I Wished for You
by Amy Huberman
Published by Penguin
436 pages
Genre: chick lit
Thanks to NetGalley for the preview
3 / 5


Do you ever read a book and think to yourself, "This author is trying WAY too hard?" Perhaps there is too much - too much plot, too much sex (wait ... what?), too much cuteness, too much effort. There is a prevailing sense of desperation to make you laugh or think or cry or something.

Such is the case with this book.

The premise is solid: Grace is a bridesmaid in yet another wedding, and as she approaches thirty, what everyone wants to know is when she'll be the one in the fluffy white dress. She and solid boyfriend Robbie bought a house together, he keeps saying they will get married some day. But ... when she catches the bouquet, she sees Robbie's face fall. Doubts creep in, even if Grace is unaware of them. Does she want to marry Robbie after all? And so she heads to a kitschy place in Ireland where one makes wishes that will come true. Is Robbie who Grace wishes to have, or is there another man out there who will capture her heart?

See? Solid premise. The problem is that Huberman TRIES TOO HARD. The little stories that populate this book, whether from explaining how Grace nearly drowned in a fountain or how she and Robbie came to have a cat, get tedious. Just when you get into the rhythm of the story, here comes Huberman with another cutesy memory of Grace's, another "gosh, aren't we fun!" story, that serves no purpose other than to annoy us readers. Grace is lovely. Her friends are a bit cookie cutter-ish in that friends-with-quirks kind of way, but that's not so bad, actually. We can't get to know them, truly, because the pacing keeps getting interrupted. What clearly is meant to draw us closer to the story and characters instead pushes us away.

At times it almost reads like you're watching a stand up routine at Vinnie's Yuk Yuk Club, and I found myself wondering what this book would have been like without all of the blatant attempts at humorous shtick. Yes, parts of it are funny. Yes, parts are sweet and heartwarming. Yes, parts sort of break your heart. Yes, yes, yes. But wrapped around this book is an overwhelming sense of Try Hard.

And it doesn't work.

Kiss the Bride

Kiss the Bride
by Jody Wallace
Published by Entangled: Ever After
115 pages
Genre: chick lit
Thanks to NetGalley for the preview
4 / 5


Did you happen to see the Patrick Dempsey movie called "Made of Honor"? If so, this book will seem a bit familiar. Even so, as far as fun books are concerned, this one fits that bill just fine.

Caroline and Herman Edward Heckley, III, aka "Heck," have known each other their entire lives, and for those thirty-four years, Caro has loved Heck. But he considers her his BFF and nothing more. A girl can only wait so long, however, and since Caro's boyfriend asked, she decides she might as well get married, even if it's to the wrong man. A girl typically asks her bestie to be her maid of honor, though, right? So Caro asks Heck to stand in for her. Naturally, during this process, Heck discovers that he might not want to be just friends.

Yes, it's completely transparent, but it's fun and silly and worth the $1.99. Another one of Caro's friends sees what Caro and Heck won't admit to each other and conspires to force them to face reality, and that part gives you the meat of the plot. There is a hot - and I mean nice and hot - bit of headboard rockin', such that you will wonder how any woman with half a brain would settle for being Heck's friend, unless it's a friend with benefits. Granted, there are times that either Caro or Heck - or both - is so aggravatingly blind that you might find yourself getting frustrated with their apparent cluelessness.

This is one of those books that knows its place. You will not be asked to confront any of life's pressing questions, nor will you stay up late trying to figure out what happened (I'm looking at you, Dangerous Girls), but your time with this novella will be worth it, if for no other reason than that sex scene.

Love, Technically

Love, Technically
by Lynne Silver
Published by Entangled Publishing
95 pages
Genre: chick lit
Thanks to NetGalley for the preview
3.5 / 5


Mistaken identity is a common motif in books, and as done here, it's cute and fun.

Michelle has come to the big city of Chicago from her podunk Iowa hometown, searching for ... well ... she's not quite sure what. Something that isn't her podunk Iowa hometown, that much she knows. She wants to see things and experience things and live a life she knows is out there, somewhere. After a week as a call center rep at a software company, she is about to kick the printer to the curb. When a cute coworker helps her out, she's intrigued. Turns out that he's not just a coworker, he's the CEO of the company. But he doesn't tell Michelle that right away. He likes that she likes him for him, and he wants to keep it that way.

