My Not So Perfect Life: A Novel by Sophie Kinsella

My Not So Perfect Life: A Novel.  Sophie Kinsella. Bantam Press/The Dial Press. February 2017. 448 pp. ISBN #: 9780812998269.

Katie Brenner is living the dream!  She’s escaped her small-town Somerset life, dumped her accent, and is living in London in a flat she shares with two other workers.  She’s working for a chic London company which specializes in unique marketing strategies.  Her boss, Demeter, is a genius in branding products, even if she is a hyped up, selfish and demanding woman whose key interest, outside of her skilled choices of advertising, is being the first to do whatever is trending in food, clothing, etc. 

Initially, Katie is hired as a research assistant, putting survey data into a computer, hardly a blip on Demeter’s interest screen. Katie, who is now calling herself “Cat” is starting to yearn for more.  She’s got what she thinks are some brilliant design and advertising schemes and wants the chance to become acknowledged as someone worth encouraging to become an integral part of Cooper Clemmow, a famed company.

She then accidentally meets Alex and he shares with her some wacky adult toys (no, not sexual).  As time passes, Katie and Alex become close but this goes nowhere fast as a dramatic error happens at Clemmow and Katie is fired.  No, this isn’t a downer, although Katie is deeply upset.  Katie’s such a spunky character that she takes it in stride and returns to live in Somerset with her caring Dad.  He and his new wife has opened a country resort.  Lo and behold, who should arrive as guest but Demeter, her husband and her children.  And not too long after, Alex appears but not to woo Katie.  Before his arrival, Katie sees another side of Demeter which throws her plan to spike some revenge on her.  Alex has the same plan and the remainder of the novel brings some surprises and shows Katie maturing and making some startling choices!

Sophie Kinsella has done a marvelous job in creating this feisty character, Katie.  The plot is simple but there are enough snarky, funny moments to lighten the plot and give the reader a delightful experience.  Smart, humorous and satirical look at fame and fortune, laced with a bucket of old-fashioned, spot-on values. Nicely crafted, Sophie Kinsella!

The Hemingway Thief by Shaun Harris

The Hemingway Thief.  Shaun Harris. Prometheus Books. July 2016. 240 pp.  ISBN#: 9781633881754.

Henry “Coop” Cooper despaired of ever writing a best-selling novel until he turned to writing torrid romance novels under a pseudonym.  They instantly become best sellers, yet Coop is disgraced by this popularity. 

Taking a break, he travels to Mexico where he meets a calculating drunk, Ebbie Milch, who is running from enemies because he possesses a stolen manuscript and other papers of Ernest Hemingway.  Years ago, Hemingway’s wife, Pauline, was supposed to bring a suitcase of all Papa Hemingway’s writings to him when the suitcase holding these gems was stolen.  Hemingway, we know from history, never got over that loss, especially because it occurred before he became famous.  Now, the papers are worth thousands of dollars, if the manuscripts and papers Milch has are the “real deal.”

However, that simple plot isn’t really the essence of Harris’ novel.  To Milch, who manages to drag Coop everywhere in his mad schemes, these papers have a familial connection.  Now, joined with an ex-DEA agent, this trio travels across Mexico, coming close to being killed several times but escaping from those hair-raising moments with a type of slap-stick comedic routine at each disastrous challenge.  It’s even suggested that Hemingway may have been involved in the “theft,” maybe.

Harris offers the reader a window in which to see Hemingway’s brief disastrous participation in WWI and his desire ever-afterward to be a part of war.  The Hemingway novels are clearly a series of dramas of the writer’s observations but really acting out of vicarious battles, romances and dramas.

The Hemingway Thief is a compelling read where the reader must deduce what is real and what is comedic fraud.  High drama mixed with comedic satire makes for a genuinely intriguing read!  Nicely envisioned historical fiction!

Finding Fraser: A Novel by K. C. Dyer

Finding Fraser: A Novel.  K. C. Dyer. Penguin Group (USA). February 2016. 368 pp.  ISBN#: 9780399584374.

Emma Sheridan has read Diana Gabaldon’s novel, Outlander, multiple times and finds its main character, James Alexander Malcolm MacKensie Fraser or Jamie, more endearing with each read. Now thirty years old and fired from her job, Emma sets out to Scotland to find a real live Jamie.  Her practical sister thinks Emma has gone bonkers.  Emma has decided to record her adventures on an internet blog and gets enthusiastic support from Japanese readers also obsessed with the fictional Jamie in the world-wide popular novel. 

Emma’s journey is partly crazy, partly endearing and partly comic as she checks out numerous men on her travels.  On the trip we read beautiful descriptions of the gorgeous scenery she encounters in between hair-raising scenes of having her money and computer stolen, having weird Outlander fans highlighting sexual conquests, and so much more.

