Rerelease: Blogger Girl Series

Yesterday was a very exciting day for Meredith Schorr. Her five (amazing) romcom novels have been republished with her new publisher Henery Press. Meredith is one of my favourite people so I'm thrilled to be promoting the hell out of these new covers (and even some new insides too!). Meredith's Blogger Girl series is amazing. I mean, how could I not love books about a chick lit blogger?

Above is the cover of Blogger Girl, the first story about Kimberly Long. And, I absolutely must draw your attention to the short and sweet quote on that most adorable cover. How cool is that? None of her other new covers have blurbs and the one that does have one, it's by yours truly! I'm not sure if it's cool to be this excited but I am.

I reviewed Blogger Girl back in 2013 (jeez...how has it been that long?). If you missed it that time around, check out my thoughts here.

Novelista Girl is the continuation to Kim's story. I was thrilled to get back to her life and see how things were going for her. Here's what I thought of the second Blogger Girl novel when I reviewed it last year.

You're going to want to buy these books (yes, you really will want to) so I've made it easy for you. Here are all the buy links for the two Blogger Girl books.

Blogger Girl 

Amazon

B&N

iBooks

Kobo

Novelista Girl

Amazon

B&N

iBooks

Kobo

Add Blogger Girl to your Goodreads shelf here and add Novelista Girl here.

A born-and-bred New Yorker, Meredith Schorr discovered her passion for writing when she began to enjoy drafting work-related emails way more than she was probably supposed to. After trying her hand penning children’s stories and blogging her personal experiences, Meredith found her calling writing romantic comedy and humorous women’s fiction. She secures much inspiration from her day job as a hardworking trademark paralegal and her still-single (but looking) status. Meredith is a loyal New York Yankees fan, an avid runner, and an unashamed television addict. To learn more, visit her at www.meredithschorr.com. 

Follow Meredith on Facebook and Twitter.

Top Ten Tuesday: All About Romance

Created by The Broke and the Bookish

Top Ten Tuesday is weekly meme created by the lovely folks at The Broke and the Bookish. They created it because they're "particularly fond of lists" and since I also enjoy lists, I've decided to participate in this fun feature. (Side note: I only did one TTT in 2016! And it was over a year ago! Crazy.)

Happy Valentine's Day, bookworms! Are you doing anything special today? Nothing planned for me. We're not into celebrating Valentine's Day so it's just another Tuesday in our house. Even though I'm not part of a typically romantic couple, I adore romances. I will read pretty much any book that has any hint of a romance - chick lit, women's fiction, literary fiction, historical fiction, and, of course, romances. Gimme 'em all. I'm interpreting today's TTT of All About Romance Tropes/Types as a list of my favourite tropes. I've included an example for each so you get a better idea of what I mean by the trope. Links lead to Goodreads. I only came up with eight because, to be honest, it was getting late on Monday night and I needed to get to bed! What are some of your favourite romance tropes?

Small Town
This is, hands down, one of my favourite tropes. I don't really know why because I wanted to get out of my own small hometown so badly but I guess there's just something about stories in teeny little towns to tug at my heart.

Example: I love Nora Roberts' Inn Boonsboro series and thought The Perfect Hope was the perfect way to wrap up the series. Bonus: you can actually visit the Inn and bookstore. Nora and her husband own them!

Second Chance
I think I love these stories so much because, like most people, I always wonder about what could have happened if life had gone one way instead of another. (To be clear, these days I wonder about more career related things than relationships gone wrong!)

Example: Jennifer Weiner puts her own (fantastic) spin on the second chance romances in Who Do You Love.

Classic Example: Persuasion by Jane Austen. And there have been so many books written that pay homage to this wonderful story, too!

Christmas
I absolutely adore Christmas and one of my favourite things about the holiday is reading all of the romances that have anything to do with Christmas. It does get annoying when "Christmas" gets slapped on a story that barely has a whiff of peppermint or evergreen. But...when there is the holiday spirit and a sweet romance? Oh, I'm a happy girl.

Example: The Most Wonderful Time of the Year is, well, simply wonderful. It has the Christmas spirit and it's by one of my favourite author/blogger/people, Marie Landry. Bonus: It also takes place in a small town and is a second chance romance.

Summer Vacation
This trope is only really applicable to YA novels. I think I have a fondness for them because I had quite a few summer romances in high school. There's just something magical about those few months off school when the weather is beautiful and you don't have a care in the world.

Example: Sarah Dessen wins all of the summer vacation stories. Yes, there are other, amazing authors, like Morgan Matson, but I've been reading Dessen for so long that summer vacation = her novels. Along for the Ride is my favourite summer story because it also takes place in a beach town.

Friends to Lovers
This trope can be overdone but when it's done right? I love it. One friend realizes they have feelings for the other but they don't know if the feelings are reciprocated. Such tension!

Example: Anne of the Island. There are so many great examples but...it's Anne and Gilbert. Swoon.

