Book Review: The Art of Adapting

By Melissa Amster

In trying to keep up with all the books that are out there these days, I tend to miss a few along the way. Thanks to Jenny O'Regan at Confessions of a Bookaholic, I found out about a debut novel that I would have missed otherwise. The Art of Adapting, by Cassandra Dunn, may have come onto the scene quietly, but I want to make sure everyone knows about this novel as it is definitely a page turner!


When change is the only constant, the first step towards happiness is mastering the art of adapting

Seven months after her husband leaves her, Lana is still reeling. Being single means she is in charge of every part of her life, but with two teenage children and a house she can barely afford on her solo salary, her new life is a balancing act made even more complicated when her brother Matt moves in.

Matt has Asperger’s syndrome, which makes social situations difficult for him and flexibility and change nearly impossible. Adding Matt’s regimented routine to her already disrupted household seems like the last thing Lana needs, but her brother’s unique attention to detail makes him an invaluable addition to the family—he sees things differently.

Matt sees his nephew Byron struggling to reconcile the part of him that is vying for popularity with the artistic side his father always stifled. He sees Abby, formerly an Honors student and dedicated athlete, wasting away as she skips lunch to run laps. And most of all he sees Lana, his once vibrant and independent sister, resigned to her role of mother and fulfilling everyone’s needs except her own.

After mistakes and missteps, Lana and her family come to discover that knowing where you’ve come from is essential to figuring out who you are and who you can grow to be. (Synopsis courtesy of Cassandra's website.)

I was initially expecting The Art of Adapting to be similar to One Plus One (by Jojo Moyes), which is admittedly what drew me in. And yes, there are some similarities, such as a single mother who is trying to make ends meet financially, and a story told from more than one perspective. However, they stop right there and Cassandra Dunn goes on to tell a unique and touching story that I still keep thinking about. The family dynamics and relationships with other characters (friends, significant others, etc.) were all very strong and compelling. I could easily feel Lana's frustration with her mother whenever they talked about who knew Matt's needs best. I also got a thrill from the positive connections between characters. The story stayed interesting throughout and I couldn't stop turning the pages to see what would happen next.

While I don't often read young adult novels, I tended to like Abby and Byron's parts the best and couldn't wait until their turns would come around again. It makes me wonder if I should read YA books more often (don't worry, I'm not giving up chick lit). I just wished they would call their parents "Mom and Dad" instead of by their first names. And while I like that Cassandra fit in a character with Asperger's, I felt she could have easily moved the story along to feature him without needing his perspective. Matt was an interesting and likable character, but giving him a first-person voice sometimes took away from the plot, even when trying to fit into everything that was going on. I didn't feel like he did that much for Lana in comparison to what he did for his niece and nephew. Maybe it was subtle, but it seemed like other people in Lana's life had more impact on the direction in which it was going.

Overall, The Art of Adapting is a sweet and heartwarming story that I can tell Cassandra put a lot of love into. I even got teary-eyed at times. Of course, I was casting the movie of this novel in my head as I was reading it.

Lana: Lauren Graham
Abby: AnnaSophia Robb
Byron: Nat Wolff
Gloria: Tyne Daly
Abbot: Jon Favreau
Becca: Olivia d'Abo

Thanks to Touchstone for the book in exchange for an honest review.

Book Review and Giveaway: Hello from the Gillespies

By Jami Deise

**Giveaway is now closed**

There’s a well-known piece of advice about how to handle anger or other negative emotions: Write a letter to the person you’re in conflict with, pouring out everything you’re feeling and holding nothing back. And then rip up the letter. This advice assumes that there’s no way you or someone else could accidentally hit the “send” button rather than the delete key. What a disaster if that were to happen!


Angela Gillespie has been sending out a yearly Christmas letter for over 30 years – cheery, upbeat missives about her daily life in the Australian outback, living on a sheep station with her husband Nick, their twin daughters Genevieve and Victoria, their younger sister Lindy and late-in-life surprise son Ig. This year, however, the words just aren’t coming: She and Nick are barely speaking to each other, as he’s spending all his team researching his Irish roots and Skyping with genealogy researcher Carol. Genevieve is a blue-haired hairdresser in New York. Victoria has been fired from her radio producer job after her shock jock lover went on a drunken rant on-air. Lindy is completely hopeless, and Ig is too old for his imaginary friend, or maybe it’s schizophrenia. No wonder Angela has retreated into a fantasy life, where she’s still living in London, married to her high-school sweetheart Will, and mother to just one child, perfect daughter Lexie. Following that age-old advice, Angela tells all in this year’s Christmas letter, sparing no one – not even that “interfering old bat” Aunt Celia and her fantasies about Will. But before she can delete it, Ig has an accident – and Nick, thinking he’s being helpful, presses “send.” Preoccupied with Ig, it isn’t until days later that Angela learns what happened. Now a hundred of her friends, family and neighbors know everyone’s deepest secrets. Now what?

