The Pilot's Wife by Anita Shreve

My old boss gave me this book to read about three years ago, but I just never got around to it. But then a few weeks ago I saw they were going to play the movie based on this book on Lifetime. I decided to tape it and had a mental note to start this book ASAP. I kind of knew what the big plot line was already, so I don’t know if this biased my view on the book overall.

The story is about Katherine who is married to Jack, a pilot. Jack’s plane explodes over the coast of Ireland killing him and 104 passengers. It is a huge news story and people from the airline, the union, the FBI, and the media swarm Katherine’s house to try to figure out what happened. Robert is the first to arrive and he is from the union. He is by Katherine’s side though almost everything and is a great support for her. At one point I thought they were going to end up romantically involved. Jack and Katherine have a daughter, Mattie, and her father’s death hits her really hard. Luckily Katherine’s grandmother Julia is there to help out.

As more pieces of the puzzle of what happened to Jack’s plane start to come together, Katherine starts to discover secrets she never knew about Jack. They were married for I think 16 years and he kept some really big secrets from her.

The story makes you think about how well you can really know a person. But I was let down at Katherine’s reaction to finding out some of these secrets. I would have been enraged and crushed to find out some of the things she did. But I just didn’t feel that from her.

I give it 3.5 out of 5 stars.

Oh and the Lifetime movie, not that good either.

I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell by Tucker Max

Since I started reading this book, I have talked about it to anyone who will listen. It was just so shocking! All the stories in the book are supposedly true accounts of Tucker Max’s hedonistic adventures. I just can’t believe there are guys like this out there! But at least he admits what he is. Here is the summary he wrote on the back of his book:

"My name is Tucker Max, and I am an asshole.

I get excessively drunk at inappropriate times, disregard social norms, indulge every whim, ignore the consequences of my actions, mock idiots and posers, sleep with more women than is safe or reasonable, and just generally act like a raging dickhead.

But, I do contribute to humanity in one very important way. I share my adventures with the world."

The stories are completely disgusting but also completely hilarious. He is a jerk. He is a drunk. He is a male whore. But he is also funny- his one redeeming quality. From a hit and run through the window of a donut shop in some random girl’s car to defecating in the lobby of an Embassy Suites and being banned for life from ever staying there again, it is hard to believe these things really happened. And his sex stories…don’t even get me started.

He has no filter and is very mean to girls. He doesn’t just “love em and leave em” he emotionally abuses them and uses them until they finally wake up and smell the nasty in this guy. I have no idea why any self-respecting girl would put up with him. But I guess there are a lot of girls out there who have no self-respect since he brags that his “number” is well into the triple digits.

His writing is actually pretty good though. The stories flow really well and he surprising has a pretty good vocabulary. The other “characters” in the book are pretty well developed. So as a writer, I give him props. It’s just that the content of the stories will leave you in complete shock with your mouth hanging wide open for hours.

This is very much a “guy” book, but for girls it will probably be like a car wreck…I just couldn’t look away. I was obsessed with it and finished it in less than a week. There is supposedly a movie coming out in September based on this book and I just don’t see how it is not going to be rated NC-17 or something because this book is just raunchy! But you better believe I am going to go see it.

I give this book 4.5 out of 5 stars because I loved reading it.
But I give Tucker Max a negative 2 star rating as a human being.
Keep the funny, but loose the meanness and get some morals dude.

Oh and he has a website and a blog…check it out at your own risk.

If you have read this PLEASE tell me what you thought of it! Was it as shocking for you as it was for me?

Love Walked In by Marisa de los Santos

When I first started reading Love Walked In, I didn't like it too much. I couldn't get in to the characters, parts of it were too wordy with nothing really happening, and she was constantly referring to movies I had never heard of or seen to create analogies to her life. But by the fourth or fifth chapter I was in to it.

Basically once the two narrators paths meet, things start to get good. The first narrator is Cornelia, a twenty or thirty something coffee shop barista that falls for Martin Grace. The second narrator is Claire a 9 year old girl whose mother is seemingly loosing her mind, while Claire tries to keep it a secret from everyone.

I don't want to give away any of the plot line, but this book is about love. Maybe not in the way you first might think it will be, but in a much better and more realistic way. I really like the main characters and liked that I didn't always see what was coming next. I still hated her references to movies that I didn't know, but that was easy to overlook. In the end they all get an unexpected happy ending that they weren't even looking for.

I give it 4 out of 5 stars.

