Real Chick Lit for Real Chicks: The Meredith Schorr Collection

It's no secret that Meredith Schorr is one of my favourite chick lit authors. I will push her books on everyone because I love them that much. It also helps that Meredith herself is an awesome person, as I learned when I had the chance to meet her last November. So, since I'm always happy to talk about Meredith's books, I'm here today to let you know that her publisher has released all three of her novels in one ebook collection, Real Chick Lit for Real Chicks. Whee!

Here are the details:

This boxed set brings together three favorites from bestselling chick lit author Meredith Schorr. Blogger Girl follows Kimberly Long, a book blogger asked to review the debut novel of her high school nemesis. In A State of Jane, “good girl” Jane Frank is looking for love, but when all of her dates flake out on her, she decides to turn the tables. In Just Friends With Benefits, Stephanie Cohen is determined to turn the one who got away into “the one” despite advice from a friend not to put all her eggs in one bastard. Meredith Schorr’s characters are believable, relatable, and authentic—women who are easy to root for, despite their flaws. The stories are humorous, heartfelt, and definitely real.

I've read all three books and have loved them all. Sure, I have my favourite but you really can't go wrong with this collection. The name of the collection is bang on, too. One of my favourite things about Meredith's novels is that her heroines are always so real and relatable. I hope you'll find that as well when you buy the set!

The collection is available on Amazon.com, Amazon.ca, Barnes and Noble, and will be on iTunes soon.

About Meredith

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, and was famous among her friends for writing witty birthday cards. After trying her hand writing children’s stories and blogging her personal experiences, Meredith found her calling writing “real” chick lit for real women.  When she is not hard at work on her next novel, Meredith spends her days as a trademark paralegal.  She is a loyal New York Yankees fan and an avid runner. Meredith is the author of three published novels, Just Friends with Benefits, A State of Jane and Blogger Girl and the full boxed set, Real Chick Lit for Real Chicks: The Meredith Schorr Collection.

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Top Ten Tuesday: Swoon-worthy Books

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.

It's almost Valentine's Day! Who celebrates this chocolate filled holiday? My boyfriend and I don't do anything...partly because for the longest time we weren't in the same city for the holiday. We're also not the most romantic couple. He did surprise me with chocolates last year though! Since this holiday is all about celebrating love (or chocolate, sometimes I forget hehe) this week's TTT features our favourite books that made us swoon. What are some of your favourite romantic stories? Links lead to Goodreads.

Bride Quartet and Inn Boonsboro Trilogy - Nora Roberts
Starting my list with one of the queens of romance. I just adore both of these series (which I've mentioned multiple times on the blog) and I couldn't pick just one to feature. I like that the men in these books aren't sappy...they're all manly men (especially the brothers in Inn Boonsboro) but genuinely good guys. These are the kinds of guys I find most attractive and that's probably why I love these seven books so much.

Just One Day/Just One Year - Gayle Forman
Willem is one of my more recent book boyfriends. It seems odd to include this series in this list since the main characters aren't together for most of the book. Literally, they aren't together - Alyson is in the US and Willem is in Europe. But what makes these books so swoonworthy is how much they go through to try and find each other.

S.E.C.R.E.T./S.E.C.R.E.T. Shared - L. Marie Adeline
These books fall on the steamy end of swoonworthy. There are all sorts of guys to choose from in this series because of the different fantasies the women go through and you're guaranteed to swoon over at least one of them. I'm partial to Jesse, myself.

Sweet Thing - Renee Carlino
There's just something about Will and the relationship he has with main character Mia that makes you swoon. He's a bit of a bad boy and is a musician as well so you can imagine the swoonworthy moments in this great novel!

Anna and the French Kiss - Stephanie Perkins
I just loved the relationship between Anna and Étienne. It was sweet, but not overly, and felt right for a relationship between two teens. Plus, they're in Paris! How can you not swoon over that?

Lucky Harbor Series - Jill Shalvis
I've only read a couple of books in this series but I have totally loved them. They're a mix of sweet and spicy with fun stories to boot. And I just love stories, especially romances, set in small towns.

One Sweet Christmas - Darlene Fredette
This is one of my favourite Christmas romance short stories. Again, it's set in a small town plus it's Christmas. And there's a chocolate shop. And a hot guy. Win!

