Book Review: Fast Forward

By Melissa Amster

During my recent trip to Disney World (a.k.a. Magic Kingdom), we visited a classic "ride" known as the Carousel of Progress. It starts at the turn of the 20th century and shows scenes from different time periods, to explain how far we've come with inventions. It stops at the end of the 20th century, so we don't get to see inventions like the ones Juliet Madison comes up with in her debut novel, Fast Forward.

Kelli Crawford is on top of the world at the eve of her 25th birthday. She's dating a hot guy who could possibly be proposing to her and she's a successful model. What more could she want from life? Then she wakes up 25 years into the future, on her 50th birthday! Suddenly, she's married to the school nerd and everything is topsy-turvy in her life. Kelli soon has to decide if this is the future she truly wants for herself or if she'll be able to change it....provided she's given a chance to go back to the present.

I loved everything about Fast Forward! As you probably already know, I'm a sucker for time travel stories, whether it is in movies or books. This was like another 13 Going on 30 story, but with a wider time span. Since it is set in the distant future, Juliet gets to invent devices like the e-pad, which pretty much has everything one needs to function in life. She also gets to create a whole new world for Kelli (pardon the Disney reference), coming up with new characters and surprises along the way.

Fast Forward is everything I want in a chick lit novel. It's funny, clever, has interesting characters, great dialogue and even a love story. I found myself teary-eyed at times while reading it. It's a story I was able to easily breeze through, even though I didn't want it to end. The suspension of disbelief is definitely important to enjoy any kind of time travel novel and this is no exception. I can't wait to see what Juliet comes up with next and look forward to getting my hands on it right away!

Thanks to Harlequin AU for the book in exchange for an honest review.

Book Review: A Private Affair

By Gail Allison

Let me start this off by saying that I love Lesley Lokko’s books. The sweeping landscapes, the multifaceted characters, and the fascinating storylines are completely captivating, and A Private Affair kept up the tradition. It was also one of those books that told four separate stories that slowly wove together into once fantastic novel. Completely my cup of tea!

Sam is a successful entertainment lawyer who grew up unattractive and unpopular, and compensated by working extra hard at school. Her diligence translated into a powerful career, the wealth that came with it, and she has now molded herself into a beautiful woman, but deep down inside she’s still a little bit unsure of herself. So when a handsome stranger approaches her while she’s on holidays, she finds herself falling hard for him. But is he as perfect as he seems?

Abby is the quintessential army brat. She was brought up to support the men in her life while they were out on tour, and to present herself as a flexible, supportive, caring person when they were back at home. She was taught not to make waves, and to do whatever she had to do in order to deal with her own emotions and not project anything on to her husband. Can she keep up the façade, even in the face of a terrible secret?

Dani is a survivor. Born into poverty in Sierra Leone, she’s out to prove to the world that she can make a difference for all the girls she’s ever met who did anything they could just to have a meal in front of them. She has great aspirations, and doesn’t want anyone to end up in the shoes she once wore, but can she do enough to chase away the shadows that haunt her?

Meaghan is also a survivor, but against a different backdrop. A teenage runaway, she’s worked hard all her life to ensure she’s taken care of. When a handsome army officer approaches her out of the blue, she’s taken aback, but perhaps her luck is finally turning around…

Set against lush landscapes, and juxtaposed by the harsh realities of army life, A Private Affair is not an easy read, but it’s totally absorbing. It’s quite a bit darker than most of Ms. Lokko’s novels, but don’t let this deter you. This book grabs hold of a deeper storyline, and keeps you hooked from the very first page. If you don’t mind keeping track of a few different (but all equally compelling) threads, and have the time to really sink your teeth into a great novel, check out A Private Affair.

Thanks to Trafalgar Square Publishing for the book in exchange for an honest review.

More by Lesley Lokko:

Winners of "The List"

To find our winners, we assigned a number to each entry (from only the entries with contact info) and asked random.org to choose THREE numbers.

Congrats to:

70 - Lisamarie
48 - Jennifer L.
66 - The Every Free Chance Reader

Here is a message from Karin Tanabe:

A huge thank you to everyone for entering the giveaway and congratulations to the winners! I love Chick Lit Central and really enjoyed doing a Q&A. I hope "The List" and the book's heroine Adrienne Brown bring a little spice and a whole lot of laughter to your reading. Keep in touch!

Reminder: If you have won a book, you have about 48 hours to claim it by sending your contact information. (You will be e-mailed if you have won, as well.) After that time, a new winner will be picked.

Thanks to everyone for participating and telling us what the spiciest food item you've ever eaten is.

Thanks to Karin for a lovely interview and Atria for sharing the book with our winners.

Check out our latest giveaways and also enter ones from other blogs and websites on our giveaways page.

Go-To-Gay: Grammy G

"Grammy G"

Introduction by Tracey Meyers

"How do I love sweets?  Let me count the ways..." 

