6. Certain Girls

Certain Girls, by Jennifer Weiner (2009).

I really liked Weiner's Good in Bed (2002), so when I heard she was writing a sequel, I made a mental note to check into it. On my way back from Las Vegas earlier this month, I broke my no-new-book-buying rule at the airport and grabbed a copy. I'm glad I did.

Certain Girls takes place thirteen years after Good in Bed, when Cannie's married to Peter and baby Joy has grown up and is about to have her bat mitzvah. The book is narrated in the first person by Cannie and Joy, in alternating chapters. Although I really enjoyed the book, I liked Cannie's chapters better than Joy's. Maybe this means I'm getting old and can relate much better to an overprotective mother than a bratty teenager, but it's mostly because the narrative exposition in the Joy chapters was in a voice that didn't sound like a twelve year old's thoughts. The story really made me see Cannie is a different way than in the first book. She's a really overprotective, even smothering mother.

Cannie's a best selling author of the book she wrote about her experience in GIB, but she hasn't written under her own name since. Instead, she ghostwrites a sexy action series. Mostly, though, she spends her time smothering her daughter, who of course rebels in small, secret ways. Joy reads Cannie's book and is horrified by what she thinks she learns about her mom and the circumstances of her birth. Weiner is so good at this--her characters are frustrating, endearing, and so real. I liked this a lot.

13. Cheating at Solitaire

Cheating at Solitaire, by Ally Carter (2005)

I thought I'd give Ally Carter another chance and see if her fiction for adults is better than her YA stuff. Cheating at Solitaire is about Julia James, a self-help author famous for writing about the benefits of being single. Of course, wacky hijinx ensue and she meets cute with a hunky struggling actor. The press makes it out to be a scandalous new romance, just as the actor hits it big.

Guess what happens next. Uh, yeah. They fall for each other and it's a series of misunderstandings culminating in a happy ending. To be fair, the characters are pretty appealing and Carter's style is engaging, so I read the whole thing without getting bored. I'd liken the book to potato chips, rather than a full meal. I enjoyed reading it, but it didn't satisfy me and I forgot most of the plot details and character names within days.

2. The Break-up Diet

The Break-up Diet, by Annette Fix (August, 2008)

I finally got my first Early Reviewers book a few days ago, and decided to read a few chapters last night. Well, just over two hours passed by and I was finished with the whole thing.

I don't really think of my posts here as reviews, but that's what I signed up to do on LibraryThing. My reviews are pretty brief, but probably a little more meaty than the two sentences you often get from Publisher's Weekly.

This memoir reads like chick lit, the good kind. I kept forgetting it wasn't a novel as I read it. Every "character" feels real and Annette's voice is really authentic. It's a quick read and fun, even when working through some really tough, emotional stuff. It's not the kind of thing I usually read, but enjoyed it. If you like Jennifer Weiner's work (and I definitely do), you'll probably like this.

39. Why Moms are Weird

Why Moms are Weird (Pamela Ribon, 2006)

I started this before bed with the intention of reading a chapter or two, but now it's 4am and I'm finished. I should know better; I can do the chapter-by-chapter routine with heavy, serious books, but not chick lit.

This has been on my list for a while. I was once a huge pamie.com reader, loved Pamie's Gilmore Girls recaps on TWoP, and laughed hysterically through her first novel, Why Girls Are Weird. (I have three words for you: tiny wooden hand.) Maybe my expectations were too high, but I didn't love this. Don't get me wrong, Pamie--er, Pamela--is an excellent writer. She's great at capturing what so many of us have thought or felt, only in a really beautiful and clear way. Like this:

I've been romanced, dumped, caressed, fondled, and destroyed in the confines of my car. It's the shell that protects me when the rest of the world can seem so infinite. When everything in love becomes too chaotic, I can take a man to the smallest place that can contain us, force him to look at me and tell me the truth.

Lovely, no? But wait. Benny, the protagonist, is achingly real. But I hated her family. Hated. I started to hate her for letting them treat her like crap over and over. Yeah, maybe that's real, too. Still, I thought the book was a downer. Not even the love interest, who was kind of an ass himself, kept me that interested. The alternate love interest was a total jackass and I was annoyed every time he entered a scene. I guess I was hoping for more ha-ha funny instead of mean funny. Huh.

16. Everyone Worth Knowing

Everyone Worth Knowing (Lauren Weisberger, 2005)

Thinking I needed an airplane book, I picked this up at the grocery store when I was visiting my parents over Christmas/New Year. I ended up sleeping and listening to music on the plane and kind of forgot about it. It turned up again when I was trying to consolidate the piles of unread books I have scattered around the house, and I read it last night in an insomnia-plagued fit. While Weisberger kind of follows the same formula she laid out in The Devil Wears Prada, I actually liked this one better. TDWP seemed to drag and was pretty repetitive, but this book had a snappier pace and more interesting characters. It helped that Bette, the heroine of the piece, was much more likable than whatever-her-name-was in TDWP and that the love interest was a great guy. All in all, this is a fun book.