Non-Laughter Review: PILLOW TALK

PILLOWTALK
Freya North
Sourcebooks, July 2011 (reissue)
Women's Fiction

Premise: After a brief period of non-acted upon attraction when they were teens, a London jeweller and rural teacher meet again.

Cover: Title - Relevant on two levels: it signals 'relationships' as theme, and points to the sleepwalking and insomnia that bedevil hero and heroine. Art - colors and cartoonish font and illustration look like classic chicklit, and the story contains several elements that point in that direction (if we all did not know that Chicklit Is Dead. Or so we keep being told). Altogether, the cover gives a good indication of what the reader will find inside.

What Works: It is very easy to like the protagonists. Artist Petra is passionate about her work, good to her friends, and doggedly determined to keep up her relationships with her divorced parents and stepsiblings despite zero energy on their part to make an effort in that direction. Arlo is a former rock singer/songwriter who now teaches music at an uppercrust private school, and seems genuinely fond of his pupils and sincere in carrying out his duties.

Their story is not about tumultuous passion or wild adventure, but rather, the quiet moments and steps that build up on each other to help everyday people decide whether a relationship is worth sticking with or no longer functional. This is pretty much the opposite of what happens in genres like urban fantasy, space opera, or stories that involve, let's say, espionage, so it is a refreshing and thoughtful change from those types of novels.

Apprentice Writer also found it interesting how sleep was used to underscore what is going on. How, where, with whom, how effectively we do it - all become symbolic of trust and affection. AW liked how it was developed beyond the simple euphemism for sex that is often deployed in contemporary fiction.

What Doesn't: The story hinges heavily on the protagonists not knowing how to get in touch with one another. As young(ish), hip(ish), (partial) Londoners, this trampled AW's suspension of belief. Just because the protagonists liked riding bikes does not convince her that they were so retro that don't know how to operate Facebook, Google, or even something so low-tech as a phone directory.

There was also a moment when the Petra thought she was reliving a very negative experience with her former boyfriend all over again with Arlo, and takes certain immediate action without allowing Arlo even a minimum of opportunity to share his point of view. AW supposes that the reader was intended to take this as a sign of the degree of hurt she had experienced. The way it came off, though, was as childish. It felt like one step away from being too immature to be deserving of the genuine adult relationship she had set her sights on.

Overall: A pleasant beach read, especially for those who miss stories in a chicklit direction.

Laughter Reviews: TAKE A CHANCE ON ME

TAKE A CHANCE ON ME
Jill Mansell
Women's Fiction
Sourcebooks, October 2010

Premise: Permanent-, new-, and returned residents in a small English town wrestle with the meaning and limits of romance and parenthood.

Cover: Title - Generic sounding yet entirely accurate of content. Art - Pretty colors, images (animal sculpture, village street, winter tree and flakes) all relevant to story. Unique author font, cartoonish illustrations, and trademark butterfly all make this instantly recognizable as a Mansell story, further cementing the author brand in readers' minds. Overall - well done.

What Works: The back blurb gives the inaccurate impression that the story is all about Cleo, a young woman unlucky in love who has never left the village, and Johnny, the boy who made high school a misery for her, left to become a wildly successful in America, and has now returned. Their story nominally forms the beginning and ending brackets to the novel, but in reality this is about an ensemble cast - a writing choice that Apprentice Writer really enjoyed. More, she thinks, than if it had been a straight romance story about how 'girl meets boy and they end up together'. The story of how Cleo's sister Abby and her husband deal with the sudden arrival of an unsuspected biological child, how newcomer Fia turns away from her philandering husband and decides whom to turn toward, and how Cleo's buddy and neighbor Ash avoids entanglement with a young admirer while yearning for someone else, all had at least as much screen time as Cleo and Johnny.

It was refreshing that one of the point-of-view characters was male, and quixotic Ash was in fact AW's favorite character, closely followed by the teenager doing her cheerful and ebullient best to come to terms with a new dad, a new mom, a new village, romantic rejection, and a bewildering and utterly non-role-model-worthy old mom.

Also noteworthy were occupations. Though Ash's DJ and Fia's finding-a-new-life-by-becoming-a-professional foodster have been done many a time, Georgia's ironing business, Cleo's girl chauffeur, and Johnny's wire sculptor were all new to AW and she appreciated how each of these were worked into the plotline.

What Doesn't: The willingness of one character to allow herself to be exploited was both irritating in itself (if you write 'Doormat' on your forehead you can't be surprised if people walk on you) , and more than once felt fake, so as to set up a dramatic plotpoint later on. Yet even while she was annoyed with the self-sacrificing aspect of this character, AW could appreciate how the author showed the complexity and longterm emotional devastation of infertility.

Overall: An entertaining and thoughtful tale from the always reliable Jill Mansell. Good for the bathtub, the plane, or a lazy weekend.

/m

Triple Review: COMING OF AGE IN AMERICA

Today, a look at three debut novels, all coming-of-age stories in which the protagonists share first-person voice and family dysfunction. Apprentice Writer has no idea why the cover images are such different sizes; this wasn't supposed to be a statement on relative quality.

GODS IN ALABAMA, Joshilyn Jackson Literary Fiction, 2005

SIDEWAYS, Jess Riley Women's Fiction, 2009

APOLOGIZE, APOLOGIZE, Elizabeth Kelly Literary Fiction, 2009

Premise
1. Alabamian returns home after ten years to confront old ghosts and deal with current family pressures.
2. Middle-American kidney disease survivor goes on a road trip to celebrate life and seek answers to some significant questions.
3. Eldest son of a wildly eccentric/wealthy East Coast family struggles to define himself and build relationships while buffeted from all directions by differing expectations and judgements.

Cover
1. Title - Captures the overarching theme excellently, the small g in'gods' is significant, even though traditional religion with a capital R plays a role as well. Art - eye-catching, dead-on accurate in image of woman traveling, in every sense of the word, in a rural environment.
2. Title - Short and evocative = very good. Art - the rustic track and flipflops (as in opposite of urban background and stilettos), make it very clear this is not chicklit.This is the story of a thoughtful woman, taking her time to wind her way in whaterver direction the route may show. Well-done.
3. Title - Confuzzling until one reads the story and realizes that it is a compulsion the protagonist seems to feel all his life. Art - water and dogs are a constant background presence, so the images are accurate, but they convey the impression that the story is primarily about the relationship between people and dogs. Or dogs and dogs, for that matter, neither of which is accurate. Could have been done better.

Thoughts
1. Apprentice Writer kept encountering rabid enthusiasm for this author's work, and decided to give the debut a go. She almost stopped reading relatively early on due to some extreme and puzzling flashback behavior on the part of the heroine, but stuck with it - and was richly rewarded. What a wonderful, complex, sometimes-stark-yet-sometimes-funny story. The heroine, Lena, had a tremendously rough early childhood. Her mother was always on the fragile side emotionally, but when her husband dies of cancer she unravels completely, giving herself over to depression and pill addiction with the consequence of extreme emotional and physical neglect of her daughter. Her Aunt Florence is described as 'roaring' into town to rescue them despite her own recent tragedy of losing a son, and 'roaring' is pretty much how Aunt Florence takes charge of everyone around her from that moment on, her common sense and bossiness literally saving Lena's life as well as her mother many times after. Lena the survivor, Florence the warrior farmwife, and Burr the sharp-witted but sweet-natured lawyer boyfriend were all wonderful, thoughtful, flawed yet appealing characters, slowing dancing closer and closer to the truth of what drove Lena away from her home for ten years. The unraveling secrets twist and turn in a way that made AW read ever faster.
Did this book do its job? HELL YES! Apprentice Writer closed this book with a profound sense of satisfaction at the story's well-roundedness and ending, thought about Lena, Burr and Aunt Florence for days, looks forward to glomming the author's backlist, and, for the first time in her life, longs to visit Alabama.

