Just One of The Guys

Just One of the Guys

by Kristan Higgins

 

Paperback, 376 pages

Published: August 01, 2008

Publisher:  Harlequin Books

ISBN:  9780373772995

Blurb: Being one of the guys isn't all it's cracked up to be...So when journalist Chastity O'Neill returns to her hometown, she decides it's time to start working on some of those feminine wiles. Two tiny problems: #1--she's five feet eleven inches of rock-solid girl power, and #2--she's cursed with four alpha male older brothers.

While doing a story on local heroes, she meets a hunky doctor and things start to look up. Now there's only one problem: Trevor Meade, her first love and the one man she's never quite gotten over--although he seems to have gotten over her just fine.

Yet the more time she spends with Dr. Perfect, the better Trevor looks. But even with the in-your-face competition, the irresistible Trevor just can't seem to see Chastity as anything more than just one of the guys...

This was recommended to me by a bibliophile friend and she said that it was amazing after I told her that I quite love reading chick-lit. It had been on my to-read list for about two years when I finally picked it up a couple of weeks ago. It was my first Kristan Higgins book and my expectations were real high with this one. Ah, read on…

The book starts out quite nice, in a way. With our protagonist – Chastity- being dumped by a guy at a restaurant is a starting scene written brilliantly by Kristan Higgins. Just perfect to grab the reader’s attention when the guy admits that he is dumping Chastity because she is too manly- in looks as well as actions. We’re told many a time through the book that she is broad-shouldered, athletic, five feet eleven inches and three-quarters. The monologues, the descriptions, the details are just perfect for the reader to connect to Chastity.

Chastity has come down to Eaton Falls giving up her amazing job in a big city to work at the local newspaper, Eaton Falls Gazette, and to be near her family in the town she has grown up. Moreover, Chastity is thirty and plans to settle down, and of course, she seems to have no great luck.

One of the strong points in this book is the grand character formation. Higgins might seem to have created a village of characters, but you won’t feel lost in them. She makes them alive, you see them living right before your eyes. Creating and successfully sustaining the huge family of Chastity in the reader’s hear right up to the end from the very beginning is a commendable job done by the author. It won’t have been as easy as it seems.

Rest, I don’t think there was much great to the book. It was supposed to be a laugh out loud kind of a read, but it failed miserably at that. I found it droning and droning and droning on and on and on. Even if the character formation is great, there is at times too much of the ‘family thing’ going on. An overdose, as you may call it. There are troubles in marriage and relationships all over this book which gives it a tinge of hopelessness. Higgins has also tried to as a spicy mystery to the plot by adding a fine number of twists, but she has failed at them too. Chasity seems to struggle too much with trivialities. Much more than she or the readers can handle. And that is what drove me to edge.

If I am to compare this with a Sophie Kinsella read, the act itself would be extremely absurd. I have read much better in chick-lit than Just One of the Guys and it doesn’t even remotely match their standards. It would be appropriate to say that if you want to see how a chick-lit can torture a lover of the genre, read this one. Otherwise, you know what to do, right? Yes, do yourself a favour and spare yourself the headache it could give you. 

Wedding Night

Wedding Night

by Sophie Kinsella

Paperback, Large Print, 400 pages

Published on:  April 25th 2013

Publisher:  Bantam Press 

ISBN: 9780593070154

Blurb:  Lottie just knows that her boyfriend is going to propose during lunch at one of London’s fanciest restaurants. But when his big question involves a trip abroad, not a trip down the aisle, she’s completely crushed. So when Ben, an old flame, calls her out of the blue and reminds Lottie of their pact to get married if they were both still single at thirty, she jumps at the chance. No formal dates—just a quick march to the altar and a honeymoon on Ikonos, the sun-drenched Greek island where they first met years ago.
 
