Star Book Review: A Girl Like You by Gemma Burgess

In the classic chick lit story, A Girl Like You by Gemma Burgess, Abigail is having a quarter-life crisis of sorts. After finally getting up the courage to leave her boyfriend, Peter, of seven-plus years, Abigail’s biggest fear is that she’ll become the loneliest single girl in London. To avoid “catching” the LSG syndrome, she goes to her Lothario-like flatmate, Robert, for singledom advice. Abigail quickly learns that her best bet for dating is to act like a man. She compiles a best-of list based on Robert’s sage suggestions, and is determined to…

Be Cool

Be Detached

Act Brutal

Stay in Control

(Be) Bulletproof

Always Leave Them Before They Leave You

Not only do Robert’s strategies help to make Abigail a little less lonely, but it makes her adventures in dating in London a lot more entertaining. Of course, all this friendly coaching brings Robert and Abigail much closer together but now that she’s become a pro on the dating circuit, will she even be able to give Robert a chance?

A Girl Like You is full of hilarious antics and charades, giving readers the inside scoop on dating in a modern London. The description of characters made up for parts that may have been a tad predictable. Overall, well written and a fast read, I felt like I was “a girl like them”, eagerly awaiting the next page.

 4 Stars

Star Book Review: In Office Hours by Lucy Kellaway

     In Office Hours was a great book full of juicy gossip and serious scandal. Lucy Kellaway’s writing was clad full of all the kinds of details meant for watercooler banter - quite literally, as this novel took place inside a fictional 9-5 office environment in London. IOH wove together two stories about two British women, Stella and Bella, who were on opposite ends of the corporate ladder but who found themselves walking in the same shoes, when each one embarked on a love affair with a coworker that brought nonstop drama into both their personal and work lives. Caught up in romance and debauchery, Stella and Bella rode a rollercoaster with fate and what seemed like everlasting excitement quickly turned into turmoil and disappointment.



Working Girl illustration by Bella Pilar



British author, Lucy Kellaway did a fabulous job exploring the inner thoughts of two very different women and the feelings they are left with after entering an illicit love affair. They differed in everything from their ranks in the corporate world to their roles in family life and marital status and even differed in the men they went after. However, their differences almost evaporated when both were met with a personal and public humiliation as they were outed for their forbidden relationships at the workplace and at home. Having narrated the story in first-person, by alternating between the each woman's voice, In Office Hours truly allowed the reader to hear two very separate perspectives on what it means to be and feel like "the other woman".

****4 STARS ****

This is one of the few books I sincerely hope to see a movie made of in the next few years. Stella and Bella and the scandal that surrounds them would be more than ideal for the big screen. I’m thinking a gorgeous yet believably established woman, like Kelly Rutherford-type for Stella and for young yet naive mom, Bella, a pretty Leighton Meister-type. (I’m a huge Gossip Girl fan if you couldn’t tell.)

**What book would you like to see at the movies? And who would star in it?

Star Book Review: Holly's Inbox: Scandal in the City by Holly Denham

The sequel to Holly’s Inbox: Scandal in the City was full of all the gossip, drama and “scandal” that I anticipated after reading its predecessor, Holly’s Inbox. While this book can be read on its own, it’s definitely more fun having already read the previous one. All the same characters (and a few new ones) return with more secrets, conflicts, and just life stuff to be hashed out over email.

Holly and Toby are still together and working together at DK Huerst; although with Toby’s frequent business trips to France, Holly’s feeling even lonelier than before she and Toby got together. But as always, she’s got all her besties by her side, including funny guy, Jason, diva, Aisha, and coworker, Trisha.

You won’t believe the surprises in store in this fun British chick lit novel.  Someone’s got a big secret and Holly and Toby each have something major to tell one another but will they be able to communicate with one another with the distance that has grown between them? You won’t want to put this one down! Despite the book’s intimidating physical size, the email format makes for quick and easy reading all the way through. Holly Denham is a fabulous writer and two-book series comes highly recommended from Lip Gloss and Literature. 4/5

For more fun (and a sneak peek at the original Holly’s Inbox) Log onto, http://hollysinbox.com/ where you can get a taste of all the juicy details to come.

