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Personally, I Blame My Fairy Godmother by Claudia Carroll
Chick Lit Review

Personally, I Blame My Fairy Godmother by Claudia Carroll

What girl doesn’t love the Cinderella fairy tale? A young woman coming from nothing, living with her horrible stepmother and retched step-sisters, only to fall madly in love with Prince Charming and live happily ever after. Jessie Woods believes her life rivals the one of Cinderella. She didn’t have much as a child, but with the love and support from her father, she determinedly made something of herself. Working as a daredevil TV host, living in a mansion, and dating one of the most eligible bachelors, Jessie’s life couldn’t get better.
But it could get worse. When Jessie gets offered to accept a free car after one of her daredevil shows, she greedily accepts- on live TV. She is immediately sacked from her position, and with no job and the credit card bills becoming more and more demanding, Jessie is forced to cut back on her lavish lifestyle. Way back. And then more. After losing her house, she is forced to move in with her stepmother and her two grown daughters- still living at home with no husbands or social lives to speak of. To make it all worse, Jessie’s boyfriend will no longer return her calls. Can she still find a happy ending after all?
Personally, I Blame My Fairy Godmother by Claudia Carroll is a riot! I was laughing out loud at the crazy situations Jessie finds herself in- from working fast food to breaking and entering her ex’s house. The stepsister’s are a story in themselves, and the stepmother and her start-up internet business- genius! Though the story might be seem all light and comical, there is a lesson to be learned from many of the characters. The only part that sometimes got under my skin was the constant complaining about Jessie’s failed relationship. But I loved the stereotypes and the many comparisons to fairy tales. I thought that really worked for what Carroll was trying to achieve, and I definitely recommend this Brit Chick Lit novel!
[Rating: 4.5]

April 4, 2011
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In My Mailbox: Week of April 3
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In My Mailbox: Week of April 3

In My Mailbox: Week of April 3rd

Title: The Gin and Chowder Club
Author: Nan Rossiter
Received: From Kensington Books
Synopsis: Set against the beautiful backdrop of Cape Cod, “The Gin & Chowder Club” is an eloquent, tender story of friendship, longing, and the enduring power of love…The friendship between the Coleman and Shepherd families is as old and comfortable as the neighbouring houses they occupy each summer on Cape Cod. Samuel and Sarah Coleman love those warm months by the water; the evenings spent on their porch, enjoying gin and tonics, good conversation and homemade clam chowder. Here they’ve watched their sons, Isaac and Asa, grow into fine young men, and watched, too, as Nate Shepherd, aching with grief at the loss of his first wife, finally found love again with the much younger Noelle. But beyond the surface of these idyllic gatherings, the growing attraction between Noelle and handsome, college-bound Asa threatens to upend everything. In spite of her guilt and misgivings, Noelle is drawn into a reckless secret affair with far-reaching consequences. And over the course of one bittersweet, unforgettable summer, Asa will learn more than he ever expected about love – the joys and heartache it awakens in us, the lengths we’ll go to keep it, and the countless ways it can change our lives forever…

Title: Sweet Valley Confidential
Author: Francine Pascal
Received: From St. Martin’s Press
Synopsis: It’s been ten years since the Wakefield twins graduated from Sweet Valley High, and a lot has happened. For a start, Elizabeth and Jessica have had a falling out of epic proportions, after Jessica committed the ultimate betrayal, and this time it looks like Elizabeth will never be able to forgive her. Suddenly Sweet Valley isn’t big enough for the two of them, so Elizabeth has fled to New York to immerse herself in her lifelong dream of becoming a serious reporter, leaving a guilt-stricken Jessica contemplating the unthinkable: life without her sister. Despite the distance between them, the sisters are never far from each other’s thoughts. Jessica longs for forgiveness, but Elizabeth can’t forget her twin’s duplicity. Uncharacteristically, she decides the only way to heal her broken heart is to get revenge. Always the ‘good’ twin, the one getting her headstrong sister out of trouble, Elizabeth is now about to turn the tables…

Title: Already Home
Author: Susan Mallery
Received: From Eric @ Planned Television Arts
Synopsis: After nearly a decade as a sous-chef in a trendy eatery, Jenna is desperate for a change. She’s supported her ex-husband’s dreams for so long that she can’t even remember her own. Until she sees a for-lease sign near her parents’ home and envisions her very own cooking store.
Her crash course in business is aided by a streetwise store manager and Jenna’s adoptive mother. But just as she’s gaining a foothold in her new life, in walk her birth parents—aging hippies on a quest to reconnect with their firstborn.
Now Jenna must figure out how to reconcile the free-spirited Serenity and Tom with her traditional parents, deal with her feelings for a new love interest and decide what to do about her ex’s latest outrageous request. In the end, Jenna will find that there is no perfect family, only the people we love….

April 3, 2011
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GIVEAWAY: The Journey Home by Michael Baron
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GIVEAWAY: The Journey Home by Michael Baron

Joseph, a man in his late thirties, awakens disoriented and uneasy in a place he doesn’t recognize. He sets out on a journey to find his home with no sense of where he’s going and only the precious, indelible vision of the woman he loves to guide him.

