Mad About the Boy

Mad About the Boy by Helen Fielding

I borrowed a hardcover copy from my local public library.

My review:

Bridget's back! I am not going to try to avoid the "spoiler" that had everyone so upset, because it is not a spoiler. Mark is dead. They got married and had a couple of kids and now he's dead. Anything else would be a spoiler, but those basic facts are not.

Bridget is now in her early 50's and is juggling (single) motherhood slightly behind the schedule of most of her friends. She's also back in the dating game and finding it as difficult as it was for her twenty years previously. She attacks her new challenges with her typical blend of courage, anxiety, self-doubt, and determination to improve. Her voice is unchanged from the first two books, and readers who loved her the first two times around will only love her more now.

Though the book is screamingly funny, it also has a depth that the previous books did not quite touch. While younger Bridget worried about her parents, her career, and whether or not her life was going to turn out okay, a Bridget who has had and lost the love of her life has a very different foundation underlying the same old worries and schemes. Some of the passages about her missing Mark and wishing that he could be there to see his children grow up literally left me in tears.

A book that can leave a reader breathless with both laughter and sobs gets five stars on my blog.

Stars: 5

Savannah Breeze

Savannah Breeze by Mary Kay Andrews

I borrowed the audiobook on CD through my workplace's interlibrary loan service.

My review:

BeBe Loudermilk is a successful businesswoman, loving granddaughter, loyal BFF, and a few-times-divorcee in Savannah. After making the mistake of once again trusting the wrong man, BeBe is determined to get back on her feet and get her revenge, no matter how many horrifying motel bathrooms she has to scrub.

The sequel to Savannah Blues, this book features many of the same characters and a few new ones. Granddad, especially, stole my heart and made me laugh out loud. The reader struggled early on to bring convincing life to each character, but she hit her stride after a couple of chapters and most of the book was great listening.

Stars: 5

Runability: 4

Just delightful. I'm behind on my blogging, so that's all I'll say. But I had so much fun with this one and am so glad that I went to the trouble of getting it on audio. 

The Scent of Rain

The Scent of Rain by Kristin Billerbeck

I bought the ebook when it was discounted through Barnes & Noble.

My review:

Daphne is left at the altar on her wedding day and has to figure out where to go from there. Her new job as the "nose," or professional scent expert, for a cleaning products company gets exponentially more difficult when her sense of smell vanishes in her emotional turmoil.

Kristin Billerbeck writes Christian chick-lit deftly. Daphne and the supporting characters are realistic people in relate-able situations. The Christians in Billerbeck's books are real Christians; they struggle and doubt and make mistakes and say things they shouldn't and receive encouragement from others. They try to hold to principles but thankfully don't veer into being rigid or obnoxious.

Scent of Rain is less "chick-lit-y" than the other Billerbeck novels I've read, and by that I mean that there is less focus on clothes and other "frivolous" lifestyle details. There is a love story, but the focus is on a young woman learning more about herself, which I believe is actually the best characteristic of good chick-lit.

The ending was compressed a little, in a manner reminiscent of Billerbeck's She's Out of Control, but the novel is still satisfyingly substantial and should be enjoyable for fans of the genre.

Stars: 4

A Royal Pain

A Royal Pain by Megan Mulry

I bought the ebook when it was discounted for Barnes & Nobles NOOK Daily Finds a few days ago.

My review:

Bronte is coming out of a failed relationship and decides that she needs a rebound man. Conveniently, she bumps into a delicious British doctoral candidate and convinces him-- without much difficulty-- to fill the role. The rebound relationship with lots of hot sex threatens to become more, but Bronte is stunned and dismayed to learn that her handsome Transitional Man is actually a duke and member of the royal family of England.

This is a delightful piece of bubbly chick lit. Megan Mulry's writing is very good, but habitual readers of chick lit should be prepared for extended passages of description and narration that do not involve dialogue. Like all good chick lit, however, it includes lots of great clothes, lots of killer shoes, and enough champagne to go around. The narrative-heavy sections moved the story along appropriately and the transitions flowed well, so the change from narration to more dialogue-heavy passages and back were not distracting. Several subplots were worked into the book, however, and the story line involving Bronte's relationship with her parents wasn't well-integrated into the main story until close to the end.