Their family and friends are horrified. Fliss, Lottie’s older sister, knows that Lottie can be impulsive—but surely this is her worst decision yet. And Ben’s colleague Lorcan fears that this hasty marriage will ruin his friend’s career. To keep Lottie and Ben from making a terrible mistake, Fliss concocts an elaborate scheme to sabotage their wedding night. As she and Lorcan jet off to Ikonos in pursuit, Lottie and Ben are in for a honeymoon to remember, for better . . . or worse.

Sophie Kinsella being on the top of the list of my most favourite authors, I was more than dying to read her latest release, Wedding Night. I had been excitedly waiting for it since May last year when I heard that Kinsella was penning down yet another book called Wedding Night.

The book starts when one of our protags, Lottie is with her four year long boyfriend Richard in a restaurant anticipating a proposal that Richard is supposedly going to make. Sadly, it doesn’t turn out to be anything of the kind for Lottie and thus with the inevitable breakup of the couple, Lottie is shattered.

On the other hand, Lottie’s sister- Fliss, is in the middle of a bitter divorce with Daniel which is also making her seven year old son, Noah, suffer a great deal.

When the crestfallen Lottie suddenly has an encounter with her first love from fifteen years ago, and decides on the spur of the moment to get married to him asap, Fliss is alarmed. Fearing it to be one of Lottie’s Unfortunate Choices, and that  Lottie would end up in the same situation as hers, Fliss is hell bent on getting their ‘annulment’ done, by keeping Lottie and Ben from consummating their marriage at their honeymoon and of course keep them from having a Wedding Night.

The most wonderful thing about the book is the new idea of the three POVs that Kinsella has used for the first time in her writings. We are mainly told the story from both Lottie and Fliss’s POV, and at just a couple of times Arthur has his POV too. And the concept is amazing.

The troubles Fliss puts Ben and Lottie in on their honeymoon are hilarious, ludicrous and saddening at the same time. Kinsella has maintained her standards and has given us yet another fantastic read.

The thing about Kinsella is that she is real in her writing. There is hardly anything in her novels that you feel is unrealistic. The way she pulls the whole thing together is always worth kudos. And with all the belly laughs she gives you, she’d be gripping you to her book with all your emotions. And Wedding Night is no different.

But, there was a slight shift in her writing style this time in Wedding Night. There seemed to be a merger of her writing as Sophie Kinsella and Madeleine Wickham. This made me a little edgy at times. The book lags a little behind in humour compared to her predecessors. There weren’t many moments when I burst out laughing as I read through the text. Comparatively, I’ve Got Your Number was a step ahead in this regard and from the plot POV.

There isn’t much going on about in the book apart from Ben and Lottie being desperate to make out and Fliss trying to stop them from doing it. And then there’s another subplot of Fliss’s bitterness about her divorce, but that doesn’t have a great heat to it either.

It in no way means that Kinsella ha even a bit lost her creativity. She keeps on surprising you with a billion things, especially towards the second half of the book and you’d absolutely be on tenterhooks. She just keeps you guessing and guessing about the characters’ next move.

Lorcan, Ben’s best friend, was my most favourite character. And even though she was caring, Fliss was a Bitch.

The thing that disappointed me a little is that there were some loose ends to the end of the novel which should have been tied. I wanted to know what would happen of Lorcan and Fliss. About Lottie and Richard. About Nico’s special package at the honeymoon suite. Many things. But, we get to know nothing of them.

To sum it up, Wedding Night is quirky, humorous, breezy, emotional and an entertaining read. You will feel Lottie and Richard’s pain after the heartbreak, would worry as Fliss gets worried about her kin (and at times hate her for it), and will be as frustrated as Ben and Lottie when they don’t get to have their so-longed-for Wedding Night on their honeymoon. And reading between the lines, you will smile and giggle and laugh.

It is a must read for all the Kinsella fans, but they shouldn’t expect anything better than what they had in IGYN. And for people who haven’t read Kinsella yet, they should start their summer breaks with Wedding Night in their hands and getting introduced to the incredible writer on the coming weekends. 

