Twenties' Girl

Author: Sophie Kinsella

Lara Lington is a sweet girl trying to make it as an entrepreneur in the headhunting business. She has set up a partnership with her best friend, who unfortunately leaves her for a sudden vacation in Goa. To make things worse, she is also in denial over her break-up with Josh, which leaves her parents worried as they all prepare to attend the funeral of 105-year-old Great Aunt Sadie.

At the funeral, Lara sees the ghost of Sadie, who appears as a Twenties Flapper. Sadie is upset that her favourite necklace is lost, and will not rest until it is found. She enlists Lara for help, and thus begins a strange but ultimately deep friendship between the two.

This novel is written in typical Sophie Kinsella style, and I absolutely loved Sadie! Lara was also more likable than Becky Bloomwood, in that she truly wanted to believe the best of everyone. Except for her infatuation with ex-boyfriend Josh, she seemed to have her head screwed right throughout the story.

I would have rated it 3.5 stars out of 5 on Goodreads.com - very close but not quite up to a 4. Unfortunately it dragged a bit in the middle, and the ending rushed together towards a convenient, happy conclusion. I would have liked certain parts to last longer, especially when Sadie reconciles with her past (sort of, trying not to give the plot away here). It would have been nice to know more about her life, but I suppose going in that direction would require a bittersweet tone in the narrative, whereas Kinsella was probably playing it safe by sticking to her usual witty lighthearted dialogue.

I also wish the plot could have expanded more on the other characters, especially the relationship between Lara's father and her uncle. There was a nice sweet twist at the end involving Lara's mum though.

Undomestic Goddess

Author: Sophie Kinsella

I have wanted to read this book for ages, and I am glad I finally did. If anything, this book redeemed my faith in Ms. Kinsella's writing (although she did write this before Mini-Shopaholic).

I also love the fact that the protagonist in this book is so different from Becky. Samantha Sweeting is an intelligent, no-nonsense, workaholic lawyer aiming to make it big. But just before she is about to achieve her dreams, she makes a terrible mistake and goes into a sort of nervous breakdown. Somehow she gets hired as a housekeeper - despite not knowing how to cook or clean.

I suppose the premise is too far-fetched, but at least Samantha does not annoy me as much as Becky did. And despite her lack of domestic skills, she quickly learns her new trade and even excels at it (oh, I am so jealous!!!). Things tie up nicely in the end when it appears her earlier mistake was -SPOILER ALERT!!! - actually a set-up. And of course she gets the guy.

The only grouch I have about this book is the lack of development of the other characters, especially the employers. All in all, an enjoyable read.

Mini Shopaholic

Author: Sophie Kinsella

Chick lit is usually dependable when I need a pick-me-up. Ever since I read the first Shopaholic book, I could always rely on Sophie Kinsella to deliver the goods. And so this time I returned to Becky Bloomwood, several years after I left her at the altar married to Luke Brandon.

This is the latest in the Shopaholic series, I think, and while Becky's circumstances have progressed - she's married, has a 2-year-old daughter and is hunting for a family home - unfortunately her shopping habits have not improved much. In fact, for a mother of one who is hankering for another child, she seems to have regressed into some childish behaviour herself.

Although some of her antics are funny, and there is a bittersweet, heart-tugging moment or two, I can't help but be a little frustrated with Becky for being so immature when it comes to her family. Some events have a big build-up only to end in a sort of anti-climax. Even her moments of brilliance do not match the scale of her achievements in the first few books (the articles, TV show etc). Except for the party - which turns out to be - SPOILER ALERT!!! - absolutely grand. This annoys me even more, in a-'What has she done to really deserve having all her plans come truer than she herself expected it to be?'-kind-of-way.

Little Black Dress Books

I've managed to finish reading all the books my friend lent me for my Confinement period, and I still have 22 days to go! Anyway, for the LBD books, I decided to dedicate just a single blog entry to the collective six titles (excluding A Romantic Getaway which deserves an entry of its own). I also don't want to spend much time writing the reviews. Too many late nights as it is!