Star Book Review - Click: An Online Love Story by Lisa Becker

Click: An Online Love Story was one of my favorite debuts of the year. Written in purely email form, Click tells the story of Renee, who’s almost thirty and looking for love.

Desperate to find a good man in the Los Angeles area who will treat her right and make her laugh, Renee’s best guy pal, Mark (who’s surprisingly not gay – a nice change up from the conventional chick lit novels), convinces her to join him in a quest of online dating. In her first challenge - before she even begins sifting through the guys – she must decide which dating site, among the plethora of them all she wants to post her profile on. The choices are virtually limitless, from generic sites, like Dating World, to more specific ones, like Choose Jews, Renee’s got a big decision to make that might greatly influence her future cyber love match.

Once she decides on her site, the dating games begin almost instantaneously. It seems Renee’s profile attracts most everyone, from students and doctors to businessmen and even a rock star, Renee’s in for one adventure after another and as the reader, I got a front row seat to all the heartbreak, letdowns, anticipation, excitement and much hilarity!

Shelley, Renee’s oversexed bff, has no interest in settling down just yet. She names all of her conquests (i.e. The Cuddler, Rocket Man, etc etc.) and provides all the comfort, advice and sometimes just a good drink that Renee needs throughout her rollercoaster of dating. Then there's Renee's other bff, Ashley, who is in an eternal on-off relationship with Evan. Ashley is totally against online dating bit will she change her mind when she finds out that Renee has put herself out there on the Net?

Renee and her friends will always have each other; but will they ever find true love in Los Angeles?

This truly was a great book. It was a very quick read for me. In fact, I haven’t read a book this quickly (3 days!) since I was a teenager.  It was a laugh out loud book with wonderful characters that were really well-defined. Having just read Holly's Inbox, I was well-prepared for the email format of this novel. If you’ve never read a book like this, it may take you a few pages to get used to all the “To;”, “cc’s” and especially “bcc’s” in this book (look for much humor here!), Subject lines, Fwds and more. Although you never get to hear first person conversations and events – for instance, you don’t get a seat at the table while the girls lunch at Mel's and you aren’t walking along side them on nights out on Melrose in Santa Monica – but you still get all the scoop via email the next day. I am continually amazed at the creative behind this format, and it really works; believe me, you won’t miss a single, juicy detail and you’ll likely be laughing aloud throughout the entire novel.  

I hope there will be more books from Lisa Becker to read in the future.

**Thank you so much to Lisa Becker for sending me a copy of her book. I hope more of you get a chance to read it!! In fact, if you head over to Chick Lit Central: The Blog, you have a chance to win your very own copy of Click: An Online Love Story through TOMORROW!!!  Here’s the link: http://chicklitcentraltheblog.blogspot.com/2011/07/we-clicked-with-lisa-beckerplus-book.html**

Can’t get enough of this review? Check out the previous Interview at Lip Gloss and Literature that I was so lucky to do with Lisa Becker last month: http://lipglossandliterature.blogspot.com/2011/06/special-author-interview-contest-lisa.html

4 STARS

 

Star Audio Book Review - The Fixer-Upper by Mary Kay Andrews; Read by Isabel Keating

The Fixer-Upper was the first book I read and listened to by Mary Kay Andrews and it really exceeded my expectations. When the story began, narrator Isabel Keating introduces readers to its leading heroine, Dempsey Jo Killebrew. Living in DC, working as a lobbyist for a prominent and very influential man, Alex Hodder, Dempsey finds herself front and center in a political scandal that she swears she knows nothing about. Immediately, her entire life is thrown into total upheaval. She loses her job, her apartment and pretty much everything that identifies her in DC and to top it off, her boss won’t talk to her to even give her so much as a clue as to what it going on.

Nearing 30, Dempsey swallows her pride and hops on a plane to Miami to ask her father, Mitch for a loan. While he doesn’t agree to give her money, he does make an interesting proposition to Dempsey. Apparently, his Uncle Norbert from Guthrie, Georgia had just passed and left Mitch his huge farm house, called Birdsong, and whatever land it’s on; but the catch is, the house is in no kind of condition to live in or even sell just yet. If Dempsey is willing to go up to Guthrie, fix up the old house and put it on the market, Mitch is willing to split – 50/50 – any of the profits that she can garner from the sale. Left with virtually no options, Dempsey goes back to DC to pack up her apartment and heads down to the lil’ town of Guthrie, Georgia.

