Review of Don't You Forgot About Me by Alexandra Potter

Title/Author: Don't You Forget About Me by Alexandra Potter
Publisher/Date published: Hodder & Stoughton, July 19th 2012
How I got this book: it was a Christmas gift from my brother :)
Buy it at: The Book Depository

Goodreads summary: After a bad break up, doesn't every girl want the same things?

* For her ex-boyfriend to stay single forever...
* Or maybe emigrate, to a remote, uninhabited island?
* Better still, that she'd never met him in the first place!

But what if one of those wishes came true?

Tess is heartbroken when Seb breaks up with her and can't help blaming herself. If only she'd done things differently. If only she could make right all her regrets... But she can't. It's over. She has to forget about him. Drunk and upset on New Year's Eve she wishes she'd never met him.

But when she wakes up to discover this dream has come true, she realises she has a chance. To do it all over again. And to get it right this time...

Guys, I remember when I used to read pretty much nothing but chicklit. And while I appreciate the range of genres I've gotten to know since then, I still love to revisit my old friends every now and then. And Alexandra Potter has never disappointed me before!

There's just something about Alexandra Potter's writing that makes me get sucked into the story. I think it's mostly that she writes about things I can wholeheartedly relate to and she just gets it right. I mean, haven't we all at one point thought 'what if I'd never met him?' or 'if I could do it all over, I'd do this, this and this differently'? I have. I've been extremely lucky, meeting the boyfriend when I was almost 18, but before him I did have some relationshiops and I'd always blame myself when things didn't work out. I love how Alexandra Potter captured all of those insecurities and the feeling of needing to be different for a guy to like you into this novel.

I really liked Tess. Even though I thought she should take her job a little more seriously, she is a nice person, she's just a little obsessed with Seb. Who was a bit of a douche if you ask me. I loved Tess' loyalty to her friend Fiona and thought it was pretty funny that she was trying to get Fiona to stop being a different person around one of her friends when she was making all these adjustment and feigning interest in stuff she hated to have a relationship with Seb.

And I really, REALLY liked Tess' grandfather. He was awesome, I would have loved having a grandfather like him. He's got the whole charming rebel thing going on in his home for the elderly, smoking and gambling. I loved that he was so proud of Tess and supported her in everything she did.

And then there's the other guy, who I won't name in fear of spoilers, but he's amazing and kind and just gets Tess and I was SO rooting for him! And wanting to shake Tess, screaming WHY WON'T YOU JUST SEE THIS GUY?? Admittedly, he was pretty impulsive and some of his side story wa kinda unbelievable, but the point is that he is awesome. And a good guy. I like good guys.

Alexandra Potter is one of my go-to authors when I'm looking for a cute chicklit and Don't You Forget About Me didn't disappoint me at all! It was sweet and funny and I loved exploring the question of 'what if you could do it all over again'.

My rating: 4 stars

Review of Much Ado About Magic by Shanna Swendson

Title/Author: Much Ado About Magic (Enchanted, Inc #5) by Shanna Swendson
Publisher/Date published: NLA Digital Liaison Platform LLC, August 15th 2012
How I got this book: received it from the publisher through NetGalley

Goodreads summary: "Katie Chandler is back in New York and at Magic, Spells, and Illusions, Inc. – and just in time. The city’s in the grip of a magical crime wave from spells that wizarding whiz Owen Palmer thinks look awfully familiar, and the rogue firm Spellworks is raising its profile in the magical world by selling protective amulets. It’s Katie’s job as the new director of marketing for MSI to fight this battle of public perception while Owen and the other wizards try to uncover what’s really going on.
What Katie doesn’t realize is that her idea to stage a showcase for MSI’s magical achievements is playing right into a devious plot more than three decades in the making. Now Katie has to do damage control that has nothing to do with marketing. To save the magical world, she’ll have to prove who the real enemy is, and doing that will require digging deeper into Owen’s mysterious past than he wants anyone to go. If she fails, she not only stands to lose a magical war, but she could also lose the man she loves."

***WARNING: POSSIBLE SPOILERS FOR BOOK 1-4***

I really, REALLY loved the first book in this series, Enchanted, Inc, and while I have enjoyed books 2-4 as well, they never really got to the same level as Enchanted, Inc. I hadn't really expected there to be a book 5, but when I saw it up on NetGalley, I couldn't resist, because this is is just such a fun series!

Basically, I would love to be Katie Chandler. As a 20-something she discovers about magic and gets to work at a magical company and her boss is MERLIN! I mean, how freaking awesome is that? This is sort of like my Hogwarts fantasy only more grown up.

