The Blonde Diaries

I have had 2 really good weeks of reading. I have been able to clear a few books off of my reading list and discovered a couple of new ones. I have a couple of Plum books which are ready for pick up at the library so I think I’ll be starting that series fairly soon. If you want to participate in the What are you Reading meme, click on the picture above and pop over to J. Kaye’s book blog and leave your linky.

Books I completed this week are:
~Bergdorf Blondes by Plum Sykes
~Mr. Darcy’s Diary: A Novel by Amanda Grange
~Secrets of a Shoe Addict by Beth Harbison
~The Sleeping Beauty Proposal by Sarah Strohmeyer

Books I am currently reading/listening to:
~ Love Walked In by Marisa de los Santos
~ That Extra Half Inch: Hair, Heels, and Everything In Between by Victoria Beckham

Up Next:
~ The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins
~ Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier
~ One for the Money by Janet Evanovich
~ Two for the Dough by Janet Evanovich

Whew! That is a lot of reading that I have planned to get done in the next couple of weeks. I am up for the challenge though and can’t wait until the Christmas holidays officially start and I can read all day as long as I want!

I am a sucker for a book with a hot pink cover. If you put a book in a pink cover, 95% of the time I will buy it or read it. I have found though that not all books in a hot pink cover are very good. Nevertheless, when I was walking past the library book shelf, Accidentally Engaged caught my eyes and I had to check it out. Boy am I glad I picked it up and brought it home. This was a hilarious book. It was so good that I am going to start looking for my own copy soon.

Accidentally Engaged is the story of Clair Ivars, a tarot card reader who gets caught in the middle of family drama when a bride and her future sister in law (sil) come in for a reading 2 weeks before the wedding. The SIL tries bribing Clair for a good reading and the bride wants a bad reading so she can bail on the entire thing. Clair decides the bride needs the help more so she give the bad reading and is left to straighten things out when the bride leaves the 3 carat diamond engagement ring behind as well as her fiance’s name and address.

So rather than go on her much needed vacation, Clair heads to the wine estate to return the ring. Along the way we meet the evil future mother in law, the hot gardener with a surprising twist at the end, the jilted groom, and the grandma pulling the wool over the families eyes. We also learn why the bride wants to run away from the wedding – because she is being haunted by a ghost (but not any ghost it is Clair’s grandmother’s ghost!). There is something tugging on Clair though which draws her into the estate and keeps her much longer than she was expecting to stay. You definitely want to find out what all of the twists and turns in this book are as they will really get you laughing and bring a smile to your face. As I said earlier, I absolutely loved this book and can’t wait to read it again and again.

This review is just my opinion. I was not paid for this review nor did I receive this book for free or at a reduced price other than what bookcloseouts.com was selling it for when I happened to place my last order.

I picked up The Gatecrasher by Madeleine Wickham earlier this year but waited a while to actually read the book. After reading another one of her books I just wasn’t thrilled by the writing so I held off. I’m glad I gave her another try as this book was hilarious.  I’m not sure if you have seen the movie Heartbreakers with Jennifer Love Hewitt and Sigourney Weaver. It is the movie about a mother-daughter con artist team who con their way into men’s lives to get married and then set them up for a “he fault” divorce. It is pretty funny (and cheesy) if you need a movie to watch this upcoming holiday. Anyway back to the book.

This book focuses on Fleur, a late thirty something, who meets men, moves in, and then cashes out a small nest egg before moving onto the next hapless soul. She finds these men mainly at funerals – for their beloved wives. Over the top yes, but it seems to work and provide a bit of comedy in this book. Everything is going to plan until Fleur crashes the funeral of Richard, a grieving widow who starts to realize he never really knew his deceased wife nor the rest of his family. Fleur begins to provide the support Richard needs as well as the support his family needs and then trouble begins. Fleur starts to wonder if she should hang up her funeral crashing ways for finding true love with one person especially when her daughter Zara shows up and fits in so well with Richard’s family. The internal fight Fleur experiences leads to a few twists and I honestly didn’t know how this book was going to end. I think in either instance I would have been fine with the path she took.

There are lots of laughs in this book which was really nice as well as just one main plot. If you want to find out which path Fleur takes, I would recommend running to the bookstore and picking up this book today.

This review is just my opinion.  I was not paid for this review nor did I receive this book for free or at a reduced price other than what bookcloseouts.com was selling it for when I happened to place my last order.

From the Twiga Blog:

Back by popular demand, the 2009 Chick Lit Challenge has been expanded for the whole year! From January 1 through December 31, 2009, read at least 10 chick lit books. Books can overlap with other challenges and you can change your list at any time.

So here is my original list from last January.

1. Size 14 is Not Fat Either! ~ by Meg Cabot  Finished!
2. Big Boned ~ by Meg Cabot  Finished!
3. She Went All The Way ~ by Meg Cabot  Finished!
4. The Blonde Theory ~ by Kristin Harmell  Finished!
5. Cause Celeb ~ by Helen Fielding  Finished!
6. Ransom my Heart ~ by Meg Cabot Finished!
7. Miss Match ~ by Erynn Magnum Will be replaced
8. Accidentally Engaged ~ by Mary Carter Finished!
9. The Cinderella Pact ~ by Sarah Strohmeyer Finished!
10. I Do but I Don’t ~ by Cara Lockwood  Finished!

So out of the list of 10, I am completely done with 9 books and just have 1 that I cannot find at my local library nor easily at the bookstore.  So I think I’ll be out on Miss Match for this year but I’ll try again next year when I don’t have a huge pile of books in my closet waiting to be read.  I haven’t picked a replacement yet but I think it will be a book I can find at my local library.  I definitely think I will be able to complete this challenge by December 31st!  Did you participate? I have had a blast reading new books and authors and can’t wait to sign up again next year.

So here is the premise behind Teaser Tuesday:

Good morning! It is a beautiful day here in Houston. Unfortunately, I will be inside at work all day long so I won’t get to enjoy it. That’s alright because I will just wrap myself up in a book when I get home and let my imagination carry me off to a fun, far away place. Right now I am reading Ransom My Heart which is technically by Meg Cabot but she attributes the story to Princess Mia from the Princess Diaries. It is really good so far.

I finished Accidentally Engaged by Mary Carter yesterday night and loved it. I wanted to share my teaser from that book today.

“This couldn’t get any worse, Rachel,” I said, standing up. “Do not,” I said in my most menacing voice, “marry Jack Heron. If you do, you will regret it the rest of your life. What little will be left of it,” I said, holding up the Death card and turning it to face her.
~p22