Blast From The Past Book Review Plus Giveaway: The Dating Game by Susan Buchanan

Available on: Amazon, Amazon UK

Blurb: Workaholic recruitment consultant, Gill McFadden, is sick of her friends trying to match-make for her. Up until now her love life has been a disaster and she’s going through a drier spell than the Sahara desert.

She realises she has to act, as work keeps piling up and at this rate she will have retired before she has time for a relationship.

Seeing an ad on a bus one day, she decides to visit Happy Ever After dating agency. She quickly discovers men are like buses. They all come along at once. Unsure what her type is, Gill decides to keep her options open. Soon she has problems juggling her social life as well as her work diary. Will she ever strike the right balance?

Before long she is experiencing laughs, lust and… could it be love? But like everything in Gill’s life, nothing is straightforward and she ends up wondering exactly who she can trust.

Dating has never been this variegated and fun, thanks to Susan Buchanan. It's the one book that would get you back in the game!

For Gill it's all about work. More work. Much more work. Running her own recruitment agency, her only social life might just be meeting with the girls for drinks. No time in her schedule for herself. No time for her parents. No time for Dating.

Mundane. In one word that's how you would describe her life (unless, her life it's a carbon copy of yours then you'd get touchy). Sex-deprived. In one compound word (for fancy's sakes) that's how you would describe her girly bits. Think back when you too been out of the game (I don't mean dating) for long, and you have Gill: unnerved, less relaxed, frantic. Then one day, you are strutting down the street, feeling all Carrie Bradshaw after nailing some major paperwork, all of a sudden a bus hustles by, then you have that Sex and The City moment you've been longing for. Of course, what were you thinking! You don't see yourself on the bus (unless you own a sex column), you run a recruitment agency for fucks sake! What you see is a poster advertising a Dating Agency for professionals like you. You jump at it because it beats OKCupid (and even Facebook, you desperate ladies out there. I don't judge, the best lovers are first friends), say bye bye to all those weirdos that have come your way to try something with very refined people.

Until the profiles keep piling from the agency. Then you are going on dates that are interfering with your professional life. Karaoke, bowling, free dinners, free drinks, free lunch, art galleries, a Scottish wedding. For you it's all worth it because the hefty subscription fee could cater for a new wardrobe spilling with designer labels. For your friends it's all fun because you get to have more time discussing suitable profiles and not so suitable ones over drinks and dinner, noting down the red flags and the brownie points.

Then shit! You find out the world's biggest assholes hide in suits. By then you are in too deep, wondering why that guy isn't calling. Didn't he have as much fun as you did? When he doesn't call you hit rock bottom, struggle to pick yourself up. Finally you do. After all, these profiles don't date themselves!

That's just The Dating Game. You freshen up, strap on your Louboutins and move on.

This book was amazing! So true to life! It's one of those books both the storyline and the main character are relatable. I mean 9.5 out of ten women have dated. A lot of women past thirty are single (please, I do mean it in a good way. Cheers women! Who needs men anyway!). Anyway, we all know the Dating Game is hard. All the fretting over what outfit to wear, 'Oh, will this guy love it if I touch up with too much makeup?', the 'Is he enjoying this as much as I am?', "No, kissing on the first date", "Oh, why didn't he kiss me? Did I have something stuck between my teeth? Or do I have BMO?—" *smell check* "—No, I don't!". So fun how Susan Buchanan captures it all, not leaving a snippet.—★ Oh, and lest I forget, "Does my purchasing a new set of lingerie mean we might be getting it on tonight?"

Gill was just a plus character. You know, I just found out Susan names her chicklit, 'Chicklit without the fluff." . Yeah, the genre is prone to many airheads we chicklit lovers know, but Gill's got the brains, the looks, the boobs. She's about the only chicklit character who'd agree she's hotter than a close friend. And as if that isn't enough, she's independent! Just like you when you were thirty-seven!—★★

Don't you love just UK chicklit?—★★★ Anyway, that's not the point here.

The characters in this book are so, so, entertaining! You remember all the funny dating stories you relate to all your friends? Well, Gill has a lot of funny, weird, wolf in sheep's tailored suit to relate to you. There's Charlie, the nice-looking, buffed guy with a hidden agenda, Sean who gets plastered during a first date, Anton(!) the guy who'd ask whether he can kiss you, Gary who would take you from surprise to surprise yet you feel no spark, so much more! For if not Gill's friends, she would have ended up choosing the terrible profiles, so you would love Angela, Lisa (Raarr!), Debbie. All these with their discussions on who to date made this book a fun experience in the journey through dating!—★★★★

Gasp. You would, a lot! There are lots of Oh Moments of Gee, and you will be so shocked you are never going to see it coming. Frankly, you will feel sorry for Gill because sometimes you might have two choices. And all these two are incredible lovers. All these two give you the spark. So who would it be? It's a win-win with every choice. It's a lose-lose with every choice.

But I did love the ending, the whole book as a matter of fact! It was the kind that would make you sing Natasha Beddingfield's Pocket Full Of Sunshine all along.

My rating: 5/5 stars

Dating Game, your handbook through all the woes of Dating is available on Amazon and Amazon UK .

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I recommend this book to anyone who wants to get back into the Dating game or not! Anyone who wants something or someone they can sympathize and relate to. Anyone who wants something true to life. This book kinda reminded me of Zoe Strimpel's 'What The Hell Is He Thinking?', you know the Woman's guide to Dating/relationships/all the brouhaha. So if you've read that, Gill is simply acting out Zoe's dating horrors.