2. AW loves road trips, whether in real life, books, or movies. Add to that excellent basic device a heroine who has the guts and humor to summarize her situation with "I'm the Beirut of health!" after being nearly killed by kidney disease, and who decides to escape her overprotective older brother to get in her car and go where the whim takes her, and you have the ingredients for a great story. As the trip goes on and she acquires travelmates, the life questions she tries to seek resolution on escalate from near-universal (looking up a former boyfriend to see how he's doing without me and if there's still a spark) to rare and heartbreaking (one last bid to find the mother who abandoned her in childhood). The story is unpredictable and the ending refreshingly non-Hollywood.
Did this book do its job? YES! This was a lovely, thoughtful, appealing story of a young woman who gets a raw deal and responds to all of it with poise, grace, and smarts. AW will eagerly look forward to the author's next title.

3. This book was an impulse choice when AW walked by a display table that proclaimed "The World Needs More Canada!" and offered all Canadian authors. AW could only agree, and the quirkiness of the title and backcover blurb convinced her.
Evaluating the novel itself was a bit perplexing. On the one hand, the author is wickedly good at unique simile and metaphor construction. AW's copy is dogeared with pages she wants to return to for additions to her quote collection. On the other hand, it was often difficult for this reader to understand how different scenes or chapters built on each other. It was also frustraing how the protagonist, and several secondary characters seemed to remain much as they were from the start, with negligible development.
Did this book do its job? Qualified yes. Though AW would have liked more clarity by the end of the story, the author's amazing talent with deft description will make this reader sift future titles for all the shining turns of phrase embedded within.


Soundbites
1.(Lena calls home after a delay on the road: "Hey, Aunt Flo -"
"Are you all right?"
"Yes, I'm-"
"Are you hurt?"
"No, we're fine, but-"
"Hold, please," Aunt Flo said. I heard the clatter of the receiver being dropped on the counter on her end...
"Gladys? It's your daughter. she must be calling you to tell you she is dead and in hell and to ask you to dip your finger in the water and cool her tongue, as she is tormented in flames. Surely she is dead and in hell, because nothing else would explain her not showing up and not even calling you, her own mama, to keep you from pulling out all your hair with worry. I am so sorry she is dead and in hell, but at least they have phones there."


"Married," said Florence in a dire, deep voice."You got married. Well. Thank you so, so much for calling to tell me this...Anything else you want to tell me? Is your new husband that your family has never met an ex-convict, for example? Or are you just knocked up?"
"...I'm not pregnant, and he's not a convict. I told you, he's a lawyer. but I guess I should tell you he's black."
Finally she said, "What do you mean, he's black? You mean he himself is black? A black man?"
"Yes. by black, I mean he is black."
"I am hanging up now Arlene. I will take this up with you and your secret black husband when you arrive."

2. "...the San Rafael Desert..(makes) my soul sit up and rub her eyes: vast, empty plains stretching for miles back to rugged cliffs and brick-colored buttes, sagebrush and grasses eking out a thirsty existence in the ditches, gregarious sky overwhelming in its blue clarity. The road unspools before us, endless white lines running together into an albino snake."

"You know how people always seem to see the Virgin Mary in a burrito, or in a stain on an underpass highway?..Ned and Cassie have collected numerous objects that have a) been spiritually imprinted with a visage from beyond, b) fallen into a puddle, or c) been crushed by a portly ass at some point in history. These curiosities, shelved helter-skelter in the tiny shop, include items like a bath mat with a Joan of Arc-shaped stain and a piece of driftwood allegedly in the shape of Ganesha (if you held it at arms length and squinted while running at high speed)."

"...I wouldn't (do that) even if you paid me with money still warm from George Clooney's front pocket"


3. "(The estate) was famous for its heritage rose gardens...leave it to (my grandfather) to take a thing of beauty and turn it into a military operation. To this day, the rose is my least favorite flower - I think of it as a scented hand grenade..."

"(Your grandmother) was skinny and mad, a veritable vibrating hairpin."

"It was clear to me (my political activist mother's) real purpose in attending (the party) was to meet Robert Redford, which isn't to say that her entrance wasn't any less reminiscent of a Bolshevik charging the palace on foaming horseback...(I watched) in dismay as she chased down a prominent CEO, running him through with her verbal pitchfork. Before the night was over, just about everyone in the place had sprung leaks..."

Recommended for
1. Fans of skilled, multi-layered writing, memorable characters, stories of family and couple dynamics.
2. Fans of road trip stories, friendship and sibling dynamics, non-formulaic endings.
3. Fans of superb characterization, one-liners, readers with a high tolerance for non-linear progression and ambiguous endings.

Learn more
1. Joshilyn Jackson. Also maintains a funny blog. Latest: 'Backseat Saints'
2. Jess Riley. Also maintains an entertaining blog. Next work's title unknown.
3. Elizabeth Kelly - could not locate a website or blog. Next work's title unknown.

/m

Quotes: THE GIRL WHO CHASED THE MOON

THE GIRL WHO CHASED THE MOON
Sarah Addison Allen
Contemporary Fiction with Fantasy Elements
2010



Apprentice Writer posted recently on similes and metaphors that go awry. In such cases, the flow of the story is stopped while she re-reads to try and puzzle it out.

Sometimes, though, she stops to re-read for sheer beauty of what the author has created. Such was repeatedly the case with 'The Girl Who Chased the Moon' by new-to-her author Sarah Addison Allen. Here for your reading pleasure, some gems:

"(He) watched a whale of gray sky swallow the pink evening light."

"She always smelled like carnations from her florist shop when she came in from work. The scent ran ahead of her into the room, like an excited pet."

"I met up with Stella earlier (at the fair), but then her entourage got too big. Stella is like a comet collecting space debris as she passes."

"He was standing as still as stone, watching them with an expression made of ghosts and anger."


*heavy sigh of writerly envy*

Even better, the story as a whole is delightful - charming, natural, about real, recognizable characters in a small town. There is an element of light fantasy involved but it is an embellishmnt to the main story rather than the main plotpoint. With writing like this, TGWCTM will certainly not be AW's last Addison Allen title.

/m

Review & Giveaway: RUMOR HAS IT

RUMOR HAS IT
by Jill Mansell
Humorous Women's Fiction
Sourcebooks, 2010 In Stores Now

Premise: Newly single young Londoner starts fresh in a small town where she soon learns that practically everyone is either subject or instigator of some form of rumor, forcing her (and all others) to choose whether to believe, refute, ignore, or repeat the pseudo-information.

