{Review} In Need of Therapy by Tracie Banister

{Review}

Miami vacations from Trip Advisor

"In Need of Therapy" belongs with you the next time you go to the beach. And you'll want to book a trip to Miami after the first few pages of reading this book.

Miami vacation info from Orbitz

Author Tracie Banister does a great job of describing the Miami scenery. You will want to put on your flip flops and pop open a Dos Equis while reading. The characters are well-developed and flavorful. And, since the book centers around a therapist, there's lots of great advice (for only $1.99 on Amazon!)

In Need of Therapy on Goodread

A quick gist of it: main character Pilar Alvarez is just shy of 30, a therapist with her own start-up business and trying to balance everything in her life. Her family is vivacious. Her client list is very diverse (and entertaining. Is that wrong to say!?) And there's a few men in her life who are vying for her love. This story is about how she finds a balance of it all, without going crazy herself.

Here's a quick look at my favorite characters, advice and recipes from "In Need of Therapy."

{Characters}
Pilar's crazy younger sister, Izzy. As Banister writes, "She'd come into the world with a, 'Here I am, deal with it!' attitude." Izzy likes to ruffle her family's feathers (and they tend to be more traditional) by getting a tattoo, getting a piercing, getting arrested (but wrongfully!) and just being overall spicy. I loved her.

{"If you want to find a woman of quality, then you're going to have to put some effort into it."}

{Advice}
There's so many great lines, here at just my top five. "Seeing a man's love for his child was a beautiful thing." | "Our parents and their relationships with both us and themselves are the cause of so many of our adult problems." | "Men who bragged about the size of their bank accounts were usually overcompensating for a lack of size elsewhere." | "If you want to find a woman of quality, then you're going to have to put some effort into it." | "Men who abused wait staff were petty and tyrannical in nature."


To learn more about the insightful Tracie Banister, go here.

For $1.99, buy the ebook version of "In Need of Therapy," here.

Review system

Julie Chicklitasaurus devoured this book.

{Review} The Girl With The Swing by G. Guilford Barton

"The Girl With The Swing" is the fifth short story in the "Golf Is No Ordinary Game" series, but author G. Guilford Bartonmakes it easy for a new reader to jump into the series at this point.

(The only confusing thing is the golf lingo. I don't play golf. A high school student just informed me last week that golf is more of a "social" sport, which convinced me well enough. I've never even thought of it as a sport at all.)

Anyway! This short story is an entertaining read. Barton does a great job of bringing you into the setting, making you care about the characters and dramatizing the situations so that you feel the intensity. All in an hour's worth of reading.

It's love at first sight for Adam, a 28-year-old Northern Californian just passing through Nebraska, when he spots Mary Ellen, a beautiful woman, playing golf. She's tall. Young. Green eyes. Auburn hair. Striking.

In other words, not as enchanting as this one.

He asks her to marry him. They have to talk to her father. Pa says Adam can have his blessing ...only if he can play Mary Ellen in a round of golf and win.

To the course they go!

And Mary Ellen is one competitive sportswoman. I love when stories/books portray their female characters as on par (pun! I could not think of another word!) with their male counter-parts.

Thank you, G.G.B.

A great short story has to have an interesting ending, and Barton accomplishes that. I won't pull a New-York-Times-Harry-Potter on you. I'll just say it's a wonderful ending.

So if you feel stressed out, and a co-worker told you need to go hit some balls, leave your Man-Beast alone and read this short story instead. It will take you into one great game of golf. Something, I believe, Charles Barkley is still trying to do.

To purchase "The Girl With The Swing" for $1.00 on Amazon, go here.

To learn more about the golf-crazed Man-Beast otherwise known as G. Guilford Barton, go to his blog here.

Review system

Julie Chicklitasaurus quickly nibbled this book.

{Review} Deadly Pleasures by Mary Firmin

If Christian Grey never received therapy for his mommy issues, he would have ended up in this book.

"Deadly Pleasures" from author Mary Firmin is a murder mystery centered around one young woman who has the help of her girlfriends and some cute man-beasts. So it's kind of like Nancy Drew - but with drugs, prostitution, bloody scenes and AA meetings. Okay, a really naughty Ms. Drew.

When reading this thrilling novel, just try not to imagine it as a movie. Yes, that's a dare. It's easy to envision this story on a screen, so much so that I have done the dirty work for some Hollywood super director person, and set a cast for this Nancy Drew tale for today:

Megan Riley played by a Kristen Bell.
Well, she's already made that "Hit and Run" disaster movie with her man-beast Dax Sheppard, so if Deadly Pleasures bombs, it wouldn't be the worst thing on her CV, right? Honestly, Bell could perfectly play the small, blonde main character who attends AA meetings and is looking for real love.

