5 Stages of Grief: Bethany Ramos

9 months after her husband's death Danielle gets a phone call from a travel agency wanted to know why he wasn't on the trip he had booked. Unforuntatly, the trip wasn't booked with her and Danielle knew nothing about it.

Now, Danielle is dealing with the grief again. Not over the lost of her husband this time, but the lose of what she though she had with Adam. The plot follows Danielle through the 5 stages of grief: Denial, Bargaining, Anger, Depression, and Acceptance. As she fights with her bestfriend, tracks down the Mistress that Adam was book on the trip with, goes on dates that she meets online, and everything else she does as she trys to process the grief.

I find it hard to come up with an opinion on this book. I liked following Danielle in her journey and seeing her grow and reach a place of peace as she moves through the stages. There were times where the I did find Danielle frustrating and kind questions how much she would drink or talk about drinking. But when you considered what she was working through I understood at the same time of being bothered or worried by it.

What I think was done really well in this plot is making Danielle relate about in what she was going through and how she was reacting to situations seems like the way someone one would in real life. Due to that and the growth of Danielle though the novel I would give this book 3 stars. Outside of Danielle, there wasn't much to the story, but that was ok since it was her story and she was strong.

I would suggest this book, but say the title has alot to do with the plot and it doesn't expand beyond the 5 Stage of Grief.

This review is part of chick lit plus blog tours.

I was provided a copy of the book for review, but the summary and thoughts on the book are mine.

In my bag 1/29-02.04

Reading:

One for the Money: Janet Evanovich

The Plot Whisperer:Secrets of Story Structure Any Writer Can Master: Martha Alderson

Up for review soon:

5 Stages of Grief: Bethany Ramos

Princess of Park Avenue: Daniella Brodsky

Year of the Chick: Romi Moondi

Romi is an Indian Canadian, who's parents are traditional. She is not as traditional and would rather stay away and just live her life as she wants. Unfortunately, Romi's parents have other plans. She is told that she has a year to lost weight and then they are going to put her on a wedding website for arranged marriages. So, Romi trying to figure out what to do decided she is going to make it the "Year of the Chick" and really look for love herself. She starts a blog, starts communicating with another writer online. Her friends try to help her. But, what Romi really has to do over this year is to learn about herself and figure out what makes her happy.

I really enjoyed this book. It was set up in a way that you wanted to just keep reading and figure out what Romi is going to do and what will happen next. At times I did feel like I wanted to know more about the blog, rather than just the few that we are given. More background on that might have helped me some, but didn't distract me from the movement of the plot for me at least. I enjoyed reading about the character growing, but do think there is more for the character to grow with.

I would give this book a 3 start review and recommend it to others who are familiar with the chick lit genre. It would not be an introduction to the genre though. I am looking forward to Moondi's next books and excited to see where Romi's story is going.

This review is part of chick lit plus blog tours. So check out the blog tour page.

Connect with Romi!

Facebook author page: http://www.facebook.com/RomiMoondi
Twitter: https://twitter.com/#!/romimoondi 

Brief bio: 
I am Canadian, and here are some strange personal facts:

-I wore denim-top-to-bottom in high school (there is a direct inverse relationship between how much denim I wore and how few tongues were launched down my throat at school dances...or anywhere in high school at all).
-I'm continually baffled by that Malaysian baby whose father let him smoke two packs of cigarettes a day. That baby had so many fat rolls, and I thought cigarettes were supposed to be slimming.
-I always hated those insufferable couples who would cuddle and make out on the subway...until I became half of one. But now I'm back to being none of one so I hate them again. 

I was provided a copy of the book for review, but the summary and thoughts on the book are mine.

In my bag this week: 01/22-01/28

Reading:
Princess of Park Avenue: Daniella Brodsky
The Plot Whisperer:Secrets of Story Structure Any Writer Can Master: Martha Alderson


Up for review soon:
Year of the Chick: Romi Moondi
5 Stages of Grief: Bethany Ramos

Stay Tuned: Lauren Clark

Melissa Moore is a producer on the nightly news team. She was good at that with the crisis management and keeping things moving. Until, her anchors get in a fist fight on air during the 10 o'clock news. Melissa jumps in finishing the news cast. Now, she finds herself as the permanent fill in. Her personal life needs some crisis management of its own too. Melissa has found her marriage has been reduced to post it note communication. Her Mother's dementia is worrying her. Her daughter has just left for college, so Melissa is trying to find her own identity again. And she has the more responsibility at the studio. Can Melissa handle it all and what does she want to handle now?

