This was a fun look at how Natalie McNeal- an underemployed journalist with $20,000 in debt- took control of every aspect of her life, and turned it around.
While this reminded me very much of Karyn Bosnak's hilarious Save Karyn: One Shopaholic's Journey to Debt and Back, Natalie's story is much more recent, and while the events of 9/11 were something of a factor in Bosnak's story, Natalie accrued her debt and career issues in the recent recession.
A relaxed, conversational tone kept the slim book feeling very friendly and informative, and even bits of rather obvious advice, such as changing to credit cards with lower interest rates seemed much more do-able with Natalie's chatty urgings.
While the book starts with a bang, and Natalie's first February of spending only on bills and food was a great beginning, the book lacked the drama of yet another shopping-withdrawal memoir, Judith Levine's Not Buying It: My Year Without Shopping, which took on that challenge for a year. However, that made Natalie's stuggles and achievements seem that much more relatable, and she never annoyed me as a reader, unlike Levine.
A sassy city girl's story of getting herself out of a rut and into the life she wants, this was a quick (one sitting!) and enjoyable if not life-changing read.
Charming, light, real-estate porn romance. Antiques appraiser Evie goes to a castle in Scotland to...
Very likeable, enjoyable read. Welsh girls Petra and Shannon adore David Cassidy in the 1970's, but a cruel twist of fate stops them from getting to meet their idol until much, much later. This was so well done, with wonderful characterizations, and a great sense of how teenage girls operate. Magazine writer Bill is another great character- this was hard to put down, and definitely the kind of book to recommend to people looking for a good, fun read with some substance.
Charming and quick YA about 2 teen stars who find themselves after losing their hit show.
Interesting, if older (2005) book about aggressive marketing directed toward children, and the damage it can do.
For such a big bestseller, I had higher hopes about this. It started well- very much like last year's The Physick Book fo Deliverance Dane- but turned pretty bad very quickly, and only a combination of curiosity and disbelief kept me turning the pages. Damsel in distress has never been my flavor.
Terrible YA. 3 sisters each discover they have special powers and proceed to bore the reader to death.
Very funny book about the young Viking Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III and his struggles to train Toothless, his dragon.
I really wanted to like this more than I did. I really enjoyed the first book, set in Exeter RI, and hoped the series would develop well, but this was a bit of a sophomore slump for me.
Pretty terrible YA take on Pride and Prejudice, set at a boarding school full of some of the least realistic teenagers I've ever read.
Pretty weak entry into the Hamish Macbeth series. I really don't enjoy it when animals become that involved with the plot. (See: Martha Grimes' The Black Cat)
Alarming sort of book filled with anecdotes about hoarding, made me want to throw away everything.