Cover: Title - short and snappy, captures content. Art - bright, breezy, breath of fresh air all leap to mind. Though Apprentice Writer does not recall a single butterfly in the narrative, much less a herd of them, the feeling they and the nicely shod feet represent is accurate: upbeat tale of someone generally confident and young-at-heart. Altogether, an attractive, well-done cover.

What Works: In case AW has not mentioned it before - she is a bit of an armchairAnglophile. She adores her mental picture of picturesque villages, ancient buildings, overflowing flowerboxes, shopping in quaint little shops rather than big-box department stores, and ultra dry-witted joie de vivre (all gained from books and movies) so much she is actually a little afraid of making a real-life trip to the UK in case her preconceived notion is shattered.

AW is not proud of this head in the sand mentality, but it does explain how pleased she was to find this story reinforced her fantasy. It was her first Mansell novel. AW has no clue how this came to be given the entertainment value and long string of previous novels but now that she knows she intends to do something about that backlist.

She liked how the heroine responded to discovering that her live-in boyfriend had decided to dump her by moving out without a single word of warning. Instead of moping, she spontaneously decides to take a job as 'Girl Friday' in a small town where a friend lives. She moves in with single dad Max and his tween daughter Lou, to keep the house and Lou running on time while Max tends to his interior design business. This leads to occasional contact with the hero, a contractor, who responded to the accidental death of his fiance by becoming the town's much sought after Bachelor #1. Everyone, it seems, either warns the heroine off of him or sees her as a rival for his attention, causing a long-drawn-out process of her fighting her attraction to him which forms the main plot of the story.

But it was the subplots of the story that AW found most interesting (perhaps, because it was not possible to tell how they would end up). The shopowner harrassed by the ex-wife of her new romantic interest, the father shocked to realize that even though he is comfortable with the consequences of coming out of the closet, his child may not be, the actress buffeted by bad publicity. Max was AW's favorite character, for the way he interacted with everyone, and for the most poignant scene in the story; he figures out precisely what someone in a very difficult situation most needs to hear, and says it, regardless of how someone else thinks it is inappropriate.

What Doesn't: It is not hard to figure out why the heroine is attracted to the hero: good-looking, charming, successfully running his own business, kind to his still-grieving former in-laws, and the clincher: willing to put himself out for an animal that is neither attractive nor his. What's not to like? What wasn't so clear was what drew him to the heroine. They spend little time alone together and so don't have a chance to get to know and appreciate one another in a natural or relaxed way. Due to caution at first and misunderstanding later on, the heroine is goes from being standoffish to judgemental, unappreciative, and at times downright rude. His tolerance of all this was most puzzling, given that he had next to no fond memories of good times together between them to fall back on.

The resolution of the burned-by-false-publicity actress subplot also felt AW feeling ambivalent. On the one hand, the character is a sympathetic one and so the reader is pleased when she ends on a positive note in her personal life. But since this is a contemporary story rather than a historical one, AW very much wished...

MILD SPOILER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

....that the decision she made regarding her professional life could somehow have felt more like a contemporary solution rather than the more traditional "I'll let my man worry about making the money" view.

END SPOILER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Overall: The current crop of online reviews for this title contain intriguing fodder for the question 'What is chicklit, and is it dead?', with opinions ranging from RHI being a classic example of the best the subgenre has to offer, to reviewers liking RHI 'despite' it being chicklit, to referring to it as romantic comedy because calling it chicklit would be 'almost insulting'. The Gentle Reader will not be surprised that AW has an opinion. Or four.

1. 'Rumor Has It' does fall under the chicklit umbrella.
Ticks on the checklist include:
stylish shoes on cover (with all that implies),
cartoon-drawing cover (ditto),
young, single, urban, female protagonist (who we know will NOT be single by 'The End')
multiple mentions of fashion brand names,
protagonist is very tight with friend(s) and distant with family,
there is a booze-influenced plot development.

2. Falling under the chicklit umbrella is not a negative thing.
Apprentice Writer is extremely fond of well-done chicklit. It was a Brit invention, and therefore no big surprise that the Brits, in her humble opinion, still do it best. The problem is that this subgenre, perhaps more so than others, has unfortunately come to be associated not so much with the examples of the well-executed variety, but with the flood of bandwagon-jumper-oners that seemed to be all pink covers and dim, materialistic stereotypes, so that its fans (much like romance aficionados) seem compelled to offer excuses to avoid negative judgment from readers who think of themselves as somehow loftier. Having said that,

3. Classic chicklit is an increasingly rare beast in the current publishing climate.
Hence AW's description of RHI at the top of the post as 'humorous women's fiction'. Hence also AW's kudos to Sourcebooks for continuing to provide these kinds of titles for the public when, for example, behemoth Harlequin discontinued its Red Dress Ink line.

4. RHI also falls under the women's fiction umbrella.
Ticks on the checklist include:
third- rather than first-person voice,
ensemble cast,
exploration of some decidedly non-shallow topics, including serious illness and homophobia. This story is not all lipstick and cocktails.




But does it make you laugh? YES
In a wry, 'I know people just like that!' recognition kind of way.

Learn more about the author here.

GIVEAWAY!
Publisher Soucebooks has generously offered two copies for Apprentice Writer's readers. To win, comment on the review or answer the question:

"Have you ever been the subject of a rumor, and what did you do about it?"

The Fine Print:
1. U.S. and Canadian addresses only please, no P.O. boxes.
2. If your profile does not lead back to an active blog, please leave a non-spammable way to get in touch.
3. Bonus entry for recommending another Jill Mansell novel for AW's TBR pile and explaining why you chose that one.
4. Bonus entry for following, either here here on on Twitter (MayaWriter) and then telling me about it.
5. Contest closes 30 May 2010.

Good luck!

Author Guest Post & Giveaway: WENDY HOLDEN

Today, Apprentice Writer is delighted to welcome one of her favorite comedic authors, UK novelist Wendy Holden.


It's wonderful to see your books make the jump across the pond with Sourcebooks!

First things first: the cover. The UK original continues the upbeat figure outline drawing on white background. This US edition has gorgeous saturated color with striking black silhouette, which I loved. Did you choose the title and have input on cover art?

WH: Sourcebooks is brilliant and involve me all the way. I saw the art and loved it immediately. It's so stylish and glamorous, and as the novel is set in a very glamorous world, it helps get the message across.

On this side of the pond, there has been much talk of the demise of classic chicklit and shift of its authors into other subgenres (for example, I recently reviewed an excellent novel described as Regency Chicklit). Has there been a similar development in the UK, or can you hold out hope for fans of classic chicklit?

WH: Many Brit chick litters have gone into Hen Lit - writing about families and children. I'm more interested in exploring the comic potential of various exclusive milieux. 'Beautiful People' is about the film industry and 'Gallery Girl', the book I've just finished, is about the crazy, sexy, wealthy and hilarious world of contemporary art. But there's always a girl heroine fighting her way through difficult people and situations and so in that sense they're as classic chicklit as you like.

What comes to you first? Heroine? Antagonist? Great one-liners?

WH: All three, ideally. Usually the anti-heroine, as I like writing those people best. Call it auto-biography.

My favorite scene in the story is Marco's confession - so morose, so sincere, so funny What is your favorite scene?

WH:I love Belle being summoned to the office of the very powerful and very scary studio boss and being told her latest film has bombed. She is outraged and has a diva tantrum. The studio boss is very short and has a very fragile ego - his executives sit on kindergarten chairs to make him feel better.