Antoinette is an elderly woman in an assisted living facility who has retreated inside her head. There, her body and mind haven’t betrayed her. There, she’s a young newlywed with a husband who dotes on her and an entire life of dreams to live. There, she is truly home.

Warren, Antoinette’s son, is a man in his early forties going through the toughest year of his life. With far too much time on his hands, he decides to try to recreate his memories of home by attempting to cook his mother’s greatest dishes and eat them with her.

Joseph, Antoinette, and Warren are three people on different searches for home. How they connect with each another at this critical stage in their lives, is the heart and soul of this story.

One lucky winner will receive a paperback copy of The Journey Home by Michael Baron. To enter, email your name and full mailing address to Samantha(at)chicklitplus.com. For bonus entries, comment below, on Facebook, or RT on Twitter. The winner will be chosen on Sunday, April 10th.

April 2, 2011
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Spinning by Michael Baron
Chick Lit Review

Spinning by Michael Baron

I usually veer to the chick lit/woman’s fiction genre, but every once in awhile I will take a chance and step outside the box. A few months back, I was asked to read The Journey Home by Michael Baron. I read it, and fell in love. When I was recently asked to read Baron’s latest novel, Spinning, I knew I had to accept. And again, I am glad I did.
The story follows Dylan Hunter, a playboy public relations executive that specializes in “spinning” or bending the truth to suit his or his client’s needs. But Dylan is thrown when a former lover, Diane, shows up on his doorstep. Diane has moved her and her young daughter, Spring, to New York City for a change of pace. After first worrying Spring could possibly be his, Dylan doesn’t know how to handle the sudden change in his life. Diane assures him he is not the father, but won’t go into any further details on Spring’s father. Dylan falls into a comfortable pattern with Diane and Spring, and enjoys having more to live for than just his job, money, or his next fling. But his new shiny life is soon smashed to pieces when Diane is killed in a car accident. With no other family members stepping forward, it seems Dylan is the only person young Spring has left in her life. Dylan has to decide if he can handle the sudden responsibility of parenthood, understand the legalities of adopting a child, and see if he can handle spinning all the plates at once.
Spinning was such a wonderful read. Dylan isn’t the most likeable character at first, but you can see he is only human. Spring breaths fresh air into the novel, and I broke down at several points when reading thinking about how she lost her mother at such a young age. Baron explores deep and sensitive topics- single parenthood, death, adoption- just to name a few. This book promises to touch a nerve with all readers, and will leave you thinking about the character’s lives after you have finished. Another must read from Michael Baron.
[Rating: 4.5]

April 1, 2011
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Guest Post by Michael Baron: Writing Fiction
For Writers

Guest Post by Michael Baron: Writing Fiction

Writing fiction isn’t like competing in the Olympics in terribly many ways. This is, for the most part, a good thing, as my training regimen falls a tiny bit short of Olympic standards (actually, it’s just this side of couch potato standards). One way in which they’re similar, though, is that, like many Olympic participants, writers get extra credit for degree of difficulty.

I’ve always shot for a certain degree of difficulty with my novels. In When You Went Away, I tried to express an entire father-daughter relationship through journal entries. In Crossing the Bridge, I created a major character that readers don’t see speak until one of the last chapters of the novel. In The Journey Home, I doubled down on degree of difficulty (do I get extra points for alliteration?) by having one viewpoint character with dementia and another with amnesia. Now, in my new novel, Spinning, I tried writing a romantic story where the protagonist falls in love twice.

Writing friends advised me that this was a risky move. There are certain conventions to love stories, they told me. One of these is that you can’t ask readers to invest in two relationships involving the same guy. Come on, I thought, is that really tougher than landing a triple axel/double salchow combination in figure skating? Since I can barely stand up on skates, I can’t answer that question, but I do know that it was tougher than I expected. The novel begins with Dylan, our protagonist, opening the door of his apartment in the middle of the night to find Diane, an old lover, and her three-year-old daughter on the other side. Over the first portion of the novel, they rekindle their relationship and truly fall in love this time. But soon tragedy strikes and Diane is gone. Then, somewhere around the middle of the novel, Dylan falls in love with a close friend, leading to all kinds of complications.

When I laid out this plot, I figured I’d have no problem with the two-love-affair issue. It all worked out rather neatly on the Excel spreadsheet I use to storyboard novels. When I started writing Dylan and Diane’s relationship, however, I really liked the way they were together. I wanted to see them make it. If I wanted to see them make it, were readers going to want to see them make it as well? How were they going to feel about the fact that they don’t make it? How were they going to feel about Dylan when he lets himself fall in love again so quickly? Would readers give their hearts to this new relationship if I broke their hearts over the previous one?

This required quite a bit of finessing. In the end, I think I found a way to make both relationships work. Did I get enough rotation on my turns, though? Did I stick the landing? Did I enter the pool with the minimal amount of splash? That’s up to readers to decide, but I hope they’ll give me at least a bit of extra credit for degree of difficulty.