In today’s world of Facebook and selfies, the gap between how we present ourselves to the world and what our life is really like is a subject ripe for exploration. With the Christmas letter premise as the jumping-off point, I was expecting Monica McInerney’s Hello from the Gillespies to be a sharp-edged, laugh-out-loud funny satire of how people manage their images. Instead, it’s a mostly straightforward look at the disappointment that happens when our lives, and the lives of our children, don’t match what we’d hoped for. There’s humor, but it mostly comes from characters making bad decisions, and is almost entirely absent from the second half of the book.

Hello from the Gillespies is well written, but it could have used a strong editor. It’s overly long for the genre, and offers a huge plot twist about halfway through that makes the novel feel like two separate books. McInerney uses multiple points of view, and there’s at least one subplot that could have been excised entirely without hurting the structure of the book.

Still, it’s an engrossing book, and should be a hit for readers who enjoy dramatic women’s fiction. McInerney’s descriptions of life on a sheep station in outback Australia are detailed and illustrative. And Angela’s emotional dilemmas are universal for all wives and mothers.

And McInerney makes a subtle point by skewering the too-positive Christmas letters we all cringe at receiving: Your friends would rather know the real you than a fake one.

Thanks to Penguin Random House for the book in exchange for an honest review. They have one copy for a lucky US reader!

How to win:
Please tell us: Which celebrity's life would make for a crazy holiday newsletter this year?

One entry per person.

Entries without contact information (e-mail address, Twitter account, Facebook page, etc.) will NOT be counted (and we do NOT count "Google +" as contact information).

US only. Giveaway ends November 16th at midnight EST.

Guest Book Review: Fairy Tale in New York

By Bethany Petty

Imagine this…

It’s the night before Christmas. This year is your beautiful young daughter’s first Christmas, and you’ve planned something magical. Family and friends will gather around the table at your home and you’ll spend the holiday surrounded by the sounds of laughter and joy of the ones you love most.

Sounds perfect, right?

But what if your plans change, unexpectedly, when you decide to help a random stranger in need? A stranger who desperately needs to get home to be with his wife who is experiencing premature labor?

This is exactly what Jude, Carrie, and their daughter Maya experience in Nicky Wells’ holiday novella, Fairy Tale in New York.

Jude, Carrie, and Maya find themselves stuck in a New York snowstorm that prevents them from flying home to England for Christmas.

Can you imagine being virtually stranded in a foreign country during the Christmas holiday?! Not only would you be missing your family and homeland terribly, but think about the logistics of the situation? Hotels are crammed and at capacity. Few establishments are actually open. And you are quite literally at the mercy of the kindness and holiday warmth of complete strangers!

In Fairy Tale in New York, the reader follows this family on a truly magical journey through New York at Christmas, as they meet wonderful strangers who make them feel like family, make life-changing decisions, and receive a wonderful reward for their kindness.

Check out Fairy Tale in New York this Christmas season. You won’t be disappointed!

Thanks to Nicky Wells for the book in exchange for an honest review.

****Stop the press!! To celebrate the launch of Fairy Tale in New York, Nicky Wells is offering her previous Christmas novella, Spirits of Christmas, completely FREE on Kindle from 8 November 8-12! And that’s not all! Fallen for Rock will be only £0.99/$0.99 from November 10-16. Go on, treat yourself!****

Bethany Petty is a mother, wife, full time high school social studies teacher, educational technology nerd, reader, runner, blogger, and more! Bethany holds a Bachelor of Science in Education degree from Southeast Missouri State University and a Master of Science in Education from the University of Missouri - Columbia. She enjoys reading a wide variety of books, and is excited to pass her love of reading on to her two young daughters. Bethany maintains two blogs: Teaching with Technology, in which she discusses educational technology topics as well as their classroom uses, and My Eclectic Bookshelf, where she reviews awesome books and posts recipes, apps, ideas, and anecdotes for mommies!

More by Nicky Wells:

Book Review: The Smart One

By Becky Gulc

‘The Coffey siblings are having a rough year.

