White Girl Problems by Babe Walker

Publisher: Hyperion

Publish Date: January 17, 2012

Format: Kobo ereader

Pages: - 

ISBN: 978 1401304119

Babe Walker, center of the universe, is a painstakingly manicured white girl with an expensive smoothie habit, a proclivity for Louboutins, a mysterious mother she’s never met, and approximately 50 bajillion Twitter followers.  But her “problems” have landed her in shopping rehab – that’s what happens when you spend $246,893.50 in one afternoon at Barneys.  Now she’s decided to write her memoir, revealing the gut-wrenching hurdles she’s had to overcome in order to be perfect in every way, every day.  Hurdles such as: I hate my horse.  Every job I've ever had is the worst job I've ever had.  He’s not a doctor, a lawyer, or a prince.  I’ll eat anything, as long as it’s gluten-free, dairy-free, low-carb, low-calorie, sugar-free, and organic.

My Thoughts

If you enjoy reading "memoirs" about an overly rich, spoiled, shallow, neurotic, self-absorbed, materialistic, annoying, selfish socialite with major "problems" then this is the "memoir" for you!  Yes there were parts that I found funny and gave myself a chuckle but overall I just found it unrealistic.  You just want to be embarrassed for Babe Walker, but you can't.

After attempting to Google Babe Walker and finding nothing but a blog and Twitter account I then learned that she isn't even a real person - just a made up character.

Yes I purchased the book (on sale for $2.99) and yes I will probably read the next book Psychos: A White Girl Problems Novel (when it also goes on sale for $2.99) and yes I started following @whitegrlproblems on Twitter (for entertainment purposes) but overall this was a bit of a disappointing read.  But in the end I guess it served it's purpose because I've clearly gotten caught up in the antics of "Babe Walker." xo

My Rating: ««

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The reviews made here are my personal opinion. I’m not being paid to review any of these books. I am by no means a professional book reviewer or editor.  I do this for the love of books.

The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion

Publisher: HarperCollins
Publish Date: May 21, 2013
Format: Kobo ereader
Pages: - 
ISBN: 978 1443422680

Narrator Don Tillman 39, Melbourne genetics prof and Gregory Peck lookalike, sets a 16-page questionnaire The Wife Project to find a non-smoker, non-drinker ideal match.  But \Rosie and her Father Project  supersede.  The spontaneous always-late smoker-drinker wants to find her biological father.  She resets his clock, throws of his schedule, and turns his life topsy-turvy.

My Thoughts

I found this to be suck a cute quirky read.  Don is such a lovable offbeat narrator that at times I would laugh out loud at the situations he got himself into.  Meeting Rosie turns his life upside down and ends up complementing Don's character perfectly.

As the first novel by Simsion I thought it was very well written and delivered and loved that it is a romantic comedy with a male protagonist as the main character and written by a male author.  I loved being along for the ride during all of Don's ups and downs as he faces his fears, embraces change, adapts to social etiquette and eventually learns the power of love.

Defiantly an off-beat one of a kind love story that is sure to have you laughing.   

My Rating: ««««

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The reviews made here are my personal opinion. I’m not being paid to review any of these books. I am by no means a professional book reviewer or editor.  I do this for the love of books.

The Peach Keeper by Sarah Addison Allen

Publisher: Bantam
Publish Date: March 22, 2011
Format: download library
Pages: - 
ISBN: -

It’s dubious distinction of thirty-year-old Willa Jackson to hail from a fine old Southern family of means that met with financial ruins generations ago.  The Blue Ridge Madam-built by Willa’s great-great-grandfather and once the finest home in Wall of Water, North Carolina has stood for years as a monument to misfortune and scandal.  Willa has lately learned that an old classmate – socialite Paxton Osgood – has restored the house to its former glory, with plans to turn it into a top-flight inn.  But when a skeleton is found buried beneath the property’s lone peach tree, long-kept secrets come to light, accompanied by a spate of strange occurrences throughout the town.  Thrust together in an unlikely friendship, united by a full-blooded mystery, Willa and Paxton must confront the passions and betrayals that once bound their families – and uncover the truths that have transcended time to touch the hearts of the living.

My Thoughts

I really really enjoyed this book.  The cover of the novel was just so beautiful how could I not fall in love with it?  I found it a nice easy read and got completely wrapped up in the story.  While the story lacked any real depth, I found it cute and entertaining and kept me engaged.  It had the perfect blend of charm and haunting mystery you just needed to devour and has the flawless magical realism aspect Sarah Addison Allen seems to have perfected.

Sarah Addison Allen has quickly made her way onto my auto-read list and I can't wait to consume myself with the rest of her novels.