A breezy, fun read, this book doesn't ask more of you than to enjoy it. There is some headboard rockin', not the wildest or most explicit, but good.

One caveat: Michelle is almost unspeakably naive, and her obliviousness occasionally induced a little eye-rolling. But she's adorable, so you accept it. I did have a HUGE issue with the whole University of Chicago thing. That's a pretty good school, and Michelle is not presented as a genius, so that part was a bit of a head scratcher.

Love Unrehearsed: The Love Series, Book 2

Love Unrehearsed: The Love Series, Book 2
by Tina Reber
Published by Atria Books
450 pages
Genre: new adult; chick lit; romance
3 / 5


When I finished Love Unscripted, I didn't realize that Tina Reber intended to write a sequel. My initial reaction was curiosity; it seemed that Taryn and Ryan's story came to a good conclusion. They were together, we readers were happy, and that's that. What more was there to say that didn't repeat everything we just read?

Well, the answer comes in Love Unrehearsed, as we continue on with Taryn and Ryan. While I enjoyed more time with them - Ryan especially (le sigh) - I find stick to my initial reaction. This should have ended with the first book.

That is not to say that this is a bad book or not enjoyable. I enjoyed it quite a bit, especially the headboard rockin'. Girls, Ryan can make it happen, if you know what I mean. No, it's more that this one essentially repeats the stories from the first book, apart from a subplot involving Ryan's bodyguard.

Taryn has joined Ryan on his press tour and then on set as he films more movies. As such, Love Unrehearsed details Taryn's attempt to assimilate herself in Ryan's life. She has to adjust to what it means to date a man with 80 million screaming fans, a man who pretends to make love to other women as part of his job, a man whose every move is scrutinized by his management, his coworkers, and his fans. It's difficult, and it requires communication with Ryan. Each of them needs to get over sticking points that caused problems when they first came together.

The biggest problem with this book is that there is no problem; there is no tension or dramatic angle. It's more of a study of a commoner dating Hollywood royalty, so to speak. In that respect, it's interesting. Taryn's mistakes, misunderstandings, and misapprehension are realistic and well written. If she occasionally comes across as a sort of film making idiot savant, we can excuse that because Tina Reber clearly loves her main character. As does Ryan, whose feelings for Taryn are quite deep and sincere. When he tells her the moment he realized he was falling in love with her, it's one of those "awwwwww" kind of things for us readers.

But ... there isn't anything new here. It's really just more of the same. Whereas in the first book Taryn battled obsessed fans, near sexual assault, a car accident, and a miscarriage, you almost feel like there was nowhere for Reber to go with this book other than the more pedestrian and mundane.

The good news is that for fans of Taryn and Ryan, you get to hang out with them some more. The bad news is that there is no real hook to this one. Oh, and more good news: the sex scenes. Yum.

Do You Remember?

Do You Remember?
by Mandy Baggot
Published by HarperImpulse
306 pages
Genre: chick lit
Thanks to NetGalley for the preview
3 / 5


Seven years ago, Emma Barron's life gave her her most heartbreaking times and the greatest joy she could have imagined.

Today, she's made peace with what happened at a French campground those years ago, as she and her father grieved her mother's death and she found love with Guy Duval, a promising football (that's soccer to some of you) player. She also found herself with a son, after she found Guy in a state of undress with another lover.

Emma's nicely crafted life faces some upheaval, though, when Guy, now a football star, gets traded to a local team. The two reconnect, and seven years of lost happiness - of misunderstandings and love that will not die - converge on the two of them.

Emma is sweet and lovely, and you feel for her. She's in a relationship with someone she might be settling for, knowing that she gave her heart to Guy. But Guy hurt her, and she struggles with forgiveness. Guy is also likable; and he feels just as hurt by Emma. From his perspective, she assumed facts not in evidence and ran away before she could hear what he has to say. Then there is the pesky matter of her son. Is Guy the lad's dad?

I enjoyed this book ... for the most part. I'd say that my overall reaction is one of apathy. It's entertaining in some parts and overreaches in others. The romance is sweet, and there are some scenes of sexy times (although they are not wildly explicit). But the plot twists verge on the extreme and the nonsensical. One of them fits perfectly, but the other is just too much and unnecessary.

I struggled with what rating to give this one because when it's enjoyable, it's a lot of fun to read. But when it flies off into ridiculousness, it leaves a bad taste. There are better books out there for the price, but if you can ignore the dumb stuff, this is a cute one.