In Guthrie, Dempsey is met with surprise after surprise. First, to say the farm house is in disarray is a vast understatement; but before she can even enter Birdsong to assess the damages, she comes face to face with an old, cynical and very protective woman, currently living in Birdsong – and she wants nothing to do with Dempsey and she certainly doesn’t want her living in the house with her. Dempsey heads off to the lawyer’s office to find out just what’s going on where she learns that the woman is a distant cousin, Ella Kate who took care of Norbert during his last few years. She has got nothing but hate in her body for the Killebrews. With all bad news, there’s got to be something good – and it takes the form of a Mr. Carter T. Berryhill, or “T” for short. He is a gorgeous, young lawyer, working with his father, a local Guthrie man and the romantic tension that sparks between him and Dempsey is more than palpable. As if Dempsey didn’t already have a long road ahead and ample work cut out for her, the FBI trail her to the farm house in Guthrie and they aren’t leaving until she’s willing to talk to them. Will one too many distractions keep Dempsey from finishing her project or more importantly, rebuilding her life?

A beautifully narrated story, fast-paced and exciting with each passing minute, Isabel Keating kept listeners tuning into every word. She performed as the strong yet naïve Dempsey born and raised a city girl, and then masked her voice as the small town country old lady Ella Kate and then again transformed herself into the sweet, sultry and very southern gentleman Carter T Berryhill; The characters couldn’t have been more different in age, sex, ethnicity and culture and I was vastly impressed by Isabel Keating’s ability to alter the intonation of her voice over and over again in this story, from the bad guys in DC politics to those born in the south of Georgia-born to Dempsey’s California glam-hippie mother and her father’s Hispanic wife.

Overall, The Fixer-Upper was supremely entertaining, with elements of drama, romance, action and humor, there’s a little something for everyone. If you like a good chick it novel with a little mystery, political scandal and southern charm, this might just be the audio book for you.

          

Mary Kay Andrews latest release is Summer Rental and it is available in stores everywhere. For more information on these books or any of her others, visit her site at http://marykayandrews.com/.

Rating 4/5

Special Guest Post & Book Review with Chantel Simmons, Author of Love Struck

10 Rules for Being an Author By Chantel Simmons, author of Love Struck

 

Have you always wanted to write a novel, but don’t know where to start? Having published two novels so far, I often get asked this question. Although I’m not the world’s leading expert on how to get the book in your head onto your computer screen, I have a few rules that I try to follow. One of them includes chocolate, so if that’s not a hook, I don’t know what is.

1.      Love your heroine – and others will love her too. Hate her? So will your readers. Who wants to read 300 pages about someone they hate? No one. So make sure your heroine is lovable…even if she’s full of flaws.

2.      Believe in your book. There’s always going to be someone – an agent, an editor, a reviewer or a reader – who doesn’t like your book. You can’t please everyone, (even Pulitzer Prize winners have haters), but you have to believe it’s the best book you can write. If it’s not the absolute best you can do, rewrite it until it is.

3.      Don’t give up. (Yes, it’s a cliché, but it’s true!) If you really want to be a writer, you have to write. More importantly, you have to keep writing. Revise, or start on a new book if the one you’ve written isn’t working. It takes 10,000 hours to become really good at anything., so even if your first book doesn’t sell, don’t get discouraged – writing it got you that much closer to your 10,000 hour goal.

4.      Be excited about what you’re writing. You should want to sit down and write the book in your head. If you find yourself wanting to mow the lawn instead, there’s a problem. Either scrap the idea and start fresh on something else, or figure out what isn’t keeping you engaged and rewrite so you’re enjoying it (what’s the point of writing something that bores you? Imagine how your readers will feel…).

5.      Treat writing like a job, not a hobby. Would you leave work to go home to do laundry or vacuum? Didn’t think so. (Although, if you said yes, there’s probably a good story right there!) If you said no, then don’t let chores get in the way of your writing time.