Arranged Love

Arranged Love

By Parul A Mittal

 

Paperback, 256 pages

Publisher: Penguin Books

Published in: 2012

ISBN: 9780143418825

Blurb: Suhaani is enjoying her independent status in the US and her sexy Indian American boyfriend, when suddenly she loses her job to recession. And she's forced to move back to India where her father has selected a boy for her from his guitar class. 

Suhaani doesn1t know how to tell her Internet-savvy dad and Farmville-addict mother that she's not interested in an arranged match, especially to an IITian. She decides to dislike the guy. 

Except that he's not too thrilled about her either. 
Even when they end up working together, Suhaani decides she will not fall for this guy. 
But before she can turn him down, he rejects her!

A graduate at UMich, Suhani is head over heels in love with her Indian-American boyfriend Jay aka Jayant Guy. A painter at heart, Suhani is all set to make money out of a nude painting of her boyfriend. Looking at this American Adonis and getting the features of his exposed body on the canvass, all the accumulated libido is vanished into the air when Suhani’s father calls her up from India and asks her to check her email only to find the photo of a guy from her father’s guitar classes. A potential suitor for Suhani.

Things aren’t getting better when she even loses her job to recession and is compelled to fly back to India. She calls herself lucky when she finds a job at iTrot. But of course, she doesn’t know the boss is the Potential Suitor- Deepak Goyal.

The Chick-lit by Parul A Mittal is the story of So-Honey, as Jay calls her. Suhani is an average Indian girl like anyone of us. The only child, spoilt by her parents and loves unconditionally, she is one of the bubbliest characters I have come across in any Indian novel.

 Soon after you are through a few pages, you will immediately fall in love with Ms. Mittal’s quirky and witty humour. Though the plot can be very flimsy at times, you will find yourself giggling really very often. Humour used by Ms. Mittal is truly a thing worth Kudos to her. I loved the way she made me giggle.

For the people who loved Heartbreaks and Dreams: Girls @ IIT, Arranged Love is going to be a treat, undoubtedly. You will find the protagonist of Heartbreaks and Dreams, Tanu, treat you after every few pages.

Just like the highly well developed characters, the dialogues are exceptionally amazing. It is as if you are hearing the conversation of two people sitting next to you. Very real and crisp dialogues and sentences respectively were my favourite part of the book.

Another thing about the book that I absolutely loved was the mention of different songs at appropriate occasions. I could almost play them all in my mind.

The thing that irked me a little was that the author has portrayed the characters in a way that give more than necessary importance to physical pleasures. I do not think the girls today, or even in the past would have been that sex crazy as Ms. Mittal shows them to be. No doubt that our protag, Suhani is a virgin until the end, but I don’t think that could justify her or her friends being lewd at several instances.

The author has nicely pulled of Tanu’s story hand in hand with that if Suhani’s. But at places, I hated the mention of Tanu. I wanted to concentrate on the tragic comedies of Suhani’s life, and Tanu’s life barely meant anything to me for I  had not read Girls@IIT. But like I said, for the ones who wanted a sequel to Heartbreaks and Dreams, this one is a must read for them.

The ending became predictable a little before the book finished. But it could certainly have been something better. I personally was expecting an ending I would cherish, but sadly it was given a little less crunch than that it deserved.

Overall, this is a totally gripping read. If you are looking forward to a breezy, quick weekend read Parul Mittal’s Arrannged Love’s got to be at the top of your list.

I am eagerly waiting for her upcoming works.

One Hundred Names

One Hundred Names

by Cecelia Ahern

Hardcover, 400 pages

Published on: October 11th 2012 by

Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers Ltd 

ISBN: 9780007350483

Blurb: Journalist Kitty Logan's career is being destroyed by scandal - and now she faces losing the woman who guided and taught her everything she knew. At her terminally ill friend's bedside, Kitty asks - what is the one story she always wanted to write? The answer lies in a file buried in Constance's office: a list of one hundred names. There is no synopsis, nothing to explain what the story is or who these people are. The list is simply a mystery. But before Kitty can talk to her friend, it is too late. With everything to prove, Kitty is assigned the most important task of her life: to write the story her mentor never had the opportunity to. Kitty not only has to track down and meet the people on the list, but find out what connects them. And, in the process of hearing ordinary people's stories, she starts to understand her own.