April 1, 2011
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In My Mailbox: March 31st
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In My Mailbox: March 31st

In My Mailbox: March 31st

Title: Bodyguards in Bed
Authors: Lucy Monroe, Jamie Denton, and Elisabeth Naughton
Received: From Kensington Books
Synopsis: There’s just one cardinal rule when it comes to being a bodyguard: no matter how tempting it may be, never, ever get romantically involved with the person you’re protecting. But as these sensual novellas prove, even the most important rules are made to be broken – again and again and again. Join acclaimed authors Lucy Monroe, Jamie Denton, and Elisabeth Naughton as they open the files on an undercover operative who finds a sexy surprise under his covers, a hot case involving mixed messages and mistaken identities, and a mission impossible protecting a provocative beauty who lives to love dangerously.

Title: One Night Scandal
Author: Christie Kelley
Received: From Kensington Books
Synopsis: Born on the wrong side of the blanket, matchmaker Sophie Reynard understands the consequences of unbridled desire all too well. Despite the many highborn friends she has matched, falling in love with an aristocrat without a pedigree of her own would be an act of futility. But that doesn’t stop her from succumbing to one evening of anonymous passion…Nicholas Tenbury, Marquess of Ancroft, knows nothing of Sophie’s lineage. He knows only that the enchanting beauty captured his heart in one night and then fled, leaving no trace of her identity. But when he seeks answers from London’s finest matchmaker, he finds none other than the woman herself – stubbornly refusing to acknowledge the attraction they share! Now the enamoured Marquess has no choice but to sway Sophie with seduction…

Title: Summer Friends
Author: Holly Chamberlin
Received: From Kensington Books
Synopsis: In this compelling novel set against the beautiful backdrop of Ogunquit, Maine, the bestselling author of Tuscan Holiday and One Week in December portrays an unexpected friendship, and its consequences for two very different women as time inevitably sweeps them into adulthood…
Over the course of one eventful summer, nine-year-old native Mainer Delphine Crandall and Maggie Weldon, a privileged girl “from away,” become best friends. Despite the social gulf between them, their bond is strengthened during vacations spent rambling around Ogunquit’s beaches and quiet country lanes, and lasts throughout their college years in Boston. It seems nothing can separate them, yet after graduation, Delphine and Maggie slowly drift in different directions…
With her MBA, Maggie acquires a lucrative career, and eventually marries. Delphine is drawn back home, her life steeped in family and the Maine community she loves. Twenty years pass, until one summer, Maggie announces she’s returning to Ogunquit to pay an extended visit. And for the first time, the friends are drawn to reflect on their choices and compromises, the girls they were and the women they’ve become, the promises kept and broken—and the deep, lasting ties that even time can never quite wash away…

March 31, 2011
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Sweet Valley Confidential is Here!
Updates

Sweet Valley Confidential is Here!

Sweet Valley fans rejoice! We finally get to meet up with our good friends, Jessica and Elizabeth Wakefield. Francine Pascal has written Sweet Valley Confidential, peeking into the lives of the Wakefield twins ten years later. When I first heard this book was coming out, I was jumping for joy. After I graduated from the Baby-Sitters Club series, I went straight to Sweet Valley High. I’ve read every book, and was also a gradual watcher of the TV show when it was on air. When St. Martin’s Press offered to send me my own copy of Sweet Valley Confidential, I was ecstatic. My package arrived yesterday (same day the book was available in stores) and also came with a t-shirt! Oh boy, my boyfriend was looking at me like I was crazy when I started shrieking and insisted on wearing my shirt all night. Be sure to get your copy, or visit the fun website SweetValleyTenYearsLater.com. I look forward to reading my copy and posting my review!

March 30, 2011
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The Atlas of Love by Laurie Frankel
Chick Lit Review

The Atlas of Love by Laurie Frankel

Debut author Laurie Frankel was the latest choice for the SheKnows Book Club. Her novel, The Atlas of Love, brings a story of three women trying to be a family. Narrated by Janey, we meet Katie and Jill, all three who are English-lit students, while they struggle to keep up with classes and try to have social lives. For Mormon Katie, this means finding a boyfriend with the same religion. For Jill, life has a different plan. She becomes pregnant by her much younger boyfriend, and when he decides he can’t be a father, he takes off. Janey and Katie immediately come to their friend’s rescue, offering to move in with Jill and help care for the baby. Be their own unique family.
But once baby Atlas comes along, everything changes. Janey becomes overly attached to the baby boy, Katie gets engaged, and the father suddenly appears back in the picture, wanting to be with Jill but still not interested in being a dad. The story takes a dramatic turn when Atlas lands in the hospital, and the three friends are forced to make a decision. Can they keep living like a happy family? Or will the bonds of friendship become broken?
The Atlas of Love started a little slow, but quickly picks up steam and transported me into the character’s world. I felt a real honesty with each character- including when Jill wanted to give the father a second chance. I may not have liked what she was doing to her friends who changed their lives for her, but it was real. I thought this was a really interesting topic for a novel, one that more readers can relate to as we move away from what a “normal” family is. With TV shows now showcasing how 21st century families live (ABC’s Modern Family, for one example) I wasn’t that surprised at the non-traditional setting I was reading about. I definitely recommend this debut novel!
[Rating: 4.5]

March 30, 2011
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