I LOVE apple pie.  Seriously, L-O-V-E apple pie.  Up until about 10 years ago I couldn't tell you why.  All I knew was that getting to dive-in to a piece was heaven on earth as far as I'm concerned.  However, it was a conversation with my middle brother that clarified why I love this sweet treat so much.  Turns out it was our dad's favorite type of pie (something I never really knew), and a must have at every family dinner.  As it turns out, not only did I, over time, develop an attachment to this flavorful treat, but also formed an emotional attachment to it.

I bring this up today for several reasons.  First it's "Pi Day".  Like many other "geeky" people like myself, the date 3.14 (the numeric representation of the mathematical term "Pi") is marked with "pie".  However, I also bring this up because Chick Lit Central's very own Go-To-Gay Wade Rouse is sharing some very special food memories of his own - and a special recipe!

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.

"Grammy G"

Growing up in the Ozarks, my Grandma Shipman baked cakes that looked like the ones that graced the covers of Better Homes and Gardens and Ladies’ Home Journal.

Frosting, swirled perfectly, the sugary tips seemingly suspended in midair.

My favorite cake she made was a cherry-chip cake with sour cream frosting. It tasted like a creamy, cherry cloud. She also made homemade fruit pies – apple, apple-caramel, blueberry, cherry, peach, rhubarb, strawberry – with intricately laced Crisco crusts, on top of which she would Zorro an “S”, the sign of her work. That was the only moment of pride my grandmother ever demonstrated: That simple “S” the only time she ever said to the world, “Look at me. Look at what I did.”

Her legacy instilled in me a love affair with food as well as a desire to connect with others in a meaningful, creative way. It’s a large part of the reason I write, and a large part of the reason I cook, experiment with recipes, love to spend time in the kitchen. 

Ironically, however, I am not a great baker. While I think I can work a grill like Bobby Flay, or create a salad dressing from pure imagination like Giada, I don’t have a lot of Paula Deen in me.

Which is part of the reason I fell in love with Gary.

While the way to a man’s heart may be through his stomach, one of the quickest ways to my heart is via my sweet tooth. 

Gary realized that from the start.

For one of our very first dates, Gary cooked dinner for me. When I walked into his adorable, little city apartment, I inhaled and was transported back some three decades to my grandmother’s little Ozarks kitchen. His place was enveloped in the scents of, well, sugar and spice and everything nice.

It smelled of home.

I took a bite of his homemade pumpkin bars and melted, more quickly than the cream cheese frosting atop the fluffy cake. 

Gary, I came to discover, also learned to love cooking alongside his grandmother as well as his mother.

When someone would initially ask me what drew me to Gary, I would scream, “That boy can bake!” Of course, there was more – much, much more – to my love of Gary than that, but baking always connoted to me that someone took great time and care to demonstrate, quite literally, how sweet they were for you. Baking is a measured endeavor. It requires patience along with creativity. It takes following a recipe and giving it your own twist.

Over time, I realized that Gary had endless dessert recipes. All different. All amazing. Some were passed along from his grandmother, some he had tweaked over time, but many he had created on his own. 

I began to call Gary “Grammy G”, a nickname that poked both fun at and also showed affection for his grandmotherly side. Gary not only loves baking and cleaning, he takes great pride in it as well. Nevermind, that Gary looks just like your own grandmother when he dresses up as “Grammy G” for Halloween and special events.

Lately, I have been pushing Gary to write a Paula Deen meets Amy Sedaris meets Dame Edna coffee table book entitled, “Grammy G: Sugar & Spice & Tuck It Twice!,” which would feature his old-fashioned recipes and advice updated for a modern era (from how to fold a fitted sheet to his amazing desserts). I firmly believe America is ready to embrace its old-fashioned sensibilities again. 

And wouldn’t it be even more fun if it were done in drag?

As a preface to this, I’m truly honored to share the pumpkin bar recipe that first captured my nose, sweet tooth and heart.

I know Grammy G would make my grandmother – and yours – proud.

******

Pumpkin Bars .. Yummm!!!

Grammy G’s Pumpkin Bars

2 cups sugar
½ cup oil
1 can 16oz pumpkin
4 eggs beaten
Mix together and add:
2 cups bisquick
1 tablespoon cinnamon
½ tsp pumpkin pie spice
½ tsp mace
1 tsp nutmeg
Pour into a greased 9 x 13 pan
Bake 350 for 40 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean

Cream Cheese Frosting
4 oz cream cheese
1/3 cup butter (softened)
3 ½ cups powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla
Beat until creamy
Spread frosting onto bars after they have cooled
Cut into squares

ENJOY!

