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Anything by Michael Baron
Chick Lit Review

Anything by Michael Baron

I have read The Journey Home from Michael Baron and enjoyed it, so when I was offered a chance to review his latest novel, Anything I decided to give him another go. And I am so happy I did! This book had me hooked from the very beginning, and was one that I would constantly talk about to friends –asking the question: what would you do?
Ken and Melissa, the focal point of the novel, are about to get married. Ken never knew he could love someone as much as he loves Melissa, and he is ready to start a new life together with her as his wife. While searching for just the right wedding present for Melissa, Ken stumbles upon a unique and mysterious shop. When the owner offers him a chance to look in on Melissa’s life when she was a girl, Ken decides to seize the opportunity. But when the look back offers a glimpse at a horrific incident from her childhood, Ken is enraged. But now Ken has a second chance – he can go back in time and prevent the incident from happening. Ken would do anything for Melissa, and to take away that memory would bring Ken such joy and he feels that Melissa’s life would only better from that. But when Ken returns to present time, Melissa is no longer in his life. She doesn’t even know who he is. By changing that one piece of the past, Ken has now altered both his and Melissa’s life – forever.
I enjoyed getting to know a male protagonist, which isn’t something I get often with mainly reading chick lit and romance. Ken was such a lovely character, a man that I think everyone woman wishes she would meet and fall in love with. He had a great dynamic with Melissa, but the depth of these characters goes even farther. Ken says he will do anything for Melissa – even at the expense of them possibly never meeting. This was a terrific book, and like I said earlier, had me talking to people about what they would do given the opportunity. Check out this book – you won’t be disappointed!
[Rating: 5]

August 3, 2012
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Where We Belong by Emily Giffin
Chick Lit Review

Where We Belong by Emily Giffin

Ah, the latest Emily Giffin novel. Who hasn’t been waiting anxiously for Where We Belong to land in our hands? Fans of the much-loved author will not be disappointed with her latest offering – a tale of family, loyalty, and love and must-read for the summer season.
Marian Caldwell is living her dream life in New York City. As thirty-six she is a successful TV producer, dating an even more successful man, and has everything that she has worked so hard for. Her life is fairy tale – to outsiders. Marian has been keeping a secret from everyone for half of her life – and that secret is about to catch up with her. Kirby Rose, an eighteen year old girl searching for her birth mother, brings that secret to light when she knocks on Marian’s door. Marian’s past is now coming back to her – the lies, the shame, the guilt of giving up her daughter for adoption and then never trying to find her or contact her throughout the years. Kirby is just trying to find a way to fit in. She doesn’t connect with her mom and dad the way her sister does – their biological daughter. She hopes finding Marian and her birth father will help that unsettling feeling. But now another secret is about to be spilled – regarding Kirby’s birth father and Marian’s ex-boyfriend from high school. Can Marian and Kirby both find the answers and closure they so desperately seek?
Where We Belong is a page –turner. The novel goes back and forth from Marian to Kirby’s POV, and Giffin does so with ease, letting readers side with both leads. I thought this was interesting, because honestly – Marian doesn’t seem to be that great of a person. She has told a lot of lies, and seemingly done so to not upset her master plan of being successful. It actually wasn’t until the end of the book where I thought to myself: huh. She can be kinda unlikeable. This book hit home in a few places to me – dealing with adoptions and not knowing birth parents, trying to find where you really do belong. I got emotional in a few spots, and I will say that I really enjoyed the ending. I thought it was going to be the opposite (no spoilers here!) but was very pleased with the way Marian’s romantic future outcome was ended on. Another must-read from Emily Giffin.
[Rating: 5]

July 30, 2012
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Kat Fight by Dina Silver
Chick Lit Review

