Ground-Breaking Titles of 2014: Books That Changed The Face of Chick-lit

I had been meaning to post this way back when I had too much time on my hands but never got around to. So as I have taken a mini-blogging break, I would leave you with my list of:

GROUND-BREAKING Books of 2014: BOOKS THAT CHANGED THE FACE OF CHICK-LIT.

(Not listed in any order)

The List by Joanna Bolouri.

Following the adventures of one shy girl with a naughty list, this book has a plot that sets it apart from all other chick-lit titles you’ve ever read. Told in the form of a diary, this book has lots to keep you engaged and SO MUCH MORE TO KEEP YOU GASPING FOR SHOCK! Not to mention it’s funny as hell, and of course sexy as Helen Mirren.  PURCHASE| READ REVIEW

An Open Marriage by Tess Stimson.

I love Tess Stimson because she’s not afraid to use the letters on her keyboard to talk about issues a lot of society frowns upon (except for the old who are now embracing a YOLO approach to life). Focusing on the much hush-hushed swinging life of older marriages, Tess Stimson pens an emotionally steamy novel stacked with lots of lessons to learn from in our rapidly-changing society blurring the lines between adultery and fidelity as well as morality and immorality.  PURCHASE| READ REVIEW

Christmas In The Snow by Karen Swan.

This book puts down the notion that Chick-lit cannot be fast-paced and very intriguing without guns and women sleuths. Karen Swan speaks on issues of feminism and women in high-ranking positions where male-domination is the opposite of what’s said in a Beyoncé track. Now, a book about ‘dark family secrets’ with dark, twisted family secrets! Absolutely ground-breaking! .  PURCHASE| READ REVIEW

A Husband’s  Confession by Zoe Miller.

This is not your ordinary infidelity book! I never thought the main issue behind a book about infidelity could be something besides the ‘Oh, well, he cheated’ fact. Laced with family rivalry, intrigue, suspense and lots of ‘when the fuck is he going to cheat?’ moments, this book is told in present day and past day narratives that gives it a hallmark character! .  PURCHASE| READ REVIEW

Courting Trouble by Kathy Lette.

Listed as the funniest book of 2014, Kathy Lette’s latest release isn’t all about one big book with so much chemistry between the protagonists and too much to laugh at. Putting across issues such as battling rape and its repercussions for feminists and rape-haters all-alike, Kathy Lette tells a remarkable story laden with suspense and so many issues of sexism swept under the carpet. .  PURCHASE| READ REVIEW

So there you have it. And you can vouch that as it appears on this blog, these books have NEVER, EVER, EVER BEEN DONE in chick-lit/women’s fiction. These titles demonstrate chick-lit is not all about ‘That Pink Book’! And by these titles, CHICK-LIT WOULD NEVER, EVER, EVER BE THE SAME AGAIN!

Mini Blogging Break.

Hello Everyone,

As you’ve noticed, for some time now I haven’t been regular with my reviews.

No, this is not a short of books on my part (fortunately), it’s that I have been trying hard to balance education with blogging and the result: One book review per week. Sad, I know.

One book per week has now evolved to no-book per week thanks to the motherfucker called examination. (No need to excuse my French because it isn’t French at all!). As much as I hate examinations and everything about formal education (you would find out here——although if I were you, a consistent reader of my blog, I wouldn’t click the link because I would be aware of the misleading nature of the owner of this blog and his love for very NFSW material), I have to put away fiction to read more painful Thomas Hardy. (Fiction should be entertaining, thank you).

Long story short, it’s recess from blogging till May 9th.

Summer Reading awaits! Christ, I am announcing my desire for a very sunny shelf this 

May(!) so feel free book agents, publicists, authors, and other workaholics to email me about Summer 2015 titles!

Thank you for understanding.
Kobby.

Book Review: How Do You Know by Meredith Schorr.

What if you were approaching the end of your thirties and all of the life milestones you took for granted in your youth suddenly seemed out of reach?

