Between the Pages

Confessions of a Shopaholic Wound with attention to detail, Confessions of a Shopaholic by Sophie Kinsella is a lighthearted and welcome break from the monsoon of classics I have been reading lately. Summary:      Rebecca Bloomwood loves a lot of things. She loves her fabulous, trendy, English flat in a fabulous, trendy, English neighborhood. She loves her social life and even more socialite friends. Becky loves one thing more than anything else. Shopping. She loves that brand-new piece of clothing in her over stuffed wardrobe of clothes that she is starting not to be able to afford. She hates some things too. She likes writing, but hates writing financial articles for her not-as-trendy-as-her-flat job at Successful Savings, a financial and investing magazine.      The letters from Rebecca Bloomwood’s bank are piling up on her dresser. They all say the same thing. In short, she is over her credit card limit, and she needs to take a mee...

As in all of Carl Hiassen’s books, adventure and suspense abounds in  Squirm.  Throughout the novel, you will be immersed in nature with settings that extend from sea to shining sea.  SUMMARY     Billy Dickens is multifaceted. In short, he loves snakes, he stands up for others, and cares deeply for his family. He once saw a motorcycle swerve intentionally to hit a snake. That bike ended up in the bottom of the lake. He has myriad weaknesses too. Weakness #1 – his father. Billy Dickens doesn’t know his father. He never has. He wants to know him. Little does he know, he will. Very soon.        Dennis Dickens gets bored very easily. He could not keep a job for more than a couple months before he got so bored he left Florida and his family all together. He is not the villain in this story, though. He’s doing quite well now. He has a new wife and stepdaughter. He certainly is not bored now. His new job involves flying drones, spying on p...

The Confidence Code for Girls     While The Confidence Code for Girls by Katty Kay and Claire Shipman is a non-fiction book with genuine intentions for helping girls feel more confident in everyday situations, the book is poorly organized, is not focused/doesn’t have a direct point, and does not provide attainable suggestions for building confidence. Summary:     The Confidence Code for Girls is a book that is directed to help tween aged to teen aged  girls cope with their lack of confidence. The book is designed to give facts about lack of confidence in girls, to provide suggestions for building confidence, and how to practice those suggestions to ultimately find the confidence they need. Author Praise and Critique:     In reality, this book gives unrealistic suggestions and scenarios to try to help girls. A lot of the techniques the book suggests are not an accurate evaluation of what young girls will use. N...

My Plain Jane My Plain Jane, by Brodi Ashton. Cynthia Hand, and Jodi Meadows, is a story that tells of mischievous ghosts, an unexpected romance, and of, most importantly, Miss Jane Eyre. This book is a magnificent spin-off of the book by Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre.  Plot Summary:      Jane Eyre is an extraordinarily plain girl that lives at an all-girls, boarding school called Lowood in England. Charlotte Brontë, yes that Charlotte Brontë, is Jane’s best friend at Lowood, so she thinks. Jane’s actual best friend is a ghost, yes, a ghost. This particular ghost’s name is Helen. Helen died of the “graveyard disease”, this is common at Lowood as it is very common for girls to suffer from frostbite (while still inside) and mild starvation (better put as extreme hunger). Helen is very outspoken (ironic for a ghost, right?), but only Jane can hear her, because (as Jane learns later in the story) she is a “beacon”. I “beacon” is someone who can command gh...

Royals Royals by Rachel Hawkins is a royally funny story that is also serious and sophisticated all at the same time. Plot Summary: Daisy Winters is completely overwhelmed. No, no, and no. She is everything, but royal. Daisy works at the Sur-n-Save in Florida and is getting excited about going to Key West for a week with her best friend Isabel. Eleanor (Ellie) Winters, Daisy’s older sister who is a newly accepted member of the Scottish royal society, is engaged to sweet, shy Prince Alexander James Lachlan Baird of Scotland. Daisy is blindsided by the news of Ellie’s engagement. Of course, Daisy and her parents must visit Scotland to meet Alex’s mother, the Queen of Scotland, and Alex’s trouble-maker brother, Sebastian. Now that Alex and Ellie’s engagement has been officially been announced to the public, Sebastian is the most eligible bachelor in the world. Daisy finds herself in Scotland in under a week leaving behind Isabel, the trip to Key West, and her summer. As soon ...