Bet Me

Bet Me by Jennifer Crusie (2004), narrated by Deanna Hurst

When we meet Min Dobbs, she is in a bar being dumped by her jerk of a boyfriend. She's upset, not because she loves him, but because now she doesn't have a date to her sister's wedding, which is only three weeks away. Later that evening, Min accepts an offer to go to dinner with a man named Cal Morrisey, even though she knows he only asked her out to win a bet. By the end of the evening, they know they can't stand each other and will never see one another again. But fate intervenes, and soon Min and Cal realize they are very much attracted to each other. However, Min doesn't want to take a chance on a guy she knows to be a heartbreaker, and the bet he made - or didn't make? - still stands between them and it lasts for a month, until just after her sister's wedding.

Min's first date with Cal was at a restaurant called Emilio's and this was part of the reason they kept running into each other. Emilio made amazing bread and chicken marsala and Min kept going back there, or ordering takeout that Cal ended up delivering. Another reason they kept running into each other is that on the evening of their first date Min's friend Bonnie and Cal's friend Roger fell madly, instantly in love. So they were bound to end up in the same places.

Min's two best friends had very different beliefs about love. Bonnie was a firm believer in fairy tales; Liza subscribed to chaos theory. Min was pretty cynical about relationships, as was Cal, but there was sort of a running joke that every time one of them insisted they weren't falling for the other one, they'd stub a toe, cut their hand, or somehow otherwise hurt themselves. It was pretty hilarious. In the meantime, Min's sister Diana was about to get married and Min knew there was something wrong. Because of her angst about having a date and fitting into her dress, this whole story centered around the wedding, and when it finally happened it was a pretty spectacular scene.

Min's mother was horrible. She was obsessed with weight loss and constantly admonished Min for not losing weight, reminding her to avoid butter, bread, and basically anything that is actual food. She also ordered Min's bridesmaid dress a couple of sizes too small intentionally and then got angry when it didn't fit.

Cal, on the other hand, found Min irresistibly sexy, not in spite of her curves, but because of them. At one point when she is trying to make "heart healthy" chicken marsala and it comes out terribly, and she reveals that a former boyfriend dumped her because of her weight, he says "Some things are supposed to be made with butter. You're one of them." I love Cal. He was this incredibly good-looking guy and Min didn't fit the image of the sort of woman he would be with, and I thought that was addressed so well. Don't get me wrong, though - he's not perfect. He's known for dumping women after just a few months, which is one of the tensions in their relationship. But he's such a great example of an imperfect yet appealing romance hero.

I also loved Min a lot. I like that she's this totally practical-minded person - I mean, she works as an actuary! - but she also has a weakness for cute, unusual shoes and she has a snow globe collection. I love the way her character develops throughout this novel, and how she realizes which of her relationships are healthy and which aren't. Her friends were great, too and I loved the roles her friends played in this story. She also wasn't afraid to speak her mind, which was incredibly well illustrated in the scene where she had dinner with Cal's stuffy, cold, pretentious parents. It was so satisfying.

Literally my only criticism of this book is that the characters ate so much chicken marsala that I got sick of it, and I've never even had chicken marsala. (At the same time, it made me want to try it.) Min and Cal also got rather ecstatic over Krispy Kreme donuts, which I find pretty similar to Dunkin' Donuts in that they're nothing special. Given that my only complaints about this book are related to the food, I highly recommend it.

I sort of can't believe I hadn't read this, or anything by Crusie, before. I definitely heard of her back in the late 90s or early 00s when I first was reading a ton of chick lit, and this is such great old-school chick lit! It's like old Jennifer Weiner or Jane Green or Marian Keyes. On the one hand, I can't believe it missed it! On the other hand, I'm glad I did so that I could enjoy it now. I kept hearing of this book specifically, and recently there was an episode of Smart Podcast, Trashy Books in which people discussed the book that got them reading romance and more than one person mentioned this one.

Have you read Jennifer Crusie? Are her other books as good as this one? This is the perfect sort of book for me to listen to on audio, so if you have any suggestions for similar books, please let me know in the comments!