On the eve of her thirty-ninth birthday, Maggie Piper doesn't look, act, or feel much different than she did at twenty-nine, but with her fortieth birthday speeding towards her like a freight train, she wonders if she should. The fear of a slowing metabolism, wrinkling of her skin, and the ticking of her biological clock leaves Maggie torn between a desire to settle down like most of her similarly-aged peers and concern that all is not perfect in her existing relationship. When a spontaneous request for a temporary "break" from her live-in boyfriend results in a "break-up," Maggie finds herself single once again and only twelve months from the big 4.0. In the profound yet bumpy year that follows, Maggie will learn, sometimes painfully, that life doesn't always happen on a schedule, there are no deadlines in love, and age really is just a number.

MY REVIEW

If you’ve read previous titles of Meredith Schorr, and you loved them, there would be no need to read the blurb of her every new book before jumping into it. I didn’t consider the blurb.

The storyline is everyday mainstream women’s fiction. Girl approaching her forties, Girl not considering marriage with a man she has no spark with, Girl wondering if there’s more to love than good company.

Just like every tale set in New York, there’s a mix of friends in the city who go on and on about relationships, ageing, babies in later years. An insightful title for anyone approaching their forties with style or with dread (much like our main character).

The main character, is lovely. Very relatable to all women hitting their forties. Other characters you would also enjoy are, an Aunt with conventional values about marriage who loves to put pressure on our main character, an understanding mother who’s surprisingly calm that her daughter might be breaking up with her best man yet, Phillip—an ageing hottie boss in our lead’s workplace, Ben—a laidback guy our lead encounters.

Having read all three of Meredith Schorr titles, I really, really had hopes for this one. I did like it. But it was just a normal read, nothing I would gush heavily about. I felt I needed more. I wished it wasn’t too conventional women’s fiction.

My rating: Three /five stars (3/5 stars)

How Do You Know is available on amazon

My work not done here. Off to post my review on Goodreads.

Blog Tour: His Other Life by Beth Thomas

MY SYNOPSIS

Imagine This: You are in perfect bliss. Married to the most adorable guy for over a year. Everyone looks at you two, and think, he’s too perfect for you. Even your family. That one day he might just pack up and leave. But you doubt that. Because of all the women he could pick, he picked you.

So perhaps not all things are going smoothly. But, really, which marriage ever does? What if he’s a tad bit too secretive? And he wouldn’t let you to go through the mail, the bills, and even his unlocked wardrobe.

Then one day, over an Indian-Takeout errand, he never returns.

Police Interrogation makes you aware you never knew anything about him. One moment, you are sad and angry he might have taken off. Then another, you are so worried something terrible might have happened to him and he didn’t run off at all.

Then you stumble upon his Pandora box of secrets, and your life would never be the same again. Who the hell were you calling your husband?

MY REVIEW

Great storyline. I loved the whole Girl gets married to a guy and for over a year he’s too secretive she doesn’t know anything about his past and even his present, Girl thinks she’s landed a gold mine when she doesn’t even really know who her husband is. The blurb and the opening pages piques your curiosity. Brill.── ★

Is Grace someone you could relate to? Well, I do wonder which woman would stay married to a man who doesn’t even allow her peep into his closet, or find out why his mum is such a loose cannon, or why he’d never allow her into his past. I’m sure shit like that does happen sometimes, the world is a big and strange enough place for such occurrences. But I really do wish Grace made much of an effort sometimes and just found out a lot about the man she wanted to spend her life with. If not for her, then for the police if in case, he commits a crime and they need some background information. Though her lack of knowledge into the past sets the background for the story and makes many a curious reader.── ★★

Other characters in this book were great. I loved Ginger, the friend who was always around to get our lead pissed whenever she needed some comfort. I loved Linda, the police handling the investigations who really thought our lead could be a suspect from her unusual reactions to the police’s findings. I loved Melissa, the psychic who looks into the other world for clues where missing people might be. Adam, the husband who’s secretiveness gave his character some form of intrigue.── ★★★

I liked this book. But I really wished I could love, love it. Too many anti-climaxes in lots of pages that you wondered if the book was going anywhere at all. One minute you are on the edge of your seat, then you are not anymore because Police’s findings have been proved wrong. Until the last, about, hundred pages do you begin to discover some really intriguing info to keep you on the edge of your seat till the end. It could have been more fast-paced.

My rating: 3.5 stars/five.

Beth Thomas’ latest is available on amazon.

I recommend this book to anyone who loves some mystery laced with their chick-lit.

My work not done here. Off to post my review on Goodreads.

Book Review: The Wednesday Group by Sylvia True.

