Chick Lit Chatter: The Latest in Chick Lit Book Blogs

I have been a little out of the Chick Lit digital scene for some time now and am only now starting to catch up. Adding a few new books to my shelf (i.e. Emily Giffin’s You Belong to Me and Jennifer Weiner’s The Next Best Thing) and perusing the latest reviews on line, I stumbled across some new, new-to-me and updated, chick lit-focused web sites! Check them out or let me know what you think of the “new” sites. What’s your favorite site? 

Chloe’s Chick Lit Reviews

 

Chloe is one of the latest bloggers I’ve come across to add to my elongated list of chick lit chatters. Can’t decide which chick lit book to read next? Check out Chloe’s Chick Lit Release Dates page. Chloe’s Chick Lit houses quite a complete chronology of chick lit books published by year and month. Your local library doesn’t have a copy of the latest chick lit book you want? Click on the pretty covers on Chloe’s list to link to purchase on Amazon. Reading chick lit is never more than a click away.

Chick Lit Teens

Chick Lit really encompasses a broad range of topics and so too, I feel, should the blogs that represent it. I love how Chick Lit Teens incorporates a section called “Chick Chat” (so catchy!) for just this purpose, full of Guest blogs, Interviews and all your chick lit questions and answers.

Chick Lit and Wine

Syrah and Chardonnay (love the names!) invite you to relish in all things chick lit on their site (and they even pair each review with a different glass of bubbly. (I love blogs that really set themselves apart with a different and fun aspect.)

Chick Lit Reviews and News (formerly Chick Lit Reviews)

  

This oldie but a goodie lands on my list as its recently changed its web address (a very brave thing to do, I might add, in the www). Chick Lit Reviews and News (as it is now called) has always been one of my fave, go-to sites for all things chick lit. One of the things that I feel has always set this site apart is its ability to keep up every day with at least two posts on its site, making sure there is a constant flow of information about chick lit; and two, its unique perspective offered from two women, representing both the US and British markets of chick lit. CLRAN really sets the bar high for bloggers everywhere as it continues to showcase chick lit around the clock and around the world!

For all new authors, check out Women’s Fiction Writers:

From soon to be published author, herself, Amy Sue Nathan, offers a place to showcase only new chick lit authors. She invites all new Women’s Fiction authors to send her an email and maybe you will be the next women’s fiction author featured on her blog! Like her motto suggests, no bs, just strictly new women’s authors and their experiences on the rise to book-dom. (and she’s not just talking about a higher pair of heels.)

 **Come back Next Friday when I explore the artists behind some of my favorite cover art. Here are some of the titles whose covers were so appealing I just couldn’t resist adding them to my own shelf:

A Weekend to ReCOVER - Cocktails for Three by Madeleine Wickham

     A Weekend to ReCOVER! – A weekly meme hosted by Her Book Self, a fantastic blog by a self proclaimed “author addict” and lover of all genres. The premise of this meme is fairly simple: post an image of a book cover or other bookish illustration or artwork and talk about it on Friday, Saturday, or Sunday! (This meme originated at Miss Page-Turner's City of Books as ReCOVERy Friday and has been passed on to Lisa at Her Book Self - Thanks very much to both Literary Ladies!!)

            If you’ve followed my blog since its days over at Where You Wish Upon A Star, you may remember a post I once did comparing various covers created for chick lit books in the United States versus the United Kingdom – the differences are vast! (You can still find the old WYWUAS post here and another one I did while contemplating various covers of chick lit series.)Taking a cue from these previous posts as well as the British-based chick lit web site, Chick Lit Reviews’ feature, Cover Wars**, where the Cover Art of Chick Lit novels from around the globe are compared to one another, I’ve decided to continue A Weekend to ReCOVER in a similar fashion.

One of my current reads is Madeleine Wickham’s dark and humorous tale, Cocktails for Three, which portrays the lives of three young women struggling to balance the demands of work, friendship and romance. Londoners, Roxanne, Candice and Maggie, bond together every month over cocktails, catching each other up on the comings and goings of their lives. As the story takes place, each one, whether they are aware or not, are at a crossroads in life, either getting acquainted to a new beginning, making a bargain with the present or figuring out a proper ending. I’m about half way through the novel and with every turning page, become more and more enamored with the three women characters, who are eclectic, intriguing and yet, so relatable all at once. I can’t wait to get back to it and find out what happens next and ultimately how the story concludes.

Interestingly, as different as each of the women characters are in this book, so, too, are the many covers designed for its release. Probably the two most popular (well-known) covers include the UK and US initial releases:

In August, 2010, another cover was released in a re-branding strategy to re-release several of Madeleine Wickham’s books, coupled with her pseudonym, Sophie Kinsella, emblazoned on the cover:

Finally, (although I only recently came across these in a search for the first covers), there were also two other covers; one, for the Hardcover edition and one for the Mass Market Paperback edition:

I love the 2010 newly released cover as well as the UK edition. The only explanation I can even come close to mustering up is that maybe I’m so used to the US edition, with the green background, sunglasses and cocktails on the front, that I like the others for their variety. Perhaps, also, just as I’m most drawn to the personalities and relationships amongst characters in chick lit books, I’m more drawn to the covers which feature an artist’s depiction of what those characters look like.

Which one(s) do you like best and why?

Either way, whichever of the 5 covers is chosen, I’m really glad I picked up this book again. It’s a great story and I’m eager to reach its end (at the same time that I don’t want it to ever endJ) Look for my review on my blog once I do finish it!

 **If you want to check out Chick Lit Reviews for their previous posts on cover wars, visit  http://chicklitreviews.com/category/cover-wars/ and decide which covers you like best! 

***All covers retrieved at Amazon.com