Heart of the Matter

I finished this book last night. It is written by Emily Giffin, the same author who wrote Something Borrowed and Something Blue. I wasn't sure if it would be as good, but there are moments where Dexter and Rachel are mentioned and I really enjoyed those, until I became fully involved with the two main characters - Tessa and Valerie. Both women run in the same circles, mainly due to their children, but their lives become more involved when Valerie's son, Charlie, has an accident, and is treated by Tessa's husband, Nick. Each chapter is from a different point of view, alternative from Tessa to Valerie. I related more to Valerie, but I didn't dislike Tessa. It is strange how you know both women and feel such a connection to them as their stories become more and more intertwined. I really enjoyed the book, although I was heartbroken at times and am still ambivalent about the ending. I am saving this book for my sister who loved Emily's first two novels. I think she will continue to enjoy these books.

I Just Want My Pants Back

I finished this book on the beach, too. It has no easy resolutions, no clean ending, no real summation. It is a journey that you take with the main character as he takes drugs and drinks and follows his friends through the city. He grows up a bit as he wanders through his life, just as any of us do as we move through life on a daily basis. This book is a meandering walk through a life that I am glad I don't have and desperately want sometimes, the life of an underachiever living in the city, just having fun. I felt a part of this book, felt as though I was a bit different after finishing it, the mark of a good book, I believe. I am passing it on to my friend, K, when she finally is settled in a new apartment in the UK. It is good enough to pay the shipping on.

The Scandalous Summer of Sissy LeBlanc

I was blessed to be able to take a mini-vacation this weekend. Because it was cold and I was at the beach, much of my time was spent reading. I brought this book with me, not sure if it was going to be something I would enjoy or one that I would just drop off in the room for the next visitor or the maid. Fortunately, it was a good read. The book focused on Sissy LeBlanc, a married woman and essentially her youth and one summer that changed her life.

There were moments when I thought this was going to be a Harlequin novel at certain points from the purple prose that riddled a few pages, but it really wasn't. It was a coming of age story, mostly based in the 1950's, but with a few detours here and there. The feeling I got from the book was that of a person living a too small life who is finally able to burst out of it and live. I needed to read it when I did. I left it in the hallway so that someone else can pick it up. It was good enough to pass on.