What does a typical writing day look like for you? All boas, bonbons, and fan adulation....

WH: Yeah! Except you missed out the people peeling the grapes and pouring the pink champagne!

....and what is the truth about the rumor that UK authors are conspiring to storm J.K.Rowling's castle en masse to stake out their own territories in the turrets and battlements?

WH: This is a metaphor, right? Because J.K.Rowling lives in Scotland and most UK authors don't even know where that is. I'm not planning to storm her castle in any way as boy wizards aren't my thing; besides, I've got a castle of my own!

Best writing habit? Worst writing vice?

WH: Best writing habit is working a full day. My worst writing habit is endlessly checking email.

Nightstand inspection! What was the book you last read in your own genre that made the greatest impression? Out of your genre?

WH: Well my genre is comic fiction really and the last thing I read in that genre was Posy Simmond's graphic novel 'Gemma Bovary'. She's an English author/illustrator and a social observer of genius. Outside my genre, I'm reading Dickens. He is a one-man crash course in thrilling plots and brilliant characters.

My preschooler's favorite alphabet book is 'Freezing ABC' by Posy Simmond! And yes it is beautifully illustrated and filled with clever little details that make gentle fun of human nature (disguised as animals).

Who is your writing idol and why?

WH: The English writer Sue Townsend, creator of the Adrian Mole series. She is concise, compassionate, clever, brilliantly observant, and absolutely hilarious.

I will have to take a look at Adiran Mole, in that case.

Which literary character do you wish you'd thought of first?

WH: Well, Harry Potter, obviously. I take back everything I said about boy wizards.

Haha! Anything else you'd like to share with Apprentice Writer's readers?

WH: If you're writing your first novel, don't tell anyone. People are desperate for you to fail. If no-one knows you're doing it, no-one knows if it doesn't work out. But if you stick at it, it will work out.

Whoops. Too late. I've already told everyone. Clearly, I now have no choice but to stick with it, first three agent rejections notwithstanding.

Thank you Ms. Holden for taking the time to stop by and chat with us!

Gentle Reader: learn more about the author here, including upcoming title: Gallery Girl
and please stay to enter our

GIVEAWAY!
Comment for a chance to win 1 of 2 copies of 'Beautiful People' generously provided by Sourcebooks. Double your chances by commenting on yesterday's review


The Fine Print:
1. U.S. and Canadian addresses only, no P.O. Boxes please.
2. Leave a non-spammable way to get in touch if your profile doesn't lead back to an active blog.
3. Bonus entry for following here or on Twitter (MayaWriter) and letting me know about it.
4. Contest closes 7 May 2010.


Good luck!

Laughter Reviews & Giveaway: BEAUTIFUL PEOPLE

BEAUTIFUL PEOPLE
by Wendy Holden
Humorous Women's Fiction
Sourcebooks, April 2010 - IN STORES NOW


Premise: A 'serious' British actress getting her first big commercial break, a papparazzi-loving American actress looking to find her way back into the limelight, and a down-to-earth British nanny wrestle with the question of what makes someone attractive.

Cover: Eye-catching, saturated color, classic chicklit stiletto icon, title that can be interpreted on more than one level = great cover.

What Works: Apprentice Writer doesn't recall how she first came across this author's work several years ago, but she has been an admirer of the over-the-top Britlit style ever since. The daily life dilemmas of the protagonists are so easily relatable the reader can't help but sympathize, the self-centred misbehavior of the antagonists so overblown that the reader often develops perverse affection for their delusions of grandeur. Ms. Holden's novels are great fun, and this one is no exception. She takes such glee in skewering stereotypes that one can't help but go along with it and speculate about what composite of celebrities may have inspired various novel characters. It is not a simple 'let's laugh at the out-of-touch-with-reality celebrities' story, though; by taking certain behaviors or character traits of more ordinary folks to the extreme to make a point, this is also a cautionary tale about the risks that can go along with blind deference to fame or social status.

AW's favorite scene was right at the end, when an Italian character confesses his deepest sin. In a story dotted with shortcomings of various intensities and unpleasantness, the secret revealed as most shameful was so true to character and believable it provided the perfect comedic endnote.

What Doesn't: Apprentice Writer has observed that often, a person's greatest strength can also be their weakness. She has long admired this author's skill at with multiple point-of-view characters, the a heroine/villainess juxtaposition often being the most enjoyable aspect of the story. In this case, the reader entered the thoughts of a rather staggering number of characters - male and female, mature and teenaged, financially advantaged and financially exploited, talented and wannabe, shifting across three countries - such that this reader suffered occasional moments of head-hopper exhaustion which led at times to lack of connection with the character de page. Reflecting on this narrative choice, it occured to Apprentice Writer that it may have been intended as a statement on the fleeting nature of fame and how one barely comes to recognize a new star before his/her face is swept away on the tide of new up-and-comers. So, she will give benefit of the doubt and call this a clever nod to the reality of all the 'beautiful people' out there struggling to make their living from their appearance.

The second thing that made AW say 'Huh?' was the opening point-of-view. None of the three primary characters, nor even one of the 'main' (if that's the correct word) secondary characters, but a minor (AW is going to call it tertiary) character who then disappears for a long stretch. This confused her, used as she is to the current fictional convention of opening with either the protagonist or antagonist, and therefore feeling in a holding pattern of anticipation that that tertiary character would enter the scene again at any moment. It took quite some time to clue in that that wasn't going to happen. Again, once she thought about it, AW could appreciate that the scene was actually a bullseye choice for a story about, duh, beautiful people: a top executive for a modelling agency who is eternally on the lookout for the next 'It' face spots one in the wild (i.e. on a London street). AW will further admit that she really enjoyed the funny twist, wherein the executive is stunned when the boy to whom the traffic-stopping face belongs is indifferent to being discovered, and runs away. It was like the fish story of talent scouts. AW slotted it in under 'Who says the rule of opening with a main character can't be broken?'


But does it make you laugh? YES
This is a classic Holden tale, with eccentric ensemble cast and lots of changes of scenery. Another novel perfectly suited to the beach bag or airplane carry-on from the queen of contemporary social satire.


GIVEAWAY!
Who's your favorite 'beautiful person' and why?

Comment for a chance to win 1 of 2 copies of 'Beautiful People', then come back tomorrow for Q&A with the author to double your chances!

The Fine Print:
1. U.S. and Canadian addresses only, no P.O. Boxes please.
2. Leave a non-spammable way to get in touch if your profile doesn't lead back to an active blog.
3. For bonus entry, follow here or on Twitter (MayaWriter) and let me know.
4. Contest closes on 7 May 2010.

Good luck!

/m

Giveaway Winners !

And the winners of a copy of 'My Own Personal Soap Opera' are:

Stephanie

&

Rachel

Drumroll, Confetti, Applause!

Thank you, Libby Malin & Sourcebooks!

Winners, please send your deets to:
mayamissani AT yahoo DOT ca


Nonwinners, take heart: another Giveaway coming up later this week.