Your Room or Mine?

Your Room or Mine?
by Charlotte Phillips
Published by HarperImpulse
108 pages
Genre: chick lit; romance
Thanks to NetGalley for the preview
4 / 5


So you dump your boyfriend after you catch him cheating, and the two of you were supposed to get away for a romantic weekend. What do you do with that hotel room? Izzy Shaw decides to go anyway, and if she can enjoy a hot hook-up, then all the better.

This novella tells a cute story and has characters you will enjoy. Even better, it's hot.

Izzy gets her hook-up, with the adorably inscrutable Oliver Forbes, and she makes the most of it. With Oliver's help, of course. They enjoy the wrinkled bed sheets out of each other, so much so that Oliver starts to wonder if perhaps they could make their one night together into something more.

Charlotte Phillips does a nice job of letting us get to know Izzy and Oliver over this little book, and she writes deliciously hot headboard rockin'.

Enjoy this one for what it is: a fast read with good sex scenes.

Big Girl Panties

Big Girl Panties
by Stephanie Evanovich
Published by William Morrow
486 pages
Genre: chick lit; romance
Thanks to edelweiss for the preview
2.5 / 5


It can't be easy for writers to have a plus-sized heroine.

You know it's true, so don't even bother getting your hackles up. When you picture a heroine, you picture a woman with a lingerie model's physique, not someone who last wore a bikini when she was seven. You know it's true.

So imagine being a writer and wanting to do away with this mindset. Your fair maiden packs on a few extra pounds, but she's smart and sassy and vulnerable and gorgeous despite what the scales say. She deserves the hot dude. Can you sell your readers on the concept? Can you remind them every now and then that the woman they might be picturing is not the woman you're writing about? And how do you address society's perceptions of women with normal bodies as opposed to those who are genetic freaks?

Jennifer Weiner does this to perfection in books such as Good in Bed. She walks that line between pounding us over the head with how wrong it is to dismiss normal-looking women and with presenting them as heroines.

What about Big Girl Panties? Can Stephanie Evanovich (yes, her sister is Janet) pull it off? (GET IT? Pull it off? Panties. Come on, you know you're laughing.)

The short answer is: somewhat.

Holly Brennan is someone we all know. In fact, she might even be us: she uses food for comfort, increasingly so since her husband passed away. She winds up seated next to Logan Montgomery, a man so beautiful that he takes away collective breaths, on an airplane. That in itself is horrifying, because those airplane seats are not very welcoming to bigger bodies. Holly's self-deprecating wit and fragility appeal to Logan, though, and he offers her his business card. Logan is a personal trainer to famous athletes, and he offers to help Holly get physically fit.

And here is where it gets sticky. The premise is adorable, and you know exactly how it will turn out. But to get there, we have to endure Stephanie Evanovich's clear confusion about what book she's trying to write. Is it a romance? A screed against society? A self-help guide? An insightful examination of the hypocrisy of those who give voice to progress for the physically imperfect?

There are lectures a-plenty here, kids. If you don't want to sit through long speeches about loving yourself for who you are and not letting someone's physical appearance deter you from loving them, then skip on past this one. The problem isn't necessarily Holly; she's accurately drawn. We understand her need for comfort, and if her turn at fitness appears too easily done, then so be it. It's a fantasy, after all, and don't we all want to think that we can tone our bodies with only one slip-up? Her emotional journey is more hard-fought, though, and that's the more compelling tale.

Then there is Logan. Good grief. He's physically perfect, and his growing feelings for Holly are fun to read about. He recognizes how shallow he is, and he even acknowledges his hypocrisy. You might want to smack him occasionally, but he's a good guy and one worth rooting for. Oh, he'll learn you some things about fitness and food, and his navel gazing can bring the book to a crawl.

But Logan is far, far more readable than the sub-plot involving his client, Chase, and his wife. When reading their story, you get to the "What the hell is Stephanie Evanovich thinking" part of the festivities. Girl, this is not Fifty Shades of Grey, and your attempt to incorporate a BDSM storyline is beneath you and your readers. For reals, sister. Not only that, but your knowledge of it appears to be flimsy and somewhat lacking, so do yourself a favor and excise this.

The book is fun and not unpleasant to read, but there are better books out there. You want to read about plus-sized girls getting the guy? Try on some Jennifer Weiner. Or go give Dangerous Girls a try if you want a murder mystery involving teenagers.