SHOPAHOLIC ON HONEYMOON by Sophie Kinsella

2 out of 5 stars

Chick lit short story

On Amazon UK HERE

I downloaded this to read while I had a twenty minute/half hour wait for something, and thought that, at 53 pages and as a bit of lighthearted fun, it should fit the bill nicely. Unfortunately, it lasted just shy of ten minutes; the story ended at 47%, after which were the first chapters of another book. I know the book is free, and obviously the point of free short stories is to try and make you pay out for another book, but I think the blurb should make clear what the content is.

Anyway, back to the story. Chick lit is not a favourite genre of mine but I have read the first Shopaholic book a couple of times and liked many aspects of it (the debt letters and the Finnish aspects were very funny, and Becky's money catastrophes were quite real, and something a lot of single girls about town could relate to), but this story, although well-written for what it is, and even quite entertaining in a odd sort of way, was just too daft. 

The 'plot' is basically Becky being on honeymoon with husband Luke, and wanting to turn it into a shopping spree. An appealing premise, the sensible husband and the shopaholic wife, but in this book she was just completely inane. For instance, she saw some attractively packaged art equipment and suddenly fancied the idea of being an artist, spending a fortune on paper, easels, brushes, charcoal, gouache, etc and setting up her easel in front of a cathedral, only to discover that she couldn't draw.   Lukes wants to visit various places of interest in Venice, but all Becky is interested in is buying expensive glass to impress her friends.

It was too silly to be funny, to the extent that you couldn't imagine why an intelligent, successful man like Luke would have married a woman who was uncultured, selfish, superficial, bored by anything apart from clothes and fantasy images of herself, and ridiculously, childishly impulsive. There was more to Becky's character in the first book, and some genuine wit; this is just like a parody.

THE NEW MRS D by Heather Hill

3.5 out of 5 stars

Mature Chick Lit

On Amazon UK HERE
On Amazon.com HERE

Reviewed by me as part of Rosie Amber's Book Review Team

Bernice is on her honeymoon in Greece; it's her second marriage, and she has two grown up daughters.  The problem is that her husband, David, loves her but doesn't fancy her - several days into the holiday they still haven't had sex - he's been getting his kicks from porn websites.  Oh, and he had a picture of four of her bikini clad friends in his wallet.  Not Bernice, just her friends...

Bernice decides she can't take it any more, and will spend the rest of the holiday alone.  She meets up with David's friend Chris, an artist who lives nearby, and makes several new friends.

This is a smart, well written, lighthearted-with-serious-undertones sort of book, and I enjoyed the Greek holiday atmosphere.  I thought the whole subject of Bernice's dilemma was most interesting; her relationship with her mother that led to the low self-esteem, that led to her making a first unwise marriage, then becoming a Facebook 'friend' of the woman for whom Husband #1 left her, and, finally, marrying a man who didn't want to sleep with her.  I think many women would be able to relate to Bernice's tendency to 'people please', which in itself had a detrimental effect on her self-esteem, but I thought the story might have been better suited to a slightly edgy, contemporary drama, rather than chick lit mode, with all its zany incidents -  I do sometimes wonder if anyone's ever written a chick lit heroine who isn't ludicrously accident prone!

I was pleased that the ending wasn't predictable (I liked it alot, it made me smile!), and I thought the message of the book, about learning to love and accept yourself, was sincerely and sympathetically executed.  The whole thing was a bit too 'whoo-hoo, you go girl, let's all be sassy real women' for me (and a bit too naked), but that's only personal taste; Bernice and her new friends were believable characters and I think this book will appeal to many women.  I can imagine it being an inspiration to others caught in the low self-esteem trap; haven't most of us been there at some point?

FRENCH KISSING by Lynne Shelby

4 out of 5 stars

Chick Lit

On Amazon UK HERE
On Amazon.com HERE

Reviewed by me as part of Rosie Amber's Review Team

Well, this was a pleasant and undemanding afternoon's reading!  Light romance/romcom is not a preferred genre of mine, but there was something about the blurb that appealed to me.

Anna Mitchel, London girl, has been writing to French penfriend Alexandre since she was eleven.  Now, they're in their late twenties, and Alex has come to visit.  Anna's boyfriend Nick is not pleased about the sudden appearance of this sexy Frenchman, and Anna is disturbed by the fact that all her friends fancy him.  Then there's the girl back home, who Alex is still in love with....

This book is very well written chick lit, with a bit more substance than your average zany-cupcake-and-kitten-heels type novel.  I didn't actually like Anna very much—I thought she was rather selfish and lacking in self-awareness, especially concerning the way she treated Nick, and her attitude towards Izzy and Beth.  At the same time as being annoyed with her, though, I noticed how excellent the characterisation is; each character is clear and well-defined.  Being annoyed with a character means that he/she has come alive, after all!

The last third of the book is set in France; there is much description of Paris, etc, but it is not intrusive and is artfully woven into the story.  I guessed the outcome only about half way through, which is good for a chick lit book - in the past, I've guessed it in the first chapter!  And there's a nice unexpected turn of events at the end, too.

This is professionally presented and I'd have no hesitation in recommending it to lovers of the light romance; I haven't got anything negative to say about it at all.

