Girl Before A Mirror

You guys. GUYS. This book is everything. I hate that I always forget how much I love Liza Palmer until I read a book and instantly want to read everything all over again of hers and then I want to be her best friend.

Girl Before A Mirror - Liza Palmer

The author of Conversations with a Fat Girl—optioned for HBO—returns with the hilarious and heartfelt story of a woman who must learn how to be the heroine of her own life-a journey that will teach her priceless lessons about love, friendship, family, work, and her own heart

An account executive in a Mad Men world, Anna Wyatt is at a crossroads. Recently divorced, she’s done a lot of emotional housecleaning, including a self-imposed dating sabbatical. But now that she’s turned forty, she’s struggling to figure out what her life needs. Brainstorming to win over an important new client, she discovers a self-help book—Be the Heroine, Find Your Hero—that offers her unexpected insights and leads her to a most unlikely place: a romance writers’ conference. If she can sign the Romance Cover Model of the Year Pageant winner for her campaign—and meet the author who has inspired her to take control of her life—she’ll win the account. 

For Anna, taking control means taking chances, including getting to know Sasha, her pretty young colleague on the project, and indulging in a steamy elevator ride with Lincoln Mallory, a dashing financial consultant she meets in the hotel. When the conference ends, Anna and Lincoln must decide if their intense connection is strong enough to survive outside the romantic fantasy they’ve created. Yet Lincoln is only one of Anna’s dilemmas. Now that her campaign is off the ground, others in the office want to steal her success, and her alcoholic brother, Ferdie, is spiraling out of control. 

To have the life she wants-to be happy without guilt, to be accepted for herself, to love and to be loved, to just be—she has to put herself first, accept her imperfections, embrace her passions, and finally be the heroine of her own story.

I'm going to tell you right now, some of my girl friends are going to get this book at some point this year. That's all there is to it. I have one friend in particular, who is going to get it before the month is out because this reminded me of her the entire way through. The conversations, the awkwardness, the sarcasm, just everything reminds me of her and I and our conversations through the day. 

The book revolves around Anna, who is recently divorced and has gone on a dating strike after the "Thunder Road Incident" (which is HILARIOUS and one of the best starts to a book I have read in such a long time) but she's turning 40 and feeling a little left out of life. Being single again isn't what she thought it was going to be, nor is dating, and she finds herself at a loss. So she throws herself into work and tries hard to land a marketing campaign that would put her at the top of her career game. That's if, and only if, the boss's daughter doesn't sabotage her and/or take all of the credit. But in order to that, she has a newbie employee (who was "recruited" at a strip club) dumped into her lap and she made grand promises that she could land a romance novel cover hunk to be in the campaign. 

Problem, she thinks romance novels are lame, but her new assistant is a romance novel junkie. They embark on a trip to Phoenix to attend RomanceCon and she is basically assaulted with all things romance and she is definitely not in her element. But she stands out (clearly) and in the middle of all of this she meets Lincoln. Lincoln is a good looking piece of man meat AND he has a British accent (cue all of the great cheese that is involved in any good romance novel) . I am going to tell you right now that Anna and Lincoln? Might be my favorite chick lit couple ever. EVER. I absolutely could not stop laughing at their exchanges, the absolute awkwardness of it all, and it was so fun. 

So much fun that the book was over before I knew it and I read it a second time just because I enjoyed it that much. 

I highly, so very highly, recommend anything Liza Palmer writes if you are in need of a fun book that is going to make you laugh yet you can absolutely relate to. Especially this one. And can we talk about the gorgeous cover of this book? I am not even ashamed I usually buy books based on the cover and this is so pretty and I want those shoes, and it's just everything. *sigh* 

You can purchase the book on Amazon or Barnes & Noble. Then let's all stalk Liza on her website, Facebook, and Twitter. (Please do it so I don't look like a total crazy. Liza Palmer 4 ever.)

Reading Rockstar

It just dawned on me that the show Reading Rainbow didn't really feature a lot of reading. Did it? I remember having to watch it in my English class in third grade but I don't remember them reading on there.

Anyways. Here's what I've read the last two weeks:

1. Summer at Tiffany- Marjorie Hart

This book was given to me awhile ago and it's been sitting on my shelf for almost a year. SHAMEFUL. It's a memoir written by Marjorie Hart, who at the time she wrote this, was in her 80's. It was given to me by a senior editor who wanted me to know that you seriously don't need to be of a certain age to write your first book.

Essentially, the book is about Marjorie and her friend Marty, who were students at the University of Iowa in 1945. That summer, they set out on an adventure and lived out what happened to be the best summer of their lives. They went to New York City and got a job at the famed Tiffany & Co. store and became the first female pages of the store. Pure luck got them the job but they didn't take it for granted. The story is really good and mixed in you learn about the war going on at the time and just interesting tidbits about the time in general. She writes about her sightings of celebrities, summer love with a soldier, and her making a tough decision at the end. Basically- it is a really fun read if you like memoirs.

2. No One You Know- Michelle Richmond

Sometimes I have a really hard time getting into plain old fiction books that don't have the promise of hot sex in it. I don't know why- just the way it is. This one... was ok. It wasn't great but the mystery aspect was enough to keep me going. The book is about Ellie Enderlin who leads a direction-less life since her sister Lila was murdered. The murder was never solved but her family was torn apart by the betrayal of a book about the crime written by Ellie's friend. Eventually Ellie decides that in order to give herself a path she needs to correct the wrongs and figure out once and for all who really killed her sister. I will tell you that you DO find out who it is but it's a surprisingly sad twist, really. I got lost in some of the details that weren't really important at all, but for the most part the story kept me engaged.

3. Chill Factor- Sandra Brown


I feel like I've gotten onto the Sandra Brown train really late and that is terrible. This book was SO interesting that I read all 389 pages in two nights. The story is about Lilly Martin who comes to this po-dunk town to finalize her divorce to new police chief Dutch. Oh, and the po-dunk town has 5 missing women, presumably all dad. Enter Ben Tierney who is a suspicious character. It's a snowstorm, Dutch leaves, Lilly hits Tierney with her car and they become holed up in her cabin during an ice storm. Sounds cheesy, but go with it. The plot line of trying to figure out who's the killer is gripping. I thought I knew who it was but then changed my mind and ended up being right. All of the characters are shady and while there are a few different plot lines going on at once, Sandra Brown winds them together perfectly at the end. I totally recommend this book- and I'm going to get more of hers in the future.

4. Conversations with the Fat Girl- Liza Palmer


I actually got this book from Amber during last month's Blogger Mail Swap. The thing about this book is that you might not really get it unless you are, or previously were, a fat girl. Basically, Maggie (the fat girl) is the maid of honor in Olivia's wedding (her best friend who was previously fat but then got skinny bitch via surgery) and while Maggie tries to plan a shower she loses enthusiasm for the wedding when she questions whether or not Olivia is still a good enough friend. She wants it to work out.. yet... Olivia makes it hard. And then Maggie has a crush on a really hot guy.. who seems interested. So she's batting her worth and dealing with Olivia. It sucks. There were funny parts, parts where you felt bad, and parts where you could sympathize with Maggie. I absolutely loved the ending... love and revenge. :)
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OK- so I also started the Maggie Stiefvater Faerie books... Lament is first and Ballad is second. I'm like half way through Lament and I am IN LOVE with this book. If you like Shiver and Linger (her other two books) you will love this.

What are YOU reading??