The nominees for Best Scandal in a Novel:
Perfect Blend by Sue Margolis
Fly Away Home by Jennifer Weiner
Still Thinking of You- Adele Parks
Poor Little Bitch Girl- Jackie Collins
Pieces of Happily Ever After- Irene Zutell
***I didn’t want to post the scandals for each novel, some come as a surprise and I wouldn’t want to give anything away!***
Please vote for your favorite by commenting below. Everyone who votes is entered to win!
The nominees for best BFF Novel (Best Friends Forever):
Firefly Lane by Kristin Hannah
Best Friends Forever by Jennifer Weiner
Hope in a Jar by Beth Harbison
Summer Sisters by Judy Blume
Second Time Around by Beth Kendrick
Please vote for your favorite by commenting below. Everyone who votes is entered to win!
Categories: Best Villain in a Novel, Best Scandal in a Novel, Best Tear Jerker Novel
Prizes: 2 winners will receive both novels from Micheline McAllister- Welcome To My Life and Love You, Love Your Work, Let’s Do Lunch!
Winners will be announced August 23rd.
Please post below to enter your nominations, or email me directly at Samantha@chicklitplus.com. The top 5 from each category will go on to the final voting process.
Some early nomination votes for these categories include:
Fly Away Home by Jennifer Weiner- politician’s affair- Best Scandal
I Heart Paris by Lindsey Kelk- Cici- Best Villain
The Opposite of Me by Sarah Pekkanen- Best Tear Jerker
Categories: Best Laugh Out Loud Novel, Best Romance Novel, and Best BFF Novel (Best Friends Forever.)
Prizes:
Winners will be announced August 23rd.
Please post below to enter your nominations, or email me directly at Samantha@chicklitplus.com. The top 5 from each category will go on to the final voting process.
Some early nomination votes for these categories include:
Are You There Vodka? It’s Me, Chelsea by Chelsea Hander- Best LOL Novel
Hook, Line, and Sink Him by Jackie Pilossoph- Best LOL Novel
Best Friends Forever by Jennifer Weiner- Best BFF Novel
Sometimes all you can do is fly away home . . .
When Sylvie Serfer met Richard Woodruff in law school, she had wild curls, wide hips, and lots of opinions. Decades later, Sylvie has remade herself as the ideal politician’s wife—her hair dyed and straightened, her hippie-chick wardrobe replaced by tailored knit suits. At fifty-seven, she ruefully acknowledges that her job is staying twenty pounds thinner than she was in her twenties and tending to her husband, the senator.
Lizzie, the Woodruffs’ younger daughter, is at twenty-four a recovering addict, whose mantra HALT (Hungry? Angry? Lonely? Tired?) helps her keep her life under control. Still, trouble always seems to find her. Her older sister, Diana, an emergency room physician, has everything Lizzie failed to achieve—a husband, a young son, the perfect home—and yet she’s trapped in a loveless marriage. With temptation waiting in one of the ER’s exam rooms, she finds herself craving more.
After Richard’s extramarital affair makes headlines, the three women are drawn into the painful glare of the national spotlight. Once the press conference is over, each is forced to reconsider her life, who she is and who she is meant to be.
Written with an irresistible blend of heartbreak and hilarity, Fly Away Home is an unforgettable story of a mother and two daughters who after a lifetime of distance finally learn to find refuge in one another.
I have one copy of this excellent Jennifer Weiner novel to give away! Comment on this post, RT on Twitter, or comment on Facebook to win your copy! The winner will be chosen Tuesday July 20th.
Best selling author Jennifer Weiner showcases her talents with her latest page turner Fly Away Home. Tackling infidelity goes a step further with her newest characters, Sylvie and Richard Woodruff. Both in their late fifties, Sylvie and Richard seem to have a fantastic marriage- he is the senator of New York and she is his lovingly doting wife. Sylvie has gotten accustomed to standing beside her husband, attending workouts with her personal trainer, and always wearing the right outfits to public events. But when Sylvie learns that her husband has been cheating- with his much younger intern- her world starts spinning out of control.
Sylvie and Richard’s daughters are also struggling to cope with the news of their father’s infidelity. Diana, an emergency room physician, finds herself in a similar position. Though it appears she has everything- a career, a husband, son- she has strayed outside her marriage with a medical student. Lizzie, the younger sister, is a recovering addict trying desperately to stay clean. When yet another pollical scandal hits the national media, all three women are thrust into the unwanted spotlight.
Fly Away Home is written from three different perspectives- Sylvie, Diana, and Lizzie. I loved that Weiner took on a topic that has been so popular as of lately- the cheating politicians and the wives that do or don’t stay with them. Getting inside the head of the wife and trying to work through her dissolving marriage made me unable to put this book down. An added bonus was hearing from the daughters, and I enjoyed that both girls were struggling with even bigger problems in their personal lives. I think all women will enjoy this book that revolves around empowering the female, love, and above all, family.