DEAR INTERNET: IT'S ME, AVERY by Jennifer Ammoscato

4 out of 5 stars

Chick lit

On Amazon UK HERE
On Amazon.com Amazon.com

Jennifer Ammoscato's debut novel is the story of thirty-six year old Avery Fowler (love the name Avery!) who has just discovered that her husband doesn't love her anymore and is leaving her for his secretary - a plot kick-off that never gets old, does it?

Avery is an internet obsessed journalist, with (as in all good chick lit novels) a couple of super-supportive best girlfriends and a gay guy friend who dispense drinks and advice.  Sound familiar?  Yes, this book is Extreme Chick Lit very much in the Bridget Jones mould, but Avery is a twenty-first century girl, who also has an internet life coach called Clementine and doesn't sit around waiting for Mr Darcy to appear on her doorstep with red roses.  If you loved the Bridget Jones books, though, I think you will adore Avery!

Ms Ammoscato's style is very sharp and witty, with SO many great lines:

"Online dating!  Of course!  It's like shopping on Amazon.com, but for guys.  In my pyjamas.  What's not to love?"

I couldn't fault the writing, all the way through it.  There's a definite formula to this genre, but it's one that works, if it's done well.  Now, listen.  As many know, I am absolutely not a chick lit fan (not enough flu pandemics, zombies, sixteenth century executions and fatal addictions for me), in fact it rates on my list of go-to genres only just above YA fantasy, sweet romance and vampire trilogies, but I hope I can tell if something is good of its type, and I reckon this is.

Any negatives?  I did think the book lost its way slightly in the middle, getting a bit too zany for me, though probably not for fans of this genre.  However, it totally picks up in the last twenty-five per cent, with a satisfying ending that made me want to know what happens next; yes, I read the excerpt of part two at the back!  It was good to see the story become more real, and Avery become less ditzy; a bit more like someone who *no spoilers here!* might fall in love with - and who might get the better of her boss-from-hell.

To sum up: a very respectable debut, highly recommended for chick lit lovers.

WHAT HAPPENS TO MEN WHEN THEY MOVE TO MANHATTAN by Jill Knapp

3.5 out of 5 stars

Chick Lit

On Amazon UK HERE
On Amazon.com HERE

Reviewed by me as part of Rosie Amber's Book Review Team 

When I started to read this novel I realised that I am probably at least twice the age of its target audience, but, hey, some of all this stuff still seems like yesterday, so I'll do my best! 

It's a book about which I kept changing my mind as I was reading.  I thought it needed a bit of tightening up generally.  It's nicely written, witty in places and easily readable; Jill Knapp's got the right sort of voice for a book about young women in Manhattan.  Some of it I liked very much and there were some good observations about relationships to which I reckon a lot of women, young and old, could relate.  There's an excellent confrontation with a two-timing douchebag at 68%, too!  My main problem with it, though, was that it's a bit light on plot.

Basically, graduate student Amalia is having a rough time with men/working out what she wants in life, and her friends aren't faring much better.  That's kind of it.   I found some of the story a bit hard to get my head round; Amalia's long term relationship with Nicholas has levelled off to the extent that she has the emotional headspace to fall in love with Michael, yet she is heartbroken when she and Nicholas part company, a situation for which there is not sufficient explanation for a novel that's solely about romantic relationships, not to mention the fact that Nicholas metamorphoses into a completely different character later on in the book.  I thought her 'is it/isn't it' relationship with Michael was very real indeed, but there wasn't enough actual drama in it to make the situation very compelling to read about.  Not enough happened.  Also, I kept getting mixed up between her friends, particularly Christina and Cassandra; one less of them might have been a good idea.

I liked the bits about her brother and the observations about New Yorkers, and think this book would be enjoyed by plenty of young women who like very current sort of chick lit/light romance.  It's set up for the sequel by there not being much end resolution, but that's okay; it works.  It's worth getting if you are a fan of this genre; if I was 22 I'd probably have given it 4 stars!

MOTHER OF THE YEAR by Karen Ross

5 out of 5 stars

Chick Lit

Originally posted on Amazon HERE on 17 March 2014

Contrary to popular belief, there is more to writing a good chick lit novel than sticking in a few mentions of cupcakes and Jimmy Choos, and having a ditzy girl breaking her heel on the first date with the lush guy you just know she'll end up with - with Mother of the Year, Karen Ross shows how it's done!

It's INTELLIGENT chick lit - not predictable, and a storyline based around so much more than romantic disasters. The parts about heroine JJ's copywriting, and about Rob's business were interesting as well as being amusing. I came across none of the cliches of plot or dialogue so often found in this genre; it's all new, fresh, really 'now', and the popular culture references were all spot on rather than seeming self-conscious, as they so often can. The humour worked, too - wait for the Molotov cocktail....!!

I liked very much how Ms Ross showed the points of view of both JJ and her mother, Beth; Beth's outlook was unexpected, and gave more depth to the story. I'm finding it difficult to say more without giving spoilers, so I won't - I'll just finish by saying that if you're an avid chick lit fan you will LOVE this, and even if you're not you'll probably still like it as much as I did!