Author Guest Post & Giveaway: LIBBY MALIN

Today, Apprentice Writer welcomes the lovely Libby Malin, author of humorous women's fiction, chatting on the topic of




SOAP OPERA IN A TWITTER WORLD

I've watched Days of Our Lives for many years and before that, Another World.I liked to ponder the challenges of a soap writer - juggling actor vacations and contract changes, sweeps week stories - things outside of the writer's control, for the most part. Oh, and soap genealogy - I think more than one soap has shifted a story line after it was apparent that the family linkage between a guy and a gal was a little too close for comfort. Family trees get awfully twisted on soaps. That should be a college major - Daytime Drama Character Lineage! LOL!

Anyway, I found myself thinking about how writers dealt with these various challenges, and noticing how skillful the writers were, for the most part, in constructing story arcs. It fascinated me, especially since the storylines are usually so outlandish - swapped babies, evil twins, people 'coming back from the dead' (usually with amnesia). And yet, if the writers do a good job, you're riveted. You absolutely must be there when the Big Scene occurs - when the villains misdeeds are revealed, when the villainess gets her comeuppance. You drool for those moments!

Another thing I love about soaps is how the characters say outrageous things to one another that you'd never say in real life, no matter how much you loathed someone. Yet on a soap opera, it's not unusual to see various characters talking trash right in the face of someone they can't stand. It's marvellously satisfying.

So all of those things combined together created the germs of a story idea about a soap opera head writer. I started thinking: wouldn't it be neat to a soap opera writer and use all those in-your-face scenes to work out your own "issues" with people in real life? And what if real life started to blend into the soap life? That's how the idea of a real jewel thief imitating the one on the show popped into My Own Personal Soap Opera.

Another think I particularly admired about the soal Another World was how they stayed true to one story arc they used over and over - that is, haves-vs.-have-nots. The theme ran through all their plots. It also runs through My Own Personal Soap Opera. Frankie, the head writer, comes from 'the wrong side of the tracks', while Victor, the marketing guru who comes in to help raise the soap's ratings, comes from a moneyed background.

Since I am not, nor have I ever been, involved in the production of a soap opera, I had to do a bunch of research. I read some fiction set in the soap world as well as a number of autobiographies of soap stars. I also consulted with a number of people who do or did work on soaps, including the head writer of As the World Turns, who was so gracious and patient with my questions. I took what I learned and used it as a springboard for my fictional tale. Therefore, I did stretch reality to suit my particular story - just as soap opera writers do!

Thanks for having me as a guest. I'd be happy to answer any questions about writing as best I can.

Thanks, Libby, for dropping by!


GIVEAWAY!

Ask a question or make a comment and you can win a copy of My Own Personal Soap Opera, generously provided by Sourcebooks!

Double your chances by commenting on Apprentice Writer's review, posted yesterday!


The Fine Print:
1. U.S. and Canadian addresses only, no P.O. Boxes.
2. Leave a non-spammable way to reach you if your profile does not lead back to an active blog.
3. Bonus entries by following here or on Twitter (MayaWriter), please let Apprentice Writer know if you do.
4. Contest closes 27 April 2010.


Learn more about the author here.

Good luck!

Laughter Reviews & Giveaway: MY OWN PERSONAL SOAP OPERA

MY OWN PERSONAL SOAP OPERA: Looking for Reality in All the Wrong Places
by Libby Malin
Humorous Women's Fiction
Sourcebooks, April 2010


Premise: Personal and professional life starts to merge for newly promoted head script writer of longlived but threatened-with-cancellation soap opera.

Cover: Title - Perfectly captures content, subtitle a nice (and accurate) touch. Art - Delightful. The white-on-blue bubble background, redhead in a tub foreground, mix of block and cursive text set great anticipatory tone. Anyone looking at this knows they are in for a light, fun, happily-ever-after-in-some-way-or-other story.

What Works: Apprentice Writer is not of an overly patient nature. Perhaps for this reason she never got into soaps. If she is impatient with a two-hour movie that takes too long to resolve whodunit, how can she tolerate waiting months upon months to find out who tampered with the mail that fell into the evil twin's hands who blackmailed the prince-in-disguise who offered marriage by proxy to the amnesiac seretary?

AW did have a university roommate, though, who followed four or so soaps devotedly and a few others peripherally, much to the detriment of the roomate's grades and satisfaction of her need for emotional stories grafted onto goodlooking actors. Her devotion was such that AW suspected she was missing something, and chose a soap to follow according to the following criteria: 1. Not in roommate's stable (one must have some originality, after all) and 2. Airing before she left for the day's classes. Whether due to destiny or inferior selection criteria, that soap soon bit the dust. AW took it as a sign that she was not meant to be a soap viewer.

Imagine her surprise, therefore, when she took to this story and most especially it's heroine, Frankie, from page 1. Was it because it was in written rather than visual form? Was it because of the sometimes very funny situations and purple prose in the soap scenes studded throughout? Was it because of recognition of the incredible liberation posed by characters in the stories delivering the perfect comebacks and setdowns at exactly the right time, a luxury very few of us enjoy (unless AW is in the minority when she swallows her feelings or thinks of a great retort only when the opportunity is long gone)?

Whatever the reason - she was swept up into the story of Frankie's battle to stay on top of the heaving creative ship, protect the citizens of her town, keep to the high road post-divorce with her ex, chart a course in confusing love life, and grow her career amid a sea of colleagues with various intensities of secrets and ambitions for the next It showbiz thing.

One doesn't have to live or work in Hollywood to develop fellow feeling for a young woman who is smart but needs to prove it, creative but derided for her choice of artistic outlet, yearning for love but hesitant to accept it when it appears to come along. Welcome to the new milenium, when it seems we are constantly called upon to make a rapid, far-reaching choice among multiple shifting possibilities.

What Doesn't: There was one off note. Since it is mildly spoilerish AW will only say that it was a staff management decision that made no sense to her given employee behavior up to that point coupled with Frankie's relentless desire to be seen as worthy of her executive position. The choice made was in conflict with both those elements, and consequently seemed to fit in less with natural character behavior and more with authorly plot purposes.

This was however quickly forgiven when AW realized that the second aspect that at first made her say 'Oh no!' was actually the cleverest joke of them all: she reached 'The End' and sputtered "But...but...it can't be the end yet! I have to know what happened to X's relationship! And Y's career! And Z's health crisis! And..."

This was when it struck her - Duh! THIS is why soap viewers keep coming back. That masterful tease, that expertly measured portion of clue which is just enough to tantalize them with the promise that return will be worthwhile and not enough that they will guess what happens or else whom it happens to. Non-soap watcher though she may be, AW engaged with Frankie and her crew enough to cherish the hope that there may be a follow-up story to quench her burning desire to know what exactly happened to that relationship, and that career, and health crisis, and...

Overall: If the test of a book is whether it makes the reader want to search out the author's backlist as well as read future titles, MOPSO is a success. The perfect light-hearted novel to buy now for immediate enjoyment of rainy spring evenings, or delayed gratification of sunny beach days.

But does it make you laugh? YES
'Zany', 'fast-moving' and 'multi-layered' are not rhetoric when applied to the 'Lust for Life' crowd. This is not a book readers would accuse of dragging middle - or beginning, or end.

GIVEAWAY!
The publisher, Sourcebooks, has generously provided two copies of MOPSO for AW's readers For a chance to win, share your thoughts on the question:

What soap opera plot development would you most like to see?