Rachel Feinman played by Megan Fox. The fiesty friend of Megan Riley, who suspects her husband of cheating so plots that her and her friends all share a hired boytoy.

Alex Grant played by Kristin Chenoweth. This character is a little older than her other three friends. She's also from the south and she's just a cute little love bug who calls people "honey."

Kathleen Rosario played by Kristin Stewart. She's the redhead Debbie Downer who is going through a bad breakup. Hello!

Matthew Donovan played by Henry Cavill. Alright... alright! I am just in love with him and want him to appear in everything. But he can pull off the handsome detective who fancies the cute, little Megan Riley. Yes, he can. And yes, my Man-Beast knows that Henry is on my fantasy list. But we've figured out it's because Henry looks like my Man-Beast. So that makes it okay.






Since the book takes place in L.A. and some scenes are at the Bayside Yacht Club, at least one character in the movie has to be filmed in a scene wearing this:

Buy it, yes buy it, here

Watch the book trailer until the (hopefully) movie comes out:

Find your own pleasures here for only .99 cents. Remember it's naughty. So it's rated R... for rarr!

Learn more about the fiesty author, Mary Firmin, here.

{Review} Domino: Book of Decorating

Domino Magazine was one of my most favorite mags as a real, live, physical edition before they closed shop in 2009. Now I love them on Facebook (they have the prettiest posts) and Twitter.

They released their Quick Fixes in April of this year, available for purchase digitally or real, live, physically. The special edition highlighted fan-tab-u-lous designs, but they were mostly re-runs of what we saw in the mag.

NOW! They are coming out with Domino Best Rooms in September and they promise there will be content we've never seen before!

So to get ready for next month's special edition, I am bringing to my readers some of my favorite pages from their super successful Domino: Book of Decorating. Their PR rep sent it to me in my mag days and it was the best swag, um, editorial material, I have ever received. You can get it on your Kindle but I really DO NOT recommend that. You have to have the real, live, physical book. I put mine on display in my living room because it REALLY is that beautiful, inside and out.

Modeling on my new, fancy ironing board!

Oh, a glorious study! J. Austen would be proud!

My fav is the pic in the lower right corner

{Review} Love and Friendship by Jane Austen

I've been reading other book review blogs and after doing so, I promise my readers one thing:

I won't use so many words!

Ever go to a blog for a recipe and you scroll through the five paragraphs and finally find the list of ingredients?

Ever go to a book review blog and scroll through the thirteen paragraphs to the last sentence? That's where everyone puts their actual opinion about the book.

On this blog, I promise to keep it short and sweet! (Well, maybe a little spicy. Ok, ok. Lots of spicy! Cajun spicy.)

...To the novel!

So I studied all of the major novels by Jane Austen when I did my study abroad to Oxford University during my undergrad.

Fell. In love. With. Jane.

Look at all my books from Oxford. (Books about/from the place you're visiting are the best souvenirs, are they not?)

We read:

• Northanger Abbey (a little too Gothicy for me), wrote in 1811
• Mansfield Park (nice novel, mail character is a bit too passive), wrote in 1814
• Emma (main character is really annoying), wrote in 1815
• Sense and Sensibility (balance act between an annoying female character and a more Lizzy-like one), wrote in 1811
• Pride and Prejudice (oh, Lizzie is the epitome of a strong, opinionated, smart female character!), wrote in 1813
• Persuasion (FAVORITE. It's just so smart), wrote in 1811

We did not get to her earlier work and now I see why after reading Love and Friendship.

I got it for free here. I thought, "Oh, Jane! I love thee. I will read thou's work and it will be love... thee. Art thou excited?"

Or something along those lines.

But this was very Gothicy (when I say Gothicy, I mean dramatic, maybe supernatural, lots of fainting.)

Just look at all the times there was fainting in this novel:

• "This was too cruel, too unexpected a blow to our gentle sensibility - we could not support it - we could only faint,"
• "'Unworthy grandfather!' said I, and instantly fainted in each other's arms,"
• "Sophia shreiked and fainted on the ground - I screamed and instantly ran mad,"
• "For an hour and a quarter did we continue in this unfortunate situation - Sophia fainting every moment and I running mad as often."
• "[A] disagreeable headache she attributed it to a cold caught by her continued faintings in the open air,"
• "Beware of fainting fits... Though at the time they may be refreshing and agreeable yet believe me they will in the end, if too often repeated and at improper seasons, prove destructive..."

I SAVED THE BEST FOR LAST!

• "Run mad as often as you choose; but do not faint,"

Are you LOL-ing? I am. I want to tell these female characters, "Stay awake, ladies! Goodness sakes! You can do it."