Throughout the books Katie's been trying to have a relationship with Owen, who is a good guy and a very powerful wizard. But Owen isn't really very good at relationships, he's somewhat less talented at interacting with other people than he is at catching magical bad guys. And while I know that if the characters have a perfect walk off into the sunset moment in the first or second book, it is somewhat less interesting to read about their relationship after that, I just found myself going: GAH, give these two a break already!
I mean, come on, how many times can you NOT have a date? Every time they try to do something together other than chasing evil, they get disturbed by new evil loons. They don't seem to make any real progress in their relationship. But they are pretty sweet together, so I can sort of forgive this.

As for the romance itself: these books are pretty clean. There's some kissing, but that's pretty much it.

I like that these books are just fun chicklit with a magical element! There's a serious threat, but there's also time for funny moments and I love Katie's sense of humor. I did think that she took a lot of crap from him and if I were her I would have stood up for myself a long time ago, but she does so in the end, so it was all good.

Also, Owen has tamed real live dragons and is adorable in his social awkwardness.

Guys, this was an easy, breezy read, perfect to relax with after a busy day at work and while it wasn't my favourite, it was still pretty darn cute and I'm still rooting for Katie and Owen and all the other characters I've come to love!

My rating: 3,5 stars

Review of Midnight in Austenland by Shannon Hale

Title/Author: Midnight in Austenland (Austenland #2) by Shannon Hale
Publisher/Date published: Bloomsbury Publishing, February 6th 2012
How I got this book: received it from the publisher through NetGalley

Goodreads summary: "When Charlotte Kinder treats herself to a two-week vacation at Austenland, she happily leaves behind her ex-husband and his delightful new wife, her ever-grateful children, and all the rest of her real life in America. She dons a bonnet and stays at a country manor house that provides an immersive Austen experience, complete with gentleman actors who cater to the guests' Austen fantasies.
Everyone at Pembrook Park is playing a role, but increasingly, Charlotte isn't sure where roles end and reality begins. And as the parlor games turn a little bit menacing, she finds she needs more than a good corset to keep herself safe. Is the brooding Mr. Mallery as sinister as he seems? What is Miss Gardenside's mysterious ailment? Was that an actual dead body in the secret attic room? And - perhaps of the most lasting importance - could the stirrings in Charlotte's heart be a sign of real-life love?"

I was really excited about Midnight in Austenland because ever since reading the first book, Austenland, I had been dying for more set in this wonderful place. I had also been hoping to hear more about Jane and the gentleman I can't remember the name of for some reason and if their happily ever after had lasted, but alas, we can't have it all.

I'm sorry to say that after reading Midnight in Austenland, I have to admit to liking Austenland better. It was a bit happier and more romancy than this one was and it worked better for me. But I did enjoy Midnight in Austenland as well! It just felt slightly darker and definitely more mature, which isn't a bad thing at all.

I really, REALLY liked Charlotte, she's been really hurt by her ex-husband and has put all her emotions away in order to deal with it. I liked how throughout Midnight in Austenland she realised just how much she had been hurt and how much of a scumbag her ex-husband actually was. I mean, seriously, I would have unmuzzled my lawyer and get every cent back if I'd been her, after kicking him in a sensitive place of course. Seriously, that guy was a first-class douchebag.
Anyway, Charlotte was curious and took action when needed and she was just really nice. And a true mama bear, which made me like her even more! The only thing that annoyed me were her constant conversation with her 'Inner Thoughts'. I mean, sure, I never have conversations with myself, but maybe some people do, but it was just a bit overdone and detracted from the story in my opinion.

The romance was sweet, even though I wasn't really feeling it. But the guy was nice (don't want to spoil anything by telling his name) and funny, I'd just really wanted to fall in love along with Charlotte and that didn't happen. I did love that near the end he shows that he's gotten to know her really well in the space of two weeks.

The dead body in the secret attic room thing didn't really work for me. It was rather convenient sometimes how Charlotte figured it all out and it felt a bit like a mad chase. It definitely added a darkness to it I hadn't been expecting.

I did really enjoy Midnight in Austenland, but I liked Austenland better and actually feel the urge to re-read that now. If you're into murder mystery/romance this will probably work better for you than it did for me, as I'm more a lover of straight up romance.

My rating: 3 stars

Review of Dreaming of Mr. Darcy by Victoria Connelly

Title/Author: Dreaming of Mr. Darcy (Austen Addicts #2) by Victoria Connelly
Publisher/Date published: Sourcebooks Landmark, January 1st 2012
How I got this book: received it from the publisher through NetGalley

Goodreads summary: "Fledging illustrator and Darcy fanatic Kay Ashton settles in the seaside town of Lyme to finish her book, The Illustrated Darcy, when a film company arrives to make a new adaptation of Jane Austen's Persuasion. Kay is soon falling for the handsome bad boy actor playing Captain Wentworth, but it's the quiet screenwriter Adam Craig who has more in common with her beloved Mr. Darcy. Though still healing from a broken heart, Adam finds himself unexpectedly in love with Kay. But it will take more than good intentions to convince her that her real happy ending is with him."