The come back tomorrow to double your chances by commenting on the author's GUEST POST.


The Fine Print:
1. U.S. and Canadian addresses only, please. No P.O. Boxes.
2. Follow Apprentice Writer here or on Twitter (MayaWriter) and let her know, for up to 2 bonus entries.
3. Please leave a non-spammable way to get in touch in case your profile doesn't lead back to an active blog.
4. Contest ends 27 April 2010.

Good luck!

/m.

CHICKLIT: MISSING PERSONS REPORT

Chicklit has gone MIA.

Once so ubiquitous and easy to spot (Those shoes and tubes of lipstick on the covers! The cartoon images! Neon-bright girly colors!), chicklit has developed such a rampant case of shyness that onlookers suspect it should be declared dead. Let's have a look at the evidence, shall we?

Previously reported:
- An agent putting in writing to Apprentice Writer that (paraphrased) chicklit is toast, nigh impossible to sell to publishers anymore,

- A used book store owner giving less credit for chicklitish titles (including those clearly marked 'Women's Fiction') than any other genres due to difficulty unloading,


New clues:
- Harlequin's much-advertised 60-year anniversary celebration doesn't seem to have sent a party invitation to the genre. As far as AW could tell, none of the 16 featured free books available for e-download included chicklit, nor the featured series to be released during the year. Paranormal, suspense, inspirational titles etc. offer multiple choices for the reader each month; while Red Dress Ink, the chicklit imprint, offers a single December 2008 title as most recent choice.

- Upsurge in titles now described as 'Contemporary/Upbeat/Light/Humorous Women's Fiction'. Author Jane Porter's website divides her work into 'Classic Romance' (referring to series titles) and titles described as 'Modern Lit'.

- Migration. First there was the disbandment of such sites as 'Literary Chicks', now previous chicklitish authors are popping up in other genres:

CARA LOCKWOOD - Young adult series and paranormal title Every Demon Has His Day
ALESSIA HOLLIDAY - writing as Alyssa Day, paranormal series Atlantis
LANI DIANE RICH - Co-wrote paranormal title Dogs and Goddesses
EILEEN COOK- Young adult title What Would Emma Do
EILEEN RENDEHL - writing as Eileen Carr, suspense title Hold Back the Dark and urban fantasy title Don't Kill the Messenger

From this off-the-top-of-her-head and by no means exclusive sample, Apprentice Writer concludes that a) Some people are amazingly good at seeing the writing on the wall and doing something about it, and b) Young adult, urban fantasy, and holy-smokes-its-unstoppable,-Batman paranormal are the rainmakers at the moment.

Is there any hope of chicklit survival?
Well, yes. Apparently a chicklit voice can thrive by immigration to other genre lands and blending in there. Funny, first-person stories have been popping up (as would be expected from above) in Young Adult land, Paranormal land, and Fantasy land. Also, JANET MULLANY'S upcoming title, A Most Lamentable Comedy, is billed as 'Regency Chicklit'.

But, the outlook for chicklit survival in the land of its birth - straight contemporary? Looking doubtful.

Optimists will promise the inevitablity of its rebirth, certain to rise from the ashes anew at some unknown future point. Maybe. But, who knows how far in the future, and under what name?

Until then, AW wishes someone would clue her in about the identity of the NEXT rainmaking subgenre.

Non Laughter Reviews

HUNTING AND GATHERING
Anna Gavalda
WOMEN'S FICTION

Premise
Four people, misfits in regular society due to age/class/childhood/outlook, bond with one another.

What Works
Paulette, an elderly woman living in the French countryside, is forced to give up her independent lifestyle due to fragile health. Her grandson Franck is a gifted chef in Paris following a rebellious adolescence caused by maternal rejection. Philobert is a socially awkward bluebood who can trace his family history back in detail through a dozen generations, yet makes his living selling postcards while living in an enormous, derelict apartment subject to estate litigation. Camille, a gifted artist struggling with anorexia and an emotionally starved childhood, slowly binds them together.

The story of how these disparate and emotionally damaged yet hardy and hopeful souls choose to provide for each other what their 'real' families would not is unpredictable and engaging.
It is told mainly through the point of view of Camille, a complex and sympathetic character. Beset by mental baggage, she struggles valiantly to put her experiences to good effect for herself and others. Her most fascinating characteristic is to see the world purely through artist's eyes. Her concepts of attractive/ugly/old/nude/appropriate/visually interesting are unusual, such that it is well past the halfway mark of the book that the reader learns from another character that Franck (frequently socially obnoxious) is good-looking. The observation startles Camille, who judges by actions and the play of emotions on a person's face as they recount stories about themselves. The sweetest character is the aristocrat Philou, forbidden to forget his prominence for even a second by his demanding family, simultaneously proud of his illustrious past and yearning for real affection and the chance to live in the present.

What Doesn't
The story is told in a choppy language; Apprentice Writer couldn't tell if this was the author's voice, or something to do with the French translator's style. There were numerous references to French historical figures and events that AW didn't get, but which didn't seem to interfere with grasp of the story.

The choice of opening 'hook' is astonishing, with the first pages describing Paulette's increasingly frequent bruising falls, culminating in head trauma and admittance to depressing and undignified care. The reader wonders whom the author was trying to entice with such an opener; had AW been doing the first paragraph test in a bookstore, rather than reading for her book club, this would have gone straight back on the shelf.

Finally, the epilogue was the subject of heated debate in the book club. Some members loved the way it showed the continued healing and connection of various characters, while others (who had been perfectly happy with how the main story ended on a hopeful yet character-consistent note) despised what they considered a syrupy Hollywood ending - to the point that some wondered if it had been tacked on in the English translation for the sake of the North American audience, and whether we should check the French original for inclusion.

Overall
An unusual, thoughtful tale on the significance of blood ties vs. ties of affection in the modern world. And, always a plus to get a little taste of life in another culture.

Laughter Reviews #20

TWIN REVIEWS - NON-BRIDES


Unbridaled by Eileen Rendahl

There Goes the Bride by Lori Wilde


Premise
Bride makes a mad dash out of her wedding and then tries to figure out why as she deals with life and extended family.

Bride arranges for her own kidnapping during her wedding when she can't figure out how to deal with life and extended family.


Cover
Clever title. Cartoon-like drawing of a bridal gown in a trash can - good fit between image and content.

Clever title. Partial image of departing woman in gown and veil, wearing a running shoe. Strictly speaking this is more reminiscent of the Julia Roberts movie "Runaway Bride" than the book's content, but it nevertheless underscores the title and gives the gist of the premise.


What Works
Despite her near-ludicrous departure from the ceremony, Chloe is not a ludicrous or impulsive person. She is a thoughtful person doing her best to deal with (to put it mildly) highly complex family dynamics and emotional baggage; her efforts to understand what made her take such uncharacteristic action take the length of the book, and are convincing.

The aspect Apprentice Writer liked best of Delaney's story was the striking cover.