6.      Set a schedule for writing. It can be the same time every day (get up a half hour earlier so you can fit it in before the alarm goes off, the kids wake up, the dog needs walking…) or at different times – whenever you can fit it in. Put it in your calendar and when it’s time to write, treat it like an appointment and drop everything to get to it! (This helps keeping it separate from that looming load of laundry).

7.      Need inspiration? Pretend to be your character. Spend an afternoon doing what he or she would do. If you’re trying to write a scene but aren’t sure how it would play out – go do it. (For Love Struck, I spent a day with a personal shopper to see what it’s like to be one. I did a spinning class and got my teeth whitened. Aside from having fun, realizing I hate spinning, and get a gorgeous smile (until I had a glass of red wine), I gathered a ton of inspiration and concrete details that went into the book.)

8.      Ask your friends to read your work – others can see the problems with plot, characterization and dialogue that you may not be able to see yourself. Listen to their feedback, but don’t feel obligated to use it if you don’t feel the same way. It’s about getting a fresh perspective.

9.      Chocolate solves everything. Plot problem? Stuck in a scene? Eat chocolate. Then get back to writing. (Popcorn and jujubes work equally effectively.)

10.  Remember that writing a book is a process. Even though it may be your dream, it’s not always going to be easy. Just try to keep the end goal in sight (finish writing your book), and if you’re having a particularly bad day, refer to rules #1-9. (Though I recommend starting with #9).

And now, my review for Love Struck….

Love Struck took a classic chick lit story and twisted it into its own unpredictable saga of love, betrayal, forgiveness, self-discovery, respect and growth. It was my first endeavor into the writing of Canadian chick lit author, Chantel Simmons and I was very impressed, hooked by page one.

Poppy Ross seems to have it all; the perfect marriage, the perfect job; the perfect life. She has a successful business as an image consultant, which basically means she gets to shop and play dress up with friends, family and a laundry list of a-list clientele for a living. She is married to Parker, a good-looking and successful businessman. They share a fabulous home and lifestyle without being weighed down by any kids or pets. In love and free to do what they want, when they want, Poppy couldn’t be happier…until one day at the nail salon, she overhears the women next to her gossiping about their friend Sienna who’s been having an affair with a married man named Parker Ross!

          Poppy is sure her life is over. She doesn’t know what to do. She doesn’t know what to say to Parker. Should she confront him? Should she look for more clues and try to catch him in the act? And then, just when she thinks she’s heard it all, her cell phone rings and she’s told Parker and another woman have been struck by lightning and are in the hospital.

          Upon waking up, Parker is elated to see his wife and just to be alive. He has no recollection of the past few weeks, including the affair with Sienna and now Poppy is in even more of a bind about what to do. How can she tell Parker about the affair now? She doesn’t want to draw anymore attention to his drifting love for her or worse, risk pushing him back to Sienna. Poppy comes up with a plan for how to keep her man interested and keep him from straying. Using her prowess as an image consultant, Poppy decides to give herself the ultimate makeover – into the “other” woman – hoping to give Parker everything he went looking for elsewhere but so that he can find it right at home, with Poppy. Will Poppy’s transformation be able to keep Parker from straying back to Sienna? What if his memory comes back? What if Sienna looks for Parker? Poppy thinks she’s come up with the perfect plan to save her marriage but what if there’s more to Parker’s affair than just outward appearance? Poppy eventually discovers she will need to look deep within herself to figure out why Parker strayed in the first place? Maybe their marriage hasn’t been so perfect after all…then again, what is perfect?

I definitely recommend this novel as one of the summer’s top carry-alls. Bring it with you to the beach as you soak up the sun or take it indoors on one of those rainy, humid afternoons. Love Struck has a little something for everyone, taking readers on a roller coaster of emotions right up until the end. For all that was funny and light about this book, it also had a more serious, thought-provoking level to it, broaching on the topics of intimate relationships and how we project ourselves to others. Poppy endured one self-mutilating procedure after another to project what she thought Parker wanted in a wife, and I cringed, and cried, and laughed right along with her with each one; but eventually, this book showed how marriage, love, life – and self- is all about what’s on the inside. All in al, this book makes one think about just how much can change in a flash – quite literally, in Poppy’s case with that bolt of lightning. I will definitely be seeking out Chantel Simmons first novel, Stuck in Downward Dog and I hope there will be many more novels from her to come.