The Boys Next Door/Endless Summer - Jennifer Echols
These books are an easy teen read but totally worth it. I loved main character Lori. She grew up surrounded by the boys next door and, eventually, realizes she's got a major crush on one of them. But is he the right one? These are super sweet reads that are perfect for the beach.

Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
Oh, Mr. Darcy. Darcy and Lizzie Bennet make up one of the most classic and beloved couples in all of literature. Of course I had to include them! Who wouldn't want their man to tell them this: "You must allow me to tell you how ardently I admire and love you."

Persuasion - Jane Austen

Captain Wentworth is an underestimated Austen hero. I read Persuasion so long ago so I can't really remember too much about him but let's just take a look at this line here, which he writes to Anne: "You pierce my soul. I am half agony, half hope." Swoon.

Jane Austen Rereadalong: Austen Events and Adaptations

So, it's February and I still haven't read the first book in my Jane Austen (re)read challenge. I'm looking at my reading schedule and am wishing I had read Sense and Sensibility last month! Hopefully I'll get to it within the next week. Today, though, I want to share the Austen-esque events and adaptations I experienced in January.

Last fall, friend and fellow blogger Natalie told me about a talk about Austen at our local library. We were super excited....and then the event got postponed. Sad! Thankfully the library rescheduled and Natalie and I braved the cold a couple of weeks ago and went to hear a professor at our local university talk about Jane Austen. Barbara K. Seeber has written two books about Jane Austen, General Consent in Jane Austen: A Study in Dialogism (2000) and Jane Austen and Animals (2013). Last month's talk featured her latest

book and her talk focused on how sport and animals are included in Austen's work. This is definitely something I had never thought about before and I found it quite interesting. Did you realize that most Austen heroes hunt? And that Mr. Darcy does not? The talk was a few weeks ago now and I didn't really make any notes so I'm finding it hard to remember details! What I do know is that listening to Seeber made me realize there's a lot more going on in Austen's novels than we may recall. I know I'll definitely be paying attention to the hunting and sport in each novel as I read them this year. I'm really glad I went to this talk and I love that my library does things like this. Plus, we had tea out of real tea cups afterwards! Definitely more classy than my usual mugs :) All in all, it was a good event and I'll be keeping an eye on other events like this at my library in the future.

Last month I also watched Lost in Austen. This was a British mini series from 2008 that I had always wanted to watch but just never got around to it. Happily, it was at my library! The movie is about a twentysomething woman, Amanda, who is a diehard Pride and Prejudice fan. One day she discovers Elizabeth Bennet in her bathroom and realizes there's a hidden door that can lead her to Longbourn. Since Amanda, not Elizabeth, is at the Bennet household when Bingley and Darcy arrive, things quickly get out of hand and Amanda tries desperately to get things back to the way they were in the novel. If it sounds hilariously ridiculous, you're right. It was almost over the top crazy but it worked and I enjoyed myself. Which is good because it's three hours long! I liked that they played with the characters we know so well, sometimes making them into much better versions than we recall. Wickham, for example, is absolutely amazing in this movie. It was fun to watch Hugh Bonneville, who I've gotten to know well from Downton Abbey, play Mr. Bennet. And if you need any more incentive to watch it, Amanda convinces Mr. Darcy to jump into the lake in just his white shirt a la Colin Firth's Mr. Darcy.

If you're an Austen fan, watch Austenland. It's a lot of fun!

I also learned that there's an even newer Emma adaptation that I didn't know about. It's not too surprising that I missed the news about this one since I'm not a huge fan of Emma. But, I plan on watching as many adaptations as I can this year so I'm looking forward to watching this 2009 BBC production, which stars Elementary's Jonny Lee Miller as Mr. Knightley. Emma will be read in July and August so I have to wait a few more months to watch this one.

I've just realized that all of these Austen events were made possible by Natalie alerting me to the library having the event or movies. Basically, my Jane Austen January was brought to you by Browsing Bookshelves. :) Thanks for always looking out for my bookish side, Natalie!

Review: Letters from Skye

Let's start this review with a story about how I came to read Letters from Skye. I interned at Random House of Canada last year and part of my duties were to mail review copies to "professional" reviewers. One day I was sending out ARCs of Jessica Brockmole's novel. I noted the title and author so I could keep an eye out when it was released in July, a few months later. Fast forward to find this novel was on the list of books that bloggers could request to review from RHC. Excellent! Fast forward another few months and I finally read this novel. For some crazy reason this book just kept getting pushed aside and I'm so annoyed at myself now. Why? It was an amazing read!