At a certain point, the plot gets downright silly but is saved when Emma actually finds Mr. Right by abandoning her idealistic, naïve demands and reaches out to someone whose kindness invites reciprocal care in a crisis.  While Emma may not be totally converted to reality, we do have hope by the end of this story that she knows herself so much better and is therefore more accessible to a realistic love.

Interesting play on the Outlander story, a tongue-in-cheek look at the fantasy behind the story which is fine for a great escape read (and which has been transformed in movie version) but a bit harried and chaotic when put into the 21^st century.

Dorothy Parker Drank Here: A Novel by Ellen Meister

Dorothy Parker Drank Here: A Novel.  Ellen Meister. Penguin Group (USA). February 2015. 336 pp.  ISBN#: 9780399166877.

One finds a very special book in the Algonquin Hotel in Manhattan in 2007.  The signatures of famous writers and artists are listed and those who sign it get to stick around their earthly life, in Spirit that is, as long as they wish until they yield to the “white light” awaiting their final entry and promising peace and love with those who have gone before them.  It’s hard to resist that light for most of those entered on that list, but Dorothy Parker has no problem with that.  She’s fiercely focused to stick around forever.  When the book is closed, no one can see her; when the book is open, she can be seen and even felt by the observer. Her signature in the book guarantees her permanent residence at the famous hotel and free drinks in the bargain.  Now, she’s on a mission!

Norah Wolfe is an assistant producer for a declining, actually failing, TV show, thinks if she can get an interview with Ted Shriver, a 1970s famous author who is now a recluse, the TV show will be saved.  Ted Shriver, however, is dying of a brain tumor and still punishing himself for his behavior that led his ex-wife to insert plagiarized paragraphs into Shriver’s last published novel, which all but destroyed his literary fame.  He knows Audrey Shriver did the dastardly deed out of pure, unadulterated hate because of his adultery but he refuses to make that information public.

This then is the plot line – to get Ted to expose Audrey in public, on air in Norah’s show.  He’s not buying.  It also turns out he could save himself with some risky brain surgery but he’s not buying that either. 

While the plot is simple, what really makes this novel funny and special are the multiple scenes with fanciful, ironic, and spirited dialogue between Dorothy, Ted, Norah, and later Audrey and her friend.  Dorothy’s sense of humor is droll but comic.  She’s a better investigator than Norah and Dorothy has a keen perception of what to say and do at just the right moment.  The outcome, however, is far from what is expected.  Intriguing indeed!

Dorothy Parker Drank Here: A Novel is a grand read created by a clever, talented writer, Ellen Meister, whose novel is, again, a reader’s delight!  Great read!

Twisted Sisters: A Novel by Jen Lancaster

Twisted Sisters: A Novel.  Jen Lancaster.  Penguin Group (USA).  February 2014. 320 pp. hbk. ISBN #: 9780451239655.

Dr. Reagan Bishop is one very uptight psychologist, in fact obsessive might be the better word, although she’d be the last to acknowledge that reality.  Claiming to come from a very unmotivated family (although her parent’s political connections certainly belie that perception), Dr. Reagan has scratched and clawed her way through high school, college and then through the Pepperdine program in which she earned her Ph. D. in Psychology.  Although she tends to be very professional with her co-workers and patients, she’s really quite funny in the asides she thinks about the people or situations in which she finds herself.  But now, after several years conducting a private practice, she’s a star on a Cable TV reality show, I Need a Push, about dysfunctional adults who need Dr. Reagan’s help.  Trying to help patients who really need long-term therapy is quite a conundrum on TV – Dr. Phil’s 60 minute cures or near-cures are not very realistic!

Now that’s about to change when her boss, Wendy Winsberg, sells her program to network TV.  The new executive producer however wants cures within minutes and dramatic scenes about the problem and the high point conflicts that arise in therapy within every show they film.  In between that huge problem is Dr. Reagan’s family and her constant carping about how fat, lazy and stupid her sister Geri is.  The reality is her parents seem to have favored Geri all her life and treated Reagan like an afterword.  As a matter of fact, her mother still berates her for her treatment of her siblings as rude and unnecessary.  Dr. Reagan is definitely suffers from a victim complex but doesn’t have a clue – at least not yet!

So who would expect her new friend, Deva, a lover of New Age trends, trinkets and techniques, to become Dr. Reagan’s salvation when put in several tight spots, with the assistance of a few pills, hypnosis, amulets with accompanying appropriate chants, and/or whatever it takes? And who’d expect her executive producer to wind up inviting Reagan’s sister, Geri, to be part of their team?  Would you believe that the sisters get to swap lives for a very brief time?  What they each experience is better than any shrink or psychiatrist could achieve in six million (let alone 60 seconds) hours of therapy!!!