The ending will bother some readers, who will take issue with the choices Bronte makes and the reasons that she makes them. Still, anyone who enjoyed the movie The Prince and Me or Sophie Kinsella's I've Got Your Number will love diving into this fun little fantasy of contemporary royal romance.

P.S. Lots of swearing. Bronte likes to swear.

Stars: 4

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book and I'm glad I snatched it up. It's not great literature, but it was a super-fun read. It definitely whisked me away to another place and sometimes that's what I'm looking for in a book. This would be a great vacation read or a good book for curling up on a rainy Saturday with a cup of tea or glass of wine.

Fools Rush In

Fools Rush In by Janice Thompson

I got a free ebook copy through Barnes & Noble a couple of years ago.

My review, originally published... like... a year and a half ago?

I am no fan of romance books, [2013 note... at the time!] but this one struck me as exceptionally bad. There was hardly anything in the background or storyline that I found plausible (I mean, really, how hard can it possibly be to find a country-western deejay in Texas?). If the phrase "boot-scootin'" had been used one more time, I think I would have thrown my Nook across the room. I could hardly force myself through all of the forced, hokey references to the love interest's rural Texas background.

As a Christian, I felt like this book is more likely to turn non-believers against Christianity than it is to win anyone over. Why would any thinking person want to join a group of people who are apparently so dense that they (SPOILER ALERT!) believe that fainting means that you died and then were miraculously resurrected by prayer (Which happened twice. TWICE.). The unmarried female characters with the exception of Aunt Rosa are absolutely desperate to find men, and the two-week courtship is portrayed as a "God-thing." I guess the title should have given that part away.

Stars: 1.5, the 0.5 being for the lack of typographical and grammatical errors

I stumbled across this old review while organizing my LibraryThing books. I keep seeing this book on freebie and/or Christian reads sites and every time I look at the reviews for it I am baffled that so many people think it is good. I am re-posting my review here as a public service. Save yourself from this horrible book. 

Someday, Someday, Maybe

Someday, Someday, Maybe by Lauren Graham (expected publication April 30th, 2013)

I received a digital review copy from Ballantine Books via NetGalley.

My review:

When an actor writes a book, there is always the possibility that the manuscript found a publisher based on the writer's established fame and not on the merit of the writing or plot of the book itself. Lauren Graham, thankfully, can really write. Even if she hadn't already made a name for herself as an actress, Someday, Someday, Maybe is proof that she could still have a very respectable career as a talented author.

The protagonist and narrator, Franny, is trying to break into the world of acting in NYC. She's set herself a rapidly-approaching deadline for when she needs to have made real progress before she lays her dream to rest and goes back home to get a "real job." The story focuses on her struggles and triumphs rather than on the consumerism that can easily become the actual focal point of some chick lit.

The book is very well-written. The style makes for an enjoyable read, Franny is a likeable and sympathetic main character, and the story is self-aware enough to keep the familiar themes (struggling actress, love triangle, family transitions) fresh. This novel should have appeal even to readers who don't typically read a great deal of chick-lit and who don't have a particular fascination with the world of acting. For an intelligent, easy, enjoyable read, Someday, Someday, Maybe will fit the bill.

Stars: 4

I confess that I did request this book because I am a huge Gilmore Girls fan and I couldn't not read something written by Lauren Graham. I'm sure many other fans of her work as an actress will do the same, but they will certainly be rewarded by a good read.

There are elements of Someday, Someday, Maybe that are reminiscent of Bridget Jones' Diary, but then, what chick lit isn't somewhat derivative of that? Graham takes tropes like diary entries with resolutions and makes them read entirely differently than Bridget's famous journal.

I can't wait to see more books from Lauren Graham.

Beauty Queens

Beauty Queens by Libba Bray

I purchased the audiobook on CD secondhand from the Barnes & Noble marketplace.