Here's the synopsis:

A sweeping story told in letters, spanning two continents and two world wars, Jessica Brockmole’s atmospheric debut novel captures the indelible ways that people fall in love, and celebrates the power of the written word to stir the heart.
March 1912: Twenty-four-year-old Elspeth Dunn, a published poet, has never seen the world beyond her home on Scotland’s remote Isle of Skye. So she is astonished when her first fan letter arrives, from a college student, David Graham, in far-away America. As the two strike up a correspondence—sharing their favorite books, wildest hopes, and deepest secrets—their exchanges blossom into friendship, and eventually into love. But as World War I engulfs Europe and David volunteers as an ambulance driver on the Western front, Elspeth can only wait for him on Skye, hoping he’ll survive.
June 1940: At the start of World War II, Elspeth’s daughter, Margaret, has fallen for a pilot in the Royal Air Force. Her mother warns her against seeking love in wartime, an admonition Margaret doesn’t understand. Then, after a bomb rocks Elspeth’s house, and letters that were hidden in a wall come raining down, Elspeth disappears. Only a single letter remains as a clue to Elspeth’s whereabouts. As Margaret sets out to discover where her mother has gone, she must also face the truth of what happened to her family long ago.

I don't often read historical fiction. I don't know why. I feel like I say that every time I have a historical novel to review. I think I have this idea in my head that I don't like it very much and that's why I never read these books right away. Silly, no? Especially when the book is as good as Letters from Skye was. I really liked that there was a huge human element in addition to the history. Really, the story is more personal with history woven throughout. The story takes place during both World Wars and is told through letters. You can really get a sense of what things would have been like for those living during those times. In particular, you can see what communication would have been like. I can't imagine living then and having to wait weeks for letters. Sure, writing actual letters is awesome but not when you want to know immediately if your loved one has died in a war. I know there are an abundance of WWI and II stories but I feel like this one has a different take on the times, at least different than I've read before.

Do you ever read a book and know exactly who you're going to pass it onto next or recommend it to? I had that feeling with Letters from Skye. I know my grandma, my best friend, and my boyfriend's mom would all love this novel, too. If you, or someone in your life, love historical fiction, especially fiction that takes place during either World War, check this one out.

Some people may not like that this book was told entirely in letters. I don't mind unconventional formats usually, especially when they're done well - as I felt Letters from Skye was. Even though we're only learning about the characters through letters, I still feel like their personalities come through. In fact, I thought Elspeth was incredibly clever and I loved reading the letters between her and David.

Letters from Skye is definitely one of my favourite stories of the year. It gripped me and I even found myself tearing up at the end - in a good way - because it was so emotional and powerful. If you like historical fiction, particularly set during the World Wars, read Jessica Brockmole's novel.

*A copy of this novel was provided by the publisher, Random House of Canada, in exchange for an honest review.*

Author Interview: Laura Chapman

I'm back with another post as part of the CLP Blog Tour for Laura Chapman's debut novel Hard Hats and Doormats. I adored this book (my review went up last week) and loved the guest post Laura wrote for me that went up a few days ago. Today I put Laura to the test and asked her a bunch of thought provoking questions. OK, some thought provoking, some entertaining. I hope you enjoy this Q&A!

Five Favourites

Chick Flick: This is a toss-up between “The Princess Bride” and “When Harry Met Sally.” I was raised on both of these movies, and while I’ve seen other movies I’ve enjoyed, none have stuck with me quite the way these ones did.

Alcoholic Beverage: I’ve been on a Dirty Shirley kick lately. For those of you who don’t know, that’s a Shirley Temple plus vodka. It’s fun to order, because it usually starts a conversation between you and whoever you’re sitting near. I order mine tall, because it requires more 7-Up and grenadine, which means I’m (hopefully) not going to get sloppy.

Travel Destination (somewhere you've been and/or somewhere you'd like to go): The Pacific Northwest. Out of every place I’ve ever been, this is the one that most amazed me. It’s ridiculously beautiful. Every time one of my friends posts a picture from the Seattle area, I actually get this churning in my stomach.

Book from your childhood: These Happy Golden Years by Laura Ingalls Wilder. When I was 9, I thought it was the most romantic story ever. It’s the first book I can remember re-reading constantly.

TV show: Of all time, probably “30 Rock.” On right now, “The Mindy Project.” Both shows were created and run by strong, funny ladies, and Tina Fey and Mindy Kahling inspire me.