Kat Fight by Dina Silver

Dina Silver is currently on tour with CLP Blog Tours and Kat Fight. I absolutely loved Dina’s debut, One Pink Line, and have been eagerly awaiting her sophomore novel. I was not disappointed in the slightest with Kat Fight. Dina once again brings her powerful writing skills, likeable and relatable characters, and a tender story-line that makes this novel land on my Favorites List.
The story opens with Kat fighting once again with her long-term boyfriend, Marc. She hasn’t been feeling the love lately in their relationship, and when she offers Marc an ultimatum, she is met only with silence. For weeks. Now single for the first time in years, Kat is forced to head back to the drawing board so she can find her happy ending. She firmly believes in love, marriage, the whole works…but now who will be her Prince Charming? When her best friend Julie sets up Kat on a blind date, it happens to work – just not with who Julie set up Kat with. Instead, Kat starts to wonder if she is falling for Julie’s date, Ryan. As the story continues, Kat hides her blossoming friendship with Ryan from Julie, which ends up backfiring on her. Marc also comes back in the picture ready to give Kat everything she asked for – but is that what she really wants? With two men, a pissed off BFF, a catty co-worker trying to give her advice and a bi-polar boss making Kat jump through hoops, this story has it all, and makes for an excellent chick lit read.
I felt like I was immediately friends with Kat, and the supporting cast was truly outstanding. Adam, the co-worker, was to die for, and even Brooke kept up her storyline very well. The idea behind the plot was also intriguing, in part because who falls for the friend’s date on their own blind date, but also because Silver has said that it is loosely based on how she met her husband. I loved the ten facts after the book that were included, a fab touch! Kat Fight was engaging and read on a personal level, one for your must-read list and another 5 star novel from Dina Silver.
[Rating: 5]

July 25, 2012
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Pickin’ Tomatoes by J.W. Bull
Chick Lit Review

Pickin’ Tomatoes by J.W. Bull

J.W. Bull is currently on tour with CLP Blog Tours and Pickin’ Tomatoes. This is book after my own heart. The heroine, Maggie Malone, is soon-to-be-divorced and now a single mom. Okay, that’s not me but she also cannot cook (not even a smidge) but bluffed her way through a contest and is now the Chef of Hearts – dating and food columnist for Cooking and Women magazine. Yes! I loved the plot line for this book, and it was not a disappointment!
Maggie is thirty-five (cough,forty,cough) an ex-chef of Lavande Restaurant in Paris (cough,nevercookedbefore,cough) and single (cough,stillmarriednotdivorcedyetwithadaughter,cough). And she had a new job as a columnist for a real magazine! Maggie is thrilled with her good fortunes, and excited to start this new chapter in her life. But will pretending to be someone she’s not really work out in the end for her? And how long can keep she keep up the charade that she is a real chef that has served the Pitt-Jolie clan in Paris?
I loved Pickin’ Tomatoes! So many of Maggie’s kitchen woes have actually happened to me! If you follow my tweets – you understand it’s best that I stay far, far away from the kitchen. Nothing good ever seems to come from it. I absolutely loved the part where Maggie washed the chicken with Palmolive. Why? Because the first time I washed chicken on my own – I literally questioned if I should use soap – no joke! I was rolling on the floor laughing when I read that part. (And no – I skipped the soap that fateful first time!) This was a very-well written novel, humorous and very delightful to read. Sometimes I did wonder how Maggie avoided all the disasters when she was in public versus in her kitchen, but I’m letting that slide because I really loved the book. 5 stars from me!
[Rating: 5]

July 13, 2012
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One Breath Away by Heather Gudenkauf
Chick Lit Review

