I Take You

by Eliza Kennedy
May 25-June 13, 2015

Usually before I write a review, I read a few other opinions on Goodreads. I like to see who felt the same way I did about a book, but also those who had a different or opposite reaction. I have to say that this time I was totally shocked. Boy, did people hate this book. And I guess if I translated its meaning as literally as some, I would have hated it too. But maybe for me it came along just at the right time and I enjoyed it at surface-level. No need to get in too deep here. I also believe that was the intention of the author. I Take You being her first novel, I'd say Eliza Kennedy accomplished that goal.

Lily is a young attorney with a passion for life, aka, booze and boys. She's about to be married to man who sounds absolutely perfect on paper (I had a crush on him in the beginning!). However, she can't seem to be faithful to him. This little bit of gender role reversal was fun, but was the first topic that began to off-put other readers. Mainly because as Lily is headed to Key West for her wedding, she sleeps with not only her boss, but many friends of her financé, Will, and countless others along the way. Her family life was unconventional, to say the least. Her father, having being married five times, and also a cheater, was the main crux of her issues. Although Lily and the people in her life are all completely flawed, I couldn't help but find them endearing. Again, taking this for a casual summer read, not the next great literary masterpiece.

Lily is hilarious and wow, can she drink. I have been known to over-imbibe on numerous occasions, but just reading about the quantities of liquor she consumed made me tipsy. Especially for a 27-year old!

"Men? They're not that hot. Not all-around, like women are. Men have random hairs and bad fashion instincts. Odd smells. They never exfoliate. Either they try way too hard, or they don't try at all. Of course, some are lovely, and most have a few good qualities, but sometimes you have to look hard for them. Like in those Where's Waldo? books."

See? Funny! As much fun as I was having reading about Lily's cocktails and sexcapades, the story started to fall apart toward the end. Will's big reveal just kind of cheapened the whole theme of the book. Why can't women have the upper hand just this once?! And that's the second subject that completely offended other readers. Plus, the "important deposition" (two days before her wedding!) was way too drawn-out; it was silly and forced. I would have been happier without it altogether. I'm also not sure her career added very much to the story. It would have been more interesting to continue reading about her childhood.

I do understand why people were offended by this book. And like I said, I typically would be too. But for some reason I enjoyed this little fantasy summer read. It's definitely not something I allow myself to read often, but once in a while it hits the spot.

I received I Take You from Blogging for Books for this review.
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Me Before You

by Jojo Moyes
Dec 22, 2013-Jan 5, 2014

What an unexpected surprise! Joanna highly recommended this book to me with the warning: don't be fooled into thinking this is chick lit. Because it sure starts out that way. And then suddenly you're drawn in and the emotion is real and raw.

Louisa has just lost her long-time, dead-end job that she actually loved. She's been dating the same guy for seven years and sees no real future with him. She is comfortable, plain and simple. Desperate to find a new job, she accepts work as an aide to a quadriplegic. With no experience, she is promised that her tasks are mainly to provide food, cleaning and a watchful eye over Will. Will had it all; a highly successful executive with a gorgeous girlfriend and a great urban apartment, when his life was changed in an instant. Now he reluctantly accepts Lou into his life, but it's not long before she cracks his hard exterior and develops real feelings for him. And that, my friends, is where the fluff ends.

The rest of the story is so emotional, surprising and even controversial that I absolutely couldn't put it down. The night I finished Me Before You, it was nearly 2am and I had to take short breaks because I couldn't read the words through my tears. Moyes succeeded in running the reader through the emotional gamut. Worth losing a good night's sleep over. Although I'm not a fan of book clubs, this one would be the perfect choice. I found myself thinking about it days after I finished reading. I'm usually pretty stingy with my star ratings, but this undoubtedly deserves four. Even four-and-a-half (I have to reserve those five-star ratings...there's a lot of years of reading ahead of me!).

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Witches of East End

by Melissa de la Cruz December 10, 2012-January 6, 2013 "... I began to think that perhaps the toxin of Ragnarok had been found in our world, which could only mean one thing. Loki had escaped from his chains and had come to unleash his vengeance upon us." In other words, too cheesy for me. This one's going to be short and sweet. This book really had potential. Witches? Love 'em. Vampires? Ditto. Zombies? Not so much. The premise was right up my alley: three centuries-old witches forbidden to practice magic. When their sleepy town of North Hampton becomes the home of several unexplained mysteries, it's time to dust off those wands and get back to it. But for me, Witches bordered a little too much on the sci-fi. And let me tell you, the Beauchamp family doesn't hold a candle to Matthew & Diana. The romance was there, but not in the brilliant way it was penned by Deborah Harkness. The magic was there, but it became tainted with demons and zombies. The first in a trilogy, Witches of East End finishes with a decent cliffhanger. But, although it was a quick read, I don't care enough to pick up the remaining two. And the book slump continues... * * * * *

The Late, Lamented Molly Marx

by Sally Koslow

With a name like that, who could resist? Molly has recently died and is in the "duration" waiting to see what comes next; and while she's there, looks over her grieving family and friends. The circumstances behind her death are suspicious, even to her, so Molly's goal is find out what really happened to her on that fateful February bike ride. Was it an accident or murder? Suicide? Even her plastic surgeon husband and his over-the-top mother are suspects.