Books Etc.: You started as a blogger and have now moved into the world of being an author. Was that always your plan? What made you decide to really take the plunge and get published?

Laura Chapman: I knew I wanted to be a novelist before I started my blog, “Change the Word,” or my first blog, the now defunct “Pretending Pretentious.” Back in 2010, I didn’t know much about publishing (heck, I’m still learning), but it seemed like a lot of authors had blogs, and I figured I should, too. After a year and a half of sporadic blog posts, I decided to be more disciplined about it after I’d written my first draft of Hard Hats and Doormats, because I realized if I was serious about becoming a published author, I needed to be more serious about my other forms of writing, including the blog. The fact that CTW expanded as much as it did still surprises me.

BE: What's your writing process like? Do you like to write at a certain time of day or in a certain place?

LC: I basically write whenever I can. I keep trying to make morning writing work, because I know of several authors who have success with it. (It’s actually 5:30 a.m. as I’m answering these questions.) Sometimes I’ll do a little writing or editing during lunch. During National Novel Writing Month, I write a lot of evenings, too. Weekends, it’s kind of a “do it whenever I can focus long enough” approach. On days when I’m more inspired (and focused), I’ll write and write no problem. Other days, I’m easily distracted by BuzzFeed or using the laser pointer to drive my cats nuts.

BE: How do you come up with your story ideas? What inspires you?

LC: So far, all of my story ideas have popped into my head with a single word or phrase. For Hard Hats and Doormats, it was the sight of the mess I’d made in my rental car on a business trip. The passenger seat was littered with road maps, hard hats, steel-toed boots, interview notes and so on. I spent the next few hours of my drive coming up with potential story lines, and basically had an outline by the time I made it to my destination. I still get a lot of ideas while driving. I keep a running list of my ideas.

BE: Now that you have one short story and one novel published, what's your next project? Can you give us any details on what you're working on now?

LC: Hopefully by the time this runs, I’ll have wrapped up the edits on my second novel. I can’t say too much about it now, but it’s a modern reimagining of Jane Austen’s Persuasion. It’s set in present day America, and involves a hunky love from the past, needy family members and a problem only a strong woman can handle. I’m also about two-thirds of the way through the first draft of my third novel. It involves American Football, and that’s as much as I’m saying for now. I’d also like to do a holiday novella if time and resources permit.

Connect with Laura!

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Guest Post: Laura Chapman

Welcome to my second stop on the CLP Blog Tour for Hard Hats and Doormats, Laura Chapman's debut novel. I absolutely loved this novel (my review went up last week) and today Laura is sharing a guest post with us. I wondered what it was like to get into the mind of Lexi, the main character. How did Laura create Lexi's personality and make her real? Enjoy!

Confession: Out of all the guest posts I’ve been writing to discuss the story behind my first novel, this is the one I struggled with most. I wasn’t quite sure how to put into words exactly what I’d done to channel my inner Lexi to tell her story and make it feel real.

When I wrote the first draft of Hard Hats and Doormats three years ago, it wasn’t much of a stretch for me to get inside my main character’s head. At the time I started the first draft, I was 24, two years out of college and in one of those awkward life phases. You know the kind – you’re not 100 percent happy about the direction your life is taking, but you don’t know what to do about it.

So you get moody, pouty and sometimes overdo it at the bar (not necessarily as a coping mechanism, but because you’re young and don’t always think things through). You make and lose friendships. You make good and bad decisions. You’re trying to figure out who you want to be and how you can become that person.

Like Lexi Burke, I sometimes spent too much of my life on the road for work and complaining about my job. I also liked meeting my friends for post-work drinks. We liked complaining about co-workers and bosses. Flirting with cute boys (because I was still thinking of men as boys at this point) and looking to each other for spiritual guidance.  

It wasn’t just me. Most of my friends were basically the same way. We were all fairly new out of college. We all had big plans, but we weren’t that close to achieving them.

When I needed to get into my character’s head – when I was developing her personality – I considered the most extreme emotions and thoughts I’d had in the previous two years. What made me happiest? What had upset me most? What was the worst character trait I showed? What was the best? Then I thought about the people around me. I’ve always been a fan of people watching (I’m sure other writers can relate), and I used some of those experiences to watch the way men and women in their twenties acted.