One Breath Away by Heather Gudenkauf

Heather Gudenkauf leaped onto my list of Favorite Authors when I read These Things Hidden. I was thrilled when I was offered an ARC of her latest novel, One Breath Away, and was not disappointed. Once I started reading there was no stopping. A fast-moving, gripping tale that literally had me holding my breath, this is worthy of five full stars.
The novel follows the perspectives from five key players – Meg Barrett, Will Thwaite, Evelyn Oliver, Holly and her daughter Augie. Meg is on the police force in the small town of Broken Branch, Iowa, and is shocked when reports go out that a gunman is in the only school in town – housing essentially all of Broken Branch’s youth. Will Thwaite receives word of the gunmen and instantly worries about his two grandchildren who are in the school – Augie and her little brother P.J. Mrs. Oliver, a long-standing teacher, is trying to keep calm for her students with the gunman in her room. Can she – and her students- make it alive? And Holly, mother to Augie and P.J. lies in a hospital room miles away in Revelation, Arizona, recovering from a serious burn accident. Her mother, Will’s wife, is by her side, and the women are terrified when the national news shows their small town of Broken Branch being paralyzed by a man with a gun. Who is the crazed gunman – and how many will escape his murderous plan?
Loved this book! It was so fascinating to watch all the characters come together, and I seriously had no clue until the very end who was in the school with a gun. I could feel my eyes get wide when the identity was revealed. I also really enjoy that Gudenkauf is actually from my hometown – Dubuque, Iowa – and the book mentions a few towns that I know. Broken Branch is fictional, but there’s just something about reading the towns of Des Moines, Cedar Falls, Waterloo, that I find really intriguing. Also bits and pieces of landmarks that make me thing – yeah, I know that! – are interesting too. But back to the book – there was always just enough information to keep the plot moving and keep me wondering how it would all come together. A fabulous read, and one not to miss!
[Rating: 5]

July 11, 2012
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The Next Best Thing by Jennifer Weiner
Chick Lit Review

The Next Best Thing by Jennifer Weiner

Ah, a new Jennifer Weiner book. Who wouldn’t be excited to get that in the mail? This is the tenth book from the best-selling author, and one of my many favorites from her. The title is The Next Best Thing, which is also the title of a television series that Ruth Saunders wrote and is about to see on the air. Ruth moved from Massachusetts to LA at age twenty-three with her grandmother, a spit-fire lady with a killer fashion sense and who only wants to see Ruth happy. After six years of mundane jobs and pouring her heart and soul into her vision, she gets The Call. Her sitcom has been green-lighted; her dream is coming true.
Ruth quickly learns that her idyllic vision of a down-to-earth show about a young woman and her grandmother is not what TV execs want. Where Ruth wants a “normal” looking girl (not a twig, not a flawless beauty) the big-wigs want “TV-pretty” (rail thing and flawless beauty). The clashes don’t stop there, and Ruth wonders if she can survive in the cutthroat world of Hollywood and TV sitcoms.
I really enjoyed this book, and had it read in just over a day. What I thought was so interesting was that Weiner recently had her own stint with a TV sitcom; she was the co-creator and co-executive producer on the ABC sitcom State of Georgia, which aired in 2011 (and was later cancelled). So it was great for me as the reader to understand that I was truly getting a behind-the-scenes glance at how a sitcom is made. And wow – I’ve never had an urge to write a TV show, but now I really don’t! All kidding aside, the work, sweat, tears, frustrations, etc, that go into it is just mind-boggling. I found myself being mad as hell alongside Ruth, wanting to cry when she was sad, and tapping my fingers anxiously while awaiting to hear whether the show was going to continue or be axed. Beyond all that, there was also a fabulous love story both with Ruth and her grandmother, and the happy endings were well-deserved. And then there was the story of Ruth’s disfigurement from a car accident when she was a toddler. The tears dripped down my face when Ruth wrote the words I’ll never be beautiful after enduring multiple facial surgeries. There is a lot happening in this book, but the sub-plots click into place with an ease readers have come to expect from Weiner, and this book is on my Favorites List with a 5 star review!
[Rating: 5]

July 6, 2012
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Finding Lucas by Samantha Stroh Bailey
Chick Lit Review