Love the One You're With

Love the One You're With by Emily Giffin (2008), narrated by Kathleen McInerney

Ellen is married to a perfect man from a perfect family, the brother of her college best friend. Ellen is happy with Andy and with her budding career as a photographer. But one day on the streets of New York she runs into Leo, her ex-boyfriend, the one who got away. Leo is a journalist now and hooks Ellen up with a project-of-a-lifetime on which they work together. Even as Ellen and Andy decide to move to Atlanta to be near his family, she questions whether the life she chose is the one she should have.

As in her other novels, Giffin has created a likable protagonist who struggles with very real problems. The tone is light - this is chick lit after all - but her struggles are complex and potentially life-changing. What I always like about Giffin's novels is that they aren't predictable. I really did not know whether Ellen would end up leaving her husband or not. Part of this is because Giffin creates characters who are so realistic. There are no good guys or bad guys here. Leo and Andy are both good people and they both have flaws. Just like Ellen, her sister Suzanne, and her best friend Margo.

I love the audio versions of Giffin's novels because they are light enough to listen to on audio without missing a lot, but compelling enough to hold my interest. I recognized Kathleen McInerney from at least one other Emily Giffin audiobook, and I found her performance struck just the right tone for this first-person narrator.

I've read or listened to all of Emily Giffin's novels now (except the new one that came out just as I was listening to this one). While Love the One You're With maybe wasn't my favorite, it still compared favorably with her other books and made my daily commute much more enjoyable.

Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy

Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy by Helen Fielding (2013), narrated by Samantha Bond

It's been many years since we've seen Bridget Jones, and a hell of a lot has changed. First off - and I'm sure you've seen all the hysterical book review headlines about this - Mark Darcy is dead. Dead! Bridget is a 51-year-old widow with two little kids and she's finally ready to begin dating again. She meets a 30-year-old guy named Roxster on Twitter and embarks on a relationship, while balancing all the responsibilities of a single mother. Hilarity ensues.

Let's just talk about this Mark Darcy situation first and get it out of the way. We spent two books trying to get Bridget and Mark together, and it's kind of a shame we didn't get to experience their relationship. But that wouldn't be a very interesting book, would it? One reviewer at least is convinced it wasn't necessary to kill Mark, arguing that a marriage has enough fodder to sustain a narrative arc. While I agree with that, I don't think that sort of story is Helen Fielding's style. It certainly wouldn't be the sort of Bridget we all know and love. She needs to be awkwardly dating and mucking shit up all the time.

Enter Twitter. Some of the funniest scenes in this book are from Bridget's early experiences using Twitter and being obsessed about her lack of followers. Ultimately though, she gains some followers, including the young Roxster. After some online flirting they decide to meet in real life, and begin dating. There's a lot more explicit sex in this book than in the first two Bridget Jones novels, and I wasn't crazy about that, but it wasn't enough to really detract from the story.

I think I read in a review somewhere that Bridget hasn't grown up since the last novel, but I disagree. She is pretty similar in terms of dating - and why not? She's spent all the time since we last saw her married. How would she have gotten better at that? In that time she has also become a mother, and a good one. Her relationship with her kids was really quite touching, and though she had moments of frantic disorganization and the kids sometimes acted up, I think that's pretty realistic. She's certainly learned to cook since the last book. Back then preparing a meal was fraught with unreasonable expectations, disorganization, and clumsiness. These days she has kids to feed and is pretty no-nonsense about getting a meal on the table.

Bridget had two romances during the course of the novel, and unfortunately I found one of them very unconvincing. It felt rushed to me, and I didn't feel like I really knew this guy at all. I'm sure he's a great person, but I didn't get the chance to find that out for myself. To me, he was a usurper who didn't earn the right to take Mark's place. So that left me feeling a bit unsatisfied.

I was very disappointed that the narrator wasn't Barbara Rosenblat. I've listened to the first two Bridget Jones books countless times, and it's Rosenblat's narration that really makes the experience for me. I'm sure Samantha Bond does a good job but it's so hard for me to consider her performance objectively because ultimately she fails at being Barbara Rosenblat. This of course is an unfair judgement and is my problem, not Samantha Bond's problem.

