Book Review: The Heiresses by Sarah Shepard

The Deal: They Saybrook family made it's fortune in diamonds, and they are Upper East Side royalty, with their good looks and pots of money. Their lives are charmed (or maybe cursed). And all that before a clause in the patriarch's will says that only his granddaughters can inherit the massive fortune. 

Corrine, Rowan, Aster and Poppy are the heiresses (and each other's cousins), each with their own secrets and longings, and their own role to play within the diamond empire. There is also Natasha, the black sheep of the family who "disinherited" herself recently. 

But when Poppy, she of the perfect life and wonderful husband, is killed, the remaining heiresses are drawn together to figure out who killed Poppy and why, before one of them becomes the next victim.

My Thoughts: The Heiresses is like a grown up version of Gossip Girl with a dash of Shepard's own Pretty Little Liars thrown in. There are secrets and scandals and all type of inappropriate behavior that we all seem to find (morbidly) fascinating when it involves the beautiful and rich.

The book in general was dishy and trashy and somewhat fun... but it also had several issues. For starters, you're introduced to tons of characters all at once in the first couple of chapters, it was really hard to keep track - or even care about any of them. It was easier to keep the cousins straight by remembering who was the party girl, or the ugly duckling or the lawyer, than anything else, because their voices didn't sound that distinct to me. 

So, if you're looking for a Gossip Girl for grown ups type of book, this might work well for you (though I think the too large cast of characters might still be a problem for some). Otherwise, stay clear. 

1/2

Book Review: Love and Other Foreign Words by Erin McCahan

At First Sight: Josie understands everything in terms of the languages people use to express themselves. She's particularly well versed in the language of her sisters Maggie and Kate, specially Kate with whom she's very, very close.

But now Kate has brought home a guy, Geoff, whom she thinks is the one and can't see how wrong he is for her, in Josie's opinion. And no matter how much Josie protests, no one is listening to her.

So Josie is a bit lost in translation, with a boyfriend whom isn't sure she loves but seems to love her; with Kate who used to be one of the two people who spoke Josie's native tongue; and with her best friend Stu who doesn't say much at all. 

Second Glance: I really enjoyed Love and Other Foreign Words. And I really liked Josie - she's incredibly smart and often unintentionally funny because she marches to her own drum so much. I loved that she's not an outcast and actually has lots of friends and normal-teenage relationships with them.

I loved the relationship with her sisters, Maggie and Kate - I really identified with her in that score, I'm the youngest girl from my mom's side of the family and I'm used to being doted-on by my many, many female cousins and sister and I felt very proprietary about that, kind of like Josie does.

Kate annoyed me a bit, and Geoff too, at the beginning I was like "OMG! I hate you already!!" and could understand Josie, even though I knew she was an unreliable narrator, I was still on board. But maybe he isn't so bad in the end ;)

Also loved Stu and Sophie, they were adorable. You could totally see the love between them even when they were screaming at each other, plus they were really good friends to Josie. 

Bottom Line: Definitely recommend Love and Other Foreign Words, it's a lovely read with lots of humor as Josie went on her quest to break up Kate and Geoff, it's a little crazy and twisted but, then again, so is sisterhood. 

1/2

This review is par to of the Summer Reading / Love and Other Foreign Words Blog Tour.

PS - Sorry for the late posting, was at work all day and my schedule post didn't go up as planned. 

Book Review: Unforgettable You by Georgina Penney

At First Sight: Jo Blaine just wanted to sleep in her own bed after working in an off-shore oil rig for months and then traveling for 24 hrs straight to get home in Perth, Australia; but when she got to her apartment, she found a man was in residence and had, in fact, taken over her home.

The man was none other than Stephen Hardy, whose family owns the big vineyard where Jo and her sister Amy had grown up and who once started a rumor about Jo that ruined her life. Stephen has always felt very guilty about it and wants to make it up to her somehow, even if that means looking after her place and her cat while she's away.

After a few blow ups, Jo eventually decides to let Stephen stay and they start developing a friendship and then a bit more, even if Jo's job keeps taking her away for months at a time. However, as they grow closer, Stephen realizes that it's something very wrong in Jo's life, something in her past that neither her nor her Amy are willing to talk about and which is coming back to cause her trouble. 

Second Glance: Unforgettable You is the companion novel/prequel to Irrepressible You and it tells the story of how Jo and Stephen (who are an item on Irrepressible You) got together, shedding more light into things that Amy's story just hinted at.

I enjoyed reading Unforgettable You, once I started and settled into the story, I couldn't stop reading it and Georgina Penney has a prose that flows very nicely, you kind of read it fast and progress quickly  without even noticing (which is always a plus in my book). Now, I didn't love Jo as much as I loved Amy, and I didn't always agree with her or with how she handled things, but Jo made sense to me. Her actions were congruent with who she was and what she had been through.

On the other hand, I really liked Stephen, he was a really decent guy trying to atone for past mistakes and to move on after a long-term relationship that had gone south, sometimes he was even too nice but I couldn't even get mad at him about it. Like I said, decent fellow.