MY SYNOPSIS

Imagine This: You thought you had a perfect life. The perfect job as the mother of two adorable children, the perfect husband who still turns you on even after years of marriage.

Until you find out a secret. Your husband’s a sex addict. Sex with him is great, if you should add. But of course, there are the cons: The looks you give him when a hotter, younger girl with a firmer body passes by. The constant fear that his business trips might have pleasure included (and no business whatsoever). How he always has a grin on every time he visits the restroom of a plush place you guys are supposed to be dining in.

Might your husband be cheating on you? Well, you are not certain since his love for you hasn’t dissipated. And trust me, you are reading all the SIGNS YOUR HUSBAND MIGHT BE FUCKING SOMEONE YOUNGER articles both online and in Cosmo.

Then one day, out of sheer interest and the pertinent desire to stop having these fears, you follow him. You drive behind cars as you keep his car in focus, you almost crush your car into the taillights of another truck, but you are not perturbed.

He stops at a mall. You get out of a car to follow him. He goes into a restroom. You do not mind reading the label that says ‘Male’, you still go in. You find out he’s in one of the stalls.

Christ, if he’s shitting why should he keep so long? And why would he be driving all the way to a mall to shit when you have a less frequented toilet at home? And why the fuck is he groaning as he’s shitting? Constipation? You ask yourself. As the fix-it housewife-type, you search into your bag for medication. Until…

A man walks out of his stall. All you think of that moment is throwing up. And joining a group of wives of sex addicts who all have their men into weird things.

Hannah’s life summed up for your delight.

MY REVIEW

First of all, one thing that drew me to this book is its blurb. Here’s what I am talking about:

Gail. Hannah. Bridget. Lizzy. Flavia. Each of them has a shameful secret, and each is about to find out that she is not alone… Gail, a prominent Boston judge, keeps receiving letters from her husband's latest girlfriend, while her husband, a theology professor, claims he's nine-months sober from sex with grad students. Hannah, a homemaker, catches her husband having sex with a male prostitute in a public restroom. Bridget, a psychiatric nurse at a state hospital, is sure she has a loving, doting spouse, until she learns that he is addicted to chat rooms and match-making websites. Lizzy, a high school teacher, is married to a porn addict, who is withdrawn and uninterested in sex with her. Flavia was working at the Boston Public library when someone brought her an article that stated her husband had been arrested for groping a teenage girl on the subway. He must face court, and Flavia must decide if she wants to stay with him. Finally, Kathryn, the young psychologist running the group, has as much at stake as all of the others.

As the women share never-before-uttered secrets and bond over painful truths, they work on coming to terms with their husbands' addictions and developing healthy boundaries for themselves. Meanwhile, their outside lives become more and more intertwined, until, finally, a series of events forces each woman to face her own denial, betrayal and uncertain future head-on

Exactly. So from the blurb, you could tell this book had a kicking storyline. Main characters who are gutsy and are not afraid to share awful experiences with their sex-addict partners. A star to the storyline.

There’s Gail, the wife who’s in denial that her husband is not recovering from his addiction and still isn’t shagging his younger students up his desk while they stare at the globe of the world. There’s Hannah, who doesn’t want to share that her husband is into men or doesn’t even want to believe he’s gay. There’s Bridget, the angry one who’s always calling other women’s husbands assholes and as well as hers. There’s Lizzy, the low self-confident one whose thinks she’s ugly because her husband isn’t stuffing his cock in her mouth like he envisages himself doing for the barely eighteen year-olds he sees in porn gagging up-close the screen for his dick. Fab main characters.

I thought this book had a marvellous storyline. But it dragged too much when the girls kept nagging about the same topics to their husbands. Yes, some nagging was good. But I felt at a point they should take action and not wait rather later in the book. Also, I thought by the storyline, the author could have made the book more funky and entertaining, I wish the humour was upped and plot was pacey.

My rating: 3 out of five stars.

Sylvia True’s debut is available on amazon.

I recommend this book to anyone who wants to read a book about women dealing with sexual-addict husbands. Anyone who wants a book regarding therapy for subjects they are curious of should grab this as the therapy sessions are very insightful. Anyone who wants a book with relatable main characters should get this too.

Book Review: The School Gate Survival Guide by Kerry Fisher.