Claire has broken up with her fiancé and is hiding from her debts. Martha’s in a career crisis and even her therapist is losing patience with her. And Max, the baby of the family in his final year of college, is keeping a life-altering secret. Before long, all three of them have moved back home.

But things aren’t so easy the second time around. Martha and Claire regress to fighting over the shared bathroom while their mother continues to plan Claire’s thwarted wedding (unbeknownst to Claire). But it’s only a matter of time before Max’s secret comes out and changes all of their lives…’
(Synopsis courtesy of Amazon UK.)

I finished reading this book a couple of weeks ago now, and yet, to be honest, I still can’t quite decide how I feel about it! I enjoyed the premise of the book, it was easy to get into and I found it to be a page-turner but on the other hand this was in part because I was waiting for something to happen, or some answers, which never really came. I felt we really delved into the minds of Claire, Martha, Weezy (their mum) and Cleo (Max’s girlfriend) as we are presented with each of their viewpoints, but it took us so far, and I kind of felt left hanging a bit, particularly in terms of Martha and Weezy’s stories; but then it’s good that I wanted more, in a way!

I thought Max’s ‘secret’ was built up in the synopsis to be something more intriguing than it actually was, and the reaction to the ‘secret’ seemed outdated. At some points, I just wondered whether I’d missed something about this book being set in the past.

I was a bit ambivalent towards the characters, I liked Claire to begin with, and I liked Cleo but some of the characters were frustrating at times. If you accept this isn’t your usual problems and resolution type book the characters can be enjoyed for what they are: probably more normal and like us or people we know than we’d maybe like to admit, flawed, self-indulgent at times, vulnerable. Probably one of my frustrations was that various neuroses were displayed by some of the characters, but we were left to decide for ourselves what it meant, whether mental health issues, or perhaps physical health issues were at bay. I guess I just wanted to know for sure!

Character-wise though, I enjoyed seeing the different viewpoints, with each viewpoint adding something to your overall opinion of each of the characters, particularly in terms of Cleo who is a clear case of not judging a book by its cover. Whilst Weezy might seem like a typical empty-nester who is actually glad her children are back home to give her something to focus on and organise we slowly learn more about her back story, the different traits her children have already displayed become perhaps understandable, passing through the generations. I liked how this seeped through the novel. I also enjoyed the interactions between the different characters and felt this seemed very real and raw and representative of a family that perhaps seems ‘normal’ on the outside but which of course has its issues at the core. I particularly enjoyed the relationship between Claire and Martha, not a typical sisterly one.

If you’re looking for a character-driven novel that’s a bit different from the norm you may well enjoy The Smart One.

Thanks to Vintage for the book in exchange for an honest review.

Go-To-Gay: Star Power

Introduction by Tracey Meyers

The first time I ever saw someone famous was during spring break 1997.  I was in London at Piccadilly Circus.  As we made our way to the tube we came upon large crowds gathering what we would learn was a premier of the remastered Star Wars films.  That night I saw one of the guitarist from ZZ Top (a popular band from the 80s).

During the Jewish High Holidays, I realized that some high-profile individuals attend the same congregation as I do.  When I was discussing this with some friends later on, one of them said, "Do you think when they are in services they think 'Gee, I'm so glad I don't have to be a well-known person right now?'"

Well, today our Go-To-Gay (and pop culture king), Wade Rouse, ponders this concept as well, as Chick Lit Central focuses on celebrities this month.

"Star Power"

I have long been obsessed with celebrity culture.

Enter me in nearly any trivia contest, and I will either stun or horrify you with my celebrity knowledge (sports, too, but not geography … never geography).

This is partly due, I believe, to the time in which I grew up. My mother adored Elizabeth Taylor, my grandfather revered John Wayne, my aunt loved Elvis. But celebrities – in life and in our reverential tones toward them – seemed untouchable, like my great-grandmother's china my mom kept out of reach on the top shelf in our dining room cabinet.

But things changed, quickly. Celebrity life morphed, seemingly overnight, from "American Bandstand" to MTV, from "Battle of the Network Stars" to "Entertainment Tonight."

Suddenly, stars became a human, daily visitor into our homes.

In college, when sports was not blaring from one of the many TVs in our fraternity house, MTV ruled.

I watched Wham! and danced to David Bowie. I felt as if I single-handedly helped propel Madonna to stardom.

Most of us woke in the middle of the night to watch Princess Diana marry.

We swooned over Julia Roberts in Pretty Woman, and then wanted her to be truly happy in real life, too.