4/5 Stars

Thank you so much to Samantha at Chick Lit Plus for setting up today's blog tour with Chantel Simmons, and another big thank you to Chantel for stopping by my blog today and taking the time to share a guest post with us all. I know I’m sure going to be stocking up on chocolate now for those long days of writing! She is the author of Stuck in Downward Dog and Love Struck. Be sure to check out her web site for more information, http://www.chantelsimmons.com/.

Also, please check out all of Chantel's previous blog tours stops or find out where she's going next, visit her page at Chick Lit Plus Blog Tours.

Star Book Review: Miranda's Big Mistake by Jill Mansell

My first novel by Jill Mansell came in at number 15 on the Chicklit Club’s Ultimate 100 Chicklit Collection and I would not deny it any of its rave reviews. Although I’m still not sure what Miranda’s ‘'Big Mistake’ actually was, the story and its characters were certainly no mistake at all, with exciting and unusual plot points, often intersecting at various turns. I love books that intertwine as the story and characters did in Miranda’s Big Mistake and for the first 100 pages or so, I was anticipating the big she-bang of colliding characters. That’s not to say that the story was predictable because other than thinking that the characters paths’ would eventually cross, that was it. I did not know in what way or under which circumstances such an event might transpire.

Miranda is a very kind-hearted woman who works as an assistant to Fenn, a hairstylist with very A-List clientele. Even with her wild hair of blue and green, she’s so easy to fall in love with (as becomes very obvious with her many suitors throughout the novel); she’s the type of person who would quite literally give you half her sandwich even if it meant she’d go hungry later. She ends up meeting two men through a stint on a candid camera-type TV show, one of whom turns out to be the husband of her pregnant roommate, Chloe and another, Danny, who turns out to be an undercover reporter who had posed as the homeless man she took a liking to outside her salon. Determined to find a man who can be open and honest with her, Miranda finds love in a celebrity race car driver, Miles, who she meets at Fenn’s salon. However, he has a clichéd celebrity girlfriend, who is conveniently abroad during the time he and Miranda get to know one another. Will Miranda ever find her luck in love?

Meanwhile a very pregnant Chloe is working on regaining her independence and general sense of self after her husband, Greg, leaves her, demanding she have an abortion. Chloe takes up residence with Florence, her boss’s elderly mother and landlord to Miranda, to avoid the wrath of her own mother who blames Chloe for the entire debacle. Fenn begins to take a liking to Chloe the more time he spends around her, finding more and more excuses to invite her out with him. His reputation as a waif, model-dating player leaves him even more conflicted about these new emotions he’s feeling towards this pregnant woman.

Add a little to a lot of chaos into the mix, and you have the fun, fast-paced read that is the British chick lit novel, Miranda’s Big Mistake. I most definitely recommend checking out this book if you can. It’s hilarious and heartfelt, incorporating themes of love, revenge, scandal, good-byes, death and dying, grieving, new beginnings, friendship, kindness, loyalty, crazy hair, fast cars, good looking men and outlandish celebs. Miranda is like the girl next door. She grew on me and I found myself rooting for her the whole way through. I hope you do too! This was my first of many Jill Mansell books read.

4/5 Stars

For more information on Jill Mansell or any of her books, please visit:

http://www.jillmansell.co.uk/

Follow her on Twitter, Facebook or Goodreads.

Star e-Book Review: The Scent of Jade by Dee DeTarsio

The Scent of Jade  by Dee DeTarsio

           

            The Scent of Jade by Dee DeTarsio introduces readers to a new heroine, Julie Fraser, who finds herself in for quite the adventure when she decides to follow her husband on his business trip to the rainforest of Costa Rica. Thinking she has made the ultimate romantic gesture, the surprise is on Julie when she catches her husband, Colin, in a compromising and arabesque position with a voluptuous vixen. Not only does this appear to be a shocking display of animal lust, but it also seems to be ritualistic in some way as they are doing the deed in front of some type of jade artifact. Without a second thought, Julie grabs the green object and starts running….and running…and running, further and deeper into the wild of the rainforest.