Rating: 4/5
In My Mailbox: Week of June 20, 2010
Title: Fly Away Home
Author: Jennifer Weiner
Received: From Artemis Azima- Engelman & co.
Synopsis: Sometimes all you can do is fly away home . . .When Sylvie Serfer met Richard Woodruff in law school, she had wild curls, wide hips, and lots of opinions. Decades later, Sylvie has remade herself as the ideal politician’s wifeher hair dyed and straightened, her hippie-chick wardrobe replaced by tailored knit suits. At fifty-seven, she ruefully acknowledges that her job is staying twenty pounds thinner than she was in her twenties and tending to her husband, the senator.Lizzie, the Woodruffs’ younger daughter, is at twenty-four a recovering addict, whose mantra HALT (Hungry? Angry? Lonely? Tired?) helps her keep her life under control. Still, trouble always seems to find her. Her older sister, Diana, an emergency room physician, has everything Lizzie failed to achievea husband, a young son, the perfect homeand yet she’s trapped in a loveless marriage. With temptation waiting in one of the ER’s exam rooms, she finds herself craving more.After Richard’s extramarital affair makes headlines, the three women are drawn into the painful glare of the national spotlight. Once the press conference is over, each is forced to reconsider her life, who she is and who she is meant to be.Written with an irresistible blend of heartbreak and hilarity,Fly Away Homeis an unforgettable story of a mother and two daughters who after a lifetime of distance finally learn to find refuge in one another.
Title: Anyone for Seconds?
Author: Fiona Cassidy
Received: From Fiona Cassidy
Synopsis: Frankie has recently met the man of her dreams, Owen, at the college where she is temping as a public relations officer. The lecturer was abandoned by his wife Jane when their daughter Angelica was only seven. Frankie has a lot in common with her new boyfriend as her husband Tony also dumped her and then headed off to the US with his stick-insect lover. He hasn’t seen his kids Ben and Carly since. But if the path of true love never runs smooth, then the road to Frankie’s second chance at love and a united family is definitely littered with potholes. Not only does she have to deal with one very moody and insolent teenager who isn’t keen on another woman entering her dad’s life, she also has to face off against two spiteful in-laws in the form of her ex’s grandmother “Nebby Peg” and Owen’s sister-in-law Brenda. But on her side she has her sister Ella, back from Scotland for a visit with an upsetting secret, and her wild-haired friend Ruby. Frankie is a feisty character who will resonate with those who have walked in her shoes. A promising debut – I’ll be back for seconds.
Title: Swallow
Author: Tonya Plank
Received: From Tonya Plank
Synopsis: Sophie Hegel is a shy New York lawyer from small-town Florence Arizona, known not for the Renaissance but for housing a large prison. She’s just graduated from Yale Law School and landed her first job when, one evening she feels a fist-like ball form at the base of her throat. Diagnosed with the psychological condition Globus Sensate, this “fist-ball” wreaks havoc on her life, causing difficulty eating, speaking, and eventually breathing. With a cast of characters that includes a pornographer father, a sister with a knack for getting knocked up by denizens of the town pen, a tough-talking fashion maven, a painter of male nudes, an eccentric Sing Sing-residing client and a bevy of privileged Manhattan attorneys and judges, Swallow is a dark comedy about the distance that can separate fathers and daughters, and about a young woman’s struggle to survive in a world of pedigreed professionals for which she has no preparation.
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.
Jennifer Weiner’s seventh novel, Best Friends Forever, may fool readers into thinking this is some lovey-dovey over the top story about friendship, but don’t fall for that. The story begins with a possible homicide at a ten year high school reunion, when the beautiful Valerie tries seeking revenge on Dan Swansea but possibly goes too far. When Valerie realizes she may need help, she seeks out childhood best friend, Addie Downs, to bail her out of the sticky situation. Addie is shocked to find Valerie on her doorstep, especially after the major falling out the girls had in high school. It doesn’t take much for Valerie to apologize for her previous actions and rope Addie into her off the wall schemes in trying to elude the police, turning this novel into a Thelma and Louise type plot.
I did enjoy reading about how the girls were able to mend a once broken friendship, but at times it was too over the top for me. With a police officer that conveniently falls for Addie after one glance, a harebrained scheme of robbing a bank, and a religious intervention taking place at the end, I found myself shaking my head in disbelief on more than one occasion. But underneath that, the focus on ugly duckling Addie as she struggles with her weight, a slew of disastrous blind dates, and caring for her troubled brother kept me happily occupied during my reading. I think chick lit fans will appreciate the differences in these friends and the backgrounds they have come from, and of course- the underlying romantic plot between Addie and the officer. Best Friends Forever wasn’t my favorite Jennifer Weiner novel, but I still recommend it for a good beach read.
Rating: 4/5