The power of new media and technology made us feel like friends. It was a brilliant (and lucrative) delusion.

It is just that, I believe, which is the enduring power of my and our nation's celebrity obsession: We have felt like we know them, and, thus, desperately want stars' dreams to come true, because – in a way – ours do, too.

Much of my writing is filled with pop cultural and celebrity references. My former longtime Random House editor once joked that a single one of my humorous memoirs had more celebrity references than all of the books she edited combined (although, it must be stated, Deepak Chopra didn't use a lot of them). Indeed, when I would receive copy-edited pages, the list could easily exceed three single-spaced pages of names and products, from Jack Palance, Pop-Tarts and Pitt to Mindy Cohn and Suzanne Somers.

In addition to writing books, I now write for PEOPLE.com, where I cover celebrities every week.

The position has been a fascinating, revealing insider peek into the celebrity world. "Celebrity" is big business today. Celebrity is daily life today.

Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest. An intimate (yet highly tweaked and Photoshopped) peek into our favorite stars is now only a click away.

While there is little doubt that the definition of "celebrity" has changed over the past few years – whereas I once believed uncommon or unique talent (even beauty) largely defined "celebrity," I now believe that access and aspiration equally defines it.

Are certain reality "stars" gifted actors, singers, writers or inspirations? No, of course not. But they are culturally aspirational to many. And if you can make money for a network or draw readers to a magazine, if you can sell a scent or scarf, you are golden.

And yet what I have learned most about being both celebrity follower and celebrity writer is that they are – to steal from the magazine and web site for which I write – people.

Some are incredibly nice. Others not so. Most just want to fall in love, have a home, raise a family and be happy. Simple stuff.

But the majority, I realized, want desperately not only to succeed but also create. Most took a major gamble in their lives. Just like me. They followed their dreams, turned their backs on stability and ease, and leapt off a cliff.

What we don't see when we talk about celebrity are the countless number who struggled for years, who toiled at night as waiters and waitresses, and then got up at dawn to make the rounds. We don't see the writers who spent years on that novel, memoir or screenplay, not knowing if it would ever get published. We don't think of the bands and singers who play seedy bars for little money just because they must. Artists – celebrity aside – pursue their passion, even when it makes little sense.

I did. I am no celebrity, but what I've learned in writing about them is not to lament celebrities for their status, their money, their lives. Applaud them.

Because most took a risk, and for a tiny few, it paid off.

It's the same advice I give every aspiring writer: Don't write to become famous. Write because it calls to you, because you don't have a choice to do anything else in life. And don't ever, ever give up if you believe in your talent and dream.

I believe if you do just that, then great things can happen.

You may never appear on the cover of PEOPLE, or walk a red carpet in Cannes, but I guarantee you will be a star.

The writings of bestselling humorist Wade Rouse – called “wise, witty and wicked” by USA Today and the lovechild of Erma Bombeck and David Sedaris – have been featured multiple times on NBC’s Today Show as well as on Chelsea Lately on E! and People.com. His latest memoir, It’s All Relative: Two Families, Three Dogs, 34 Holidays and 50 Boxes of Wine (reviewed here) launched in paperback February 1st from Broadway, and he is creator and editor of the humorous dog anthology, I’m Not the Biggest Bitch in This Relationship: Hilarious, Heartwarming Tales about Man’s Best from America’s Favorite Humorists (NAL). The book features a Foreword by Chelsea Handler’s dog, Chunk, essays by such beloved chick lit authors as Jane Green, and 50 percent of the book’s net royalties go to the Humane Society of the United States. His first memoir, America's Boy, has been re-published by Magnus Books for paperback and Kindle. For more, visit his website, or friend him on Facebook or Twitter.

Book Review and Giveaway: I Don’t Know What You Know Me From (Confessions of a Co-Star)

By Sara Steven

**Giveaway is now closed**

When I first saw Judy Greer on the big screen, I was watching What Women Want. She’s Erin the file girl, and I remember thinking, “Who’s that actress? What else have I seen her in?” I had the same reaction when I saw The Wedding Planner, and 13 Going on 30. It would be insanely hard not to take notice of the fantastic acting chops Greer possesses. Even when she’s devilishly bitchy like in "13." Only problem is, I still didn’t know her name. Not even after seeing her in Arrested Development (I was late to the game and watched it all for the first time on Netflix), or in the recent Sprint commercials. My husband is a huge fan of Archer and even he had no clue who does the voice of Cheryl!