            Julie doesn’t even consider looking back as she runs, determined to get the picture of her husband and that….hussy…out of her mind, but soon Julie begins to regret her hasty decision, realizing as she looks around that she’s lost and suddenly, she wishes she'd stopped running a while ago. Praying that her husband has sent out a search party for her – even though she hasn’t forgiven him for being a total bastard – Julie makes the best of her current surroundings. Along the way she meets a colorful cast of characters, including a meddlesome monkey, a blonde Juan, his scintillating sister, magic-making mama and many more. But despite who she meets, the only person Julie really wants to connect with is Colin.

            The longer Julie is out in the rainforest, the more she realizes the danger she’s in. Apparently, the jade artifact she “stole” is the long-lost object of Costa Rica’s heritage and there are a lot of people who are very upset that Colin had it in his possession, even more angered to learn that it’s, once again, gone missing!

            What is so important about this little green rock that has everybody in Costa Rica up in arms? Will Julie ever find out? Will she ever be reconnected with her husband, Colin? What will she say to him if they get the chance to reunite? Could this be Julie’s last vacation ever?

            Dee DeTarsio is a former tv news writer who has a talent for reeling readers into her books with her quick wit, a keen and insightful leading heroine, action-packed scenes and much hilarity. If you’re looking for an adventurous romantic-comedy, The Scent of Jade won’t let you down. A fast-paced, quick read, you’ll be racing through the pages. This was the first book I read by Dee DeTarsio and I will definitely be checking out her other releases.

   4 Stars

   

            Out in ebook, you can find The Scent of Jade by Dee DeTarsio or any of her other novels at Diesel e-books, the Amazon Kindle Store or Smashwords:

For more information on The Scent of Jade, Dee DeTarsio or any of her other releases, visit her website via:

http://deedetarsio.com/

or

http://thescentofjade.com/

Or follow Dee’s hilarious posts on her blog at:

http://ogblayotspay.blogspot.com/

Look for a Special Author Guest Post by Dee DeTarsio Coming Soon to Lip GLoss and Literature!!

Special Guest: Author Interview & Book Review with Beth Orsoff - How I Learned to Love the Walrus

Q. After you finished the Bar exam, you mentioned you went out and purchased a book on how to write a novel; what (or who) influenced you to change careers altogether from being an entertainment lawyer to a writer? Do you ever miss being an entertainment lawyer?

Beth Orsoff: I don’t miss being an entertainment lawyer because I still am one!  Although now I only work part-time.  I think I wanted to be a writer long before I purchased that first “How to” book.  I just didn’t have the courage to try.  For me, that’s been one of the most valuable parts of becoming a lawyer.  My legal career has allowed me to earn a living while learning my craft as a writer, and it’s what gave me the confidence to try my hand at writing.  Maybe it’s because after you’ve survived the California Bar Exam, you feel like you can do anything! 

Q. Where do you draw inspiration from for your novels?

Beth Orsoff: It’s different for each book.  For the first book, “Romantically Challenged,” it was the experience I and many of my friends were having in the dating world.  Dating in your thirties is much different than dating in your twenties.  There’s much more of an element of “I’m looking for Mr. Right,” as opposed to “I’m looking for Mr. Right Now.”

For the second book, “Honeymoon for One,” it came from a dream I had about a woman whose fiancé dumps her the night before their wedding and she decides to go on the honeymoon alone. 

For the third book, “How I Learned to Love the Walrus,” it came from a newspaper article I’d read about a scientific vessel that discovered three abandoned walrus pups in the Arctic Ocean.  That story became a fictionalized scene in the book, and is the reason I wrote the book.  

Q. Who is your favorite character and why? From one of your own novels? What about in one of someone else’s novels?

Beth Orsoff: From my own novels, it’s “Ethan” from “How I Learned to Love the Walrus” because he says exactly what he thinks, is not at all political, and truly doesn’t care about other people’s judgments of him.