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

#Blastfromthepast Book Review: Blue Straggler By Kathy Lynn Harris

Blurb: A blue straggler is a star that has an anomalous blue color and appears to be disconnected from those stars that surround it. But this is not a story about astronomy.

Bailey Miller is "disconnected" from the cluster of her rural south Texas family. She has never quite fit in and now in her early 30s, she finds herself struggling with inner turmoil and a series of bad choices in her life.

Bailey's drinking too much (even for a member of her family), has a penchant to eat spoonfuls of Cool Whip, works in a job that bores her beyond description and can't keep a relationship longer than it takes for milk to expire in her fridge.

Even with the help of her two outspoken friends, Texas lass Idamarie and her quirky college pal Rudy, she's having a hard time.

So she packs up her Honda and heads out of Texas in search of herself and answers to secrets from her great- grandmother's past. The novel takes readers on a journey from San Antonio, Texas, to a small mountain town in Colorado and back again, as Bailey uncovers not only the secrets of her great-grandmother's life, but also some painful secrets of her own. All while finding love along the way.

If you have ever wondered why you got stuck with the family you did, what you are doing with your job and your life, or had a sudden desire to run off to the mountains, sit back and join Bailey for this laugh-out-loud, yet poignant ride.

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"A party. Bailey, you are supposed to be researching your family, then heading back here."

"I never said exactly what I was supposed to be doing." Or did I?

"Where's all this money coming from that you are spending on tow trucks and barns? You been running drugs from Mexico when I wasn't looking?"

"It's called saving. You ought to try it."

"I'm afraid drug-running would be easier."

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Much like listening to blues during lazy afternoons: Cool, soothing, so much warmth, and you never get enough!

Blue Straggler by Kathy Lynn Harris follows Bailey, distraught, trying to quit smoking, worried of herself going bonkers anytime soon and working as a "computer writer"—which doesn't give her the joie de vivre, but who needs that when there are bills to pay? Anyway, with a mum who places so much emphasis on looking drop-dead-gorgeous at every point in time (in Texas!), a dad who hardly cares what happens with her and a brother who drives her nuts without seeking a little parking space, how can she not be worried about her sanity? Worst of all, there's evidence her family would raise glasses and shout a "Touché" whenever an issue about her sanity is brought up.

But with sixty-something Idamarie and geeky Rudolph as best pals, Bailey's life seems to be looking more on the brighter side. The three make a dynafantastic trio sipping coffee and dropping the world's funniest lines before Bailey rushes to work every morning.

It doesn't take long for Bailey to make a discovery of her great grandmother, Annie. A woman who like her, wasn't perfect as all the other women in her family. Asking her mum leads to a dead end since to her Annie was good as dead, really.

When Bailey is let off her position in the company for something that has less to do with writing, she quits, contemplates for awhile then decides to follow Annie's tail all the way to Gold Creek to discover all the locked up secrets, discover herself and love in the process.

First of all, I don't know if it's my own mid-life crisis, but I've made this surprising discovery: I love books about mid-life crisis! I thought for a while to get to the bottom of this, then I realized there's something perfect about imperfect women afraid they might be losing it. Take The Strange Year Of Vanessa M, Just Add Spice, all books I reviewed this year, I stamped them five stars even before five-percent completion. Like I did Blue Straggler :)

OK. Now my review. I loved, loved, loved this novel! The story-line was amazing, it was beautifully-written, what more could you ask for?

I enjoyed reading about Bailey, or Bay Leaf, as Rudy calls her. I really couldn't get enough of her witty, cynical voice. Or maybe I just like older women. She seemed real, hell not two-dimensional and so relatable. I can't think of anyone who would put her down and scrunch their brows shaking their head left-right muttering, "This book is not for me." She's the kind of character who you'd read about no matter what mood you are in—★

The setting of this novel was a major help! All the scenery and the beauty of Gold Creek was captured so well, I felt I was right in this painting. Perhaps this is one of the reasons I fall for books about mid-life crisis. The setting gives the book this slow-paced plot that isn't jarring at all. I can't think of any character flying to a bustling city, let's say, New York to find themselves. The pace, plot was soothing all because of the quiet mountains, the vast lands of forests, the chatty locals and the serene atmosphere—★★

Oh, I laughed the humor in this book, it was terrific. And humor is a very big thing for me! I easily don't laugh-out-loud, so when I do it's simply because something struck me as so funny—★★★. Plus I don't review books that aren't hilarious!

Each and every character, besides our lead girl delivered! From the ostentatious Idamarie who wouldn't step out without here scarlet lipstick and all seven fake rings on seven of her fingers to Rudolph who kept dropping funny lines after funny lines (a character I could relate to) to one cousin who wouldn't quit bringing funny cosmetics for Bailey to try on, Pokey—the adoggable canine, Weasel—the uncaring feline, Stella—whiplash sheriff with a prosthetic ear, Tuck—the truck salesman. I could go on and on!—★★★★

One thing you would want to note down when picking this book is to keep a heart monitor around you—for those of us who can't stand OMG moments because there are lots in this book. I cursed so much I'd be a nightmare to Texan manners—★★★★★

I am a sucker for perfect endings. Nothing can break a book like its ending. Kathy Lynn Harris knows that—★★★★★★

Five stars, people!

Another blast from the past! Blue Straggler is available on Amazon.

I recommend it to anyone ready for a fantastic read. Anyone who's nuts about self-discovery themes. Anyone who loves the Lone Star state. Anyone who loves Colorado. Anyone who's been through or is going through MLC (or Early-life Crisis like I am).

My work not done. Can't wait to post my review on Goodreads as well as Amazon.