I came up with a few interesting characteristics I wanted to feature:

• A lot of us aren’t happy at work. At the time I wrote the first draft, the recession was still on its way to bottoming out. Jobs were scarce, salaries were low and we felt a little helpless about our professional futures.
• Many of us wanted our ideas to be heard and valued, but were finding it difficult, because of our young age.
• The number one social activity for young working professionals seems to be meeting in a bar after work on a Friday (or Monday) to vent about difficult projects and people. That activity has the potential to bring out the best and worst in people, which makes natural drama.
• People can be selfish, but it doesn’t mean they’re horrible. For my part, I felt so helpless about everything going on in my life, I was so me-focused. What was I thinking? What was I feeling? What did I want? How was I going to solve my problems? Lots of “I” thinking. At the same time, I was aware I was being selfish, and I didn’t want to be.

When I developed Lexi Burke as a character – when I got into her head – I funneled this chaotic mix of emotions and thoughts into my writing. In subsequent drafts – as my life changed, and these old problems became less important to me – I tried to keep that same mindset. The story was inspired by some of what I’d experienced or witnessed first-hand as a young professional. It was often messy. There were a lot of mistakes. But we learned a lot of lessons. My hope was by writing a story about characters that weren’t always perfect – and who made mistakes – I’d be creating a realistic book.

Perhaps what most surprised me through writing this story was how different my main character and I turned out to be. I was concerned I’d end up writing a fictional version of myself, because I was expressing so many of my emotions. Ultimately, Lexi and I ended up being two different people, who managed to share a few similar thoughts and emotions. Isn’t that a nice thought? You can be so different from another person – real or fictional – but you can still find a little common ground amongst your differences.

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Review: What Nora Knew

Confession: I was skeptical of What Nora Knew by Linda Yellin. Not because it sounded bad but because I have a track record of not loving novels with main characters who are older. I'm in my mid-twenties (I'm 26 turning 27, can I still say mid-twenties?) so I just relate better to characters who are that age. But, I'm a huge fan of Nora Ephron's movies (You've Got Mail is an all time favourite) so I decided to give this book a shot. And guess what? It earned my first five star rating (of a non-reread) of 2014!

Here's the synopsis:

Molly Hallberg is a thirty-nine-year-old divorced writer living in New York City who wants her own column, a Wikipedia entry, and to never end up in her family's Long Island upholstery business. For the past four years Molly's been on staff for an online magazine, covering all the wacky assignments. She's snuck vibrators through security scanners, speed-dated undercover, danced with the Rockettes, and posed nude for a Soho art studio.
Fearless in everything except love, Molly is now dating a forty-four-year old chiropractor. He's comfortable, but safe. When Molly is assigned to write a piece about New York City romance - in the style of Nora Ephron - she flunks out big-time. She can't recognize romance. And she can't recognize the one man who can go one-on-one with her, the one man who gets her. But with wit, charm, whip-smart humor, and Nora Ephron's romantic comedies, Molly learns to open her heart and suppress her cynicism in this bright, achingly funny novel.

The thing I loved most about this book is that it felt like a Nora Ephron movie. The main character was witty but far from perfect. She's dating a guy who was nice and comfortable (think You've Got Mail or Sleepless in Seattle). The story takes place in Manhattan - there's even a scene at Cafe Lalo where, in You've Got Mail, Kathleen is to meet her mystery man but Joe "just happens" to be there instead. There are grand gestures. And it's funny and real. 

I think the way the novel was written played a big role in my enjoyment as well. I liked that it felt like I was one of Molly's friends and she was telling me the story of her life at the moment. It was a very conversational writing style and I enjoyed that. I did have the thought that not everyone would enjoy the way the novel was written but it thrilled me. 

For a book about a woman who needs to rediscover romance, if she ever discovered it in the first place, this novel doesn't push the romance in your face. I think part of that is because you sort of know what's going to happen at the end of the book, you know who Molly will end up with. But as Molly says about Nora Ephron's movies, 

"[I]t's not about who she's going to end up with. We still want to keep watching. We're mesmerized by the journey." (page 108)

And I was mesmerized. I couldn't wait to see how Molly and her eventual love interest would get together and when she would realize that he's totally meant for her. 

I felt good when I was reading What Nora Knew and I was happy with the way author Linda Yellin wrapped things up in the end. For those reasons, and many others, this novel was a total winner for me. If you're intrigued by the idea behind this novel, pick it up. I don't think you'll regret it!

*A e-galley of this novel was provided by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review*