I think my all-time favorite fictional character has to be “Scarlett” from “Gone with the Wind.”  I admit I watched the movie before I read the book, which is rare for me.  I almost always read the book first.  And what’s even stranger is the first time I watched the movie (as a freshman in college) I absolutely hated it.  I thought the film was melodramatic, that “Scarlett” was a spoiled brat, and for the life of me I couldn’t understand why millions of people loved this story.  Then I watched the movie again five years later and adored it.  I’m not exactly sure what caused my change in attitude (although I suspect having to fend for myself in the working world was part of it), but from that point forward I viewed “Scarlett” as a heroine for the ages.  Was she the nicest person in the world?  No.  Was she conniving at times?  Yes.  But she took care of her friends and family, even her arch rival Melanie, and she always found a way not only to survive, but to prosper.  Back then women didn’t have a lot of options.  “Scarlett” was ahead of her time.  

Q. Chick lit is still considered, by many, to be a controversial term. Do you mind being called a chick lit author? What made you decide to write books in the contemporary women’s fiction/chick lit genre?

Beth Orsoff: I don’t mind being called a chick lit author because I don’t view the term as derogatory (even though others sometimes use it for that purpose).  Chick lit is merely a sub-genre of commercial fiction; and the purpose of commercial fiction is to entertain. 

These days most people have hectic lives—jobs, families, and a lot of stress and responsibilities.  I’m one of those people.  When I sit down with a book at the end of a long day I don’t want to be challenged, I want to be entertained.  I want to forget about my own life and get wrapped up in someone else’s.  And I want to know that no matter what obstacles the protagonist faces, she will triumph in the end.  I hope that’s the sort of experience I provide for my own readers.  If so, then I’ve done my job.  I find no shame in that.

It wasn’t a conscious decision to write women’s fiction/chick lit, it’s just where my voice and my stories naturally fit.  

 Q. What are some of your favorite books? Authors? Genres?

Beth Orsoff: About half of the books I read are women’s fiction/chick lit, and the other half are a smattering of all other genres including mysteries, thrillers, humor, and the occasional literary novel.  In my own genre, I’m a big fan of Jennifer Weiner and Emily Giffin.  Outside of women’s fiction, I love David Sedaris and Nicky Hornby.  

Q. What are your interests/hobbies outside of writing?

Beth Orsoff: I’m a huge movie fan and a TV-aholic.  But I don’t watch reality television.  There’s too much really good scripted television (e.g., “30 Rock,” “House,” and “Breaking Bad” just to name a few) and too few hours in the day. 

Q. What advice do you have for wannabe writers out there?

Beth Orsoff: Take the time to learn your craft.  Just because with current technology you can publish your first draft, doesn’t mean you should publish your first draft. 

Q. What is something that most people wouldn't necessarily know about you?

Beth Orsoff: I love Elmo.  (Yeah, the red guy from Sesame Street.)

And now my review of…

How I Learned to Love the Walrus (An Arctic Romantic Comedy) by Beth Orsoff

Meet Sydney Green, whose days as a publicist to the stars in LA may be numbered if she can’t turn things around for at least one of her clients.  Never one to give in to the pressure, Sydney makes an elaborate proposal to save both her dying career and a dying population of walruses all in one feel swoop – that is so long as her boss and hunky movie star (and secret boyfriend), Blake McKinley, all cooperate. As the saying goes, Sydney learns the saying “nothing worth having comes easy” all too well as she is met with much resistance on her month long trip to Alaska. Never mind the cold, wet weather or the midnight sun, but no one told her that she’d be sleeping in a tent, taking sea showers, sharing in the cooking and cleaning and sacrificing all access to electricity – in other words, no blow drying her hair, no charging her satellite cell phone or laptop, and no laundry! If that wasn’t bad enough, her writer for the “Save the Walrus” film’s script has just quit, the expedition’s leader, Jill, expects her to volunteer during her “free time”, Jill’s six year-old son keeps bugging Sydney to role-play the Star Wars battle between Luke and Darth Vader with him and the group’s lead scientist keeps arguing with Sydney at every chance; but it will all be worth it when Blake finally shows up, right?

