The Blonde Diaries

I wrote about a month ago how I wanted to start reviewing/discussing chick lit novels as I have yet to find a blog or forum that fills that niche and is active. I recently sat down and read Pink Slip Party by Cara Lockwood. I found this book at my library book sale for $1 and the tag line seemed cute: When you lose your job, can your mind be far behind? so I figured let’s go.

Pink Slip Party is a book about Jane McGregor, BA art, who recently loses her job designing my favorite office supply – post it notes. Not only does she get laid off but she also gets dumped by her boyfriend/Company VP on the same exact day. This book follows Jane as she goes through the process of finding herself, a job she enjoys, and love again. In between, we see Jane and her friends plot an office break in to wreck havoc on their former employer, Jane get arrested on drug charges, her apartment over taken by her friends, coworkers, ex-boyfriend and groupies, as well as see her trying to build a relationship with the least expected guy.

In total honesty, I thought this book was just ok. I enjoyed the author’s humor which was used throughout the book. I thought the story was a little weak and the characters were hard to like. I would have liked to see Jane stand up for herself more instead of being the pushover that she was but then again that was a major part of her character development – going from a pushover to a stronger person like her mother did in the book. I felt that there were some loose ends that never really got resolved. What happened to the charges against her? Where did Missy go? Why didn’t anyone turn Missy in? Why didn’t anyone enroll in drug rehab? Each of these would have made me feel better ending the book but I will say I was pleased with the way it ended. We saw Jane find a job she loved as well as a new boyfriend. Jane started to take control over her life and seemed to be heading in the right direction.

Overall I’d give this book 3 out of 5 stars and would recommend it to others for a light read and possibly reread it at a later date. I’d probably recommend reading it before reading the other well-known (and well-loved) books like Confessions of a Shopaholic or The Devil Wears Prada.

I wanted to post an update to the Chick Lit series I started not too long ago.

This week I plan on reviewing the book I finished up last week Burning the Map by Lauren Caldwell. I thought this book was a great book for any 20-something to read and definitely a book that most of us can relate to at one point in our lives. It was a good, quick read in that the plot was interesting and kept drawing you in until you sat down and finally finished the book. One other thing I’d like to point out is that while it is a Chick Lit book and part of the Red Dress Ink Publishing Series, it did not read like normal chick lit does. The characters had a bit more depth and the language was normal everyday language – not a book laced with slang or “chicky” words. It also refrained from being too graphic which I appreciated. I hate nothing more than too graphic books – call me prudish I guess. So if you haven’t picked the book up yet, I highly recommend getting a start on it and then coming back and reading my review later this week and discussing with me.

This week I am rereading Everyone Worth Knowing by Lauren Weisberger. Lauren is the author of The Devil Wears Prada and writes pretty fun chick lit books. I enjoyed reading this book last summer and wanted to see if I still would enjoy it a second time around. Lauren also just released a 3rd book Chasing Harry Winston which I am ordering from Amazon.com today so I can start it next week. So same as before, pick up the books and get started and let’s discuss in the upcoming reviews!

If you have a book you’d like to recommend and discuss please drop a comment and I’ll be sure to check it out. I am always looking for a new book to read.

A couple of months ago I stumbled upon a used book sale at my former local library. I was not expecting much in the way of chick lit books there for sale but I was pleasantly surprised. One of the gems I happened to find was Burning the Map by Lauren Caldwell. Burning the Map is a story about Casey Evers, a recent law school graduate, who apparently is set. She has a steady boyfriend, a law degree, has passed the bar, and has a job her classmates are envious for waiting for her after her vacation. But while everything seems good on paper, is Casey really happy? Is this the life Casey imagined for herself? As you read the book, you find yourself experiencing the ups and downs along with Casey and wanting to throw caution to the wind and follow your dreams. So how does it turn out? I won’t say. You have to read the book.

My overall opinion of the book: A+. I really enjoyed this book because I could relate to it. Not too long ago I was graduating college and everything seemed right on paper but it wasn’t. I too took some difficult roads and struggled along the way. I did have many highs to counterbalance the lows so that it all wasn’t so bad and I had a lot of fun. Basically, if you have experience the quarter-life crisis or feel like you might be entering your own, pick up this book as you will soon realize that this is normal and everyone experiences it. While this is just a fictional book, reading Casey and her experiences is uplifting and reaffirms that life works in strange ways and you will get where you need to be at the end.

I also liked Lauren Caldwell’s writing style. She wasn’t in your face chick lit like other authors. She used standard fictional language if that makes sense. She also kept away from getting too graphic in the “love interest” scenes which I always appreciate. The book kept you reading wanting to know how it ended and didn’t give away many clues as you read it (ie wasn’t too predictable).

So here is the cover. Check your local library for a copy or Amazon.com has copies available for $11!

I am about halfway through Emily Giffin’s newest book Love the One You’re With and while the book follows the same writing style that I liked in her other three books (Something Borrowed, Something Blue, and Baby Proof) I’m just not loving this book.  Actually, I am rather mad at the book.  I do not like any of the characters and I’m not a fan of the story line.  The book features Ellen Dempsey as the main character and Ellen is a happy newly wed.  Well she was until her chance encounter with her ex – Leo.  Now Ellen is rehashing her entire relationship with Leo and basically setting herself up to ruin her relationship with her husband, Andy, because she can’t learn to cutoff an ex.

Maybe it’s just me and my philosophy on life which is why I am disappointed in the story and thus the book.  I have never been one to believe in rehashing failed relationships or wanting to remain friends with exes.  I mean if we broke up it’s because something was so wrong it couldn’t be fixed.  Why in the world would I then want to be friends? I also remember each and every reason “we” broke up and no matter how much “you” have “changed” since then I’m not going to throw away everything I have to see if “you” truly are “changed” and “we” can try again.

I am really hoping this book turns around in the second half but after skipping to the last couple of pages like I normally do with books I’m expecting it to get worse before it ends.  Guess I’ll find out by the end of the weekend and post my Part 2 next week.

Well I woke up early Sunday morning and had a few minutes to spare before I needed to get ready for my trip to the zoo with Mike & Beth at 11am. I will totally blame Beth for the 11am start time and our subsequent dying of heat and sweating like a pig at the zoo from 11:30-2pm since she didn’t want to get up any earlier. So in the few minutes, well hour, I had before it was time to go I finished up Love the One You Are With by Emily Giffin. You might remember from Part 1 last week that I was not totally feeling this book. I decided to keep reading it after skimming reviews on Amazon.com and finding that it did end up having a happy ending and I felt if I had made it 3/4 of the way thru I might as well finish the darn book.

So my final thoughts are pretty much the same as my previous thoughts. Even at the end of the book I couldn’t like the characters or the story. I just couldn’t relate. The book is basically about Ellen Dempsey, newly wed, who is happy in her life with her husband Andy until she runs into her first love Leo on the streets of New York. Ellen then begins to wonder what her life would have been like had she and Leo never broken up which then led to her wondering why did they break up and why she never heard from Leo again after their small “breakup” fight. So throughout the book you follow Ellen’s thoughts and wonders on what could have been/would have been had she fought for Leo vs. did she settle when she married Andy. At the end of the book we finally see Ellen get the closure she needed from the original relationship with Leo as well as making changes in her life so that she is not always settling because of someone else’s wants.

Maybe a second read will shed a different light on the book but I’m just not sure. I have always been the rational type that knows when something is broke you leave and forget about it never questioning it later. Probably if you have a romantic gene in your body or have lived through this same type of situation you will really enjoy this book.

available from Amazon.com in hardback for $15. I’d probably check out from the library or buy gently used.