In My Mailbox: Week of January 29 Part 2

In My Mailbox: Week of January 29 Part 2

 

Title: Point Click Love

Author: Molly Shapiro

Received: From Molly Shapiro

Synopsis: In Molly Shapiro’s fun and sexy debut novel, four women try to sort through the wild and complicated world of text messaging, status updates, and other high-speed connections.  

Best friends and fellow midwesterners Katie, Annie, Maxine, and Claudia are no strangers to dealing with love and relationships, but with online dating and social networking now in the mix, they all have the feeling they’re not in Kansas anymore. Katie, a divorced mother of two, secretly seeks companionship through the Internet only to discover that the rules of the dating game have drastically changed. Annie, a high-powered East Coast transplant, longs for a baby, yet her online search for a sperm donor is not as easy—or anonymous—as she anticipates. Maxine, a successful artist with a seemingly perfect husband, turns to celebrity gossip sites to distract herself from her less-than-ideal marriage. And Claudia, tired of her husband’s obsession with Facebook, finds herself irresistibly drawn to a handsome co-worker. As these women navigate the new highs and lows of the digital age, they each find that their wrong turns lead surprisingly to the right click and, ultimately, the connection they were seeking.

 

Title: Blame it on the Fame

Author: Tracie Banister

Received: From Tracie Banister

Synopsis: A power-trippin’ bitch, a has-been, a skanky ex-model, a press-shy indie queen, and a British stage actress no one knows – that’s how the Best Actress hopefuls in this year’s too-close-to-call Oscar race cattily describe each other. Which of them will win the much-coveted gold statue and what price will they be forced to pay as they travel the red carpeted-path to Hollywood glory?

Amidst all the press-schmoozing and angsting over which designer gown to wear, these Oscar contenders feud, commiserate, and face a succession of personal crises – scandalous secrets come to light, marriages implode, accidents land two nominees in the hospital while another receives news that could derail her career, all culminating on Tinsel Town’s biggest night when anything can happen, and does.

BLAME IT ON THE FAME is the debut novel of author Tracie Banister whose writing is similar in tone (sexy, humorous) to the works of Lauren Weisberger and Candace Bushnell.

 

Title: Losing Clementine

Author: Ashley Ream

Received: From Lauren @ Harper Collins for SheKnows Book Lounge Review

Synopsis: In thirty days Clementine Pritchard will be finished with her last painting and her life.

World-renowned artist and sharp-tongued wit Clementine Pritchard has decided that she’s done. After flushing away a medicine cabinet full of prescriptions, she gives herself thirty days to tie up loose ends—finish one last painting, make nice with her ex-husband, and find a home for her cat. Clementine plans to spend the month she has left in a swirl of art-world parties, manic work sessions, and outrageous acts—but what she doesn’t expect is to uncover secrets surrounding the tragedy that befell her mother and sister. In an ending no one sees coming, will we lose Clementine or will we find her?

A bold debut from an exciting new voice, Losing Clementine is a wonderfully entertaining and poignant novel about unanticipated self-discovery that features one of the most irresistible, if deeply flawed, characters to grace contemporary fiction in years.

 

Title: Another Piece of My Heart

Author: Jane Green

Received: From Stephanie @ St. Martin’s Press for SheKnows Book Lounge Review

Synopsis: Andi has spent much of her adult life looking for the perfect man, and at thirty-seven, she’s finally found him.  Ethan–divorced with two daughters, Emily and Sophia–is a devoted father and even better husband.  Always hoping one day she would be a mother, Andi embraces the girls like they were her own. But in Emily’s eyes, Andi is an obstacle to her father’s love, and Emily will do whatever it takes to break her down. When the dynamics between the two escalate, they threaten everything Andi believes about love, family, and motherhood—leaving both women standing at a crossroad in their lives…and in their hearts.

ANOTHER PIECE OF MY HEART is a novel that illuminates the nuances and truths about relationships and is Jane Green at her absolute best.

Best Tear Jerker Nominees

The nominees for Best Tear-Jerker Novel:

Firefly Lane by Kristin Hannah

Promises to Keep by Jane Green

The Opposite of Me by Sarah Pekkanen

The Lies We Told by Diane Chamberlain

On Folly Beach by Karen White

Please vote for your favorite by commenting below. Everyone who votes is entered to win!

Guest Post: Smart Chick Lit

I’ve been asked in the past why I read chick lit, as if it isn’t “real” fiction.  I get that it isn’t the genre for everyone, but I like it.  But, why do I like it?   Why do any of us read what we read?  I thought about it, and polled friends who read chick lit to see what they thought.

 

What makes you like it, I asked them?  Overwhelmingly, we all said it is the heroine that draws us to the genre. When we read women’s fiction, we want to feel like we’re having coffee with a girl friend.  More than that, we want someone who isn’t perfect, because we know we certainly are not perfect. But we don’t want our heroine to be an idiot.  As my friend Katherine said “You like a heroine who has faults, but you don’t want one who makes the same mistakes over and over again.”

 

We want a heroine with gumption, who can find the happy ending but who can also get through things without relying on her man.  We want clever, witty heroines who may get themselves into a mess, but also have the ability to also get themselves out of it, preferably with an appropriately acerbic comeback.  We want a heroine who lives in the real world.  My friend Lisa, a working mother of three, said “One of my biggest pet peeves in books is when the heroine has kids and she’s out every night, never the mention of having to get a babysitter or fix dinner – makes me think what the heck am I doing wrong?”

 

I like heroines who struggle with the same mundane things my girl friends and I all talk about, like wanting to lose weight, wondering if that perfect guy really exists, fearing we’re not quite a good enough mother/wife/daughter/sister/friend/employee. I look for complex characters, perhaps who are facing fallout from their unpopular or unconventional choices. Mostly, I want to root for my heroine, that whatever her happiness is, she is able to find it.

 

We like heroines who aren’t a cliche.  Unique heroines are so much more interesting and believable.  In fact, it is when we recognize so much of ourselves in our heroines that we are completely drawn in to a novel. It is what brings us to laughter or tears, what really makes us cheer for her.  After all, when we like our heroine that much, we feel like we’re cheering for ourselves, too.

 

So who writes the heroines we like the most?  Jennifer Weiner is brilliant at writing a real, identifiable character, placing her in realistic situations, and providing the right amount of drama and humor as the heroine figures out her life.  Emily Giffin gives us very well drawn, complex heroines who may take an unconventional path, but still have us rooting for them.  Meg Cabot and Jane Green write heroines we like to read. I also love Marian Keyes.  Ireland, and Irish heroines are at the heart of most of her novels, but I adore them.  The heroines are quirky yet endearing, and Keyes is great at slipping in an unexpected plot twist. 

 

Smart Chick Lit, that’s what I think most of us are looking for, and the plucky, clever heroines written by these fabulous authors keep us coming back for more.

Guest Post by Ashley Williams from My Book Fetish. Visit her webiste here!