Awesome Books to Read

Alright guys, I know it's been a while since you've seen me around here. We bought a house, moved, and waited weeks for internet to come out to our house and be installed! Lots of stress adventure and learning experiences happening around here. Who knew you had to schedule the gas company come out and restart service under a new client for your heater to work? Not us. Until it was 1 am, 55 degrees in our new house and the heater was on but not making the house any warmer.

The good news is that without internet, I got lots of reading done the last few weeks. And I have a dynamite reading list/review for y'all this week!


1. These Girls by Sarah Pekkanen
This book was AMAZING. I could not put it down and finished in in less than a week despite all the packing, moving, unpacking and working I was doing. A great read about girlfriends and the trials and insecurities women face in their 20s. You get to follow the story about three very different women (roommates) living in New York City and the friendship that forms between them. Reasons I loved this book- the characters were all different and all very real.
By the end of the book, I found myself wanting to be friends with each of them! Events in the characters lives keep you interested and engaged in their story every step of the way. And best of all, it's easy to read. The words flow freely and easily. Despite the complex women and storyline, the text is easy to understand and read. Did I mention the killer ending yet? I cannot wait to read more from this amazing author.

2. Where it Began by Ann Redisch Stampler
Where it Began tells the story of a 16 year old girl's life unfolding before her very eyes after she's found drunk, passed out, mangled on the side of the road, ejected from her boyfriends sport's car with the keys in her hand. Waking up in the hospital, she finds herself confused, can't remember the 3 hours of her life from the party she went to, to the car accident she was in, with police ready to arrest her. Worst of all, the love of her life, the boy she fell hard for the year she became pretty, the boy who made her popular and no longer invisible- that boy is nowhere to be found.
Despite the age group of the characters, I really enjoyed this book. My only issue with it was that by the half way point in the book, the reader knows something life-changing that the main character doesn't find out until close to the end. It gets a little aggravating because you just want to shake this 16 year old girl out of her love-struck stupor and slap her into reality. However I will say that the ending of the book more than makes up for this and I'm really glad to have stuck with it until the end.

3. Girl with a Pearl Earring by Tracey Chevalier
I'm pretty sure most people had this on their sophomore in high school required reading list but I took college English in high school was too busy writing essays to enjoy this book. Unfortunately I judge books based on their cover and probably wouldn't have been interested in it back then anyways. However I stumbled across this book at the thrift store with a new cover that had a picture from the movie on it which instantly made it seem sensual, scandalous and interesting. Obviously I had to get it.
Greit is a 16 year old girl forced to take a job as a maid to help support her family. She is inserted into the world of a half-happy, once well to do Dutch family who lives off the paintings the famous father (Vermeer) creates. She finds herself in a compromising position when the husband is forced to paint her for a client despite his wife's untrusting and unapproving nature. I enjoyed the scandal but even more so I enjoyed the truth in this book. While it's a fictional story, it is an all too real representation of unfulfilled marriages and the gapes people try to fill in their lives when they are unhappy. A must-read in my opinion.

4. Bergdorf Blondes by Plum Sykes
Who wants to read a story about rich NYC socialites who are privileged, rotten and selfish? Anyone who wants a good laugh. This book surprised me in a lot of ways. You find yourself relating to these women and their disastrous love lives even if you've never had a closet full of $300 jeans and Caribbean vacations via private jet planes.
This book is relatively light-hearted and fun regardless of all the tragic things that happen to the main character (she has REALLY bad taste in PH's (prospective husbands.)) Oh, minor detail back there, the two main characters of this book are on the hunt for prospective husbands. They don't actually want to get married but they really want to have a fiance' because it's the "in" thing to do. The ending of this book had me smiling ear to ear. I loved this story. So different from my own, but so entertaining. You find yourself happy for each of these girls as they find their way to real happiness (whatever that means for rich girls.)

There you have it, my most recent reads and book reviews. I hope you pick one of these up and try them for yourself because I truly loved reading each of them!

xoxo, Laura