MY SYNOPSIS

Imagine This: Your life smells (nothing like Chanel No.5, but) of bleach and Glade as a cleaner of spas, country clubs and ginormous homes of the well-to-do. You do not have an easy life. Not with your children and their constant needs. And a ‘partner’ who hasn’t proposed for nineteen years who’s so much of a lazy slob, all he does for full-time is rant at you.

Life couldn’t get any worse than this when the people around your estate are mostly crack-heads, teenagers who get knocked up and become dropouts. Could this be the future of your kids?

Then when the death of a Professor who was always keen on you as her cleaner, catapults your children into the life of highly-esteemed schools where all the mums arrive in Land Rovers, organize tea meetings in their plush homes after the school drop-off so the new mums could get acquainted with the system of things (and hierarchy of things), have mani-pedi dates with one another discussing which tutor is shipped from where helping their child’s math, you are both enamoured and frightened.

How are you going to pay the bills now that the children want to go on rugby tours in South Africa? Or put much effort into organizing bake sales with all the mums who know nothing about running shifts to scrub other people’s toilets? How can you cope with a partner who cannot wait for you to arrive so he could berate you for all the wrong choices you’ve made in your life (excluding running off with him, of course)?

And what do you do about the Head Teacher who’s showing such interest in you you can hardly focus when you are doing someone’s toilet?

Maia Exteleku’s life summed for your delight.

MY REVIEW

I loved, loved this book! So in my review you know I’d be urging you to grab a duster and do your own cleaning so you could take (mini) breaks and sit cross-legged with this book in your lap?

Beautiful story-line! Girl’s day job is cleaning. Girl doesn’t really dream of life more than that, but she’d like that the council tax people would take it easier on her. Girl has always dreamt of going back to school for a degree to better her life, but if only the man who has never proposed to her for nineteen years would give her a little encouragement rather than take up all her savings to hit the pubs when he’s grumpy (which is always). If only Girl could get her life together and give her children the good life they deserve, she’d be more than accomplished. Except on the way to giving children a good life, children want horses, bitchy mums cannot wait to downgrade her, Head Teachers cannot help but flirt and neighbours cannot help but envy what she has (which is nothing!). Brilliant. A star to the story-line.── ★

I adored the main character, Maia. She’s so relatable. She has this whiplash, direct tone laced with humour that gives the reader no chance to indulge in annoying constant bemoaning of her troubles. You would love her for trying to make the school run when she’s so late to scrubbing off someone’s floors. You would also love her for being about the only mum who doesn’t have the luxury to mani-pedi yet isn’t envious of all the others. You would also love her for being committed to succeeding in a life that keeps slamming her on her bottom with mountains of debt (so she could imitate a late aunt with a Spanish accent to tell off the creditors). A star to her!── ★★

The development of the supporting cast made this book worth-reading too. You would love Sandy, the neighbour next-door who cannot always wait to rub it in our lead’s face how much she’s trying to be prim and proper when cleaning other people’s shit is all she does. You would want to kick the gonads, of Colin, the ‘partner’ who only cares about his beers and West Ham. You would find Jennifer, one of the school mums, utterly annoying for wanting to be such a bitch every time to our lead for her chosen profession. There’s also Clover, one of the nicer mums, whose foul-mouth causes her children to take after her. Venetia, who is always going on about the necessity to pick out colleges for your nine year-olds and teaching them foreign languages so they could easily get into Oxford even if they wouldn’t encounter anyone in their lives who spoke Mandarin.  A star to all these and more.── ★★★

In every chapter there’s a cliff-hanger, something to keep you flicking the pages. I was hooked. Lots of OMG moments thrown in there as well. There’s also so much you could giggle at as an extra to make this book a kicking read.── ★★★★

I did love this book. But the first opening pages (twenty) were not that engaging and were shaky for me. However, after I got past the shaky bit I read all the others in a day!

So my rating: 4.5 stars/ 5 (4.5/5)

Too much for a debut, Kerry Fisher’s book is available on Amazon. I do hope you get it as well as her latest, The Island Escape which also sounds equally fab!

I recommend this book to anyone who loves chick-lit leads with not-so-glamorous lives and jobs. Anyone who wants a book into the life of an immigrant should also run off with this book. Anyone who wants to get on with something from a debut author they’d love to stick with through all other bestsellers in the future.

