she feels terrible when she hangs out with her skinny and confident best friend Lillian. B's unhappy and desperate when she meets Madame.

And Madame thinks B would be perfect for her clients. She's a confident woman, ready to show B how gorgeous she is and how to find the men who will appreciate her figure. B doesn't want to be a whore, especially with her Catholic guilt, but Madame promises no sex . . .

Which leads into: B AS IN BEAUTY is not a YA book. If you're cool with fetishes, you're probably old enough. If you're thinking, "What's a fetish?" or "That's the thing with feet, right?" you might want to wait a bit before picking this one up. I don't want to be held responsible for exposing the kiddies to Fetish Fuel. (Link may be NSFW.)

For those who are old enough, it's an excellent novel. The romance is well done and touching. For those who have read it, you know what I mean when I say I think I'm going to find subway seats poignant from now on. (Bus seats in my case, since there aren't any subways near.) B's career in advertising and her career as a comfort provider are both given a reasonable amount of attention and I enjoyed how Alberto Ferreras resolved things.

B works excellently as an overweight and Latina character without being defined by those things. Being Cuban American shaped her life and her descriptions of home life really pop, but that doesn't define her. (I did enjoy trying to translate the Spanish before I reached the English paraphrase.) I found her very relatable, especially as her work descriptions reminded me of some of my mom's complaints.

Body image isn't just a problem for teenage girls, as shown by the number of adults who are participating in the Body Image Challenge. We need more women like B in art - women who know, or learn, they are beautiful without losing a pound. (Not saying anyone needs to stay at an unhealthy weight, but our society has such a distorted perception of what weight is healthy.) Believe me, I could enjoy the movie version of Bridget Jones's Diary far more if people just acknowledged that Renee Zellwegger looks awesome, not chubby. B is a breath of fresh air, and it helps that she's in a wonderfully written and entertaining novel.

You can find more at Alberto Ferrera's website. B AS IN BEAUTY is his debut novel and available now. He is a filmmaker and performance artist in addition to being an author. I'm posting the book trailer because I think it's really cute.

Janeology

By Karen Harrington


In our world, most everyone has heard about a mother killing her own children. Yet it still does not feel commonplace because we cannot understand what went wrong. Society glorifies familial bonds and promotes the idea of a mother’s unconditional love and particularly special bond with her children. I lived in Houston when Andrea Yates (who was originally sentenced to life in prison) killed her five children and watched the details of the horrifying case unfold. It’s a murder where society almost cannot bear to declare the murderer as anything but insane, since no sane mother could do such a thing. In the Yates case, I definitely felt Russell Yates deserved to bear more consequences for his role in the children’s deaths.

This is the matter JANEOLOGY addresses: Is protagonist Tom complicit in his son’s death? He spent his time at work rather than with his family and failed to notice the deterioration in Jane’s mental health. He received a nasty wake-up call when he discovered Jane drowned their children; their daughter Susan survived by luck alone. As his trial approaches, he finds comfort in alcohol. He believes in his guilt because he never saw the darker side of Jane. The woman she is now is not the one he married.

His lawyer will not work for someone who has already given up. He hires Mariah, a psychic related to Jane, to explore her genealogy. She came from a long history of abuse and criminal behavior. Dave, the lawyer, pushes a dark biology defense. By nature and nurture, Jane was a ticking time bomb and Tom had no way of knowing this about her history. The psychic element could seem goofy, but Harrington makes it work simply by making the story engaging.

Both the main and embedded stories are filled with dark subject matter, but JANEOLOGY does not feel like a downer. Instead it’s a gripping glance into the environment that produced a terrible crime. I’m not so fond of the ending, but it’s hard to finish something that explores such a difficult question.

Tom was neither a good husband nor father, but he did love his family. He did not notice the changes in Jane because he only saw the woman he loved. One feels sorry for Jane as the secrets of her past spill forth, even as nothing can absolve her of her crime. I do not think JANEOLOGY is for everyone, but Karen Harrington makes a difficult subject highly readable.

JANEOLOGY is available now. Explore more about Harrington at her Myspace or her website.

My review copy was provided by Pump Up Your Book Promotion.