Dreaming of Mr. Darcy was extremely cute, it's almost a bit too cute. But I like a good candybar read every now and then! ;)

Kay, the main character, was nice, though she's a bit too clueless for my taste. I mean, Kay is trying to play matchmaker and get Adam and another female character to fall in love, when Adam is obviously interested in her! And she's pining after some actor, thinking they'll have children and get married when he's made it quite clear he's not exactly willing to settle down and for him it's all just a fling. She goes off into the most elaborate fantasies about their future when they haven't even been on a date yet. It was a bit too high school crush like for me. And sometimes I thought even high school girls had more sense.
But Kay is a really nice person and genuinely wants to help people.

And then there's Adam, the man who doesn't know how to communicate. He KNOWS Kay is trying to set him up with another woman and he doesn't say anything to her like 'I'm not interested' or something of the sort. Instead he just broods. I am extremely PRO communication, so this didn't really work for me. But Adam is a really nice guy and I love that he's such a good grandson!

You know how we all complain about the insta-love going on in YA? Well, this is one adult novel that has got it going on as well... There are basically two lovestories developing at the same time and both felt too much like insta-love to me to really get into them.

I think I sound negative, while I did actually enjoy Dreaming of Mr. Darcy. It is a cute book and it made me laugh a couple of times. This book was a nice break from all the drama going on at the hospital. I did think this story had a lot of potential, the execution just didn't always work for me.

My rating: 2,5 stars

Picture Perfect by Lanie Kincaid

Title/Author: Picture Perfect by Lanie Kincaid
Publisher/Date published: Griffyn Ink, February 1st 2010
How I got this book: received it from the publisher through NetGalley

Goodreads summary: "Rae Madison is the other woman.
She didn’t mean to be. She’s been waiting for her big break – a show for her art photography – and paying the bills doing surveillance for a PI. The only problem is the last cheating husband that came across her desk is her boyfriend. Not only does he have a wife and kids, she isn’t even his only girlfriend!
Colby Williams is the right man.
He’s been biding his time, straightening out his own mess of a life. He can handle waiting while Rae’s heart heals . . . he’s already waited this long. But just as things are finally coming together for them, everything goes wrong – and right.
Rae has finally landed her art gallery showing, and just like Colby always knew she would be, she’s suddenly very popular. Will her dream take her away from the love they have found?"

Okay, so I had some different expectations going into this book than what it turned out to be. I thought it'd be about Rae being hurt by her boyfriend and being distrustful towards men, as I imagine you'd be if it turned out your boyfriend was married and had other girlfriends beside you as the cherry on top. I imagined that she'd slowly open her eyes to what'd been in front of her all along: Colby.

And let's just start of by saying that I do not like that name. It sounds girly to me and from the description, Colby is anything but.

Anyway, it turns out my expectations were pretty much wrong. And this turned out to be one of those books in which I wanted to whack both main characters in the back of the head and tell them to 'stop being a whiny little boy' and 'COMMUNICATE!'. Seriously. COMMUNICATE for the love of chocolate!!

Deep breaths, I'm okay.

I thought it was SO stupid for Colby to be upset by Rae's taking care of him when he was sick and he could have DIED if she hadn't all because she saw him as being less than big man-much power (insert caveman-like grunt). I mean, seriously? Instead of ignoring her, a simple thank you would have sufficed.

BUT: they did have wonderful chemistry and I really liked the tension that was there. And this was a pretty fast read for me. I did think in the end there stumbling block got resolved a bit too easily, but well, I'm happy for them. It left me with warm fuzzies and that is what I want from this kind of story!

My rating: 3 stars

Homecoming by Cathy Kelly

Title/Author: Homecoming by Cathy Kelly
Publisher/Date published: Gallery Books, July 10th 2011
How I got this book: received it from the publisher as an egalley

Goodreads summary: "Eleanor Levine left Ireland seventy years ago with little more than a suitcase and her mother's handwritten recipe book. Now, a lifetime later, she's returning from New York with hard won wisdom and memories of her own. A renowned psychoanalyst, Eleanor knows there's one final journey she has to make...
Lovely young actress Megan Bouchier didn't have to chase success - it arrived effortlessly. Fame was what she always wanted until a disastrous affair made her the wrong kind of headlines - now Megan needs a place to hide...
Darkly beautiful Rae is a wonderful wife, a loyal friend and a dedicated community carer. From Titania's Tea Rooms she dispenses tea and sympathy to everyone - until a painful secret from her past threatens everything she holds dear.
Big-hearted teacher Connie O'Callaghan has given up on love. She's cheerfully approaching forty and besides, why does no man ever match the heroes in her beloved romantic novels?
As Eleanor re-reads her mother's comforting words and watches life unfold from her window in Dublin's pretty Golden Square, she slowly becomes drawn into the lives of Megan, Rae and Connie. But can treasured wisdom handed down from mother to daughter really be relevant today? And what are the ingredients for a life well lived?"