Their story went back and forth and bit, but I totally give props to the author because, even though they were away from each other for long-stretches of time, I totally believed in their relationship.

Plus, I'm even more intrigued about the other members of the Hardy clan - like Scott, Rachel and Mike - and I would love, love, love to hear their stories.

Bottom Line: Unforgettable You was fun to read, it grabbed me from the start and I genuinely enjoyed spending time with these people, they felt like old friends to me and I always love when that happens. 

Book Review: Heartbreak Cake by Cindy Arora

At First Sight: Life should be sweet for pastry chef Indira Aguilar: she and her best friend Pedro own and run Cake Pan Shoppe - a small but trendy cake story that is quickly becoming a staple of the Laguna Beach community - and they are becoming a hit with the less traditional brides.

They even got in on the biggest wedding of the year, which is quite the coup even if the bride keeps changing her mind on the theme for the wedding.

But there is another side to Indira's life that isn't going so well: everything that has to do with Josh Oliver, her former boss at the Crystal Cover Resort, where Indira used to work.

With the return of Josh absentee wife Valentina a few months prior, and the end of Indira's affair with him, rumors start running wild in the community, threatening to take Indira's shop and pull it under, unless she can keep it together.

In the midst of all of it, she meets Noah, the hot new chef at Crystal Cove, who might be interested on being more than just friends.

Second Glance: I really loved Heartbreak Cake mostly because I really loved Indira. She's in her mid-thirties and striking out on her own professionally, confident in her skills set yet always trying to improve, she's smart and driven and has lots of talent. But she has also made lots of bad choices in her personal life. Her relationship with Josh was complicated as they come; and things weren't black and white at all. Plus, she recognizes she made a big mistake and ends things and deals with the fall out.

I respected her for it, in a way I rarely respect or even put-up with characters that indulge in wildly misguided love or romantic naiveté. Indira was one tough cookie and a decent one at that; and for me this book was really all about her and how she healed her own broken heart with the support of her family and her true friends, and the thing she loves doing the most: baking.

Yes, there is a very strong romantic element to the story - and Noah was a very nice and swoony love interest, I really liked him, even in his imperfections (like his stubbornness and bit of hot-headedness) - but Heartbreak Cake was about more than that, and definitely more chick lit than a straight romance.

Also, I loved how they book showed the curative power of baking, of creating, or just doing something that you really, really love. 

Bottom Line: Thumbs up for Heartbreak Cake. It's a charming debut novel with a very strong central character, a delightful cast of secondary characters - I particularly loved Simon and Pedro - and lots of baked goods (warning, though, this book will make you super hungry). And, in conclusion: croissants!

Favorite Quote: "One always needs hope after a break up, I think, as I remove the foil from the milk chocolate bar and begin to chop it. A beacon to remind you that you will survive and eventually, thrive" 

  (Kissy Bear Likes Baked Goods!)

Love, 

This review is part of the Heartbreak Cake Blog Tour hosted by Fictionella. Click here for past and future tour stops. 

Book Review: Irrepressible You by Georgina Penney

At First Sight: Ben Martindale, a successful comedian and writer, decamped to Perth, Australia, partially to live down the scandal his latest fling with a reality tv 'star' brought down. One night, he was hanging out with a friend at a bar when he happened to meet Amy Blaine.

Amy owns a barber shop called Babyface, likes to dress up like a 50's pin up girl and is a generally nice and sunny person, even if her persona can be a little over the top. She and Ben don't like each other and at first, but after Ben goes to her shop, sits down for an old-fashioned shave and asks her out, Amy agrees and they start seeing each other.

Unbeknown to her, Ben has been using her in his writing, nicknaming her Babyface and using their budding relationship as fodder for his weekly column - which publishes in England. There is just something about her that makes his writing and his creativity flow.

But, as they start to open up to each other, Ben starts to see that under all that sunny disposition and kindness there is also a very hard past, which still haunts her; and that forces him to deal with a few skeletons in his own closet.

And then Amy finds out about his column... and all hell breaks lose. 

Second Glance: Irrepressible You has a weird sort of charm but it is very, very charming. I liked Amy a lot, even when I didn't always agree with her choices, they made sense for who she was and the life she had lived.

She has a loving but very complex relationship with her older sister Jo, who basically raised her, and a close relationship with Jo's best friend Scott, whom she sees as another sibling; and loves the life she has created for herself, even if not everyone understands it. I loved that about her, she's not a downer, even when things get crappy, she has her breakdowns and takes her a bit to process her feelings, but she keeps going and tries to be positive.

Ben was a harder sell. He's not a bad person and you can see that pretty early on, yet he does very jerky things, not out of meanness but out of obliviousness. And I think Georgina Penney did a great job in portraying that jerky, artistic type of guy who is a bit selfish and self-involved but still made him a sympathetic character.

I never hated Ben, even when I hated some of the things he did. And that's hard to pull off. 

Bottom Line: Irrepressible You was engaging and sweet and it really grabbed me from the start. I'm really looking forward to reading more from Georgina Penney, and I'm really interested on Scott! I want to read his story sometime.