Book Review- Jen Lancaster's If You Were Here

I have a lot of love for Jen Lancaster as an author and I think that's what has bumped this review to three stars. Lancaster always makes me laugh and when I read her books, I feel like I am hearing a close friend spill about their life. She has a great way of bonding with readers, drawing me in and making me feel like I am a friend. As a writer, I think that this is a wonderful skill and something that a lot of other writers are unable to accomplish.

If You Were Here marks Lancaster's departure from non-fiction, a story about a couple who buy the house used for the character Jake Ryan in the John Hughes classic "Sixteen Candles." The house ends up being a complete renovation nightmare and surrounded by bitter neighbors who didn't want the house sold in the first place. The couple quickly go from bliss to homeowner hell.

As a long time fan of Lancaster's non-fiction books, I had a difficult time separating the two main characters of Mia and Mac from Lancaster and her husband, Fletch. Mia and Mac were just so similar in tone to the way Lancaster has always portrayed her husband and herself. I felt like Lancaster had always wanted to buy the Jake Ryan house, so she inserted herself/her own personality in a fictional scenario. Even though I love Lancaster, I wanted different characters for this story.

Also, with the notable exception of "Ferris Bueller's Day Off", I am not a John Hughes fan. I don't at all relate to his movies and they in no way resemble my teen years. I know that his is a huge icon for many people my age, but I just don't get his movies. This immediately made it difficult for me to relate to the character of Mia in the story and I feel that this was a significant reason for my feeling distant.

Book Review- Jessie Knadler's Rurally Screwed

If you have started Jessie Knadler's Rurally Screwed and have doubts, keep going, it's worth it. The first quarter of the book is slow and even though I am a city girl, I couldn't relate to Knadler. Her behavior and attitude were both irritating. It really wasn't until after she married her cowboy and moved to the country that I began to really like her. By the end of the book, I totally fell in love with Knadler and her family.

This isn't a relationship advice book, but it has a lot of solid advice. At it's core, this is a book about identity and how we perceive ourselves. Knadler wrestles with identifying herself as a city girl and trying to convert to a country girl when she marries. While living in the country, she tries a whole host of activities to acclimate (learning to sew, attending bible study, slaughtering chickens) and eventually has a break down as she feels that she is trying to conform to something that she is not. She often mentions trying to live an "Authentic Life". Knadler is not the only person in the book doing it, nearly everyone is also trying to create what they are supposed to be, through clothes, actions, living situations...all of the time, everywhere, people are busy creating their image of what they feel their life should be. In the meantime, life is happening. All of the effort to "be yourself" is meaningless, because yourself is your day to day and the people that surround you. It's not what you want it to be, but what you already have and it doesn't need to fit into a box. I like how Knadler found an understanding with the women in her bible group, rather than writing them off as being too different to be her friends.

The love letters in the book are beyond sweet. Even though it's bumpy, it's hard not to be envious of the life that Knadler and her cowboy have carved out for themselves.

Great book title, it's what caught my attention in the first place.

Book Review- Ladies with Options

Cynthia Hartwick's, Ladies With Options, was loaned to me by a very good friend and described as a light, fun read. It was cute, but definitely lacked substance. If the mild profanity was removed, it would be exactly the sort of book that my Grandmother would have loved. Like a cozy mystery, minus the mystery.

This is a fictional story about a group of women from Minnesota (making this beach read, a snow read) who in the 1980's strike it rich through savvy investments. There is nothing wrong structurally with the story. It's fine, but it could have been better. The story is told from the point of view of Sophia, a daughter of one of the ladies in the club. Sophia retells the stories of the various ladies and how the club became so successful. Having Sophia tell all of the stories really weakened the book. I felt like I wanted to hear the stories directly from each character, having the chapters bounce between different narrators. By using Sophia to tell all of the stories, I felt a disconnect between the characters. I didn't feel any emotional attachment to the characters. I had a difficult time telling them apart. Too many characters and no distinctive voice. Also, Sophia was a dull character to have as the narrator.

The simplistic plot was filled with easily resolved problems. If I had been invested in the characters, I would have felt more forgiving towards other aspects of the book. This story was just too simple and lacked any depth.