Chick Lit According to Jersey

Have you ever seen the show Jerseylicious? It is like watching Snooki X 10. Just think: All Snooki, all the time. What really struck me on the show was how difficult it was to tell each character apart from one another. Really, they all looked so similar. The brunettes all looked like little Snooki’s or tall J-Wows and the blondes looked like little mini-Barbie dolls (of course with extra teased up hair dos and stuck in the 90s style; I think I even saw a scrunchie on one of the girls’ wrists!) Full of drama, cat fighting, glammed up hair and makeup, photo shoots complete with hair pulling (I mean extension pulling) and bad clothes proved to be just enough to keep me glued to my seat for 3 and a half episodes (If I hadn’t fallen asleep on the couch, I’d probably have made it to through to 4 full episode). My favorite characters were Michelle and Tracy.  Michelle, although not given that much air time in the episodes I saw, seemed like a character straight from a chick lit novel, full of all the perky optimism, beautiful looks and a hint of ditz; but don’t let that ditz fool you, she’s actually a pretty smart cookie. Who doesn’t like a good giggle? Tracy, a brunette with a fierce ‘tude, made it known to ‘Licious rival, Olivia, not to be tardy to her “party”. The two had a major blowout (and I’m not talking a teased up-do) on the front lawn of a few clients who they’d just left the home of after styling before a birthday party in Atlantic City. I was in awe not so much at the verbal beat down that took place, but shocked by the fact that this was all done 20 feet away from their clients! I’m sure I’ll be tuning in again, soon…

After watching my own little marathon of the salon styling girls on Jerseylicious, it got me thinking about Snooki and her own adventures in chick lit. Remember her book released in 2011, It’s a Shore Thing? I’m curious – has anyone read Snooki’s (aka Nicole Polozzi’s) book? I won’t be surprised to see a re-release or a sequel on the horizon now that there’s a mini-Snooki on the way.

It may  not have been a NY Times Bestseller, but one thing I admire about Snooki, though is she’s always true to herself. Love her or hate her, she hasn’t changed (or apologized for that matter for) who she is. Take it or leave it. Nicole “Snooki” Pollozzi is a Jersey girl through and through. To give you a taste of what I mean, here is a quote I found on the Huffington Post from her cult-novel, It’s a Shore Thing: "Gia danced around a little, shaking her peaches for show. She shook it hard. Too hard. In the middle of a shimmy, her stomach cramped. A fart slipped out. A loud one. And stinky."

There you have it. Chick Lit by Snooki. What’s your take on Jersey’s version of chick lit? Are you going to read it or have you? I want to hear all yoru thoughts?

Tackle it Tuesday - Sugar and Spice by Lauren Conrad

Sugar and Spice (L.A. Candy #3) by Lauren Conrad

I read the first two books in the L.A. Candy series almost immediately upon their release, in 2009 and 2010. Actually, to be more accurate, I listened to both L.A. Candy and Sweet Little Lies and they went by really fast. When the third and final installment came out, I was only able to obtain an e-book copy via my local library’s media site, Overdrive. Unfortunately, by the time I got around to reading it and was really into it, the lending copy I had borrowed expired out of my Digital Library and I was stuck…back on the waiting list for the next copy…after approx. two weeks and another book I finished along the way…I was finally able to download the e-book, Sugar and Spice.  I was elated to find out that the application on my phone that I used to read Sugar and Spice had actually held my spot in the e-book during the entire waiting period when I had no access to it. (God, I love modern technology!)

Needless to say, Sugar and Spice (LA Candy Series #3) by Lauren Conrad makes for the perfect pick for my first Tackle it Tuesday. 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 version of the meme, 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.

For more, great Daily Meme ideas visit:

http://thedailymeme.com/

This was the first of the L.A. Candy series books that I did not listen to but I still liked it just about the same. In fact, it was a close tie between the first one, L.A. Candy and this last book, Sugar and Spice, as far as which one I liked best. I have a feeling that reading it might have been just the thing to push it over the edge towards being the more favorable of the two – after looking back on the series. As much as I love reality TV queen, Lauren Conrad, I did not find her audio narration of Book 1, L.A. Candy to be one of the Young Adult series. By book 2, I assume LC had proven her right as an “author” and a more established narrator, Cassandra Campbell, took over as the voice of the series, creating a more varied and articulated drama. So in Book 3, Sugar and Spice, I had to use my own imagination to infer the conversations and interactions as they occurred, which, to me, usually makes for a very vivid and satisfying story in its own right, allowing the voices of characters to be open and

Overall, I was really happy with the way the three-part story wrapped up. It didn't seem to end too abruptly nor did it tie up every loose end, allowing the transition and flow of events to seem natural and purposeful. In Sugar and Spice, readers arrive back where we left off on the set of L.A. Candy and in this final season, Jane and Scarlett seem to take on opposite roles as far as their perspectives on the L.A. Candy reality show and their relationships with its producer, Trevor, go. Scarlett has made an agreement with Trevor to become more complacent with the expectations of the show, no matter how incredulous, exaggerated or at times, just blatantly, untrue. In contrast, Jane, who was historically the more agreeable of the two L.A. Candy pop stars, becomes the renegade of the show after stumbling upon a notebook belonging to Trevor. The notebook reveals all his "plans" for their upcoming shows, a devious and twisted play-by-play of all the maneuvers and tactics Trevor intends to use to pit the L.A. Candy stars against one another to increase viewer ratings. The more Jane reads the notebook, the more she vows not to allow herself to be a pawn in Trevor's sick game of her life. She tries to stay one step ahead of him at every scene but as always, the nastiest of Trevor’s tricks are only present in his mind, and even Jane, who has the "other team's playbook" can't prevent or even foresee everything that is about to happen on the set and in her life.

Like the other L.A. Candy novels, Sugar and Spice “spices” things up by throwing in a few added characters to its cast of regulars, this time in the form of Madison Parker's baby sister. Sophie Parker quickly reveals that she’s a girl who knows exactly what she wants and will stop at nothing and for nobody to make sure she gets it. Jane and the other girls are taken aback by this super-mini-me version of Madison and soon realize she might not be who they think she is.

          This final novel in Lauren Conrad's L.A. Candy series proves once and for all that reality TV is full of all the drama, excitement and rehearsal that we expect of it now. Her series makes readers wonder how much of LC's life actually paralleled that of which we saw on TV and it may open the eyes of some fans to the reality of reality TV. This was a quick, yet enjoyable read. I’d recommend to any fan of Lauren Conrad, MTV’s reality TV series and teen/young adult lit. Bring this book to the beach!

 3 STARS