The whole thing is a series of letters from one person to another, and then someone else. More letters. I am not a fan of this kind of writing. I need more context. More characterization of the letter writer.

I need my omnicient third person narrator!

We all need Lizzie Bennet! (Read what Jane Austen thought about her female character here.)

So for the last sentence with the actual opinion: To tell you all the truth, I didn't even finish it. Not the right book for the right mood. I was not a fan. But I would love for someone to tell me why they loved it.

Learn more about Jane here.

Start your Jane Austen (Ok, really it's your Mr. Darcy obsession) here.

{Review} Agnes Grey by Anne Bronte

I finally finished it! Which sounds really bad because it's not a hard read at all. At all. This summer has just been so busy that I've been reading it sporadically.

OK. I confess. "The Tutors" has been free on On-Demand and I've been binge watching the whole thing (see my last post).

But now I'm ready to talk about a book.

It was my personal mission to read something by all three Bronte sisters and now that I finished "Agnes Grey," I have done it!

From Flyhigh-by-learnonline.blogspot.com

This was a great, easy-to-read book (even if it did take me a while to finish). Agnes comes from a small, country family that's very humble and kind. Her father's declining health motivates Agnes to go to work so she can send home money (yay to working girls!)

Let me stop and just say that Agnes' mother, Mrs. Grey, is a great early feminist character. She leaves a wealthy family to marry a man she loves, even if he doesn't make that much a year. And then she goes on to start her own school towards the end of the book. Now there's a woman in charge!

Back to the story. Agnes works as a governess (olden-time teacher/caregiver) so she lives with a rich family and teaches the children and kind of raises them too. The dad is off working. And the mom is off... doing something... important? I really don't know? Probably having tea and watching birds.

But the kids are spoiled and rude. If anyone has babysat, worked in daycare or even as a teacher, you will APPRECIATE this book.

Agnes works for two different wealthy families in this book. While with the second family she meets a handsome mad who fancies her as well.

Their love story is a typical 18th century English love story - they hint and slightly flirt (touch hands) and then at the very end (SPOILER ALERT) they confess their love to each other.

That was the only thing I could say about this book - the end was a bit anti-climatic. But I am glad it ended the way it did. If it had just been prolonged or developed a bit more, it could be something very poetic and lovely and special.

However, this book is worth the read. Unlike her sister's novel, "Wurthing Heights," there's not nearly as much gothic/drama - which I don't really care for. The characters are easy to follow. Some of the situations are funny and will make you LOL (especially if you have experience with kids). The language is kind of simple, though, so I think that's why it didn't become as popular as her sisters' books.

If nothing else, read it to explore the character of Mrs. Grey. She's great!

From Brontefamily.org. Anne was as old as I am now when she passed.

{Review} "The Tutors"

I know what you're thinking - "'The Tutors' was on Showtime some four years ago."

Different stories resonate in different people at different parts of their life.

And right now, Henry Cavill and Jonathon Rhys Meyers are resonating in me! Goodness sakes, just look at them.

Since I was such a strong proponent for Henry to play Christian Grey, I thought I should actually see him act in something (but, let's face, the "Fifty Shades of Grey" movie will have nothing to do with acting.)

So since the Man-Beast was away for a week and we have Showtime for free on On-Demand right now, I did some catching up. And I fell in LOVE with the series.

(You're also probably thinking that "The Tutors" was a TV show and this website clearly is called Julie's Chick Lit. But this site is about stories and ideas above all else. So I'm pardoned.)

The series starts in the beginning of Henry VIII's reign over England. His daughter Mary (later to be known as "Bloody Mary" when she becomes queen - I can never think of that drink in the same way again) is young and he's still married to his first wife.

He had six wives:

1. Catherine of Aragon
2. Anne Boleyn
3. Jane Seymour
4. Anne of Cleves
5. Kathryn Howard
6. Katherine Parr

Some he executed. Some died of medical reasons. He divorced two. Ah! What a mess! And somewhere in the middle of all of these wives, he dropped the Catholic Church and made everyone convert to the Church of England.

But I just love the way Jonathan Rhys Meyers played the king. He was awful, unmerciful and seductive all at the same time.

The last episode made me cry. Mostly because Henry has realized that the only thing you can't get back in life is time. And his time is slipping away.

Makes me want to grasp onto every moment in life and cherish it.

It really was a beautiful series. Start watching it for the costumes and beautiful actors. Then fall in love with it because of the acting. Natalie Dormer was a great Anne Boleyn - a great female character in world history.

Here's some photographic goodness from Tutorhistory.org, a great website on the history of this family.

Young Henry VIII

Anne Boleyn, probably his most famous wife