Flirting With Forty

Title: Flirting with Forty
Author: Jane Porter
Pages: 368
Yearly Count b: 89

From the first page, this really wasn't my type of book. It is a chick lit, which many times I enjoy, but this read wasn't doing it for me. Jackie, the main woman has recently gone through a divorce with her husband and she is suffering, trying to make up for things with her kids, work harder to earn more money and keep her emotions, well just hidden mostly. She doesn't want her family or friends to know that she is really hurting, hurting for the family comforts she once had. One of her closest friends Anne buys her a trip to Hawaii but then can't make it with her....Jakie will have to make the choice to go alone or stay home in Seattle or head for the sunny beaches with her worst enemy, herself.

The whole book seems so selfish, as if she is making up for all the times she had to choose her kids over herself and her husband over herself and now it is her turn! HAHA, life isn't like that, and it should never be like that. Her kids need her, and she is in this very superficial relationship with a surfer guy in Hawaii. She makes more and more trips over...but the relationship doesn't get any deeper. I don't think that this relationship helps her overcome anything, more than anything it strings her out and takes her away from what really matters.

There aren't many twists or turns in this read, it is pretty straightforward and predictable. I felt it was repetitive and like Kai, the surfer guy that she falls for, I was begging her to not mention again how old and out-of-date or wrinkly and stretched out, or saggy she was. Honestly I know some people loved this book, it really just wasn't for me, I couldn't relate at all. I am not young, but I don't feel old, I am not divorced, and with two little monkey running around I am far from lonely, or lacking in physical contact. However, if that is you, if you fit into any of those categories...this would be a book for you, at least I think it would.

Author Website: Jane Porter
Flirting with Forty is going to be aired as a movie on Lifetime tomorrow, December 6th at 9pm/8 central. I think that would be a better format for this material, it just seemed too fickle for a book.

For better, and probably more positive views on this book check these folks out:

My Friend Amy
Bermudaonion's Weblog
Book Critiques
Sharon Loves Books and Cats
The Tome Traveller's Weblog
The Printed Page
A Bookworm's World
Books, Movies, and Chinese Food
Allison's Attic
S. Krishna's Books
Literarily
Booking Mama
Cheryl's Book Nook
Cindy's Love of Books
Books By TJ Baff
B&b Ex Libris
Marjolein Book BlogBookopolis
A Novel Menagerie
Wendi's Book Corner
The Book Czar
The Book Girl
A Circle of Books
Books In Every Room
A Blog of Books for You
Book Ahoy!
At Home with Books
Enroute to Life

and remember to:

Dating Da Vinci

Title: Dating Da Vinci
Author: Malena Lott
Pages: 288
Yearly Count: 71

A 36 year old woman stuck in a rut, with two kids, a widow, and is unsure as to how to really be happy in life. Oh, yes she can be happy while eating fries and chocolate shakes, but as soon as they are gone, she is moping around again. Ramona Elise is a professor teaching an English Class when a beautiful Italian man walks in, and not just into her classroom, but into her life. Will he fit? Will she let him? Are they truly happy, or just no longer lonely?

I don't read chick lit very often, but sometimes it is nice. It is like that cotton candy that you wait for at the fair....not something you could handle for breakfast, lunch and dinner, but a sweet break. Reading Dating Da Vinci was that special treat. I read it during the read-a-thon, and it was good. Light, funny, silly, and still serious. There was enough intrigue to hold my attention and some aspects of mystery as well. I liked it....it was a nice treat of light, pink sweetness after reading Beasts of No Nation.

It is really interesting, it may be me, or just what I have read lately. But it seems that modern fiction is finally taking its dreamy eyes off 18 year old blonds, and diving into the difficulties we will all face someday of aging. When you are no longer considered "young" or "full of promise". When you reach the age where people expect things of you, require more of you. In Dating Da Vinci Malena Lott does an excellent job of capturing that feeling of inadequacy. The feeling of being older, uglier, and for that less valuable. But is that really true, or do we imagine it? One thing I do know, we as a society need to learn to age gracefully and allow others to do the same.

the chicklit challenge!

I am joining on for this challenge hosted by Journey to the End of TBR.
Here are the rules:
Read at least 3 chick lit books. (Chick lit - as defined by Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chick_lit)
Tell us what you thought of what you read.
Dates for this challenge are June 1 to September 1.

Books can overlap with other challenges. Your list can change as needed. I will also leave it to your discretion as to whether a book is considered chick lit or not.

For my books I am going to choose to read:

- Hindi-Bindy Club by Monica Pradhan
- Shopaholic Takes Manhattan by Sophie Kinsella
- Shopaholic Ties the Not by Sophie Kinsella

Confessions of a Shopaholic

Title: Confessions of a Shopaholic
Author: Sophie Kinsella
Pages: 312
Completed: 14th, March, 2008
Yearly Count: 9
Snaps: 3/5

However goofy and silly you have thought these books are, well...they probably are. But, I choose to read it because my good friend becky recommended it to me and lent it to me. It didn't start out strong with me, I seemed to be mostly annoyed at the Shopoholic for the beginning of the book, but I am not entirely unsure that the author did not mean to do this. Not to far into the book, it gained that addictive quality for me, meaning whenever I got a second it was what I would go to grab.

The book is worth reading, it is really naive, and obnoxious, and sometimes you just want to grab the shopaholic and strangle her so that she will learn to make better choices...but she does learn some things that make her much more likable after the first bit. She definitely grew on me, and now, even though I have filled my craving for chick-lit for a little while, when I need a brainless break I will definately pick up the next one! Like I mentioned about it earlier, for what it is it is good. It is fun to read, it has that brainlessness of watching tv...but you are reading! Give it a try, let me know what you think.