My review:

A plane full of teenage beauty pageant contestants crashes on a tropical island and the 14 remaining girls have to figure out how to survive. From that summary, you'd think it would be like The Lord of the Flies meets Mean Girls, but that's not how stuff goes down. Beauty Queens reminded me a lot of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, actually. It's social satire and a lot of it is laugh-out-loud funny.

It's also Hitchhiker's combined with a lot of PC girl-power stuff. I was a Girl Scout in the 1990s, so I've had a lifetime's quota of that already. I was also annoyed by the way Sarah Palin is ridiculed. Most of the other characters or entities were either mashups or stereotypes, which was fine. But one character is a blatant stand-in for Palin (especially as voiced in the audio recording), and that irritated me. It takes what is otherwise really smart, generalized social satire and makes it more of a personal attack than I cared for.

Most of the girls themselves are walking stereotypes who learn the expected, politically-correct lessons from their adventures. We get schooled on the "proper" approaches to: lesbianism, bisexuality, transgenderism, safe sex, sex ed, abstinence, race, disabilities, and breakups. The individual story arcs are predictable (well, with a couple of exceptions!), but the overall story line has some fun surprises and, like I said, the writing is smart and funny. So even with the didactic passages, it's a fun read/listen that should appeal to teen girls and grown women alike.

Stars: 3

Runability: 4

I am not a YA fangirl. I usually find myself rating YA titles a little lower than other readers do; I just tend to prefer books that were written for adults. But I did enjoy this book and the fact that it is about a bunch of teenage girls didn't grate on me. Even if you don't typically read much YA, consider giving this one a shot. It's light and fluffy and ridiculous, but there is depth.

Libba Bray reads the audio version and she is a fantastic voice actor. I highly recommend listening to this one as opposed to reading it if you have the option.

Suck Your Stomach in and Put Some Color On!

Suck Your Stomach in and Put Some Color On!: What Southern Mamas Tell Their Daughters that the Rest of Y'all Should Know Too by Shellie Rushing Tomlinson

I purchased a paperback copy from Better World Books.
 

My review, originally shared July 29, 2012:

Fun read... though this Yankee girl grew up hearing 2/3 of this "southern wisdom" and observing half of these "southern traditions". ;) I think Southerners find us Northerners so prickly half the time because they act like they have a monopoly on all of the good stuff and then blame us for resenting the assumption!

Stars: 3

 

This was cute and humorous. I don't remember how I first learned of this book, but it led me to Shellie's All Things Southern radio program and website. Podcasts of her radio talk show make good running listens, so this one gets an honorary Runability rating of 4 stars! 

The book is not particularly Christian in nature, but Shellie does address matters of faith lightly in the ATS program and in her collaborative work with the other lady writers at Southern Belle View. As a Christian from a similar cultural background, I appreciate the encouragement and down-home perspective.

Olivia Joules and the Overactive Imagination

 Olivia Joules and the Overactive Imagination by Helen Fielding

I borrowed the audiobook on CD from my local public library.


The Goodreads description:

"Move over, 007: a stunning, sexy - and decidedly female - new player has entered the world of international espionage armed with her own pocket survival kit, her Rules for Living, her infamous overactive imagination, and a very special underwire bra. How could a girl not be drawn to the alluring, powerful Pierre Ferramo - he of the hooded eyes, impeccable taste, unimaginable wealth, exotic international homes, and dubious French accent? Could Ferramo really be a major terrorist bent on the Western world's destruction, hiding behind a smoke screen of fine wines, yachts, and actresses slash models? Or is it all just a product of Olivia Joules's overactive imagination?"

My review, originally shared April 28th, 2012:

Cute book! I really loved this one on audio-- the reader was fantastic. It's not masterful literature and it's not as relate-able as Bridget Jones, but Fielding's "chin up, girls" voice comes through loud and clear. If you were intrigued by Bridget's adventures in Thailand and thought it would have been better if it hadn't been shoehorned awkwardly into a subplot, this would be a good book for you. 

Stars: 4

Runability rating: 4

 

There were a few sections where Fielding lost me for a bit and I had a hard time keeping track of what was going on; the action jumps around the globe and players emerge and disappear. For the most part, though, this was a light, fun listen, and, bonus, the protagonist runs to stay fit!