Title: Right Before Your Eyes

Author: Ellen Shanman

This was the first LBD book of the bunch that I read. Nothing memorable, really. Something about a struggling playwright wanting to find love but keeps attracting the wrong guy. Being the artsy-fartsy type, she's looking for a bloke with a kind, deep soul, and obviously rich successful businessmen are the shallowest of the lot, right? Duh, how pretentious can one get?

And the framework is so 'Shopaholic' - the girl with financial problems struggling to make a break in her career, the rich, ditzy best friend, and the cocky rich guy who turns out to be her soulmate.

She does end up with the rich guy, who, despite his cockiness, appears to have a highly sensitive side and gets easily upset over some of the things the girl does. I couldn't care less about her, though.

Title: Accidentally Engaged

Author: Mary Carter

After reading this one, I was almost ready to give up the LBD books. It started off okay, about Claire, a psychic tarot card reader who gives a false reading to a soon-to-be bride who has suddenly got cold feet. The client leaves behind her engagement ring, so psychic decides to return it to the jilted fiancé. On the way she finds herself daydreaming about the man, but after an accident falls in lust with another.

The plot had too many twists and turns, with a haunted house, hidden secrets, long lost relatives etc. And Claire keeps harping back to her previous failed marriages (3 altogether) which apparently was predestined in order for her to meet the One. As one review said, the key to liking this book is liking the heroine. Well, I like my heroines smart and rational, not constantly moaning about ex-husbands while stringing along two handsome men. So this one, I didn't like.

Title: Hysterical Blondeness

Author: Suzanne Macpherson

A brunette decides to lose weight extra fast in order to snag the man of her dreams and signs up for an experimental drug. She gets more than she bargained for, when her hair turns platinum blonde. Suddenly her dreamboat notices her, as well as her previously platonic best friend/landlord. She almost ends up marrying the dreamboat until she catches him, on their wedding day, doing his brother's fiancee (who of course is a natural blonde). She finally realises that it's the best friend she's in love with all along, so several months later, her hair back to its real colour, she marries the best friend. The end.

Why I didn't like this? I don't understand how her other best friend, who initially seems really keen to help her ensnare the dreamboat, suddenly conclude that dreamboat is not worth it? And why the heroine, who otherwise seems so clever and witty, can act so silly?

Title: The Girlfriend Curse
Author: Valerie Frankel

Again, it starts off well. After discovering that her latest ex was getting married merely months after their breakup, Peg Silver finds out that she is the Ultimate Girlfriend - all of her ex-boyfriends end up marrying within six months of leaving her. And they all attribute it to Peg's giving nature e.g. her willingness to give blowjobs with coffee every morning, etc. She decides to change her life by leaving New York for Vermont. On the way, she meets a guy who claims he is the Ultimate Boyfriend - his girlfriends all split and meet other people - and they end up making out. Huh???

Anyway, Peg does not end up with this guy. She finally falls in love with the director of a self-discovery program instead. Although the idea of falling for an academic appeals to me, I don't see how he could appeal to Peg, except for his conversation with his then girlfriend that she overheard, where the girlfriend was complaining about his sex drive (NOT lack thereof). HUH???

Title: Hex & the Single Girl
Author: Valeria Frankel

Strangely enough, I quite enjoyed this one. Emma is a telegraphopathist - someone who can project images into other people's minds using her brain. She uses this talent for 'the greatest good' - to set up women with their dream men, by projecting sexy images of those women into their targets' minds. One day, she gets a client whose intentions are not quite romantic, but as she is in desperate need of money, she takes up the job anyway. Emma ends up falling for the client herself, but of course the path of true love never did run smooth.

I loved the secondary characters in this book, and Emma comes across as a genuinely nice person with a tragic background (and she doesn't agonise about missing sex as much as the other heroines), so this one I enjoyed. Oh, and the bloke's half-British, so there's another plus for the Anglophile in me.

Title: I Take This Man
Author: Valerie Frankel

This one is hilarious! Penny gets jilted at the altar, so her protective mother, Esther, clobbers the groom with a champagne bottle. Esther then decides to hide the unconscious man in a locked room in her mansion. In the meantime, the groom's widowed father, Keith, searches for the son, enlisting Esther to help him, and sparks fly between them. In the end, the bride and groom reunite, and Esther & Keith also enter coupledom (is that actually legal?). And you've got to love Natasha, the Russian 'house manager'.

