Tackle it Tuesday #2 - Fairytale of New York By Miranda Dickinson

                Tackle it Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by Tasha at Book Obsessed at http://book-obsessed.blogspot.com/. Tackle It Tuesday is a play off of a similar meme of the same name hosted by Janice and Susan at 5 Minutes for Mom.

            At the Book Obsessed, the idea is to "tackle" books that have been sitting on your shelves collecting dust waiting to be read. Or to "tackle" those you’ve started, but yet to finish because life has gotten in the way. It’s also a way to help encourage Blogger interaction, which is always a plus.

To find more books that have been “tackled” this week, visit the Book Obsessed at

http://book-obsessed.blogspot.com/

For my second edition of Tackle it Tuesday, I am featuring a novel that I had been looking at for almost an entire year before finally obtaining it for my actual “to-be-read” shelf. A while back I was perusing chick lit genre web sites for upcoming reads and favorably reviewed books when I noticed an unforgettable cover on the home page of the Chicklit Club, a very popular website based out of Australia that reaches Chick Lit readers, writers, reviewers and fans of the genre worldwide. The beautiful cover was that of a late 2009 release, that (to me, at least) looked like a woman, basking in the sparkling snow of the city; perhaps lost in her very own “winter wonderland”. As you can see from the pretty, pink, purple and very sparkly cover above, the book I’m referring to is none other than debut novel, “Fairytale of New York” by Miranda Dickinson. Later, while surfing around the internet in search of new chick lit books to add to my TBR list, I came across an author interview on Chick Lit Reviews featuring, none other than debut author, Miranda Dickinson. In fact, there is a really fascinating story behind how Miranda Dickinson got this novel published. She was one of the first authors to have her book, then titled Coffee at Kowalski’s, published via HarperCollins online review site, Authonomy. She said she “uploaded Kowalski’s ([her] own pet project) just as a test to make sure the site worked! [She] was amazed by the response [she] received on the site from other writers and even more stunned when, a couple of months later, [she] received an email from Avon (part of HarperCollins), asking for the complete manuscript.” Soon after Avon told her, “We do want to publish your novel, by the way!” and by mid November of that year (2009) her book made it to its first bookstore.

To conclude my own tale of obtaining her book, back in September, I was browsing through Kobo Books to see what e-books they were offering, and sure enough, Miranda Dickinson’s Fairytale of New York was being listed for a limited time for FREE!! I was too excited for words (to say the least) and I jumped at the first opportunity to download it. Unfortunately as life always seems to get in the way, as reading challenges specify for other novels and as more and more books accrue on my shelf, this one just kept getting pushed to the side. So here it is February 15, 2011 and I’m finally (finally) getting around to it. It’s a relatively long book, approximately 400 pages or so, and I’m only about a third of the way in. It started off kind of slow with repetitive allusions to the main character, Rosie’s, “big secret” for why she moved to the U.S. after being in England her whole life. Also, I was somewhat bogged down by frequent endings to chapters with lines like “and then everything was about to change.” But around chapter five, things actually turned around for me, and I really developed an invested interest in the novel and its wonderful characters. I can’t wait for my next opportunity to Tackle It some more!

**Cover provided by Goodreads**

Fairytale of New York is the romantic story of Rosie Duncan, orginally from England, who owns Kowalski's Flower Shop in New York. She learned all about floristy and life from her mother as well as Kowalski's original owner, Mr. K., himself, who has been a central figure and mentor to Rosie. After his death, Rosie bought out the flower shop. Between Rosie and co-designer, Ed's, fabulous floral artistry and creations, a welcome offering of robust and flavorful coffee from "Old Faithful", their trusty coffee-brewing machine, and the old-neighborhood feel and family atmosphere of their shop, the team at Kowalski's (Rosie, Ed, Celia and Marnie) have successfully atttracted and maintained a loyal customer base. When Rosie attends a book publishing party amongst some of the biggest power players in NYC, including one Mimi Sutton, she and her floral designs quickly beocme the "Next Big Thing" to have by all in the city, infuriating their competition, Phillipe Devereaux. At the party she also meets good looking and kind, Nathaniel Amie, but hurt by a past relationship, Rosie is wary to get too close to anyone again. The pain is clearly too much for Rosie to handle, as she can't even bring herself to reveal the true reason behind her move from England to Boston to New York- as Ed repeatedly points out to her. But it appears that her fears of revealing her feelings of hurt and love lost must run in the family as Rosie's brother, James, shows up with a big and troubling secret of his own. With her business prosepcts flourishing and a gorgeous man literally knocking on her door, will Rosie finally get her own happily ever after?

This was the first book by Miranda Dickinson. Her second, titled, Welcome to My World, was released in 2010.

For a review of Fairytale of New York visit: http://chicklitclub.com/titlesf.html#fairytaleofnewyork or to see the fabulous interview visit: http://chicklitreviews.com/2009/11/11/author-interview-miranda-dickinson/