Book Review: The Year of Taking Chances by Lucy Diamond

MY SYNOPSIS

Imagine This: It’s New Year’s Eve, your husband has putting down purchase on a massive property which would now be called your new home. And he’s throwing a mega-party inviting all family, friends, acquaintances, and well, everybody.

With lots of booze, canapés and laughter, the party is fun contrary to what you envisaged. There you meet in two newcomers in your tiny, country village and you three bond over fortune cookies and the shitty, crappy messages in them.

Three, two, one. Happy New Year! Resolutions made, you are about to embrace the New Year with style and much more commitment to becoming a size six (not that you have ever seen that weight on you all the forty years of your life).

But who knew the crappy messages in your fortune cookies would turn to reality? Who knew tragedy would strike and your perfect family would crumble? No one to help you restore the hope you had for the New Year, not even your mum dying her hair in Ibiza, getting a tattoo and a nose ring who only shows up when she’s broken up with another boyfriend.

If only your new friends didn’t have problems on their own. On another side of the country, it turns out their fortune cookies also weren’t lying at all.

Gemma’s, Caitlin’s and Saffron’s hellish new year summed up for your delight.

MY REVIEW

I loved, loved this book! So you know in my review I’d be urging you to make your own fortune cookies and wish your life to crumble to the barest so you could pick the pieces all up and learn valuable New Year lessons, don’t you? (Crazy, I know!).

I absolutely adore Lucy Diamond. Sadly, One Night In Italy, her previous work, had only been my introduction to her amazing-ability! Now, I have this book to add to my LUCY DIAMOND TITLES YOU CAN’T FORGET (BUT CAN YOU REALLY FORGET ANY?) shelf.

Brilliant storyline. The whole thing with the fortune cookies. The whole thing with the perfect or remotely perfect lives deteriorating to absolute nothingness. It’s amazing the way Lucy Diamond crafts her stories and star, star, star, star to the storyline(s).── ★

The three main characters are off the hook! Gemma, Caitlin and Saffron! Utterly engaging! I do say I have never read anyone who handles multiple-character third-person point-of-view like Lucy Diamond excels in it. No, this is not your kind of story where all the characters are the same except for different names and different husbands! You would love Gemma for being the take-charge mother coming to the rescue when everything else is broken down. You would love Caitlin for her humorous humour and her ability to doubt what she wants for the New Year and go for it (much like us!). You would also love Saffron the no-nonsense girl in PR who knows how to give a verbal lashing to just about anyone who’s ‘lost the plot’. A star to all the characters.── ★★

Oh, and are there absolutely fantastic supporting cast as well? Karen, Gemma’s mum who loves to put down anyone within a mile radius every time she’s back in town. You would love Spence, Gemma’s husband who’s a moron for most part of the book. There’s also the adorable Darcey, Gemma’s daughter who never fails to point out when her mum is looking and acting weird. Will, Gemma’s sulky teenage son who’s taken up smoking (but really, haven’t they all?). In Saffron’s life, you would hate Charlotte, the PR boss who always takes pride in stealing the accolades of her employees to herself and posting cheerful messages on her wall to boost employee morale {TOGETHER WE CAN MAKE IT (my arse!)}. There’s Bunty, the opinionated D-list celeb who’s always calling non-stop for someone to pick up her laundry and making talk show hosts stay fifty metres from her reach for fear of being slapped for an offensive joke. In Caitlin’s life, you would adore Harry, the hot bloke who is going by a ten-date rule and trying not to begin the New Year for almost marrying someone again (about the tenth time). Loads and loads of fab characters I do not want to lengthen my review about… BUT HELL! It’s my blog! You would love Bernie, the pub owner who’s a total hottie for celebs who’ve ‘lost the plot’.  A star!── ★★★

Humor, check.── ★★★★

Suspense, check.── ★★★★★

Tear-jerking and swoony moments, check.── ★★★★★

My rating: Most definitely a five/five star read! (5/5)!

I feared I was going deep down into the four-star title rut, but this book saved it all! Now I know it wasn’t just me finding I needed a little extra with a book. This book had more than extras!

Lucy Diamond’s fan-freaking-tabulous latest, The Year of Taking Chances is available on amazon.