What Doesn't
One of AW's pet peeves is being forced to endure speaking accents for the length of a book. Just tell her when a character is first introduced that he/she speaks with a Scottish brogue or a French throatiness or a German consonant roll. Please don't make her endure endless rounds of "Och!", "Zees!", "Vich vay?", etc. This was made all the worse by the Cajun character not only persisting in his torturous accent, but made to look like an uneducated slob as well, with references to habits of urinating in the heroine's flower garden, not washing hands, leaving garbage strewn about, etc. These details were not only perplexing (they added precisely nothing to the story) but, one would imagine, unwelcome from a Cajun person's point of view given the length of time they have settled in the American South after being hounded out of more northerly parts of the Continent some centuries ago partially due to prejudices against French-speaking Acadian people. Depressing to think these generalized negative views followed them south and still persist so long after. But to be fair, this was a minor irritant; all other elements of the story worked well for AW.

Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for TGTB. Despite being competently written, the story never came together for this reader in a way that made her engage with a single character or care what happened. The best explanation that AW has is that she read the whole thing as a writer, rather than a reader. She was never able to lose herself in the story, because the sense of recognition of how the component parts were manufactured was so strong. Paranormal element - check, hero and heroine from opposite ends of social ladder and large/small family situations - check, secondary female characters lined up to be heroines in upcoming installments of the series - check, opening hook providing a dramatic moment taken from the final climactic scene - check, first meeting done in a memorable and romantic sparks flying manner - check, many long passages of hero and heroine angsting about why they were attracted to one another but couldn't be together - check. Perhaps the story would work better for readers who don't write themselves. Or like stories with much, much introspection. AW is more of a 'get on with the action' kind of girl.


Overall
AW first encountered Eileen Rendehl's name as one of the "Literary Chicks", a now-disbanded grog (group blog) of women's fiction authors. This story was a thougtful, unpredictable, satisfying read about people one might encounter in daily life.


The claim to fame of TGTB was that as a mere concept, it had the power to unleash a bidding war for movie rights. If AW recalls correctly, there were at one point eight parties competing to secure the option before the book was even written. How can a reader resist such a story? So AW purchased the book with mucho anticipation. Though in her view the story did not live up to the clamor, she has nothing but admiration for an author who can inspire such industry reaction, and who has a few dozen printed titles under her belt.

But does it make you laugh? YES / NO

"Unbridaled" is not a laugh-out-loud, mile-a-minute story. It is quiet slice-of-life tale with moments of wry humor, such as when the heroine is called a 'wetback' by some bar patrons and wonders to herself whether she should point out what the correct ethnic slur would be in her case. AW would look forward to reading other books by this author.

"There Goes the Bride" has moments that seem intended to be funny, but didn't work that way for this reader. The way the hero and heroine meet, a wardrobe malfunction at an amusement part, the zany outfit choices of a ghost - all felt too manufactured. Based on her Two Book Rule (reading at least two before deciding to bypass an author permanently) AW would read the second in the Wedding Veil series.

Laughter Reviews #20

TWIN REVIEWS: ABANDONED WOMEN

UNPREDICTABLE
by Eileen Cook (Women's Fiction)

&

THE BRONTE PROJECT
by Jennifer Vandever (Women's Fiction)

Title
Excellent. Apprentice Writer adores one-word titles, elegantly capturing content with economy.
*
Intriguing. There is currently a powerful Austen wave rolling through print- and celluoid entertainment. Due to contrary nature, this naturally meant AW was fascinated by the Bronte label. The title (and cover) were sufficient on their own to make her purchase.


Cover
Beautiful cover in gorgeous scarlets and creams. Would have drawn Apprentice Writer's eye even without buzz.
*
Interesting mirror image of a modern young woman and a historical young woman each writing at what looks like the same desk. Plus, the font is very cool.

Author

Debut author, who will soon release her next title and maintains a lively internet presence via her personal website and one she shares with a number of other debut authors.

*

Debut author, who appears to have no follow-up book in the pipeline and who maintains no internet presence that AW could detect. It seems she has returned to her film roots.

Premise
Abandoned woman's efforts to convince her fiance to return lead to the launch of psychic career.
*
Abandoned woman's efforts to convince her fiance to return lead to change in academic career.

Epigraphs

Chapters open with astrological forecasts that foreshadow upcoming scenes.

*

Chapters open with apt quotes from Charlotte Bronte's correspondence, one phrase of which is also chosen to act as chapter title.


What Works

The heroine, Sophie, expresses her self in first person and has several Bridget Jonesesque moments (i.e. she is a fun and endearing heroine). The story opens with a very funny and characteristic scene, and proceeds recklessly from muddle to mess to awkward in linear fashion:

“I’m crouching under the utility sink in the laundry room, clutching Doug’s socks. Not all his socks, just one from each pair, to slowly drive him insane or better yet, drive him back home. I consider trying to stuff myself into the one empty dryer, I consider standing next to the wall (to) blend in with the surroundings, (then I) dive to the floor, pull the stacked laundry bags out (of their shelf), tuck myself in, and pull them back over me. The door opens and Doug walks in.”

The heroine, Sara, is expressed in third person and undergoes character testing both via fiance departure as well as interactions with a great, quirky cast of secondary characters. AW's favorites among them were a French poet who refuses to write any of his work down so as to avoid opinions of others and also due to a wish to include 'everything' in his living poem that he experiences, and the fascinating, aggravating character of a rival academic who heads the 'Princess Diana studies' department.

The writing also appealed, with something funny, thoughtful, or both appearing on almost every page:

"...Sara favored colors that, as her mother liked to point out, occurred naturally in bruises - blacks, blues and grays - while (on) Claire even black looked red."

"...Sara sat on a panel Claire conducted in stony silence. After an hour of tepid debate among the other panelists about quilting and women murderers, Claire turned to Sara and asked if she was giving a demonstration of 'Victorian feminine silence.' Sara mumbled something incoherent about corsets..."

"...'There's a promising young filmaker next to that column,' (the publicist's young female assistant) said. 'Doric or Ionic?' Paul asked. The young woman stared at him, uncomprehending, then ran a hand down the front of her suit. 'Donna Karen. Where have you published?' 'Mostly in Hungary and the back of men's magazines.' She frowned slightly. 'Right now I'm editing "The Complete Idiot's Guide to Writing a Complete Idiot's Guide," Paul said. 'What about you?' she wheeled around to Sara. 'Working on my thesis.' 'On?' 'The Bronte sisters.' She thought, cross-referencing with speed-dial celerity. 'I love that old Motown stuff!'..."

What Doesn't

Sophie is not a particularly deep thinker or given to planning. She makes things up on the spot as she goes along, meaning she often has to bear the consequences of her lack of foresight by wiggling out of yet another awkward mess. This is part of her charm, but may also wear thin quickly for some readers, even those who like her but wish her penny would drop with a little more acceleration.

This reader also never quite understood what it was that drew the fiance back at a certain point, and there was an 'Are you kidding me?' moment when no-one but the villain objects to her plan to get in a car and drive herself down an unfamiliar mountain road in the dark within seconds after coming to following a fainting episode. Of all people, her mother - her mother!- is the one to hand her the keys and encourage her to go. Apprentice Writer considers herself generous in suspending disbelief for the sake of a story that is unfolding well, but this put too large a nail in the coffin (tire?) for her.