Jen Lancaster is a clever writer who while being a humorous commentator also manages to seduce the reader from admiring Dr. Reagan to realizing how in need of help she really is, gradually, after one’s attention is drawn away from the off-beat, looney people she works with.  At times it’s not too hard to figure this book is full of “psycho’s” in the many different ways one may define that word.  But psycho, at least the way the author depicts it herein, is actually just a need to realign one’s understanding and expectations about other people.

Twisted Sisters: A Novel is a comedic, satiric, and clever novel that’s a fun read, with some delicate enlightening moments here and there and everywhere within!  Some light reading that’s fun and very apropos for today’s generation!

Sweet Nothings by Janis Thomas

Sweet Nothings.  Janis Thomas. Penguin Group (USA). July 2013. 384 pp. hbk. ISBN #: 9780425264829.

This is a fun story in spite of some of the quandaries that Ruby McMillan finds herself in, life-changing shockers that she is totally unprepared to handle.  But Ruby is a feisty lady; so when her husband decides to leave for his “soul mate” from work, Ruby does her mourning with her two children.  But she never wallows in the sadness, even though it’s most definitely there! 

The next shocker is about the possibility of losing her home and her gourmet bakery due to lack of financial resources, again caused by her husband who has cut off all her money and won’t pay a dime to support her or her children.  Creep for sure! 

Ruby has good friends and is actually making a new friend in a mortgage broker, Jacob.  This is greatly helped by the total makeover she gets first from her daughter which turns her from a frumpy Mom to a hot chick who catches many male looks for her great beauty which has so long been hidden.  What’s really been hidden is the sense of self-worth beyond just knowing she’s a great baker!  All it takes is a bit of encouragement, daring and allowing the naturally bright and beautiful woman to emerge!  The journey is wonderful!

Now her life is about to travel down many unforeseen roads to become a “Cake Lady” teacher and perhaps even consider getting a TV show to teach and show her magnificent baking skills.  Her husband?  By the time he’s gotten over his mid-life crisis or whatever it is, where will Ruby and Walter be?  Quite a surprise, actually!

Janis Thomas writes with a light style that is so pleasant to read and makes one flip the pages, with interest never once waning.  There’s a reading guide in the back of the book with very thoughtful, provocative questions for book clubs or just one’s own private consideration.  

Sweet Nothings is a light, delicious read which I am sure readers will relish!

Down and Out in Bugtussle: The Mad Fat Road to Happiness by Stephanie McAfee

Down and Out in Bugtussle: The Mad Fat Road to Happiness.  Stephanie McAfee. Penguin Group (USA). July 2013. 368 pp. pbk. ISBN #: 9780451239907.

Graciella “Ace” Jones is back in town, that is Bugtussle, Mississippi.  She’s left the man she thought was her future all-consuming love and now has to work as a substitute teacher.  She’s hoping to be restored to her art teacher status, but Cameron Becker, a first year teacher, has that spot firmly rooted in spite of the fact she’s a disaster as a teacher.  Ace’s friend Chloe is supporting Ace’s desire to work as a full-time art teacher, but the baggage of the past is clogging the plan.  Ace is an off-beat character, at least she thinks so until she meets another new teacher, Stacey Dewberry, who seems certifiably crazy, that is until Ace gets to know her better and a friendship forms.  Crazy and funny galore define these two teachers who manage to survive the sub-teacher-hateful antics of students at Bugtussle High School!

Ace, and her beloved dog, Buster Loo, has moved back into her Gramma Jones’ home where she discovers her grandmother’s flower book with some interesting sticky notes specifically aligned next to certain flowers, a poignant secret leading to one even more shocking and emotional.  But that doesn’t come until much later.  For now, there are plots afoot at the high school to help Ace in her employment quest, but then suddenly the tide has turned as Chloe has her own problems to deal with on the romance side.  Add to that Chloe’s love, Dax, is being called to serve in the military, probably in Afghanistan.  It’s crisis time for Chloe who has a secret she doesn’t want Dax to learn unless he tells her she means more to him than a live-in love machine.

Meanwhile, Ace goes on several disastrous blind date which are absolutely hilarious because of the way she describes them, probably not so in reality.  Yes, her weight is a definite problem but she’s confident enough in herself that it doesn’t overly concern her.  But romance she will find, when least expected, and it is that which changes her dreams, attitude, and future.  It parallels the garden she is planting at home, establishing her own flowers with very specific meanings for the reader to discover.

Stephanie McAfee is a hoot!  She knows exactly how to present very, very funny scenes, crisis-laden scenarios, and tender moments of support and love that constantly and consistently engage the reader on every page.  

Down and Out in Bugtussle… is a great, fun, tender read!  Enjoy!