I recommend this book to anyone who loves an amazing New Year title to get back their groove on! Anyone who wants to read women’s fiction packed with warmth, humour and lots of heart should also get this title! And just about anyone who’s had their lives scammed by a fortune cookie they failed to believe!

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

Blog Tour: 'As Good As It Gets?' by Fiona Gibson

MY SYNOPSIS

Imagine This: You are now a mum of two. With your sometimes adorable, most times cold husband gainfully employed in your unkempt (referred as that by your neighbours) garden, planting, uprooting and mowing moodily early in the mornings. Your job as the publicist of a crisp company might not be bringing the big bucks in, but it’s sure putting food on the table, stacking your cabinets with rejected crisps and preventing you guys from taking a much-needed family holiday (thanks to the non-holiday permissible wages).

If only your hormonal teenage children would value what you offer and not stalk off right into their rooms when you ask them about their day. If only your husband would value you enough not to flinch when you touch him intimately in bed.

New neighbours come in. Your daughter’s curiosity sinks in——she wants to meet her real dad. The dad who run off right when you got pregnant and was so cowardly he let his mother write a letter to ditch you on his behalf.

You have suspicions your husband has a thing for the woman who’s just moved in with her family. An email from your ex drops in to shatter your world. But of course, your husband might be secretly nursing a crush on the new neighbour next door. And that is justification enough for you to reply your ex’s email after months of wondering what might have been. Then more emails come in.

Charlotte’s life summed up for your delight.

MY REVIEW

I was reading this book in a very public place on campus where students settle among trees, lawns and ringed benches to mostly embark on their romantic objectives for the semester. A guy walked up to my bench to start a conversation about a writing programme he was chairing ‘since he saw I was interested in books’. He said to me, “As Good As It Gets, what a funny title.” I glared daggers at him after he was done with his message. I certainly will not be going for his writing programme knowing he clearly hasn’t heard of chick-lit. (Oh, and before you judge he said it in a snobbish, deprecating way. As though he could teach me how to make better, boring titles.)

I liked this book.

The storyline isn’t fresh. But of course, penned with Fiona Gibson’s wit, intact comparisons and humour, it’s not hard for fans of Fiona to warm up to this. Girl is facing glitches in her married life. Girl is undergoing the stress of being a model mum. Girl is trying so hard to keep her family financially stable. Girl wonders if her husband might be having inappropriate thoughts about the saucy neighbour next door. Girl keeps wondering if her life would have been more perfect if her ex had stuck with her.── ★

Charlotte is a character to fall in love with. She’s what most mums out there call relatable. With her tendency to focus too much on details, her amazement at how her sex-life has petered out, her constant resolution to get out running and lose some weight, her appropriate comparisons of situations of parenting, middle-life, her lack of a sex life, to others you could nod your head to and just agree.── ★★

You would so love Ollie, Charlotte’s adorable son who loves to chat science and make light of every situation. You would love Sabrina, the saucy new neighbour who loves to give away sex tips for the middle-aged lacking a sex life. You would love Gloria, the mother-in-law always a phone away suggesting ridiculous job offers for her son.

Some ridiculous and gasping situations at work, home, and her daughter’s modelling agency, a few OMG moments, and a curiosity to find out what happens at the end, keep the reader absorbed in the tale.── ★★★

I enjoyed this book. But yet last year I wrote a glowing review of Fiona Gibson’s Take Mom Out because it was absolutely amazing (every centimetre of it!). This book falls short of the glory of her previous work. If it was pacey enough, it would have been marvellous like how Take Mom Out (which was highly pacey) had been.── ★★★★

So my rating: 3.5 stars.

Fiona Gibson’s latest could be purchased on amazon.

I recommend this book to any woman out there wondering what might have been if the love of their lives had remained or not, any woman wondering how she’d cope when her children stop doing stuff with her and turn grumpy or not, any woman who loves their chick-lit centred on relatable characters in relatable life situations. And just anybody who needs something not lacking in warmth, humour and depth.

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

Release day Book Review: Before I Go by Colleen Oakley

MY SYNOPSIS

Imagine This: You are in your late twenties and already your life is perfect. With your adorable nerdy husband who never cleans up after using the kitchen, or washing away his pubic hair in the tub after shaving, or messing up his clothes you’ve neatly folded and ignoring them, you could really say your life is what you’ve hoped for. But it’s almost perfect. Because even though you have a dog, you don’t have kids.