When I read Cecelia Ahern’s PS: I Love You, I was captivated. I still count that book as one of the best ones I have read. It had a wonderful story, many interesting and lively characters, wonderful monologues, and what not. I knew that Ahern was going to be one of my favourite writers.

Her epistolary novel, Love Rosie, also mesmerized me equally superbly.

With her latest release- One Hundred Names in my hand, I was super excited to explore the new story that Cecelia Ahern had to tell us. Coincidentally, this story too is about stories, as Ahern tells us that every person has their own story to tell.

Katherine Logan has been sued by a respectable man, Colin McGuire for the documentary she made on her TV show, Thirty Minutes, about him being a pervert and a pedophile. After having lost her job as one of the trendy TV hosts, she is back to her old friend Constance- the editor of Etcetera. Constance is fighting a battle between life and death at the hospital, sick with cancer. But before dying, Constance tells Kitty that she would take her back at Etcetera, and that she has always wanted to write a story. To know more about it Kitty would have to bring her the list that Constance has written and kept at her home. Before Kitty can get Constance the list, Constance leaves for her heavenly abode. Kitty is left with a list of one hundred names, and nothing else. She has a great challenge to understand what the story that Constance always wanted to write was.

You’d have seen in the image that the cover of the book is extremely attractive. But trust me, once you hold it in hand, I bet you’d say that you’ve never seen a cover as beautiful as that one. And by You I mean the guys and the girls alike. If I say that I’ve lost my heart to the cover, it will be an understatement.

The book has a lousy start to it. Too many facts are given to the reader in very less time. And hospitals are not my favorite places to read about.

The best thing about the book is that you have several plots in between. The different names of the list, although only a few of them are touched, give you insights into their own life. All of them have a specific magic to them.

Kitty must have been a very challenging character to like about. You feel so many things about her at the same time. One moment you are sympathizing with her and just the next moment you say that she deserved all the misery she went through. One moment you feel like hugging the poor girl, the next moment you want to call her a bitch. Kitty Logan has been one of the best characters I have come across.

Apart from Kitty, all the characters are wonderful. Although he was our protagonist’s love, I didn’t like Steve much.

The story is fantastic, really thought provoking and emotional. It keeps you even more gripped with every next page you turn to.

Ahern has been one of the cleverest and most talented writers I have come across, and she gives you yet another beautiful tale of love, striving and winning.

Trust me, you are not going to regret once you read it. I recommend it to every lover of Ahern and romance out there. 

I've Got Your Number

I've Got Your Number

by Sophie Kinsella

Paperback, 387 pages

Published on: February 1st 2012

Publisher: Random House Export

ISBN: 0593059824 

Blurb: I've lost it.  : (  

The only thing in the world I wasn't supposed to lose. My engagement ring. It's been in Magnus's family for three generations. And now the very same day his parents are coming, I've lost it. The very same day Do not hyperventilate, Poppy. Stay positive.       : ) 

Poppy Wyatt has never felt luckier. She is about to marry her ideal man, Magnus Tavish, but in one afternoon her "happily ever after" begins to fall apart. Not only has she lost her engagement ring in a hotel fire drill but in the panic that follows, her phone is stolen. As she paces shakily around the lobby, she spots an abandoned phone in a trash can. Finders keepers Now she can leave a number for the hotel to contact her when they find her ring. Perfect 

Well, perfect except that the phone's owner, businessman Sam Roxton, doesn't agree. He wants his phone back and doesn't appreciate Poppy reading his messages and wading into his personal life. 
What ensues is a hilarious and unpredictable turn of events as Poppy and Sam increasingly upend each other's lives through emails and text messages. As Poppy juggles wedding preparations, mysterious phone calls, and hiding her left hand from Magnus and his parents . . . she soon realizes that she is in for the biggest surprise of her life.