*

For Sara, the only aspect AW objects to is in how the story ends. Not because it should have ended differently - it ended exactly right in terms of this particular character and how she had developed. But because this reader would have loved to have had an epilogue or glimpse or SOMETHING to hint at what became of the heroine and the quriky cast of secondary characters following 'The End' (the Gentle Reader will not be surprised to learn that the epilogue in 'A Fish Called Wanda', where the hero and heroine are said to have 13 children and found a leper colony while the villain becomes a government minister in South Africa and fixes the state lottery, is a favorite). All she can do is hope that the author will write another book that satisfies her rampant curiosity.

Overall

Enjoyed Sophie's story as a quick, breezy read.

*

Absolutely loved Sara's story as a satisfying story,peppered with well-thought-out observations on the nature of love and loss, and poking well-aimed fun at popular culture, literature, and the people who populate highter academic instituions. One of AW's best impulse book buys ever.

But does it make you laugh?

YES & YES - on different levels.

If you like your heroine as a hapless everywoman with a dash of slapstick, take a look at Sophie. At first, she simply gets swept along with the tide, making impulsive, opportunistic use of what fortune sends her way, but by the end she has learned that she can actually steer the course of her life. There are some laugh-out-loud moments and physical humor.



If you like your heroine more intellectual, with a gift for seeing parallels between literature and real life, take a look at Sara. At first, she stands somewhat apart from contemporary events around her, focussing more on the bygone lives of the Bronte siblings, but by the end she has gained the passion to live more directly and became a participant/actor rather than primarily on onlooker/acted upon. The humor is more cerebral than laugh-out-loud, but no less effective in this reader's view.

Anatomy of DNF

There are many reasons why a reader might pick up one book and not another.

How about the reasons why a reader might disengage from a book part way through?

AFTER THE RICE, Wendy French (Women's Fiction)
Originally picked up because: Enjoyed the author's debut novel, "sMothering", and was fascinated with the premise - a young, healthy, happily-in-love married couple choose to remain childless but find themselves accidentally pregnant. There are many people who remain childless due to fertility problems, financial imperative, not finding the right partner, focus on career, etc., but a couple in the protagonists' situation has not been explored in any books Apprentice Writer has ever read. Sounded promising.
Why put down: Did not want to spend more time with the characters. Following a first chapter in which it seems that the heroine continually observes things about her new husband which irritate her, there is a scene about how the husband wishes there were some way to avoid the obligation of dinner with the wife's family. Initially, this reader thought this was supposed to be a sign of potential ill fit between the spouses. After encountering the family at said dinner, Apprentice Writer cannot blame him. The members 'snap' at each other rather than speaking, they disapprove of the way one sister is 'spoiling' her daughter whom they've dubbed (apparently without affection) 'Pink Tyrant', the mother has to use undisguised coercion for everyone to respond to the invitation of an elderly relative, and the father employs an apparently oft-needed tactic of starting a tableside game to deflect bickering among siblings who are one and all adults. No thanks.
Ultimate test: Based on the strength of the first novel read, AW would look to another novel by this author despite DNF status of this one.


THE SECRET DIARIES OF MISS MIRANDA CHEEVER, Julia Quinn (Historical Romance)
Originally picked up because: It's Julia Quinn!
Why put down: Could not tolerate the hero. He had been harddone by in the backstory, yes, but that just didn't stretch far enough to excuse his being at strategic moments dismissive towards his mother, bullying towards his sister, and petulant, immature, and selfishly evasive towards the heroine. This reader kept hoping someone better would pop up for the heroine, and when it became clear that wouldn't happen it was game over.
Ultimate test: It's Julia Quinn. Or course AW will read this author again!


ME AND MR. DARCY, Alexandra Potter (Paranormal Chicklit)
Originally picked up because: Intrigued by premise of a contemporary heroine going on an Austen-oriented coach tour and somehow being transported back to several encounters with the 'Pride & Prejudice' hero.
Why put down: Could not stand the thought that the relentlessly bland heroine might end up with the perfection that is Mr. Darcy. Mr. Darcy!
Ultimate test: Though the premise was good and might be so again for another novel, the writing style did nothing to draw AW in, so another book would need to arrive with mega buzz and have a spectactular first page to make this reader try again.


MUMS @ HOME, Sophie King (Women's Fiction)
Originally picked up because: Enjoyed a previous novel by the author, "The School Run", and was attracted to the premise - an ensemble piece about the people who join a parenting website and how it changes their lives.
Why put down: The group of people described in the opening chapters are so utterly angst-ridden that this reader developed a tension headache before the story got properly going. Not what she generally aims for when reading.
Ultimate test: If she came upon another book by this author, AW would give the first ten pages a whirl.

Gentle Reader - what say you? Did you finish any of these stories and think Apprentice Writer should have kept going? What makes you put a book down incomplete?

Laughter Reviews #16

Time for another book review with the focus: funny or not?

FEMALE INTELLIGENCE
JANE HELLER
WOMEN'S FICTION


Premise
Career woman specialized in teaching men how to communicate with women is personally betrayed, with professional consequences.


What Works
The main plot elements showed promise: successful woman with thriving practice, quartet of equally successful female friends, and sensitive, good-looking husband is thrown for a loop when she discovers he is cheating. Worse, news of her divorce is leaked to the press, bringing her business to a halt since no-one wants to be couselled on cross-gender communication by someone who failed at it in her own life. To combat the client drain, Lynn decides one well-publicized, decisive victory will save her professional life, and sets out to capture a famous tycoon chauvinist as poster client. All ingredients for what could have been a good story.


What Doesn't
The writing style (at least, in this book) is pedantic. Over-explanatory and on the fussy side, it makes sense for the protagonist's character but means heavy going for the reader, too often approaching the threshold where reading feels like work instead of fun.

The tycoon character is a collection of cliches, from his somewhat dated expressions, to his choice of girlfriend, to his lifesyle description.

There is a TSTL moment when personal details have been leaked to the press for the second time with disastrous results and Lynn calls the newspaper in outrage. Among other details, she is informed that the informant left a contact number, but she fails to demand it to verify who will pick up. Instead, she spends another quarter of the book trying to figure out the identity of the culprit.

She does eventually, via an interesting method. But even this is unsatisfactory. Unless she is in a philosophical, literary-fiction frame of mind, Apprentice Writer wholeheartedly believes in Oscar Wilde's famous quote that

"The good end happily, the bad unhappily. That is what fiction means."

When Lynn confronts her antagonist, the culprit explains the motivation behind the undermining actions, and that's that. No real consequences beyond losing Lynn's friendship, no punishment, no negativity for that person, meaning freedom to inflict similar malicious behavior on the next victim to come along. This may be the way things often work out in real life, but Apprentice Writer gets plenty enough day-to-day proof of 'Life's Not Fair'; she doesn't need to read books for more of the same.


Overall
From dustjacket accolades including "rollicking", "snappy", "hilarious" , Apprentice Writer expected more.



But does it make you laugh? NOT NEARLY ENOUGH

There was a single bit which Apprentice Writer thought truly funny, involving the heroine going through so-called 'scripts' taken from various working life situations to train the male client on proper verbal interaction. She instructs the chauvinist tycoon to practice phrases to help him bond with his female employees, such as "I don't know how you metabolize dessert, but that chocolate mousse I had last night went straight to my thighs." His horror is palpable.

That's it. A good bit, but repetitive, and unless one is a loyal fan of this author, not enough to make reading the entire book worthwhile.