Susan Hated Literature

ISBN: 0743468953
DDC: 813.6
Author: Jennifer Weiner

First line:
“Hello?” I tapped on Kitty Cavanaugh’s red front door, then lifted the brass knocker and gave it a few thumps for good measure”

This was a good enjoyable read, chick lit, but with a little extra.
Kate Klein doesn’t fit into the world of immaculate suburban housewives. But when one is murdered, and she discovers the body, she is pulled into the investigation. And then there is the old flame back in her life, you know, the one she never really got over.

This is sort of Desperate Housewives meets the detective novel. And it is probably the first US chick lit that I’ve read, and the world seems very different than the chick lit world’s in British and irish books. Then again, I haven’t read a whole lot of those either, so maybe I just haven’t read the right ones.

Nicely written and well paced, this will keep you interested, but all in all I felt that this was lacking something. There is quite a bit about how life as a mom has changed Kate from whomever she was into this nobody, who does nothing but look after her children. How she isn’t quite sure how she ended up in this position but that she is more than just a mother. However, I think that the book would have been better served if the peripheral characters were more developed. As is, they are there only to serve the purpose of the story, and are not individuals in their own right.

Tags: 5 Stars, 813.6, chick-lit, crime, Goodnight Nobody, Jennifer Weiner, murder, mystery, solid read

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Author: Audrey Niffenegger
DDS: 813.6

I read this books for Fantasy Favorites, but I’m a bit late so haven’t read any of the discussion there yet.

I’ve listed this under chick-lit as it is basically a romance story, with a little bit of sci-fi (in the form of time travel) thrown in. The plot revolves around Clare and Henry, who meet when Clare was 6 and Henry 36. But marry when Clare was 22 and Henry 30.

However the time-travel is really just a plot device, the real story is the romance between the two characters. And I’ll admit that at the start I didn’t really like the idea of this older Henry being so close with the child Clare. I felt it was a little close to “grooming.”
But that feeling was only ever very slight, and for the most part this was a well-written, enjoyable romance.

Tags: 8 Stars, 813.6, Audrey Niffenegger, chick-lit, Fantasy Favorites, group read, romance, sff, time travel, Time Traveller's Wife

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Author: Kelley Armstrong
#1 in the Otherworld series
DDC: 813.6
You know I was a bit doubtful when I first saw this book, after all the first line of the blurb says “Elena Michaels is your regular twenty-first century girl: self-assured, smart and fighting fit. She also just happens to be the only female werewolf in the world…”
Hmmm, I thought to myself, I’ll leave it

But then someone recommended it in Fantasy Favourites and I found it for only €2. Well I figured it couldn’t hurt.

And I really enjoyed it. In a way it is a cross between good chick-lit and fantasy. It has humour and werewolves, but it also has believeable characters and emotions. I won’t go all out and say it is the best book ever written, it isn’t. But it is well worth a look at.

As the blurb states the book is about Elena Michaels. And in Armstong’s mythology she is the only female werewolf for two main reasons. First off, most werewolves seem to be hereditary ones, and it is passed along the male line only. Therefore no females werewolves are born. And as for bitten; well as Elena puts it, when a werewolf bites you, normally it’s trying to kill you. Plus all the other werewolves seem to regard women as good for only one thing: sex.

But ten years before the book starts she was turned, even became part of the Pack. Now she is trying to make a lfe for herself away from werewolves. A normal life, among humans. Bet you can guess that things don’t go to plan.

Armstrong does a good job of revealing the backstory without forcing it, and neither does she provide too much information. Enough for you to understand why her characters react in certain ways, but not enough to explain everything about them, which, imo, is a good thing. After all who wants to know everything about someone?

---

Reread 1st April 2005: Grabbed it and Stolen from the shelves when I was home. Basically it is the story of the world’s only female werewolf. Sounds crap I know, but it is a fun read. And has good characters, the most important thing in my reading.
This is the first book in a series that now has 4 novels, with a fifth and sixth in the pipeline. Not all deal with the same characters but they are all set in the same ‘verse. I’m partial to the werewolf two, but the others are still entertaining.

For those interested Armstrong also has a website where she posts short stories every month, and has a couple of novellas in the archives. Kelley Armstong .com

Tags: 8 Stars, 813.6, Bitten, chick-lit, humour, Kelley Armstong, Otherworld series, romance, sff, werewolves

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