Sophie Kinsella is the name that I loved right from my childhood. I admit that had it not been Sophie Kinsella, I won’t have been such a lover of books today.

When I read her “The Undomestic Goddess” in Sixth grade, I was mesmerised. Books were so lovely, so hilarious, so beautiful- the child in me thought after reading Kinsella. There’d be nothing surprising with it if I say that Kinsella is certainly my most favourite author.

Since then, I have been religiously reading all her books. But in I’ve Got Your Number, I must say, Sophie Kinsella is at her best.

If you want to put out of your mind all the stress and land into a world of giggles and gasps, Poppy Wyatt is your host.

Poppy has found the man of life! What’s more, she is getting married to him in just ten days! But Poppy’s life falls into the danger zone when, during a lunch at Hotel Berrow, she loses the only thing that matters the most – her Engagement Ring, which has been in Poppy’s fiancé, Magnus’ family for generations. In all the panic that follows, she gets robbed of her phone too.

But Poppy gets lucky when she finds a discarded phone in a trash bin. Immediately she grabs it and distributes its number to the entire hotel staff and her friends asking them to call her up if they find her priceless Emerald Ring. When the phone owner’s boss, Sam Roxton, demands the phone of his PA back, Poppy denies giving it back taking in consideration the timeless "Finders, Keepers" rule. Because Poppy does Sam a favour, he agrees on the bargain that he’d let her “share” the phone until she finds her ring but she’d have to forward all his PA’s emails and texts to him regularly.

“I’ve never shared an in-box with anyone in my life. I didn’t expect it to feel so…intimate. It’s as if we’re suddenly sharing an underwear drawer or something.”

Before starting IGYN, I’d read a tormenting, godawful book and feared that I’d hate reading any other book for all my life. But I was a few pages past I’ve Got Your Number, and I was laughing like a drain. I don’t think I’ve laughed as much reading any other books as I have done reading IGYN. Kinsella had once again, made me fall in love with books.

Another thing that I absolutely loved about the book was that it was fiction with footnotes. You must’ve read a billion non-fiction titles will footnotes, but how many of you have seen a Chick Lit with footnotes. The first footnote of the book read:

1.      His specialism is Cultural Symbolism. I speed-read his book, The Philosophy of Symbolism, after our second date and then tried to pretend I’d read it ages ago, coincidentally, for pleasure. (Which, to be fair, he didn’t believe for a minute.) Anyway, the point is, I read it. And what impressed me most was: There were so many footnotes. I’ve totally got into them. Aren’t they handy? You just bung them in whenever you want and instantly look clever.

Magnus says footnotes are for things which aren’t your main concern but nevertheless hold some interest for you. So, this is my footnote about footnotes.

You’ll find them on almost half the book. And believe me, I’d be so hurt whenever a page didn’t have one.

The characters that Kinsella creates are so, so human. I loved every single character in this adorable novel. Poppy is just one girl like any of us who would always act on an impulse, without thinking of any of the consequences to her acts. She maintains that typical, quirky Kinsella voice that marks all her heroines. Although Sam’s not always just round the corner, it didn’t take me long to fall for him. Whenever he sent a text to Poppy, my heart would skip a beat.

Although, the “hotshot corporate guy- average girl” formula has been used by Kinsella bazillion times already, but somehow she still knows how to make it refreshing for her audience. And yes, we love it all the time.

Apart from tickling your bones, Kinsella is a pro at maintaining the mystery all through the novel. She keeps you guessing through the pages, wondering what Poppy messes up with next.

There’s  no doubt about it that Kinsella is the most genius humorists that we have today.  I would recommend it to everyone who has ever read any book by Kinsella. Whether you hated or loved her previous book that you read, you’ll fall in love with this one. I can guarantee that.

This is an absolute treat for the lovers of Chick Literature genre. Trust me, this is a must read. Totally worth your money, perfectly worth your time.

