Jennifer Weiner's book The Next Best Thing was an enjoyable, quick read. Set in Hollywood, it is a story about a writer who finally gets her chance to have a show on television. The book is more about Ruth discovering herself and trying to find her own happily every after.
Ruth's parents died in a car accident when she was a toddler. In that same accident, she was severely injured and left with scars that would require many surgeries over the years and leave her face and body permanently marred. She has spent her life, with her loving grandmother, learning to overcome her physical differences and learning to live with the pain and isolation that comes from being so visibly scarred.
She and her grandmother pick up and leave Boston in search of Ruth's dream of being a writer. She gets a job, falls in love a couple of times, has her heart broken, and makes some friends. When her idea for a show gets green lighted for a pilot it seems as if her life is about to change for the better. But then she sees the truth in how TV gets made. Can she compromise with the network without losing what her show was supposed to be about? Can she become a successful television writer and showrunner and maintain her own sense of herself? And will she find her happily ever after, too?
The storyline was enjoyable, but the characters are the ones who really shine in this book. They are so real, flawed and imperfectly perfect and the reader finds herself rooting for them every step of the way. Typical Jennifer Weiner magic.
Happy Reading!
Tuesday, December 31, 2013
Takedown Twenty
Takedown Twenty is the 20th installation in the Stephanie Plum series by Janet Evanovich. I have been reading these books for too many years to count and love all of them. They are laugh out loud brain candy of the finest kind. This 20th book in the series does not disappoint.
In Takedown Twenty, Stephanie is up against a Trenton mobster that is very well liked, Uncle Sunny. No one is giving him up even though he was charged with 2nd Degree Murder and skipped out on his court date. Stephanie has to bring him in, but can't get any leads because no one is talking. To make things more complicated, Uncle Sunny happens to be the godfather of her on again off again boyfriend, cop Joe Morelli, and the nephew of Joe's very scary Grandma Bella. In addition to Uncle Sunny, there is someone killing elderly women and leaving them in dumpsters. Ranger, Stephanie's mentor and sometimes employer, has hired her to help look into the mystery. She also has a few other skips to bring in, including a gangster who is wanted for murder.
Hijinks ensue with Grandma Bella cursing Stephanie, Grandma Mazur (Stephanie's wild grandmother) getting in on the action of the dumpster killings, bingo games, Stephanie and Lula working side by side, and Stephanie wondering of bounty hunting is the best career choice for her. This was another laugh out loud episode of Stephanie and her gang of cohorts.
I read Notorious Nineteen prior to opening Takedown Twenty because I always like to get back up to speed on the relationships and timeline before opening the new book. I finished these two books entirely too soon, as always. Time spent in Stephanie's world is always too short, and then we have to wait another year for the next installment.
Happy Reading!
In Takedown Twenty, Stephanie is up against a Trenton mobster that is very well liked, Uncle Sunny. No one is giving him up even though he was charged with 2nd Degree Murder and skipped out on his court date. Stephanie has to bring him in, but can't get any leads because no one is talking. To make things more complicated, Uncle Sunny happens to be the godfather of her on again off again boyfriend, cop Joe Morelli, and the nephew of Joe's very scary Grandma Bella. In addition to Uncle Sunny, there is someone killing elderly women and leaving them in dumpsters. Ranger, Stephanie's mentor and sometimes employer, has hired her to help look into the mystery. She also has a few other skips to bring in, including a gangster who is wanted for murder.
Hijinks ensue with Grandma Bella cursing Stephanie, Grandma Mazur (Stephanie's wild grandmother) getting in on the action of the dumpster killings, bingo games, Stephanie and Lula working side by side, and Stephanie wondering of bounty hunting is the best career choice for her. This was another laugh out loud episode of Stephanie and her gang of cohorts.
I read Notorious Nineteen prior to opening Takedown Twenty because I always like to get back up to speed on the relationships and timeline before opening the new book. I finished these two books entirely too soon, as always. Time spent in Stephanie's world is always too short, and then we have to wait another year for the next installment.
Happy Reading!
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