Book Review: The House of Velvet & Glass

By Jami Deise

Everyone has their own little obsessions and interests. For me, they include General Hospital, 1970s TV, vampires that do not sparkle, romantic comedies, anything hot pink, ghost stories, the Titanic, ESP, New York City, and boots, just to name a few. Katherine Howe has written a book with two of these elements – Titanic and ESP – which, at first glance, don’t seem to go together naturally. I don’t usually gravitate toward historical fiction, but the subject matter was too tantalizing to resist.

Three years ago, Sibyl Allston lost her mother Helen and younger sister Eulah when the Titanic went down. Now a young spinster who helps run her family’s Boston estate, Sibyl comforts herself through visits to Mrs. Dee’s parlor, where the séances convince Sibyl that her lost relatives are watching her from the great beyond. Mrs. Dee even gives Sibyl a looking glass in which Sibyl tries to get her own glimpse of her mother.

Sibyl’s life is complicated by the return of two men: her ne’er-do-well younger brother Harlan, who’s been kicked out of college, and widowed psychology professor Benton Jones, who broke Sibyl’s heart when he married another woman. When Harlan’s girlfriend Dovie takes Sibyl to a Chinatown opium den, Sibyl begins to see visions in Mrs. Dee’s looking glass. At first, Sibyl thinks she’s seeing the Titanic before it went down, and anxiously searches for her loved one’s faces. But then Sibyl realizes what she’s seeing isn’t the past, but the future. As Sibyl takes more opium to continue her look into the future, Benton tries to keep her from becoming addicted or completely lost to her visions.

This summary makes The House of Velvet & Glass seem a little convoluted, but the book holds together well and flows very nicely. The point-of-view moves among Sibyl’s doomed sister on the Titanic, Sibyl herself, Harlan, and Lan, the family patriarch. Lan’s point-of-view tells a story that takes place some 30 years prior, which eventually sheds light on Sibyl’s visions. Sibyl seems very much a creation of her time; a typical oldest child who fulfills her familial duties while repressing her own desires. She’s wholly sympathetic, even as her actions sometimes seem foolish.

Howe chooses not to depict the deaths of Helen and Eulah on the Titanic, and instead leaves us with the image of sweet, peppy Eulah and her indulgent mother after a moment of personal triumph. I can appreciate that such scenes might have been needlessly graphic, but I wanted to know why they died. Sibyl points out that only four upper-class women died when the ship went down, so why were Helen and Eulah victims?

More than 100 years later, Titanic remains a fascination for many people, not just me. Even though the story itself mostly takes place in 1915 and is fully grounded in that time period, Howe raises timeless questions through the quandary of Sibyl’s visions. If one can see the future, can she change it? What if that future belongs to someone else? Is the future set in stone? Or is a person’s ultimate fate sealed, with only the details subject to change?

The House of Velvet and Glass is an engrossing, engaging read not only for fans of Titanic and historical fiction, but for anyone who wants a story that stays with her long after the last page is read.

Thanks to Penguin UK for the book in exchange for an honest review.

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Guest Book Review & Giveaway: Apron Anxiety

By Sara Steven

**Giveaway is now closed**

I’ll be honest: when I first saw the cover to Apron Anxiety, I wasn’t sure I’d enjoy the book. There’s an image of a woman placed precariously barefoot onto her kitchen counter tops, with a mixing bowl in hand and a floral apron tied around her waist. It’s not that I don’t appreciate cooking. I just don’t choose novels based on culinary topics.

This book definitely fits the motto: “Don’t judge a book by it’s cover.”

Alyssa Shelasky, author of Apron Anxiety, is a well-known writer for publications like People, New York Magazine, and US Weekly, to name a few. Apron Anxiety is a memoir into her life, giving us the back story on how she discovered cooking to be a cathartic and at times therapeutic experience for her.

In the beginning, Alyssa could not cook. The thought terrified her. She was a self declared foodie by way of the various restaurants she would frequent, yet couldn’t handle a spatula to save her life. When she begins dating a well known, famous chef  (whom she merely calls "Chef," we never know his real name), she becomes absorbed by their relationship and the idea of being in love, even going so far as to quit her job with People and moving with "Chef" to a small suburb in the D.C. area. She is lonely, without work, and "Chef" is never around, working many hours at his restaurant and leaving her to fend for herself. The strain on their relationship is brutal, and Alyssa takes a hard look at her life as well as her current situation. What’s a girl to do, in order to save herself as well as her fledgling relationship?

Learn. To. Cook.

It’s an epiphany, and Alyssa starts out with a basic Martha Stewart recipe, a baked Macaroni and Cheese that remains one of her favorites to this day. Starting off on a culinary foot, and wading through trial and error, she gradually gets better; feeling stronger emotionally, as well as mentally, and ready to tackle her situation head on, regardless of whether the outcome is a good one...or a not so good one. While reading the book, you will discover various recipes she shares generously, something I very much appreciated considering I am always on the look out for new and interesting techniques with food. You will also find out that Alyssa is not perfect. She’s real, and flawed, and although her life may be light years away from the one you are currently embedded in (the girl has done red carpet affairs, parties with famous hotties and has interviewed/met with several celebrities), who isn’t able to identify with a need for change?