My Rating: ««««

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The reviews made here are my personal opinion. I’m not being paid to review any of these books. I am by no means a professional book reviewer or editor.  I do this for the love of books.

The Dressmaker by Kate Alcott

Publisher: Random House Audio
Publish Date: February 21, 2012
Format: Audio
Discs: 9
ISBN: 978 0307970121

Tess, an aspiring seamstress, thinks she’s had an incredibly lucky break when she is hired by famous designed Lady Lucile Duff Gordon to be a personal maid on the Titanic’s doomed voyage.  Once on board, Tess catches the eye of two men, one a roughly-hewn but kind sailor and the other an enigmatic Chicago millionaire.  But on the fourth night, disaster strikes.

Amidst the chaos and desperate urging of two very different suitors, Tess is one of the last people allowed on a lifeboat.  Tess’s sailor also manages to survive unharmed, witness to Lady Duff Gordon’s questionable actions during the tragedy.  Others – including the gallant Midwestern tycoon – are not so lucky.

On dry land, rumours about the survivors being to circulate, and Lady Duff Gordon quickly becomes the subject of media scorn and later, the hearings on the Titanic.  Set against a historical tragedy but told from a completely fresh angle, The Dressmaker is an atmospheric delight filled with all the period’s glitz and glamour, all the raw feelings of a national tragedy and all the contradictory emotions of young love.

My Thoughts

I was somewhat disappointed with this novel.  While I love everything Titanic, I just found this story fell flat.  The majority of the story takes place after the sinking of the ship and the tragedy it entailed with actually hearing manuscripts that took place.

The premise of the book follows Tess, and her journey aboard the ship as Lady Duff Gordon's maid and as she stands by her during the aftermath and the trials involved with the inquest.  What was disappointing is that the story had very little to do with Tess and her dressmaking.  I assumed with a title like The Dressmaker that the majority of the story would be about dressmaking.

The character of Lady Duff Gordon was extremely shallow and conceded, and later found out that her part of the story is based  on actual events...she really was that shallow. While Tess was a fictional character many others mentioned in the novel were real people.  While I always find Titanic fascinating,  this one just didn't do it for me.  It was too blah for my liking.

My Rating: «««

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The reviews made here are my personal opinion. I’m not being paid to review any of these books. I am by no means a professional book reviewer or editor.  I do this for the love of books.

Beautiful Ruins by Jess Walter

Publisher: Harper Audio

Publish Date: June 12, 2012

Format: Audio

Discs: 10

ISBN: 978 0062268365

The story beings in 1962.  On a rocky patch of the sun-drenched Italian coastline, a young innkeeper, chest-deep in daydreams, looks on over the incandescent waters of the Ligurian Sea and spies an apparition: a tall, thin woman, a vision in white, approaching him on a boat.  She is an actress, he soon learns, an American starlet, and she is dying.

And the story beings again today, half a world away, when an elderly Italian man shows up on a movie studio’s back lot – searching for the mysterious woman he last saw at his hotel decades earlier.

What unfolds is a dazzling, yet deeply human, roller coaster of a novel, spanning fifty years and nearly as many lives.  From the lavish set of Cleopatra to the shabby revelry of the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, Walter introduces us to the tangled lives of a dozen unforgettable characters: the starstruck Italian innkeeper and is long-lost love; the heroically preserved producer who once brought them together and is idealistic young assistant; the army veteran turned fledgling novelist and the rakish Richard Burton himself, whose appetites set the whole story in motion – along with the husbands and wives, lovers and dreamers, superstars and losers, who populate their world in the decades that follow.

My Thoughts

Well, all I really have to say about this is that it is one hot mess of a book.  Like the description states the story unveils a dozen characters...a dozen!  And not only that, but each of them have a point of view in the story telling.  This book is all over the map.  Every chapter is told by a different character, during a different time period in a different city.  I listened to this on audio, and while I found the narration enjoyable to listen to I found myself either lost in the story and had no idea what was happening or bored out of my mind from the rambling. 

There is not one character that is likable, all of them drove me crazy.  I can't think of one thing that I took away from this novel or that I found memorable.  I'm not sure how a novel with so many story lines happened to come to a neat and tidy end in no time flat.  If felt like the story was still unfolding then all of a sudden...The End.  Like at the end of a movie when it's over then they show a still picture with a character update.  Everything started with such promise, why couldn't the story have just continued on with Pasquael and the beautiful setting of Italy?

2 stars for the narration of Edorado Ballerini.

My Rating: ««

Buy it Now!

The reviews made here are my personal opinion. I’m not being paid to review any of these books. I am by no means a professional book reviewer or editor.  I do this for the love of books.