All in all, I liked this new (and final?) installment in the Bridget Jones series. Given the premise of the book, it simply can't be as lighthearted as the previous two novels. There are many moments in which Bridget gives in to sadness over Mark, and I couldn't help feeling sad too. Nobody should be widowed like that, at such a (relatively) young age. I thought Fielding did a good job though of balancing the sadness and the humor, and I feel comforted to know that Bridget is still doing ok. Obviously it wasn't as fun as the first two books but I still liked it, and I liked this new more mature and capable Bridget who can withstand tragedy and still manage to enjoy herself.

Something Blue

Something Blue by Emily Giffin (2005)

(Spoiler alert! If you haven’t read Something Borrowed or seen the movie I am about to give away the ending!)

There may be nothing more satisfying than watching a shallow, self-centered, stuck-up woman get her comeuppance. We last left Emily Giffin’s cast of characters sorting out a love triangle that did not end well for Darcy Rhone. She found her fiance in his underwear in her best friend Rachel’s closet and, needless to say, the wedding was off.

Something Blue picks up soon after, with Darcy feeling as if everyone in her life has conspired to betray her. Never mind that Darcy was also cheating on Dex with his friend Marcus – that is obviously completely different! Having lost both her fiance and best friend, Darcy tries to move on making the most of her obviously doomed relationship with Marcus, at which point she accidentally gets pregnant.

Darcy has always had everything, and now she can’t even keep a guy she thought was beneath her, and she was pregnant to boot. The logical thing to do in this situation is of course to move to London without a work visa or viable plan, and stay with a friend who really doesn’t want her there. Darcy and Rachel’s mutual friend Ethan is a struggling writer living in a small flat in London, and clearly has little patience for Darcy’s drama and frivolity but grudgingly lets her come stay with him, and this is where the story really takes off.

Darcy is still shallow, self-centered and snobby (and the narrator in the audio version also made her sound whiny) and this book put me in the strange position of being inside the head of someone whose misery I was glad for. Darcy is incredibly demanding and annoying and deserved every bad thing that happened to her.

But it’s not quite that simple, thank goodness. As things go from bad to worse Darcy finally gets a wake-up call and realizes she needs to make some significant changes in her life if she doesn’t want to lose every friend she has, and she becomes much more tolerable from here on out.

For a new mother-to-be, Darcy spent remarkably little time thinking about her pregnancy and planning for motherhood, and a whole lot of time shopping and thinking about snagging her next boyfriend. But it is chick lit after all, and we are obliged to have some fun and shirk our responsibilities. Although it was a little too easy for Darcy to suddenly grow a conscience and turn her life around, I was relieved when she became a more sympathetic character. This isn’t a book to put much thought into since it just doesn’t go very deep, but it’s enjoyable for its surface appeal. I’ll probably grab another of Emily Giffin’s novels the next time I’m looking for an audiobook.

Thin, Rich, Pretty : a review

Thin, Rich, Pretty by Beth Harbison (2010)

Holly and Nicola became best friends at camp, where they shared their dreams and insecurities. Holly wanted more than anything to be thin, and Nicola thought her nose was the one BIG thing getting in the way of being pretty. But they had more pressing problems, because cabin bully Lexi was driving them both crazy with her taunting and pranks. Holly and Nicola had enough and they made a plan to get back at her, though it didn’t quite go off without a hitch.

Twenty years later Holly and Nicola are still best friends. Holly owns an art gallery and is on the verge of engagement Randy, contingent on losing 20 pounds (WHAT?) Nicola is an actress who enjoyed moderate success but now is having a hard time getting work because of her looks. One day Holly runs into Lexi and finds that the girl who seemed to live such a charmed life has fallen far indeed, and Holly wants to fix the wrong she and Nicola committed so long ago.

Honestly, I chose this book only because it was the only chick lit I could find at my library on Playaway and I needed something to listen to on my walk to and from work. That said, it wasn’t bad as far as that genre goes. Some of it was contrived and hard to believe but it was enjoyable for what it was. I couldn’t believe that even someone with Holly’s self-esteem problems would put up with an ass like Randy (who as a character I found rather hard to swallow). On the other hand, I enjoyed the parts about Lexi dealing with her current-day problems and I think I liked her storyline the most out of the three characters.

Although this book doesn’t dig deep, it contains some satisfying positive themes about being true to yourself and making the most of what you’ve got. Take this book on your next flight or bring it to the beach this summer!

