Book Review: Pear Shaped

Pear Shaped by Stella Newman
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I had read some good things about this book and managed to get it fairly cheap on the Kindle.

I enjoy chick lit as long as it's not too fluffy and has a good story. This was exactly this. It has a few underlying storylines which work well with the main plot of the romance. The main character is well formed and likeable, even when she was doing things that you knew wouldn't turn out too well.

The story is well paced and kept me wanting to read more. I believe Stella Newman is good enough to be up there with Marian Keyes, Jane Costello and the other chick lit greats.

I would definitely read more of her work as it has everything I like in a good piece of chick lit, humour, romance and a bit of a serious side.

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My life in 100 words

Another creative writing class task. This is the story of my life in 100 words. It's not a conventional autobiography, but I hope you like it!

It started with Spot the Dog. Then came Ladybird. Then I found Enid Blyton and the wonderful Roald Dahl. On I flew to Jacqueline Wilson, followed by Judy Blume. I discovered Sue Townsend and Adrian Mole. Then Harry Potter was born. It all changed with Zadie Smith. I laughed with Helen Fielding and cried with John Boyne. Had fun with Marian Keyes and learned with Alexander Cordell. Now I spend evenings with Alice Hoffman and time travel with Michel Faber. Go detecting with M.C. Beaton and get thrilled by S.J. Watson.

Times have changed, but books will always be there.

Book Review: Lucy Sullivan is Getting Married

I've just finished reading Lucy Sullivan is Getting Married by Marian Keyes and I really enjoyed reading it.

The book is about a girl called Lucy Sullivan who visits a fortune teller and is told that she is going to get married within the next year. The story that follows this follows Lucy as she goes for the wrong type of men on her quest to meet Mr Right and has to deal with her alcoholic father and her own demons in the form of depression and cripplingly low self esteem.

This part particularly struck a chord with me as how she felt about herself and described her depression was in a way a little too close to home for me. I'm glad that Marian Keyes has written this and that it obviously reflects her own experiences. It's just another small step to showing that it's nothing to be ashamed of and is just an illness which affects a lot of people and you need to learn to live with.

I found the ending of the story a little predictable, but hey, this is chick lit and this is why we love it!

All in all, I really enjoyed the book. The story itself was engaging and the characters were really vivid and easily imaginable, which I liked.

I would recommend this book to any Marian Keyes fans and I can't wait for her 2 new releases in 2012!

Book Review: The Other Side of the Story

I'm a little late posting this but I finished reading The Other Side of the Story on the weekend.

I really enjoyed reading it and was really engrossed in the character's stories! It was based around 3 main characters and they all featured in the books in separate sections. I liked this as it was easier to keep track of each character and also was a bit like reading 3 books in one. I also liked that this book was a book about writing books and really inspired me as I'm starting my Creative Writing course in January (still need to mention about this!).

My favourite character was Gemma as she was the funniest and the person I could identify with the most.

I was a little disappointed with the ending as it was a little predictable but the book was tied up nicely at the end and you knew what everyones future would be. I would definitely recommend this book, especially to Marian Keyes fans!