Chasing Harry Winston by Lauren Weisberger

I love Lauren Weisberger's stuff. I read The Devil Wears Prada (before I ever knew it was going to be a movie) and Everyone Worth Knowing and really enjoyed those so it was a no brainer picking this one up. Plus who wouldn't be drawn to that cover. I'm telling you, a cover alone can make or break a book for me.

Chasing Harry Winston is the story a three single girls (and BFFs) living in New York City. At first I kept getting the characters mixed up but by the end I think Emmy, Leah, and Adriana were pretty well developed characters. You have the model looking girl living off her parents and seducing men all around the city, the miss perfect with the perfect boyfriend and job who is just a tad neurotic and particular about things, and then the girl who is a serial monogamist who finds herself single because her long-time boyfriend ran off with the Barbie personal trainer that she got for him.

One day at lunch the three make a pact or bet (well two of them technically) to completely make over their lives and do a complete 180. The serial monogamist will go on Tour de Whore and more than double the number of men she has slept with and the seductress will finally try to settle down with an actual boyfriend. Miss Perfect stays out of the bet, but deep down knows there are things that need to change in her life too. This story follows them over the course of that year of change and each one is living a dramatically different life at the end.

There are lots of great topics single girls face in real life throughout the book. I think it gave a pretty accurate portrayal of what single girls in their late twenties may think about or feel sometimes.

It's a great light read for the summer.

I give it 4 out of 5 stars.

For more on Lauren Weisberger, check out her website.

Miss Invisible by Laura Jensen Walker

Miss Invisible by Laura Jensen Walker is a book about Freddie, and overweight cake baker, finding herself and finally living up to her potential. Freddie feels overlooked by society. She feels invisible and insignificant due to her size. It probably doesn't help that she works for a boss that puts Freddie down just to make herself feel more powerful and she has a crush on a VERY popular boy at her church who barely knows she is alive.

But Freddie meets a woman and friend that changes her life. She is in the "Big Girls Club" too but she is no where near invisible. She is full of life and commands a presence the minute she enters a room. With some gentle nudging from her new friend and interest from the cute new veterinarian in town, Freddie begins to come out her shell. By the end of the book Freddie has taken control of her life and learned that big girls aren't the only ones who feel like Miss Invisible, but all it takes is a little confidence and some encouragement and support from good friends to come out of the corner and really live.

It was a really cute chic lit book and a quick easy read. She also starts a blog in the book which I could relate to, although I think it is a little unrealistic to become a superstar blogger with your very first post. A good book for the beach or pool.

I give it 3.5 out of 5 stars.

Come Back by Claire and Mia Fontaine

I'm not too far from my teenage years so I remember some of what it was like, but I have matured enough to recognize my sometimes crazy decisions and behavior during that time. Come Back: A Mother and Daughter's Journey Through Hell and Back brought back some of those memories. It is the story of a mother trying her hardest to protect her daughter from herself as she goes through a painful and difficult time in her life.

The book is alternates narrating from the mother's perspective and the daughter's perspective. Mia, the daughter is going through a tough emotional time and trying to find her own way in life. She runs away from home and gets caught up in drugs. All the while this seems like a nightmare for her mother Claire as she tries to find her daughter and get back the Mia she knows.

I could relate to both the mother and the daughter's thoughts. When Claire does find Mia, she sends her to a "boot camp" type of school two continents away. Mia and Claire go through a rigorous program to find out how they wound up at this point and how to fix it.

It was a good story and one any mother or daughter should read.

I give it 4 out of 5 stars.

The Cinderella Pact by Sarah Strohmeyer

A friend had recommended Sarah Strohmeyer to me a few months ago. I went on PaperbackSwap and added some of her books to my wishlist. The first one I got in the mail was The Cinderella Pact.

When Nola Devlin is passed over for a position at the magazine she works for because she doesn't fit the "image" they are going for (i.e. thin, glamorous, etc.) she creates an alter ego- Belinda who does land the job. Around the same time another event prompts her and two friends to start following "The Cinderella Pact" written about by her alter ego- Belinda Apple. The three start on their own path towards becoming their most fabulous self.

Meanwhile Nola's double life starts to get her in all kinds a trouble. The magazine suspects something fishy about Belinda and launches a full on investigation. Her sister becomes fascinated with Belinda and give her the Maid of Honor position in her upcoming wedding.

Mix all of this in with a budding romance with the mysterious Chip, who she just can't seem to figure out and it makes for a very interesting story. Throughout the story you can't help but pulling for Nola and hoping that everything works out in her favor. I'd consider this first introduction to Sarah Strohmeyer a success and I look forward to reading her other books as well. Great chic lit author!

I give this 4 out of 5 stars.