Book Review - Twenties Girl

Last night I finished up Twenties Girl by Sophie Kinsella.  Sophie's books have always been among my favorites - not only the Shopaholic books, but also her titles written under Madeline Wickham.  I will say, Twenties Girl was a overall good, but just a smidge disappointing.

To sum up the story, without giving up the ending/important details along the way, Lara attends a funeral for her great aunt and while it is in progress, she becomes haunted by her great aunt, Sadie.  Sadie reveals to Lara that she is looking for a necklace, a necklace that Lara knows nothing about, as she only bet Sadie a couple of times as a child.  Lara is now tasked with helping Sadie find the necklace so that she might pass on.

While I enjoyed the overall story and many parts of it, I thought that it drug.  I found myself skipping through paragraphs and pages that I thought were monotonous or embarrassing for Lara.  (total sidenote - I do not like to feel embarassed for lead characters in any situation - TV shows, movies, books, etc.)  I absolutley loved the ending and the way Lara's character evolved and grew with Sadie's help and completely unsolicited advice.

Would I recommend this to a friend?  Yes.  Though it is slow at times, it is a great story with likable characters and I great ending.  If you like Sophie Kinsella, or have never read any of her books, it's definitely worth a read.

I rate it:

 Any other Sophie Kinsella fans out there?  What are some of your favorite titles of hers?

Best Friends Forever - Not the Best Read Ever

I finally finished my most recent read, Best Friends Forever by Jennifer Weiner.  I have never read any of her books, so I felt very proud of myself for venturing out of my normal author circle, comprised of Sophie Kinsella, Madeline Wickham (actually Sophie Kinsella)and Lauren Weisberger. 

At the beginning, I really thought I would like the book.  The premise is that our protagonist, Adie, has lost touch of her best friend from childhood.  In the first several pages, best friend, Val, is introduced as she bursts back into Adie's life after having committing a 'crime' at their high school reunion, which Adie did not attend.  This is were Jennifer Weiner starts losing me.

What follows is chapter after chapter of slow dialogue and thinking aloud by our characters.  I can't figure out if there were just too many 3rd person omniscient characters, or that the writing was just unimaginative.  I found myself scanning pages, instead of reading them, trying to get to the good part.  The problem is, I never found it.  The ending was anti-climatic.  I was never on the edge of my seat with suspense.  I didn't really get that many laughs out of it.  Maybe a small chuckle every now and then, but that's about it.

Reviews on amazon.com and Facebook Visual Bookshelf are mixed.  Best Friends Forever got 3/5 stars on Amazon and 2/5 on Facebook.  Based on this, I'm not sure if I'll try another one of her books or not.

I am disappointed, I was hoping I had found a new light girlie read writer, but the search must continue.  Anyone else have any other authors they enjoy for this type of reading?  I have Emily Griffin on my list and think I may try The Heart of the Matter next.  I asked Winston, but it didn't seem like he was concearned, other than me wrapping up so I could play catch with him.  :)

Would I recommend this book to a friend?  Absolutely not!


My book reviews are meant to give readers a snapshot of the book premise/storyline and not to give away any spoilers.