A fun story with vivacious characters, engaging plot lines and unique settings, Beth Orsoff’s How I Learned to Love the Walrus tackles themes of self-exploration, honesty, preservation and humanity. That may seem like a serious laundry list of topics but Beth Orsoff’s talented writing enables readers to think about the reality of life and our environment while filling page after page with much romantic humor. In such a way, readers are both entertained and enlightened and extremely satisfied. I mean, who ever thought that reading about a dying breed of mammals in the Arctic would be an exciting topic of interest for a chick lit novel? Clearly, Beth Orsoff is ahead of the rest of us as she successfully created a story about a twenty-something woman who finds true meaning in her life while counting walruses on an expedition at sea. How I Learned to Love the Walrus is the third book written by entertainment lawyer, Beth Orsoff.

4 STARS  

Star Book Review: Sweet Jiminy by Kristin Gore

          A far cry from the political, romantic comedy that her first two chick lit novels, Sammy’s Hill and Sammy’s House, were, Sweet Jiminy takes readers down a new avenue wrought with mystery and southern charm. Jiminy, a twenty-something woman, fled the rural life of Fayeville years ago in search of herself has just dropped out of law school, when she finds herself thinking of no place she’d rather be but home where the roots of her upbringing remain, including her grandmother, Willa, and longtime family friend, Lyn Waters. During her journey home, Jiminy discovers that she was not the first “Jiminy” to have ever lived in Fayeville. In fact, the young girl who shared her namesake was Lyn Waters’ only daughter, who after a terrible incident almost 40 years ago was killed alongside her father, and Lyn’s husband, Edward.

When Jiminy realizes she stumbled upon a 40-year old unsolved murder case involving the very woman whom it appears she was named after, she becomes obsessed. She utilizes the very skills she learned in the law school she had just run away from and starts asking a lot of questions of the local townspeople. Unfortunately, she is met with much resistance from most of the town’s inhabitants. On one side of the fence are those who only view Jiminy’s curiosity as nosiness and wish she would just mind her business and then, even worse, the other side of the fence is fraught with people who believe that a white girl has “no place” attempting to solve a mystery involving two black persons. In a short time, Jiminy seems to have managed to ruffle the feathers of most of the persons in this small southern town who just want to let the past lie in the past.

Yet something about this case pulls at Jiminy, keeping her awake at night, telling her that the deep and long kept secret of Fayeville’s most famous murder must be revealed. She finds herself doing and saying things she never thought she would (or could) and she begins to see herself grow in the midst of all the commotion. Whether its her connection to the first Jiminy, the pain she sees all over Lynn Waters face regarding the loss of her only daughter and beloved husband or the raw anger she feels towards the very real prejudices of many of the people of Fayeville, Jiminy doesn’t know but whatever it is, Jiminy won’t rest until she can help bring peace to this case.

If Jiminy’s refusal to maintain the deep and long kept secret of Fayeville’s most famous murder weren’t causing her enough difficulty, it would seem she’s really managed to test the tolerance (or lack thereof) of the people’s of Fayeville by engaging in a more than friendly interracial relationship with Lyn Waters’ nephew, Bo. She experiences, firsthand, how real the lingering racial prejudices in Fayeville are affecting her and the mystery behind Jiminy and Edward’s deaths.

            The closer Jijminy gets to finding the answers to a half-century old crime, the drama and danger increase but will her efforts be enough to overcome the force of a town who’s old-fashioned prejudices run just as deep and strong as the secrets they don’t want uncovered.

Sweet Jiminy was shorter compared to her first two books, but I think the length was right in line with most mysteries. All in all, it was a very exciting story with strong characters in a vivid setting. You feel like you are right alongside Jiminy throughout the whole mystery. You won’t want to skip a page. Kristin Gore has really proven herself to me as a writer – she was someone who I once wasn’t sure if I would be interested in her “type” of fiction because of my assumptions about politics, but once again she has shown me what an exceptional talent she has for the art of story-telling. I already can’t wait for her next release (whenever that may be in whatever genre she may choose to tackle).

4 out of 5 stars

Sweet Jiminy is out for release April 26, 2011.

For more on Kristin Gore, visit her Facebook page at:

http://www.facebook.com/people/Kristin-Gore/725815943#!/pages/Kristin-Gore/112210335457434

Or her Author page at Hyperion Books:

http://www.hyperionbooks.com/bio/kristin-gore/

Thank you so much to Hyperion and Net Galley for letting my read a pre-release e-book edition of this book. http://www.netgalley.com/