April’s Guide to Chick Lit Part 3

In first post about chick lit, I was getting ready to read some great books by my top 3 authors who I mainly featured in the post. Here is a recap of those, although they have been out for a while.

Emily Giffin’s Where We Belong (2012) is about a TV producer whose long lost daughter rings her doorbell and turns her world upside down.  It is about a powerful secret, its effect on two families, and how it changes all their lives forever. I really enjoyed this book, as I do all of Giffin’s novels. They keep getting better and better.

Another peek at my Kindle Library

Another peek at my Kindle Library

Sophie Kinsella’s I’ve Got your Number (2012) is about a newly engaged woman who lost her engagement ring and her adventures of trying to get the ring back all the while planning her dream wedding.  Wedding Night (2013) is about a woman who thinks her boyfriend is going to propose and when he doesn’t, she goes on to marry her college fling. All the while, her sister tries to stop her and ends up sabotaging her honeymoon. As in all of Kinsella’s novels, there are twits and turns right up into the very end that will have you guessing until the book is over.

More of my Kindle books

More of my Kindle books

Jennifer Weiner’s The Next Best Thing (2013) is about a young woman trying to make it as a TV writer in Hollywood. The main character was disfigured as a child from a bad car accident that turned her into an orphan. She was raised by her grandmother and is determined to make it as a writer with hopes for her own TV show. This books deals a lot with beauty, self image, and overcoming obstacles.

New books:

There are two new books coming out that I’m really excited about. Read the summaries from their publishers:

Emily Giffin: The One and Only
Out: May 20, 2014

the one and only

“Thirty-three-year-old Shea Rigsby has spent her entire life in Walker, Texas—a small college town that lives and dies by football, a passion she unabashedly shares. Raised alongside her best friend, Lucy, the daughter of Walker’s legendary head coach, Clive Carr, Shea was too devoted to her hometown team to leave. Instead she stayed in Walker for college, even taking a job in the university athletic department after graduation, where she has remained for more than a decade.

But when an unexpected tragedy strikes the tight-knit Walker community, Shea’s comfortable world is upended, and she begins to wonder if the life she’s chosen is really enough for her. As she finally gives up her safety net to set out on an unexpected path, Shea discovers unsettling truths about the people and things she has always trusted most—and is forced to confront her deepest desires, fears, and secrets.

Thoughtful, funny, and brilliantly observed, The One & Only is a luminous novel about finding your passion, following your heart, and, most of all, believing in something bigger than yourself . . . the one and only thing that truly makes life worth living.”

Jennifer Weiner: All Fall Down
Out: June 17, 2014

all fall down

“Allison Weiss has a great job…a handsome husband…an adorable daughter…and a secret. Allison Weiss is a typical working mother, trying to balance a business, aging parents, a demanding daughter, and a marriage. But when the website she develops takes off, she finds herself challenged to the point of being completely overwhelmed. Her husband’s becoming distant, her daughter’s acting spoiled, her father is dealing with early Alzheimer’s, and her mother’s barely dealing at all. As she struggles to hold her home and work life together, and meet all of the needs of the people around her, Allison finds that the painkillers she was prescribed for a back injury help her deal with more than just physical discomfort—they help her feel calm and get her through her increasingly hectic days. Sure, she worries a bit that the bottles seem to empty a bit faster each week, but it’s not like she’s some Hollywood starlet partying all night, or a homeless person who’s lost everything. It’s not as if she has an actual problem.

However, when Allison’s use gets to the point that she can no longer control—or hide—it, she ends up in a world she never thought she’d experience outside of a movie theater: rehab. Amid the teenage heroin addicts, the alcoholic grandmothers, the barely-trained “recovery coaches,” and the counselors who seem to believe that one mode of recovery fits all, Allison struggles to get her life back on track, even as she’s convincing herself that she’s not as bad off as the women around her.

With a sparkling comedic touch and tender, true-to-life characterizations, All Fall Down is a tale of empowerment and redemption and Jennifer Weiner’s richest, most absorbing and timely story yet.”

Can’t wait for these books to come out, but one of my favorite authors, Sophie Kinsella (pen name for Madeline Wickham) has not come out with anything new in a while. Where’s your next novel Kinsella!?