So there, 6 reviews in one. I've noticed a pattern about the books I like and don't like.

Likes: Heroines with a tragic/semi-tragic background that does not involve ex-boyfriends/husbands/bad sex.

Dislikes: Heroines who seem to think about nothing but sex.

A Romantic Getaway

Author: Sarah Monk

This is part of the stash of 'light-reading during confinement' that I borrowed from my colleague. It is one of the titles in the Little Black Dress series, and is actually the third that i've read. But so far this is the only memorable one and worth blogging about.

The story is about two sisters, Liesel and Marilyn. Liesel is a 'serial monogamist', as she gets dumped all the time by men who cannot seem to understand that this gorgeous, attractive woman is actually keen on a long-term commitment. The elder sister, Marilyn, was left by her husband for his older and more glamorous lady boss. Together with Marilyn's son, Alex, the three live in a poky flat in London until one day Alex inherits an old hotel in Cornwall from his father's aunt. The three then move to Cornwall, where they have to run the hotel for at least a season, otherwise the ownership gets transferred to Godrich van Woofenhausen - a dog.

Despite the strange inheritance, the tale is actually quite sweet. Unlike most chick-lit books I've read, Liesel is not an idiotic girl with her head in the clouds. And the love interest - a vet who gets called in when Godrich literally finds himself stuck in a tight place - is not the typical arrogant, slick charmer despite his astonishing good looks. In fact the couple are just regularly nice people.

Most of the story centers around family and friendship, and the romance seems to be a secondary thread to the main plot. It got to a point where I didn't really mind if Liesel and the vet didn't get together in the end.

I did find the vet's character a bit flat, though.I felt more for the other characters - Eric the cook, Kashia the Polish waitress, Lorraine the housekeeper and my heart really went out to Alex who refused to wear anything but Superman costumes. And the old hotel and its surroundings are pretty impressive too.

All in all, a nice good read if you don't want something too heavy but can't be bothered with carbon copies of Becky Bloomwood.

One dialogue I find memorable, is when the vet appears for the first time, and an elderly couple who were hotel guests met him:

Wife: "Could you please have a look at my chest?"

Husband: "He's a vet, my dear, not a doctor."

Wife: "I know that, but I'd still like him to have a look at my chest."

Girls of Riyadh

Author: Rajaa Alsanea

I first read about this book and author about a year ago, in a magazine interview. She is from Saudi Arabia, but at the time of the interview was studying somewhere in the Western hemisphere. The interviewer was surprised when Alsanea remarked approvingly of a mini-dress a passerby was wearing: "I'll wear it as a top over jeans," she commented. Well, in her own words, "The Western world still perceives us either romantically, as the land of the Arabian nights... or politically, as the land that gave birth to Bin Laden and other terrorists."

As for me, I had always perceived Saudis to be the role model of religiosity and piety. After all, their kingdom is the birthplace and final resting place of our prophet Muhammad PBUH, and one of the King's official titles is Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques (referring of course to al-Haraam in Makkah and al-Nabawi in Madinah). This impression was shattered somewhat when I went there for Hajj two years ago, and did leave me feeling a tad disappointed. So reading this book - although the first few pages seem to entice the reader with promises of scandal and what not - was not such a shock for me.

The premise is broadly similar to 'Sex and the City' although still very much within the confines of Muslim society: a tale of a quartet of girl friends in Riyadh looking and lamenting of love. Well, technically, only 3 of them are actually lamenting, whilst the fourth didn't seem bothered about not having a man in her life until she ended up being the only one with a fairytale relationship. As the author's apparent goal was to highlight the trials and tribulation of love, this fourth girlfriend had only 3 or 4 chapters dedicated to her, the most memorable of which is a retelling of a highschool escapade involving videotapes (and no, they're not that type of videos either).

The most interesting part about the book is the way the chapters are structured: as weekly emails sent to a mailing list from an anonymous writer (again, parallels with Carrie Bradshaw, except the writer is not one of the quartet). Otherwise, there is nothing much to shout about, except that Saudi girls - at least those in Riyadh's 'velvet class' - are not much different from the rest of us.

I'll take the Arabian Nights any time.

Read more reviews here.