I jumped at the chance to read the newest Cathy Kelly book as I've devoured her novels in the past. She writes sweet chicklit that both me and my mother enjoy reading.

As you can see from the long summary, there's a lot going on in this book. And reading that summary it made me a bit anxious, cause with so much going on, how can you really get into the characters? Get to really know the main character, since you have 4? I so love to connect with them and I remember that in the past when I read Kelly's novels, I usually only really connected with one of her main characters (she usually has about 3). And this time for me it was Connie I connected to.

Connie is a lovely, caring person who thinks that because she's 39 and single, she's on the shelf for life. She lives with her younger sister and teaches at a girls' school. Of course she falls for the single dad, Steve, living in the same building. I loved Steve's daughter Ella, though I did think she sounded a bit younger than her age.

I enjoyed the stories about the other women as well, except maybe for Eleanor's. Eleanor is the wise older woman (84) who sort of guides these women. I could have done without her character, as I felt she didn't really add to the storyline. At the start of every chapter there were fragments from the book Eleanor's mother had written for her and I could have easily done without them as well. They slowed the story down for me.

The book is over 400 pages and still I had the feeling that some things were rushed. Especially the part where Connie and Steve's romance come in, I would have loved to read more about them together. Connie's story could have been a book in itself, and would have been wonderful in my opinion.

While I enjoyed the book, I didn't feel involved in these people's lives, and the switching point of view made me feel like I was missing things. I enjoyed some of Kelly's previous books more than I did this one.

My rating: 3 stars

Can You Keep a Secret? by Sophie Kinsella

Title/Author: Can You Keep a Secret? by Sophie Kinsella
Publisher/Date published: the House of Books B.V., first published in 2003
How I got this book: bought it cause I couldn't resist the nice shiny cover
Why I read this book: I reread it for a challenge

I've read this book for the second time and I loved it again. I first read it in 2006 or 2007, back when I read a load of chicklit on a regular basis. A lot of them haven't really stayed with me, but this one has. I must say that besides her Shopaholic series, I've loved every one of Sophie Kinsella's (or Madeleine Wickham's) books. They all have really likeable heroines, cute guys and great plots and are just relaxing reads. I always feel like I'm hanging out with one of my friends when I read one of her books and I think that's what chicklit is supposed to do. She and Jill Mansell are among my instant-buys when it comes to this genre. I'd totally recommend them, especially as beachreads.

But onto this one: Emma is a girl who keeps a little secrets like every other girl. There are those things you think about but never ever tell anyone else, except maybe your best girl friend and maybe not even her. Until she panicks on an airplane ride, thinking the plane will crash, and tells all to the man sitting next to her. Every emberassing little detail about her life. After she can't believe herself, but luckily he's a total stranger and she'll never have to look him in the eye again.
Except she's dead wrong about this and he turns out to be her new boss, who flew in from America to see to the English office. And he remembers. Everything.
How will she ever live this down?

This book is just hilarious. I had so much fun rereading it! I've been so caught up in romance books and YA and the occasional classic or Oprah-approved book that I forgot how much fun chicklit can be! Granted, there are lesser ones, but Kinsella is really good at what she does.

Emma is a really likeable character, she is so human with all her little secrets and the mortification she feels at facing the man who know every last one of them. I love that she takes her anger on one of her colleagues out on her plant, feeding him orange juice. And that she thinks her boyfriend looks like Ken, from Barbie.
And then she has the ones that are real, like the fact that she never told her parents she thinks they love her cousin, who lived with them since she was 13, more than her and that she feels intimidated by said cousin's success.

And she has the most amazing chemistry with Jack, her boss, who seems like a really good guy. He does make some major mistakes, but how can you help falling in love with a guy who pays the busdriver 500 dollars to drop you off in front of your house in a street where the bus doesn't ever normally go through? He's totally adorable and though their first couple of dates were less than great, I was rooting for them the whole time.

All in all, this book was just such a relaxing, funny read and I loved it. I bow down to Sophie Kinsella as one of the reigning queens of this genre.

My rating: 4,5 stars