If you are looking for a nice, easy, candid read (and have a full stomach, lest you become insanely hungry), I recommend giving Apron Anxiety a try.

For more information on the author, check out Alyssa’s blog or read her blog reviews and interviews at http://newyork.grubstreet.com/.

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

How to win Apron Anxiety:
Please tell us: What are you most afraid to cook?

One entry per person.

Please include your e-mail address or another way to reach you if you win. Entries without contact information will NOT be counted.

US/Canada only. Giveaway ends March 18th at midnight EST.

Sara Steven is a wife and stay-at-home mother of two rambunctious boys in Bellevue, NE. When she’s not running marathons, getting certified in group fitness instruction, or working on her novel, she takes a break and opens up a good book (or turns on her Nook). Find her at her blog, Momarock.

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Book Review: Happily Ever Before

By Melissa Amster

Sisters share secrets. Sisters share jokes. Sisters share a history. Sisters share their womb. WHAT?!? Yes, you heard it correctly! At least that's the case with Grace and Clair Higgins, the leading ladies of Happily Ever Before, a modern day fairy tale by Aimee Pitta and Melissa Peterman.

When Clair finds out that her uterus is not meant for carrying babies, she is reminded of a pact she made with her sister, Grace, while getting drunk and watching Lifetime movies. Therefore, she asks Grace to be her surrogate. When Grace agrees, it leads to a lot of changes that affect their lives and the lives of their family members and friends, as she and Clair navigate the nine months of pregnancy together.

I definitely had a fun time reading Happily Ever Before. It was light and cute throughout. Both Grace and Clair were interesting and I enjoyed reading about how they contrasted. They reminded me of my sister and myself. (My sister would totally be Clair since she's all about neatness and organization.) There were a lot of pop culture references, which I always enjoy in a novel. And it definitely had the feel of a comedy film. The authors compared it to Baby Mama and Bridesmaids. However, I'd compare it to some comedies that came out earlier than those two films. It was like a cross between a Nora Ephron film (take your pick) and My Big Fat Greek Wedding. The dialogue and interactions between characters was entertaining and never became stale. There were a lot of sweet and humorous moments, as well. And given that it's "Foodie" month at Chick Lit Central, there was even a baking aspect to the story. Reading about all the cookies made my mouth water. All of the characters were fun and likable in their own quirky ways.

However, a few things could have been looked over before going to print. The grammar and spelling were crying out for me to go over everything with a red pen. There's a difference between "to" and "too" and this seemed to be a major issue. I sometimes had trouble figuring out who was speaking. And they said "you know" in the middle of many sentences, which is one of my, you know, pet peeves. (Can you see why now?) There's also a mathematical issue, unless the story is supposed to take place about five years prior. Grace is supposed to be 35 in what is most likely 2012. If that is the case, there's no way she would have been 19 in 1991.

Aside from the technical stuff, there seemed to be a lot of toilet humor. However, I'll let it slide because I know the feeling of some of those issues, having been pregnant a few times. (Let's just say I used my favorite line from Billy Madison a lot, which is "If peeing your pants is cool, consider me Miles Davis." What?!? We're all friends here!) I also would have liked there to be more of a balance between Clair and Grace's perspectives. Grace seemed to carry the weight of the book as much as she carried the weight of her sister's baby. If they come out with a sequel, I hope Clair gets more "face time." Although this took place in Chicago, it didn't really carry a location feel. I wouldn't have minded more Chicago landmarks or something to make the city seem less generic. I'd recommend reading Stacey Ballis' novels to get what I'm talking about.

Overall, I enjoyed Happily Ever Before. It made me wonder if I would ever do something like that for my own sister. We're close, but that's definitely a huge emotional and physical sacrifice. (I'm still trying to lose the weight from TWO YEARS ago.)  The selfish part of me that is done having kids would say no. (I had enough "morning" sickness to make me NEVER want to become bulimic.) The generous part of me that would love to be a biological aunt (I'm already an aunt by marriage, but this would be different) and knows my sister would be an amazing mom, would say yes. I hope it never comes down to that question being raised though. If it did, I wouldn't mind being compensated the way Grace was, but I wouldn't go out of my way to ask for that. Maybe just a spa day or two...or three.

As I said earlier, this would make a great chick flick/romantic comedy film. In lieu of that, I cast the three main women in the story.

Clair: Lizzy Caplan
Grace: Rashida Jones
George (Grace's best friend): Kate Hudson or Busy Philipps

Alright, Hollywood...get to work!

Thanks to Aimee Pitta for the book in exchange for an honest review.

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