In celebration of my 50th follower here at Lip Gloss and Literature, I wanted to share my gratitude by offering a book giveaway to my readers. Looking through my collection of books (which is too embarrassing a number to reveal), I thought what better a book or author to give away than one of those that got me hooked on this fabulous genre called chick lit or contemporary women’s fiction. If you’ve been reading my blog since it’s days at Where You Wish Upon A Star, you may already know that the leading ladies who inspired me early on included (but are not limited to) Sophie Kinsella, Marian Keyes, Lauren Weisberger, Candace Bushnell and (probably the earliest) Judy Blume. Since these authors are virtually household names in their genre, I realize that most of their books have been widely read by many so I am offering my readers a choice from a few books by these women in hopes that someone will win something they have not read (or maybe you did read it, but you loved it so much you want a copy for your physical To Be Read shelf or to gift to someone else!). So with a BIG THANK YOU to all my followers, old, new and future, I have chosen from a few of my personoal favorites and here are the books to choose from:
Sophie Kinsella’s Confessions of a Shopaholic
If you've ever paid off one credit card with another, thrown out a bill before opening it, or convinced yourself that buying at a two-for-one sale is like
making money, then this silly, appealing novel is for you. In the opening pages of
Confessions of a Shopaholic, recent college graduate Rebecca Bloomwood is offered a hefty line of credit by a London bank. Within a few months, Sophie Kinsella's heroine has exceeded the limits of this generous offer, and begins furtively to scan her credit-card bills at work, certain that she couldn't have spent the reported sums.
In theory anyway, the world of finance shouldn't be a mystery to Rebecca, since she writes for a magazine called
Successful Saving. Struggling with her spendthrift impulses, she tries to heed the advice of an expert and appreciate life's cheaper pleasures: parks, museums, and so forth. Yet her first Saturday at the
Victoria and
Albert Museum strikes her as a waste. Why? There's not a price tag in sight.
It kind of takes the fun out of it, doesn't it? You wander round, just looking at things, and it all gets a bit boring after a while. Whereas if they put price tags on, you'd be far more interested. In fact, I think all museums should put prices on their exhibits. You'd look at a silver chalice or a marble statue or the Mona Lisa or whatever, and admire it for its beauty and historical importance and everything--and then you'd reach for the price tag and gasp, "Hey, look how much this one is!" It would really liven things up.
Eventually, Rebecca's uncontrollable shopping and her "imaginative" solutions to her debt attract the attention not only of her bank manager but of handsome Luke Brandon--a multimillionaire PR representative for a finance group frequently covered in Successful Saving. Unlike her opposite number in Bridget Jones's Diary, however, Rebecca actually seems too scattered and spacey to reel in such a successful man. Maybe it's her Denny and George scarf. In any case, Kinsella's debut makes excellent fantasy reading for the long stretches between white sales and appliance specials.
Marian Keyes’ Angels
Maggie has always been the white sheep of the Walsh family. Unlike her comically dysfunctional sisters, Rachel (heroine of
Rachel's Holiday) and Claire (heroine of
Watermelon), she married a decent man who adored her and found herself a solid career. Where Rachel was reckless and Claire dramatic, Maggie settled early for safety. Or so she believed — until she discovers that her husband is having an affair and her boss is going to fire her. Suddenly, her perfectly organized life has become a perfect mess.
Devastated, she decides the only thing to do is to run for the shelter of her best friend, Emily, who lives in
Los Angeles. There, with the help of sunshine and long days at the beach, she will lick her wounds and decide where life will take her next.But from the moment she lands in the City of
Angels, things are not quite what she expected. Overnight, she's mixing with movie stars, even pitching film scripts to studios. Most unexpectedly of all, she finds that just because her marriage is over, it doesn't mean her life is. In the end neither the City of
Angels nor Maggie Walsh will ever be the same again.
Lauren Weisberger’s The Devil Wears Prada
A delightfully dishy novel about the all-time most impossible boss in the history of impossible bosses.
It's a killer title:
The Devil Wears Prada. And it's killer material: author Lauren Weisberger did a stint as assistant to Anna Wintour, the all-powerful editor of
Vogue magazine. Now she's written a book, and this is its theme: narrator Andrea Sachs goes to work for Miranda Priestly, the all-powerful editor of
Runway magazine. It turns out Miranda is quite the bossyboots. That's pretty much the extent of the novel, but it's plenty. Miranda's behaviour is so insanely over-the-top that it's a gas to see what she'll do next, and to try to guess which incidents were culled from the real-life antics of the woman who's been called Anna "Nuclear" Wintour. For instance, when Miranda goes to
Paris for the collections, Andrea receives a call back at the
New York office (where, incidentally, she's not allowed to leave her desk to eat or go to the bathroom, lest her boss should call). Miranda bellows over the line: "I am standing in the pouring rain on the
rue de Rivoli and my driver has vanished. Vanished! Find him immediately!"