Boy/Girl Next Door
This kind of carries on from the friends to lovers but I just really like when two friends grow up together and end up realizing they're in love with each other.

YA Example: My Life with the Walter Boys was so much fun to read. I need more!

Athletes
Either I haven't found enough or there just aren't enough sportsing romances out there. Good ones, of course. I particularly need more with baseball or hockey or basketball. There are enough football books out there already. Anyway. I've played sports and enjoy watching them so I also really enjoy reading about athletes falling in love. And yes, I'm being a bit sexist when I think of these types of stories. Tall, strong, men with all sorts of other redeeming qualities on top of their athletic prowess? Yum.

Example: This was a really hard one to choose because the few I've read (there should be more!) are all so good. But my virtual bestie, Laura Chapman, has an awesome series about football (yes, I know what I just said) that everyone should read. Start with First & Goal.

Road Trip/Vacation
This is sort of the adult version of the summer vacation trope. I like reading about couples who are in a different place than they're used to and either fall in love or fall in love more deeply while they're vacationing.

Example: Karina Halle has written so many books that would suit for a lot of these tropes (without being cliche...important!) but one of my favourites of hers is Where Sea Meets Sky which brings a guy from BC to New Zealand because he's chasing after a girl.

Review: My Not So Perfect Life

I've been reading Sophie Kinsella for years and I'm always happy to see when she has a new book (except the Shopaholic books - I've given up on those because Becky drives me up the flipping wall). It's been awhile since I've read one of her adult books (I read and enjoyed Finding Audrey, review here) so I was really thrilled when I received a copy of My Not So Perfect Life. I dove in and could not stop. This book is exactly what I want chick lit to be and I loved it. 

Here's the synopsis:

Katie Brenner has the perfect life: a flat in London, a glamorous job, and a super-cool Instagram feed.
Ok, so the real truth is that she rents a tiny room with no space for a wardrobe, has a hideous commute to a lowly admin job, and the life she shares on Instagram isn’t really hers.
But one day her dreams are bound to come true, aren’t they?
Until her not-so perfect life comes crashing down when her mega-successful boss Demeter gives her the sack. All Katie’s hopes are shattered. She has to move home to Somerset, where she helps her dad with his new glamping business.
Then Demeter and her family book in for a holiday, and Katie sees her chance. But should she get revenge on the woman who ruined her dreams? Or try to get her job back? Does Demeter – the woman with everything – have such an idyllic life herself? Maybe they have more in common than it seems.
And what’s wrong with not-so-perfect, anyway? 

I loved Katie. It helped that she's only a few years younger than I am so I really understood her struggles, especially in terms of her career and cultivating a seemingly perfect life online (you know you're guilty of only posting the good stuff too, don't try to deny it!). It's common for me to find myself rolling my eyes at chick lit heroines, particularly Kinsella's. I didn't find myself getting frustrated with Katie, not much anyway. I wanted her to be honest with her dad but I could totally understand why she was holding back. Maybe I wasn't getting annoyed because I just identified with Katie on so many levels and could see bits of myself or my friends in her. Whatever the reason, she was an absolute joy to read because she was smart, funny, and such a genuinely good person.

Many people probably wouldn't care too much what Katie's job is but I loved that she worked in branding. I'm a communications grad and I've worked in marketing type positions over the years so I really liked reading as they tried to come up with campaigns and worked on different projects. It's only a small part of the book but it rang true for me and it helped me enjoy the story that much more. 

As much as I loved Katie, I also really liked Demeter. I could see how she was a bit of a nightmare to work for (we've all had bosses like that, right?) but I could also see glimpses of someone who's trying to hold it all together and starting to show some cracks. Or maybe I could see it just because I figured where the story was going. The point is, Demeter was a really interesting character and I loved the reminder that no one's life is perfect, no matter how it's filtered on Instagram.

Final side note...I really want to go to Katie's family's farm and try glamping. I am not an outdoorsy kind of girl (camping? No thank you) but I am a small town, country girl so the idea of getting away from the city and spending time at a farm without the distractions of life is incredibly appealing. And Kinsella made Biddy's food sound freaking amazing. 

Just in case you want further proof of how much I liked My Not So Perfect Life, I'm planning on buying it this week (in hardcover...in Canada...so I essentially have to pay with a kidney) so I can go to a signing on Saturday. It's not often authors I enjoy come to Canada so I'm thrilled that I live close enough to go to the event. (I just need to hope for no snow!) 

My Not So Perfect Life may have just catapulted itself to the top of my list of favourite Sophie Kinsella books. It's not perfect (sorry, couldn't resist) but the teeny little things that I wasn't thrilled about didn't even matter because the story is, overall, so so good. If you're a lover of contemporary stories with heart and laughter that feature smart and real women, you have got to pick up this book!

*An eARC was provided by Random House in exchange for review consideration. All opinions are honest and my own.*