Confessions of a Shopaholic - Sophie Kinsella

25-year-old Becky Bloomwood is a financial journalist for Successful Savings magazine. She lives in a beautiful flat in a trendy London neighborhood, wears designer clothes, and has successful friends. You'd think her life would be pretty fantastic, but she's flat broke and up to her ears in debt. And while she knows that her lifestyle must change, she just can't seem to give up her true passion . . . shopping.

Her path occasionally crosses with that of Luke Brandon, a gorgeous multimillionaire PR representative for a finance group that Successful Savings routinely features. Their meetings are awkward at best; Becky without fail finds a way to embarrass herself. But as Becky and Luke get to know each other better, Becky can't help but feel an attraction to the handsome Mr. Brandon.

I liked Becky; she was delightfully fun, and reading about her was very entertaining. While I couldn't really understand how she could do some of the things she did (like throw away credit card bills unopened because she couldn't bear to see the extent of her debt -- which, besides being just plain stupid, is a case of identity theft waiting to happen, if you ask me), she was just so likable that I had a hard time holding anything against her.

I enjoyed Confessions of a Shopaholic. Sophie Kinsella never fails to keep me entertained. Her books are surefire page-turners, very hard to put down. I've already placed library holds on the other 4 books in the series, and I'm anxious to see where Becky's relationship with dashing Luke Brandon goes (even though I pretty much already know from the titles of two other Shopaholic books, Shopaholic Ties the Knot and Shopaholic & Baby.) I liked Luke most of all, and I'm excited to read more about him in future books.

3.5/5

The Undomestic Goddess - Sophie Kinsella

I can't believe I only discovered Sophie Kinsella this year! It seems that whenever I want something light and fluffy to read, she's my go-to author. Her books are just so cute and fun. And while there are profanities scattered here and there throughout her books, I try not to dwell on them because the stories she tells are so entertaining.

Samantha Sweeting (love the name!) is an attorney for one of London's most prestigious law firms, Carter Spink. She's just been offered a partnership at Carter Spink when her world spins out of control. She finds a document on her disorganized desk and realizes that she is months past the filing deadline for said document, and has in effect cost the client 50 million quid. Not knowing what to do, and too terrified to tell anyone of her mistake, she dazedly walks out of the law firm and hops on a train. When the train comes to a stop, she finds herself in an unfamiliar country town. She knocks on the door of the nearest house, hoping to get a glass of water, and is mistaken for the new housekeeper. Samantha is so disoriented that she fails to correct the misconception. When she wakes up the next morning, she doesn't know how to get out of the predicament she's in, so she decides to go along with it, even though she has no clue how to cook or clean.

Nathaniel, the gardener, is on to Samantha. He offers Samantha help, in the form of his mother, Iris. Iris gives Samantha cooking and housekeeping lessons, and Samantha catches on quickly. She learns to love the easy-going, relaxed atmosphere in the countryside -- and the attentions of handsome Nathaniel. But when Samantha uncovers a secret about her former law firm, she has to decide whether to go back to the hectic life she's always known, or stay where she feels most at home.

This is my third Kinsella book. It definitely won't be my last. As implausible as her stories can sometimes be, they're great fun to read.

4/5

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society - Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows

This book has a funny title, but it is one of the most charming, endearing books I've ever read.

It is 1946 and WWII has recently ended. Juliet Ashton, author of a successful London newspaper column-turned-book, is on the search for material for a new novel when she receives a letter from a man living on Guernsey Island, in the English Channel. His name is Dawsey Adams. It seems that a book by Charles Lamb, that Juliet had previously owned, has somehow found it's way into Dawsey's hands, and he's written to ask Juliet if she will be so kind as to find another book by Mr. Lamb and send it to him. Thus begins a correspondence between Juliet and Dawsey. When Juliet discovers that Dawsey belongs to a literary group with a peculiar name, she writes to ask how the group and the name came to be. As the exchange of letters continues, not only with Dawsey but with other members of the group, Juliet learns that the "Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society" was formed one night as an alibi when a group of people were found out after curfew during the German occupation. Eager to know more about these people, their tastes in books, and their struggles during the occupation, Juliet corresponds with the members of the society. Thinking their stories will make a great book, Juliet visits Guernsey and finds the society members to be kindred spirits.

Told entirely through letters, The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society is a warm and funny novel, one that will touch your heart. By the time the book was done, I had fallen in love with all of the characters. The historical aspect of the novel was really interesting, too. Very well written, and definitely a book I'd recommend.

5/5

The Lace Reader - Brunonia Barry

Look into the lace . . . When the eyes begin to fill with tears and the patience is long exhausted, there will appear a glimpse of something not quite seen... In this moment, an image will begin to form . . . in the space between what is real and what is only imagined.

Can you read your future in a piece of lace? All of the Whitney women can. But the last time Towner read, it killed her sister and nearly robbed Towner of her own sanity.

Towner Whitney, a dazed young woman descended from a long line of mind readers and fortune tellers, has survived numerous traumas and returned to her hometown of Salem, Mass., to recover. Any tranquility in her life is short-lived when her beloved great-aunt Eva drowns under circumstances suggesting foul play. Towner's suspicions are taken with a grain of salt given her history of hallucinatory visions and self-harm. The mystery enmeshes local cop John Rafferty, who had left the pressures of big city police work for a quieter life in Salem and now finds himself falling for the enigmatic Towner as he mourns Eva and delves into the history of the eccentric Whitney clan.

The Lace Reader was definitely a strange book, with many different layers to it. Towner is the main voice of the book, but the reader can never be sure if what is happening is real or imagined, given Towner's history of hallucinations and time spent in a mental hospital. Amongst witches and religious fanatics, Towner and Rafferty are on quest to discover what happened to Eva, taking the reader on a bizarre ride, full of mysterious and peculiar goings-on.

I can't say I loved this book, but I enjoyed it to a certain extent. Once I got the hang of how the story was being told, I enjoyed it more. It took me some time to get into the story at first because it was all so confusing, trying to keep things straight. And even when I thought I had things figured out, I discovered I was wrong. The ending was so unexpected; I liked that. And I loved Rafferty. I wouldn't mind reading more about the characters in The Lace Reader. If Brunonia Barry ever decides to write a sequel, I just may read it.

Also, having just read The Heretic's Daughter, which was also set in Salem, albeit during the witch trials of the 1600s, I more fully understood the history of Salem and all the talk about witches in The Lace Reader. I couldn't have read the two books at a more opportune time, I guess.

3.5/5