This kind of thing is delicious fun to read about, though not as well written as its obvious antecedent, The Nanny Diaries. And therein lies the essential problem of the book. Andrea's goal in life is to work for The New Yorker--she's only sticking it out with Miranda for a job recommendation. But author Weisberger is such an inept, ungrammatical writer, you're positively rooting for her fictional alter ego not to get anywhere near The New Yorker. Still, Weisberger has certainly one-upped Me Times Three author Alix Witchel, whose magazine-world novel never gave us the inside dope that was the book's whole raison d'être. For the most part, The Devil Wears Prada focuses on the outrageous Miranda Priestly, and she's an irresistible spectacle.
Candace Bushnell’s Four Blondes
Candace Bushnell made her reputation as the creator of the HBO special
Sex and the City, based on her book of the same name (based in turn on her eros-intensive
New York Observer column). In
Four Blondes, she returns with a quartet of novellas on her favorite subject--the mating habits of wealthy sex-, status-, and media-obsessed New Yorkers. These are people for whom a million or two does not make one rich, and who consider Louis Vuitton and Prada bare necessities. Janey Wilcox, for example, is a former model who each summer chooses a house in the
Hamptons--or, rather, picks up a wealthy man with a pricey rental. With one movie in her past, her "lukewarm celebrity was established and she figured out pretty quickly that it could get her things and keep on getting them, as long as she maintained her standards." Yet even Janey eventually realizes that what she's getting isn't exactly what she wants. Cecelia, on the other hand, has gotten the ultimate prize: a royal husband. Still, she finds herself descending into paranoia as the
Manhattan media circus reports her every flaw. Then there's Winnie Diekes, a high-powered magazine columnist whose marriage flounders as she pushes her unambitious husband to write the book that will make him--and her--famous.
Finally, in the most clearly autobiographical story, a writer gives up on the commitment-impaired men of
New York and goes to
London to find a husband. There she trolls for the typical Englishman--"a guy who had sex with his socks on, possessed a microscopic willy, and came in two minutes." Bushnell is famous for this sort of sexual brashness, and the book is full of her sharp wit, both in and out of the boudoir. She also clearly enjoys her characters and their misadventures, with one exception: the politically correct Winnie, with her distaste for alcohol, night life, and casual sex, inspires an odd sort of authorial contempt. Otherwise, though, Bushnell's ironic takes on the sexual foibles of the rich and famous are mordant, mischievous fun.
Judy Blume’s Summer Sisters
Judy Blume first won legions of fans with such young adult classics as
Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret and
Forever, in which she tackles the cultural hot button of teenage sexuality. In
Summer Sisters, her third novel for adults, the author again explores the ramifications of love--and lust--on two friends. Initially, the differences between Caitlin Somers and Victoria Leonard (or "Vix," as Caitlin christens her) draw them together: privileged Caitlin is wild and outspoken, beautiful but emotionally fragile, while working-class Vix is shy, reserved, and plain in comparison. After Caitlin selects Vix to accompany her to her father's home in
Martha's Vineyard for the summer, the two become inextricably connected as "summer sisters."
On the Vineyard, Vix and Caitlin first find love, then sex--and lots of it. Yet Blume soon moves beyond hot fun in the summer sun, tracing the romantic and familial travails of the two from pre-adolescence to adulthood. Solid Vix evolves into
Victoria, an equally solid, Harvard-educated,
Manhattan public-relations exec. Unpredictable Caitlin opts out of college and travels to
Europe, where she has a string of short-lived affairs with a series of intriguing (in every sense of the word) foreigners. It is only after she returns to the Vineyard that Caitlin does the unthinkable, forever changing both her friendship with Vix and their lives. Blume once again proves herself a master of the female psyche, and
Summer Sisters is likely to entertain both her post-adolescent and more mature readers.
Contest Rules:
1. This contest is open to ALL participants, around the world!
2. You must be a follower of my blog to participate in this contest.
3. Post a comment below to be entered in the contest.
4. Winner will have their CHOICE of ONE of the above listed books.
5. Contest will be open until March 27th, 2011, 11:59PM.
6. Winner will be chosen via Random.org and Announced Monday, March 28th, 2011.
7. For extra entries: (Please post a separate comment and link to website, blog or tweet.)
8. Blog or Tweet about this contest (if you don’t have a blog or a Twitter account, you can post it on Goodreads, Book Blogs or another book related site.)
9. Link to this giveaway on your blog.
10. Add this contest to another Sweeps or Giveaway Site.
11. Follow me on Twitter or (at cgraceh)
12. Follow my book reviews on Goodreads (cgraceh)
Hope you enjoy and thanks so much for making me smile every time I open my blog to see more of your comments on my posts!
Good luck everyone!
*All covers and synopses provided by Goodreads. All Books in Excellent Condition.*