This book had a great pace to it. The plot kept going and the characters kept moving through it all, but it still kept the pace believable at the same time. I personally think this is hard, since sometimes in order to keep a plot moving a character has to make changes fast than you would think a real person can or would. That was not the case in Stay Tuned, here I felt like Melissa learned and grew and made changes in a realistic way/pace. I enjoyed seeing her grow and found that though you knew things were going to have to change, it didn't just change in a predictable way. You were kept guessing with what was really going to happen.

There were elements of the coming of age story in this plot which I found interesting. It was the typical coming of age story, but more of the remembering yourself and that you keep growing. Maybe, you could see it as reminding us that we all have a bit of coming of age to do as we grow and change.

I would defiantly suggest this book to others. As it was a nice fun read, that has a twist on the standard chick lit plots that are out there. With a different way to approach the idea. 4 stars

This review is part of chick lit plus blog tours. There is contest on the blog tour page. Check it out and please make a comment here and there.

Where to find Stay Tuned:

Amazon: Paperback  and  Kindle

Nook & iPad versions to come in March 2012

I was provided a copy of the book for review, but the summary and thoughts on the book are mine.

In my bag this week 01/15-01/21

Reading:
Princess of Park Avenue: Daniella Brodsky
The Way the Crow Flies: Ann-Marie MacDonald


Up for review soon:
Stay Tuned: Lauren Clark
Year of the Chick: Romi Moondi
5 Stages of Grief: Bethany Ramos

The Geeks Shall Inherit the Earth: Popularity, Quirk Theory and Why Outsiders Thrive After High School: Alexandra Robbins

I read Robbins first book Pledged, years ago and learned from it. I also read The Overachievers when it came out and Conquering Your Quarterlife Crisis. So, I was excited to see her new one The Geeks Shall Inherit the Earth. Robbins' writing style is just one that really resonates and makes sense for me, though I know it doesn't work for everyone. 

This plot follows 7 main characters who are in the high school environment, who are all a bit on the outside or fringe of the cafeteria. She introduces and and we follow them through the year, while Robbins weaves research and information about quirk theory and how they apply to the characters. As we follow the characters Robbins issues a challenge for the characters to change something around the middle of the year. Then showing that and how the characters were able to change with the challenge. 

I personally loved this book. I wish there had been something like this out that I could have read when I was in school. It reminded me that there are/were others out there like me struggling and that was ok and I could succeed at other things. Which I personally appreciated and I think that it is a must read for teachers and I would suggest it to parents especially with kids middle school or older. I think it could be useful for kids that were struggling like the characters in the book too. 

This reminds me of Robbins' other books, something I might go back to reading again. I did feel like I learned and got insight into quirk theory from it. I would give it 5 stars and have already started suggesting it to others. 

The Christmas Wedding: James Patterson and Richard Dilallo

Gabby lost her husband three years ago and no matter how close she is to her children, she hasn't had all of them together since then. So, she comes up with a plan she is getting married on Christmas and she won't tell her children who the groom is until the event. So, they all have to be together again, her kids, her grandkids, and her closest friends three of whom are her perspective grooms.

I am not familiar with James Patterson's other works. Not something I have read in the past not sure why, but after this one I may go read some of his other works. I actually picked this book up after work on Friday and finished it at 11:20 that evening. The way the chapters were set up, I just wanted to keep reading. It was just like one more chapter that is just 3 pages and then another and another.  Till I was just done.

I did enjoy reading the book, but I have to say that I did feel like the plot was a little simple. We learned about the characters, but there was no real growth or change in the characters through the 200+ page plot. Or the changes that did happen were like, ok well that was obvious and predictable. I felt like we were given alot of background and building up of the characters and then it was just over. That was kind of disappointing. I felt like I just got a handle on the characters and it was over. I guess I just wanted a bit more even though the purpose of the book was over. Making the whole plot seem a little simple to me and maybe that is partially because I read it so fast.

What it comes down to is that I would probably recommend this book and I enjoyed it, but I don't think it is Patterson's best work.