I’m eagerly waiting for Sophie Kinsella’s next.

Big Girl

by Danielle Steel

Paperback

Published on: March 1st  2011

Publisher: Corgi Books 

ISBN: 055215900X 

 Blurb:   'Watch out, world. Here I come!'

For Victoria Dawson, growing up isn't a happy experience. Born to picture-perfect parents, she never feels pretty enough to meet their expectations. But when her parents have a second child, Victoria is thrilled - she can't help but adore her new baby sister Gracie. And since Gracie is the image of them, her parents finally have the perfect daughter they always wanted. Meanwhile Victoria still never seems to get it quite right - she battles with her weight, she's told she'll never find a man if she's too clever, and the one career she feels passionate about her parents don't approve of.

And so Victoria decides to move to New York to fulfil her dreams and escape her family. Though her new life is exciting, the old temptations remain, and she continues to wage war with the scales.

Victoria struggles to find a life far from the hurt and neglect of her childhood, the damage created by her parents, the courage to find freedom, and become who she really is at last.

Danielle Steel is the big name in the world of romance writing. Producing numerous bestsellers over the years, she gives us yet another hilarious and at the same time a heart wrenching piece as Big Girl.

The cover of the book is going to attract your attention immediately. As you read the book, you understand the relevance of the gorgeous cover that it has.

Our protagonist is Victoria Dawson has sufficiently enough reasons to end her life. When both her parents wanted a boy, they were fairly disappointed after having a girl. They name her Victoria after Queen Victoria who had a big body to carry all through her life. Victoria is seen as a specimen of ugliness, obesity and uselessness.

When the Dawsons are blessed with yet another girl Grace, Victoria is sure to be neglected. Gracie, as Victoria calls her, is perfect in the eyes of her parents. Gracie is everything that Victoria is not. And our lovely protag is not at all jealous about it. Victoria grows up  loving her sister more and more,  being taunted by her parents for her weight, her job and for not having a boyfriend. There’s only one thing that takes her away from the miseries of life and that is food.

Danielle Steel has done a commendable job taking us on a journey starting right from Victoria’s birth to her thirties. Seeing her struggle with different things in different phases of life, Danielle Steel makes this character fantastically relatable.  I haven’t personally related to any character better than that of Victoria. And there’s no wonder about it when I am, in one way or the other, reminded a billion times a day about being obese. And I think every girl out there, whether lean or obese will relate to Victoria. We all have weight issues, don’t we?

I loved the way Steel has shown us the troubles that an average girl with a few extra pounds faces. The abuse one faces verbally and mentally because of it is far, far worse than any physical abuse you can come across. And as Steel writes it, it is all believable and true.

There have been many plus sized heroines that we have come across in many books, but there hasn’t been anyone as perfect as Victoria Dawson. This one is going to be my favourite book written by Danielle Steel.

 If they make a movie out of this book, I am going to cry buckets when I see it. And if you have a heart, probably you will do the same.

Not only does Steel deal laudably with the problems Victoria faces at her home with her family, she also shows us the miseries she faces as a teacher in New York after leaving her home. And finding love for a size fourteen woman in New York is not an easy job either.

I was the happiest person on earth when Victoria leaves her parents and flees to New York in search of her self-esteem, the perfect lover for herself and above all freedom from all the miseries. A woman needs to live her life for herself and not for pleasing others. Fulfilling the whims of others ought to be a secondary matter, always. That was the probable theme that Steel had in mind while penning the book down. 

The author shows us the best pictures of issues regarding self esteem, weight, family, sisterhood, teaching, decisions and above all love. Big Girl is a breezy read with a lot of lessons to teach you as you leaf through the book.

I would recommend this to anyone who loves Women’s Fiction, Chick Lit and Romance. This one is surely worth your time.

Review originally published on:  http://randomhouseindia.wordpress.com/2012/10/04/guest-post-by-jaasindah-mir/