If you missed my second guide to Chick Lit, read it here. I hope these guides have been helpful to you and that you have found some great books to read. What books are your favorites on your bookshelf?

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April’s Guide to Chick Lit Part 2

Nearly two years ago, I compiled a blog post listing of chick lit books and authors that are my favorites. Read it here. Reading is a hobby I truly enjoy, and I wanted to share some of my preferred books I have read recently with the readers of my blog- that’s you! Last night, an idea came to me to write this updated listing. It seems like I always get inspired for my next blog post late at night right before bed. Like most writers, I get my best ideas in the late evening. I hope you enjoy this guide and that you will find some good books to read from it!

In my last guide, I concentrated on the authors Sophie Kinsella, Emily Giffin and Jennifer Weiner. Although they are still my favorites, I have found several other chick lit author’s books that I enjoy.

Kim Gruenenfelder is a great author and her books are geared towards women. I really enjoyed:

total-waste-post

A Total Waste of Makeup
Misery Loves Cabernet
and
There’s Cake in my Future

Kim has a new book out that was published at the end of last year called Stay Calm and Carry a Big Drink. It is the sequel to There’s Cake in my Future. I actually found out about it on a site called Fantastic Fiction while I was doing research for this blog post. It is certainly on my list to read!

Lauren Weisberger is also a great chick lit writer. She wrote The Devil Wears Prada, which was made into a movie. Her sequel to that book, Revenge Wears Prada: The Devil Returns was published last year. Several of her books were on the New York Times Bestseller list. I would recommend:

Chateau

Everyone Worth Knowing
Chasing Harry Winston
and
Last Night at Chateau Marmont

Marian Keyes is a very prominent chick lit writer who has a series of books about a family also known as the Walsh family books. I have read the first one called Watermelon and enjoyed it. It begins with one of the sisters at the hospital soon after she gave birth to her first child. Her husband left her for another woman as soon as the baby was born! The book deals with her and her family and how they come to deal with the situation and move on with their lives.

Each book in the Walsh family series features a different sister and I have started reading the second book called Rachel’s Holiday about a drug addict in rehab. I started it and wasn’t thrilled with it, but I think I’m going to give it another chance.

I don’t read chick lit books exclusively, and there are some other authors I have read recently from different genres that I have really enjoyed.

Divergent series
Everyone is talking about the Divergent series books and I am one of them. Divergent is a thrilling urban dystopian fiction debut from exciting young author Veronica Roth.

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“In sixteen-year-old Beatrice Prior’s world, society is divided into five factions — Abnegation (the selfless), Candor (the honest), Dauntless (the brave), Amity (the peaceful), and Erudite (the intelligent) — each dedicated to the cultivation of a particular virtue, in the attempt to form a “perfect society.” At the age of sixteen, teens must choose the faction to which they will devote their lives. On her Choosing Day, Beatrice renames herself Tris, rejects her family’s group, and chooses another faction. After surviving a brutal initiation, Tris finds romance with a super-hot boy, but also discovers unrest and growing conflict in their seemingly “perfect society.” To survive and save those they love, they must use their strengths to uncover the truths about their identities, their families, and the order of their society itself.”

There are two other books in the trilogy called Insurgent and Allegiant. Where one book stops, the other one picks up where the story left off. The Divergent series is very popular right now and they are making the first book into a movie set to come out March 21, 2014. See the trailer here:

 

Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn was a book I read for my sorority alumnae association book club and it was a twisted mess! I really enjoyed it, but it was intense and you would never believe what happened and what goes on in some people’s sick minds. It starts out with a husband who is looking for his missing wife and the train wreck that is the investigation. I can’t really explain what happens without giving everything away, but you won’t want to put this book down!

Gone-Girl-Gillian-Flynn

I mainly read books on my Kindle app. I use the Kindle app on both my iPad and my Android phone. You can even read books on a computer with the Kindle cloud reader. It’s good to read through the kindle app because it tells you how many pages you have left and what percentage of the book you have read. It also lets you highlight sentences and look up words you are not sure of the definition.

I’m very passionate about reading, especially chick lit authors. There was so much to say that I had to break this post up due to length. Read my next chick lit guide coming soon.

A peek at some of my Kindle library

A peek at some of my Kindle library