We’re not alone. In I Don’t Know What You Know Me From: Confessions of a Co-Star, Greer fills us in on what it’s like to be highly recognizable but not well known. People approach her all the time and want to know what movies she’s been in, and she takes it in stride, even when they suggest a film she’s never been in but swears they’ve seen her in. Reading her confessions is like sitting down with your best friend on a lazy Sunday afternoon, eating pizza and ice cream straight out of the carton and discovering just what makes Greer so undeniably cool. From her childhood in Michigan to the time she spent peeing in a stall next to Jennifer Lopez, or the unfortunate mishaps during an Oscar night, there is no sugar coating what Greer experiences. It’s blunt and very real. And quirky, just like you’d imagine her to be. Who would have known how obsessed she is with Target? The fact that she’s very down to earth despite the fame makes her super likeable.

This book is written in essay format and focuses more on Greer’s experiences, not on dishing the dirt. Don’t expect a cheap, grossly exaggerated tell-all. It gives you just enough to whet that celebrity gossip palate without going overboard or taking away from it’s primary objective: making you laugh, and learning a lot more about the girl who is everyone’s best friend.

Visit Judy on Facebook and Twitter.

Thanks to Penguin Random House, we have TEN copies for readers in the US!

How to win:
Please tell us your favorite obscure celebrity (the ones who you see in movies or TV shows but can't seem to place a name with their face).

One entry per person.

Entries without contact information (e-mail address, Twitter account, Facebook page, etc.) will NOT be counted (and we do NOT count "Google +" as contact information).

US only. Giveaway ends November 11th at midnight EST.

Book Review: Say Never

By Melissa Amster

In 2012, a new author came onto the scene. Her name is Janis Thomas and she managed to make me laugh, smile, and nod along as she enticed me with her debut novel, Something New (reviewed here). I still remember how well it entertained me while I waited in line to vote on Election Day. Then she managed to charm me even more with her sophomore hit, Sweet Nothings (reviewed here), which also had me craving baked goods. (She included some hot "romantic" scenes in both novels, as well.) So I was thrilled when she contacted me out of the blue to tell me that she had a third novel coming out. When I saw the synopsis, I couldn't wait to have a copy in my hands so I could devour it. Needless to say, the story exceeded my expectations for how great it would be.

Sometimes the last thing you want is the one thing you need… 

Snarky radio personality Meg Monroe thinks she has the perfect life: no husband, no kids, and best of all, an Upper West side apartment three thousand miles from her family and her childhood demons. But when her brother calls to ask for Meg’s help with his three kids, she is forced to do the unimaginable: go home and step into the dreaded role of ‘parent.’ With no maternal skills whatsoever, Meg is thrust into a world of diapers, tantrums, and projectile vomit, and her decision not to procreate is stunningly validated—she could never be a mom. But as the days go by, and she starts to connect with her nieces and nephew, Meg discovers that her family is not the nemesis she feared, and she might not be the person she always thought she was. (Synopsis courtesy of Amazon.)

Say Never was delightful in so many ways. Meg's snarky comments were so funny and rang true many times. I loved seeing life through her eyes. Even though I am a mom of three, I could relate to how Meg felt around kids who weren't her own flesh and blood. I know how to talk to my own kids, but when I talk to other kids, I always wonder if they think I'm speaking some other language or came from a different planet. I also wouldn't tolerate certain behaviors from other people's kids if I can't even tolerate them from my own. There were some really funny and poignant moments that came out of Meg's attempts to "parent" someone else's kids, even though they were related to her.

The characters in this novel were so well-written that they just jumped off the page. I could see everything happening as if it were right in front of me. I even got into the emotions that ran through the story, and would feel all frustrated or elated, depending on how Meg was feeling at the time. The only thing I wish was that it didn't have to end. I felt like the ending was rushed, in that regard. I wanted more time with the characters and even further development of their story. While some elements felt predictable, others took me by surprise. I had one prediction in mind and it didn't even come true, so I was actually glad that it didn't follow the formula I was expecting.

Overall, I LOVED this book and it's definitely on my list of top chick lit novels for 2014. I only wish I could afford the movie rights because I already have a cast in mind and would love to see it play out on the big screen.

Meg: Lake Bell
Danny: Chris Pratt
Matt: Josh Duhamel
Patsy: Jennifer Garner
Damien: Jordan Gavaris
Caroline: Natalie Lisinska
(Yes, I know...two actors from Orphan Black. I'm obsessed! However, they just work really well for these roles)
Cera: Joey King

Thanks to Janis for the book in exchange for an honest review.