Finding Lucas by Samantha Stroh Bailey

I received a copy of Finding Lucas from Samantha Stroh-Bailey in exchange for an honest review. This book opens to Jamie Ross celebrating her five year anniversary in Montreal with her boyfriend Derek. A weekend that should be filled with romance and feelings of happiness, it turns out to be the opposite for Jamie. Since when have her Derek been so off with one another? What happened to the laid-back guy with long hair she first met – and how did he become a metrosexual with too much hair gel and only caring about climbing the corporate ladder? Jamie realizes that she is unhappy, but she just can’t make that jump from safe relationship to being alone and starting over. When the TV show she works for devises a plan to reunite lost loves, Jamie starts thinking about her first love- Lucas. Perhaps this is a sign, telling her to get rid of Derek and find Lucas. Jamie dives head-first into hunting down her past love and hoping he still thinks about her, without realizing the one she really wants is right in front of her.
I loved this book! And here’s a strange thing – I’m pretty meticulous about editing, and this book did have a lot of instances with the quotes inside the punctuation, which drives me crazy. Also, the book was a bit long, which sometimes frustrates me as well. But even with those two things, once I finished reading I knew this was a 5 star book. Very rare for me, and just shows how much I truly loved the writing and plot. Jamie was such a fun and unique heroine. Her lifestyle and family is a bit different, and I found both her and the supporting cast really intriguing. I also liked the romance parts. It was clear Derek and Jamie were not meant to be, but I was never really sure who she was going to end up with, and I liked the mystery. Also – I was totally laughing yet seething when Derek and his mom gave Jamie a “breakup bill” – oh man, that was good! I really loved this book and it is going on my Favorites List!
[Rating: 5]

June 20, 2012
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Finding My Happy Pace by Heather Wardell
Chick Lit Review

Finding My Happy Pace by Heather Wardell

Ah, one my favorite indie authors, Heather Wardell, has done it again. I have been enthralled with her books since number one, and I’m super happy to say I’ve reviewed them all here on ChickLitPlus. Finding My Happy Pace features thirty year old Megan, a teacher with absolutely no backbone. Megan has been letting people such as her brother and “best friend” Amanda take advantage of her for years, thanks to her mother’s “don’t count beans” philosophy. Megan struggles to stand up for herself in any situation, but things begin to change when she meets Andrew, and MMA fighter and marathon runner. Megan begins training for a marathon herself, and during her time with Andrew and fellow runner Jeanine, Megan begins to understand that being assertive doesn’t automatically mean being selfish. Can Megan change her outlook on life for good after so many years of being a doormat?
Loved! One of my favorite things about Wardell’s books is that she brings back previous characters, or at least hints about some. While others were featured, the dominance was Andrew – the boyfriend from Planning to Live. I loved hearing his story and catching back up with him, and seeing a romance between him and Megan blossom. Sometimes it got difficult to read about Megan constantly being treated like nothing by her friend Amanda (and James –ugh – what a character!) and it could almost cross the line into her being too whiny. But this is where Wardell’s superb writing skills come in, and she helps readers understand why Megan lets herself be treated bad. I highly enjoyed watching Megan grow as a person, and this is another 5 star referral for Heather Wardell from me!
[Rating: 5]

June 14, 2012
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Sea Change by Karen White
Chick Lit Review

Sea Change by Karen White

Ooh, another Karen White novel! *Rubs hands together with glee* I was excited to tear into this one, and it was classic White style, just what I was hoping for. The story follows Ava Whalen, newly married to Matthew Frazier. They eloped quickly after meeting, and Ava knew with all her heart that he was the only one for her. They decide to live on St. Simons Island, where Matthew’s family has lived for generations. Upon arrival, Ava’s happiness begins to fade. The past starts creeping amongst the shadows – and Ava becomes obsessed with learning about Matthew’s heritage, specifically the story of Geoffrey and Pamela Frazier, who lived in the house in the 1800’s. Ava also learns for the first time about Matthew’s first wife, and the mysterious circumstances surrounding her death. Her husband couldn’t have played a part in Adrienne’s murder – or could he? The more Ava digs into the lives of the Frazier’s the more confused she becomes. Her obsession with the past soon leads a trail of questions to her own past – and her connection to St. Simons Island.
Loved it! Once I started Sea Change, there was no putting it down. I loved going back and forth between the present and past, and was absolutely enthralled with Pamela Frazier and her sad tale. This book has a great deal about the subject of reincarnation, and I thought it was done in a fabulous way. It’s hard to put into words how gripping I thought this story was. This was a book that I thought of at night when I was supposed to be sleeping, and I could see the characters moving in mind, living out the journey I thought they would or should take. I finished it in about two days because I had to know how it ended, and this is one not miss!
[Rating: 5]

June 14, 2012
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