Heart of the Matter : a review

Heart of the Matter by Emily Giffin (2010)

What would you do if your husband cheated on you? Would you throw him out, or forgive him and try to patch up your relationship? This is the central question of this chick lit novel from the author of Something Borrowed, (soon to be released as a movie.) Tessa is married to pediatric plastic surgeon Nick, and lives in Wellesley, MA. Once a career woman, she gave it all up to stay at home with her kids, and is beginning to feel dissatisfied with her life. Her friends are of the Stepford Wife variety and she simultaneously likes and dislikes them, wants her kids to get into private school and opposes everything it stands for. Valerie is a single mom (and a successful corporate lawyer) in the same community. When her son Charlie is badly burned in an accident, Nick becomes his doctor and Valerie’s friend. Over the course of the novel their friendship escalates into something more.

The chapters alternated between Tessa and Valerie, Tessa’s chapters written in first person and Valerie’s in third. (Nick remained a mystery, which is appropriate since neither woman knew what the hell was going on in his head.) Unlike in most novels where there is spousal cheating, both Tessa and Valerie were likeable characters and I was unable to root for either of them at the expense of the over, nor was I able to predict the outcome. Tessa had a conversation about the cheating question with her friends early in the book, but of course it’s completely different when it is hypothetical. Tessa has spent a lot of time thinking about this topic because her father’s infidelity was the reason for her parents’ divorce. Late in the book she has a very interesting and influential conversation with her parents about this.

This certainly wasn’t a shopping-and-dating-and-drinking-martinis kind of chick lit book, but rather one that probes at a timeless issue with no easy answers. Comparing her situation to that of her mother and Eliot Spitzer’s wife, Tessa had to decide what to do in a situation in which the outcome of her life – and that of her children – would be forever affected. I thought it was handled fairly well and enjoyed the book the whole way through. As a sidenote, Tessa’s brother was Dex, a central character from Something Borrowed, which was a fun surprise, as were the allusions to Dex’s early relationship with his wife (and I won’t mention who that is, in the interest of not spoiling Something Borrowed for you).

I listened to the audio version on Playaway, my preferred audio format, while walking to and from work. I love chick lit on audio and, indeed, it seems to be the only genre I can handle in that format, but my library system sadly lacks playaways in this genre. Cynthia Nixon was a great narrator who managed to get the tone exactly right and make the voices different enough to recognize without making any of them sound fake. I really enjoyed listening to her read this book.

Something Borrowed : a review

Rachel has always been overshadowed by her friend Darcy. Darcy has always been the prettier one, the happier one, the bossier one, the one who got into the best college, got the ideal guy. Now she is engaged and Rachel is her maid of honor. But one drunken night just a few months before the wedding, Rachel sleeps with Darcy’s fiance, Dex. She decides to put it behind her and pretend it didn’t happen, but that is not so easy. Especially when Dex calls her and says he’s still thinking about her and wants to see her again…

This chick lit novel was fun and engaging, if not especially realistic. It was hard to understand why Rachel would ever want to be friends with someone like Darcy, even given their long history together, though she insisted that she valued their friendship. Dex began to lose his appeal as the story went on too, so I’m not entirely sure how I feel about the way it ended. But it was light and fun and kept my interest. I listened to the audio version and will probably listen to the next one too, as it was perfect for my walk home from work every day.

I listened to the book on playaway, which is a little MP3 player. My mind tends to wander a lot, so I struggle with audiobooks and tend to stick with very particular types of books: chick lit, young adult, and – for some odd reason – Anne Perry’s Victorian-era mysteries. The playaway is definitely my favorite format for audio now – no CDs to copy over to another device, nothing to download, and I can listen to it anywhere, easily. Just get the device from the library, add a battery if needed, and plug in my headphones. The only thing I don’t really like is the display. It counts down the time remaining in each chapter, so the clock is ticking backwards. This confuses me greatly when I’m trying to rewind or fast forward, so I try hard to not miss anything as I’m listening. Because it only counts down the current chapter I have no idea how far through the book I am, which is something I wish I didn't find so important. But that’s a minor quibble about something which is otherwise incredibly convenient. Do try them if you like audiobooks - I bet your library has them!