My work not done here. Off to post my review on Goodreads.

Book Review: When I Met You by Jemma Forte

MY SYNOPSIS

Imagine This:  The two words you could use to describe your life is: Not Perfect. And when you think about the fact that you are living with your parents, sleeping in your old room, and having no dream you’d want to pursue at thirty-one, you realize you are not kidding, and you are what someone would call underachieved——which could even be dolling the situation up a little bit knowing you have never achieved anything in your life.

If only your mum ever focused on you all through your life, if only you haven’t been living in the shadow of your hot, bitchy sister who’s always been driven around to auditions despite her lack of a talented bone in her, if only you had a father-figure to look up to since yours disappeared when you were quite a baby…

But of course, all you blame is yourself for wanting to do nothing but play the violin or wash people’s hair just so you could gather money to travel all around the globe and come back when you need to wash more people’s hair for another vacation around the world.

Then suddenly, on one rainy night, your dad shows up, clamping his hand on your mouth and ordering you not to scream.

That’s the beginning of your life, of you living. But surely you expected a more upbeat start than a holiday fling turned chubby crushing at your parents’ and emptying out the fridge.

Marianne Baker’s quirky, messy life summed up for your delight.

MY REVIEW

I loved, loved this book. So you know in my review I’d be throwing bricks your way till you get fed up and go get it.

God knows how many times I’ve been wanting to read Jemma Forte, so when this book popped up in the mail, you could tell the very absurd victory dance I put up.

The storyline is fab! Thirty-year old girl crushing with her parents because the only job she’s had since being a teenager is a violinist which is not quite lucrative if you decide to lock yourself away and play to the silence as audience. Thirty-year old girl saving up through hairdressing and being clown at kids parties so she could go travel the world. Thirty-year old girl who has to  deal with a family that consisted of nutjobs and a sister who yells at everyone. Thirty-year old girl whose father appears in her life one night and suddenly life might be leaning towards a positive change in the strangest ways. A star to the storyline!── ★

I did enjoy reading about Marianne. A very lovable heroine who has such a funny voice it’s really hard to sympathize with her with you should be sympathizing for her crappy life. You’d love how she puts the light in every situation with a mind and a point of view brimming with jokes. Do we ever feel underachieved? Do we ever feel lost in life with no sense of direction yet cannot admit it to ourselves? Do we ever feel everyone around us is on a different wavelength and we are alone in this world because there’s not anyone who understands us? These are the questions you would ask yourself to find out how relatable Marianne Baker is. But no, not thirty-year old lady still living with her parents and having no job. A star to Marianne.── ★★

One of the other reasons this book was entertaining was its supporting cast. You would find Allison strange, Marianne’s mum who’s never in tune to any music in life and thinks classical music should be performed for people in a Loony bin. You would draw up Hayley, the sister, and stab a knife through the dumpster-piece as revenge for every time she puts our lead (Marianne) down. You would find Andy, the holiday fling now-turned chubby irritating when he still thinks our lead fancies him even though he now has a bigger butt than she. You would find Martin, the stepdad, odd for when he wants to go for bonding trips with his son at IKEA. You would find Pete, the stepbrother who never speaks, um, quiet. There’s Ray, the MIA dad who’s showed up and is determined to make it all right. Maisie, the little annoying devilish kid who keeps getting on our lead’s nerves during her clown parties. Lots of other fun characters you would adore. A star. ── ★★★

A feature that makes this book beautiful is the themes of life, loss and family portrayed by Jemma Forte to make this title radiate with warmth.── ★★★★

Humor, check.── ★★★★

I loved, loved this book. But then I had a hate-love relationship with it because of its unstable pace. One moment, I was gripped, the other I was not. One moment it was fast-paced and the other it was slow. But for most part, it was engaging, so…

My rating: Four-point-five stars. (4.5/5 stars)

Jemma Forte's latest, When I Met You is available on amazon 

I recommend this book to anyone who loves their chick-lit funny, warm, quirky and inspiring. Anyone who knows someone still living with their parents at thirty should pick this for them in an indirect way of telling them to get a place of their own and get their life together. Anyone who has had to deal with an MIA relative appearing after so long could also pick this. And just about anyone who wants to read something about a holiday fling gone awry should grab this. 

My work not done here. Off to post my review on Goodreads.