As I listened to this one on CD, it was just the kind of light-hearted chick lit that I was looking for. I really think I prefer this type of book for audio. It's harder and harder for me these days to pay attention to a narrator when the subject matter is really deep. But while the book started off a little fluffy, it ended up being pretty endearing. Yes, it was fluffy even though the main character is dead. As she looks down on the crazy cast of characters, the only one you really feel sorry for is her 4-year old daughter Annabelle. Molly's stories and impersonations of her loved ones were pretty hilarious.

There really isn't much more I can say about this one. It is what it is: Cute. Easy to read. Fun.

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The Lucky One

by Nicholas Sparks

I think I am one of a very few people who thought that The Notebook was the stupidest, sappiest, load of crap movie I ever saw (right after City of Angels). I have never been a fan of sap, so Sparks has never been an author I would even consider reading. He practically invented mushy love stories! They showed Nights in Rodanthe on my flight a few months ago and I was practically nauseous just watching the screen. Oh yeah, and I figured the whole thing out in about 5 minutes of lip-reading. Blech. Anyway...

But again, thanks to my mom's Christmas gifts, she was pushing an unexpected one my way. I had heard from someone that this wasn't one of those typical N.S. novels, and it was relatively short, so I figured I'd give it a try. I seem to read faster in the winter anyway.

Logan Thibault is a marine, recently home from Iraq, who decides to walk from Colorado to North Carolina to meet a woman he knows only from a photograph. He found the picture half-buried in the dirt in Baghdad, and once it was in his possession, he seemed to have found a good luck charm. People were getting hurt or dying all around him, yet he remained safe. His closest friend, Victor, told him that he owed it to the woman in the photo to find her and figure out the meaning behind this good fortune.

Once he finds Beth (a little too easily if you ask me, but I think that's part of Sparks' m.o.) it doesn't take Logan long to fall in love with her. It wasn't long after that she returned his feelings. Yet he never told her about the picture.

I was giving frequent updates to my friend who also isn't a big fan of romantic goo. I told her that it was a very easy read and I couldn't help but be intrigued. I was eager to find out where the story was going to go. But I did warn her that if it turned sappy, I was going to immediately throw the book against the wall. As I neared the end I began to warm up my pitching arm.

Then lo and behold, it was only about 5% sappy at the end. I can handle that! I can't say it's the best book I ever read, or even a great book, but it was a decent story that held my interest for 336 pages.


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The Friday Night Knitting Club

I honestly had no intentions of reading this book. I really had no interest at all, even though I like to knit. Something about it screamed "chick lit" to me, and I've said before that I'm pretty much over that genre.

But my mom got The Friday Night Knitting Club for Christmas and I needed an easy beach read for Girls Lunch in Fort Lauderdale last month (oops, I'm behind on my posting!).

Well it was certainly easy to read. As I started out, I found that the book was "cute." Nothing too deep, nice characters, and the knitting portion woven in in just the right amount. Georgia Walker is the owner of Walker & Daughter, a yarn/knitting shop in New York City. Her Daughter, Dakota is twelve and a wonderful baker. Georgia is a single mom; James is her ex-love with whom she had Dakota. Georgia is successful with her business, but she is quite bitter and honestly pretty unlikable for a little more than half the book. The Knitting Club is an eclectic group of women who meet at the shop every Friday night to knit and mostly gossip. Kate Jacobs does a good job of introducing each of the characters with enough detail to keep it interesting.

And so I'm going along quickly and still thinking that this is a "cute" book. Georgia's friends are all great people in their own ways, James and she get back together, the company is successful, and then WHAM. Not such a "cute" book anymore. No longer a nice, surface read.

The ending was really quite poignant. I was actually sobbing and had to keep putting the book down to wipe my face. Damn this "cute" story! I have said before that I like when books don't have a tidy ending, but this one was completely unexpected. For this reason, I'm not sure I can recommend this one to just anybody. It was quite a shocker. Be warned.

And now there's a ton of talk about the second book in the series, Knit Two. I honestly can't say that I am in a hurry to pick it up. Maybe I won't ever end up reading it. Unless my mom gets it for Christmas.

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Certain Girls

I have always been a fan of Jennifer Weiner novels. They hardly qualify as fine literature, but are instead fun, chick-lit. I needed an easy-reading book after some of my most recent tackles. Plus the lighter fiction is right up my alley to listen to on CD in the car.

Certain Girls is the sequel to Good in Bed, which came out in 2001. 13 years later, Cannie Shapiro deals with the adolescent rebellion of her about-to-be bat mitzvahed daughter, Joy, juggles her writing career; her relationship with her husband, Peter; her constant weight issues; and the occasional standoff with Joy's biological father, Bruce. Joy, whose premature birth resulted in her needing to wear hearing aids, narrates every other chapter. She can be a very annoying 13-year old to listen to, but her perspective lends a great point of view to the story. As her bat mitzvah approaches, Joy tries to find her long absent grandfather (Cannie's dad, who was had very little to do with her upbringing) and tries to get to know Bruce better, much to his wife's dismay. Weiner throws in lots of funny lines too. My favorite is from Cannie's single best friend who's desperately trying to find a husband. First of all, she posts a picture of Brooke Shields on her dating web page and claims it as herself. Then, in desperation, she tells Cannie that at this point, she'd just be happy with "a Jew with a pulse." And surprisingly in the end this "surface" story turns out to be quite poignant.

Great book for a long drive.

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