But no big deal, the kids would come after you both finish your PhDs in a few months’ time. It’s not like you haven’t got all the time in the world. Plus you would have more alone time together than newlyweds to engage in all the romance in the world before a baby comes in and shatters everything.

Except Cancer is a step ahead before the baby. Cancer you beat three years ago. Cancer who’s proving to never give up. And this time Cancer has not only taking over your boobs but your entire body too. Chemo or radiation is no use.

You are dying in four to six months.

This has not been the moment you’ve been waiting for all your life, but if dying in six months isn’t the Universe’s way of telling you to carpe diem, what else is then? Except you cannot leave because this is real life, and you don’t just bolt.

You are all your husband has and if you pass away, he will be so helpless and lonely and probably wither away too. So you’ve got to stay.

At least, if not to fight this disease, find your husband a wife before he has no one to clean up after him.

Daisy Richmond’s moving dilemma summed up for your delight.

MY REVIEW

I loved, loved this book so much you know in my review I’d be throwing bricks in your direction till you run off and go get it.

Fantastic storyline! Girl is dying in six months, Girl puts an effort into living life normally as though there was no cancer, Girl wondering how her husband would cope if she dies, Girl vowing to find her husband a wife if it’s the last thing she does. Beautiful! I mean, how can you go wrong with a cancerous tale having this plot? A star to the storyline. ── ★

You would love Daisy, the heroine. I adored her voice. It’s sort of that funny memoir-esque voice. That brilliant bloggy voice that makes you feel the speaker is communicating directly to you and only you. Sort of a celebrity auto-biographical voice (think, Amy Poehler? Nah, too funny. Joan Rivers? Nah, too bitchy and biographical. Chelsea Handler? No, too raunchy and inappropriate. Colleen Oakley? Just the right person!) you pick up and instantly reels you in. I love the way she (Daisy) goes on about random stuff and relates it to her ‘Lots of Cancer’ in clever ways that surprise you. How she clings on to her boobs even though doctors advise it’s a losing battle. Her degrees in psychology also make her point-of-view so insightful it’s not hard to pick up lots of important, moving lessons. You could even hate daisies as much as I do and still warm up to her. It’s a plus she hates Sarah McLachlan too! I loved her. A star. ── ★★

The supporting cast in this title are also amazing. There’s Daisy’s mom who’s not your ideal cancer-patient-sitter for being a constant crier. There’s Kayleigh, the friend who doesn’t mind she’s not an overachiever and even an underachiever at all, balancing her time between teaching kindergarten kids, dating nineteen year olds and being super-supportive to our lead in the weirdest ways. You would also take a liking to Jack, the scatter-brain husband who always forgets to make reservations for the cancerversary nights yet is so adorable and present even though our lead is being difficult sometimes. There’s also PW17 on checkmate.com who seems like the perfect wife for Jack. Oh, and my favourite, one Dr. Patrick who’s a respiratory therapist and sometimes forgets the respiratory part to give crappy advice to his patients. Fabulous characters. ── ★★★

Now if I am writing this review. There lots of things I’d leave out for my ego sake. Like the intervals between which I slammed this book down to take control of my tear ducts. Like the laughter through tears for when our lead makes a funny comment. Or twitching uncomfortably for fear that suddenly I might be declared having six months more to live and not bearing our lead’s gusto for life. All these achieved through Colleen’s excellent portrayal of the themes of loss, ailment and trying so hard to stick to your normal routine even though you know you might be dying within days. ── ★★★★

Humour plays a major part in this title to draw in the reader. Not too over-the-top to render this book comic and losing its edge to communicate its dense, emotional themes. The humour is so laidback you relax into this title and wonder when cancer became this soothing. Mostly, I’d ‘Ha-ha’ then fall back in line when I go on to the next line and see, dying. ── ★★★★★

My rating is definitely a five/five stars. (Very abnormal for lots of debuts but Colleen is a star!)

Before I Go, Colleen Oakley’s sensational debut is available for grabs on amazon today.

I recommend this book to anyone who wants to start their New Year with something moving, dense and funny. Anyone who is a cancer survivor or not could pick this title and totally relate to it. Anyone who just wants to be reminded life shouldn’t be lived wasted without, the ones you love and the things you love.

I still dream about this book.

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