Review: "A Life That Fits" by Heather Wardell

Returning home from a business trip, 28-year-old Andrea finds her boyfriend of fourteen years waiting for her. Convinced that he's finally going to propose, Andrea is thrilled, until she discovers that all of his possessions are missing from their apartment. Alex confesses that he's leaving Andrea for a woman that he explains is her opposite. Following Alex's departure, Andrea vows to start doing the exact opposite of the things that she would normally do, saying "yes" when she would formerly have said "no", and incorporating new activities into her life.

Andrea finds herself enjoying the new things that she's doing, but has she done enough to win Alex back? And if he does come back, will he even fit into her new life?

Heather Wardell is one of my favorite chick lit authors because her stories are light and fun, yet thought-provoking. I always find myself reading frantically, anxious to find out what will happen next. A Life That Fits is no exception to the rule. I really appreciated Andrea's situation. Here she is, safe in a relationship that she's been in for years, and she's expecting a marriage proposal, not for her boyfriend to leave her. When the inevitable happens she spends the acceptable amount of time being upset about it, but instead of continuing to wallow she decides to take action in order to win Alex back. By changing her life in order to achieve this goal, she receives the most wonderful gift- she rediscovers who she really is. I, for one, quite like what she found. *spoiler alert* I love that Andrea changed from someone afraid to move forward in her life to a strong, adventurous woman who I would want to be friends with.

Combine entertaining characters, an interesting plot, and a fantastic ending and you have A Life That Fits. This is a great choice for women's fiction lovers who are looking for a book that refuses to let you go until the very last page. And with the e-version priced at only $0.99, it won't break the bank!

Rating: 4 stars out of 5
Challenges: 2011 100+ Reading Challenge, 2011 E-Book Challenge

Review: "Stay" by Allie Larkin

Savannah "Van" Leone is loyal to a fault. Despite the fact that her best friend, Janie, is marrying the guy that she's  been in love with since college, Van still dons a hideous pumpkin orange dress and stands up at their wedding as the maid of honor. Drowning her sorrows after the wedding with a Rin Tin Tin marathon supplemented with lots of vodka, Van wakes up the next morning only to discover that she has ordered a German Shepherd puppy off of the Internet. When "Joe" arrives and Van finds out that not only is he 100 pounds but he only responds to commands given in Slovak, Van has no idea what to do. But with the help of the local vet and with the assistance of the puppy that she's fallen in love with, Van learns that things may not always be as bad as they seem.

I have been hearing great things about Stay since it came out in hardcover, and when I received a surprise copy of the paperback in the mail, I was thrilled! Stay definitely lived up to its hype. Well-written with incredibly lovable characters scattered throughout, reading it was a pleasure. Van comes across as being flawed yet vulnerable, and that made me love her even more. The fact that she was willing to be the maid of honor in her best friend's wedding despite her strong feelings for the groom made her incredibly endearing, and I was rooting for her the whole way through.

You don't need to be a dog lover to adore Stay or to fall in love with Joe, the over sized German Shepherd and the star of the show. Filled with funny moments, lovable characters and topped off by the perfect ending, Stay is one of those books that I can wholeheartedly recommend to women's fiction fans.

Rating: 4.5 stars out of 5
Challenges: 2011 100+ Reading Challenge

Review: "My Year With Eleanor" by Noelle Hancock

Pop culture blogger Noelle Hancock finds herself at a loose end after being laid off from her job. Used to spending hours flipping between one popular website after another in search of the latest and greatest gossip, Noelle suddenly finds her days stretching out endlessly in front of her. When her therapist encourages her to do more things that scare her in order to connect with the person that she used to be, a project is born. Inspired by Eleanor Roosevelt's quote "Do One Thing Every Day That Scares You" Noelle vows to spend a year doing just that- facing her fears, one day at a time.

I love the concept of My Year With Eleanor. Who among us does not have a laundry list of fears, ranging from the small ones, like spiders or heights, to the larger ones such as rejection and never finding someone special to spend your life with? Spending a year facing those fears that hold us back on a daily basis can be nothing less than helpful when it comes to being the best version of ourselves that we can be. Noelle does just that. Although not every fear that she faces is documented, we do read about her time spent at trapeze school, swimming with the sharks, and climbing Mount Everest, as well as her time spent singing karaoke and working in a funeral home. The chapters about Noelle's climb up Mount Everest were particularly interesting as she overcomes many different fears in an unforgiving environment but manages to emerge triumphant.

We learn a lot about Eleanor Roosevelt's life while Noelle is facing her own fears. I'll admit that I knew next to nothing about Eleanor before reading this book, but I found her life and her attitude about life absolutely fascinating. The information that I learned about her was an unexpected bonus, as Noelle doesn't allow the historical matter to become dry or uninteresting, and instead brings the woman's legacy to life.

A little disappointingly I didn't find myself inspired by this book to go out and face my own fears one day at a time, but I did find Noelle's personal journey to be an interesting one, and I enjoyed learning more about an historical figure that I had little previous knowledge of. Well-written and concise, My Year With Eleanor will appeal to many memoir fans. Thank-you to TLC Book Tours for inviting me along on this tour.

Rating: 4 stars out of 5
Challenges: 2011 100+ Reading Challenge

Review: "Blow Me" by Lennie Ross

Rapidly approaching their forties, friends Skylar, Dawn, and Chloe seem to have missed the mark. Unmarried and childless, all three women have discovered that life doesn't always come with a happy ending guarantee. Skylar goes through men like she goes through underwear and when one romantic encounter in particular burns down her apartment, she finds herself homeless, jobless, and living in her car. Chloe is a French-Canadian actress living in the United States with dreams of making it big, or at least obtaining a green card to avoid being sent back to Canada, but neither marriage or a steady job seem to be on the horizon. Dawn is insistent on not running the family business, but she doesn't find her job as a matchmaker fulfilling and she seems no closer to finding her perfect man. Panicked that she's running out of time to procreate successfully, Dawn undergoes a procedure to freeze her fertilized eggs using a sperm donor for when she's ready to become pregnant. This off-the-wall novel explores dating, sex, and aging set in the backdrop of shallow Los Angeles.

I have to admit that I had a really hard time getting into Blow Me. The characters are all so self-centered that it's not surprising that they are each almost 40 and still unable to find love. Skylar uses men as her meal ticket. She literally sleeps around in search of her next meal or her next designer outfit and I couldn't help but compare her actions to those of a prostitute. Chloe just wasn't likable. She seemed desperate to find a man, any man, and often treats her friends like garbage in order to make herself feel better. Dawn was the only character that offered me some hope. She actually had integrity and goals for her life beyond getting laid, but she had the bad fortune to be saddled with such selfish friends.

Luckily for me the book picked up around the midway point. Dawn, the one character that I actually liked, begins to get her life together and seeing her working her way toward a happy ending encouraged me. Even Skylar, who I had a hard time liking from the beginning, seems to change her spots a little and becomes someone likable. The ending brought everything together quite nicely, and I have to say that I'm pleased at how things turned out.

If you can get past the fact that these women in their late 30's are still behaving as if they were in their early 20's, Blow Me is an enjoyable read. Lennie Ross is a talented writer and the stories of dating and love in Los Angeles certainly made for some entertaining reading. Thank-you to Chick Lit Plus Blog Tours for inviting me to participate.

Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
Challenges: 2011 100+ Reading Challenge, 2011 E-Book Challenge