Review: Girls in White Dresses by Jennifer Close

• Hardcover: 304 pages
• Publisher: Knopf (August 9, 2011)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0307596850
• ISBN-13: 978-0307596857

Product Description

 

Wickedly hilarious and utterly recognizable, Girls in White Dresses tells the story of three women grappling with heartbreak and career change, family pressure and new love—all while suffering through an endless round of weddings and bridal showers.

Isabella, Mary, and Lauren feel like everyone they know is getting married. On Sunday after Sunday, at bridal shower after bridal shower, they coo over toasters, collect ribbons and wrapping paper, eat minuscule sandwiches and doll-sized cakes. They wear pastel dresses and drink champagne by the case, but amid the celebration these women have their own lives to contend with: Isabella is working at a mailing-list company, dizzy with the mixed signals of a boss who claims she’s on a diet but has Isabella file all morning if she forgets to bring her a chocolate muffin. Mary thinks she might cry with happiness when she finally meets a nice guy who loves his mother, only to realize he’ll never love Mary quite as much. And Lauren, a waitress at a Midtown bar, swears up and down she won’t fall for the sleazy bartender—a promise that his dirty blond curls and perfect vodka sodas make hard to keep.

With a wry sense of humor, Jennifer Close brings us through those thrilling, bewildering, what-on-earth-am-I-going-to-do-with-my-life years of early adulthood. These are the years when everyone else seems to have a plan, a great job, and an appropriate boyfriend, while Isabella has a blind date with a gay man, Mary has a crush on her boss, and Lauren has a goldfish named Willard. Through boozy family holidays and disastrous ski vacations, relationships lost to politics and relationships found in pet stores, Girls in White Dresses pulls us deep inside the circle of these friends, perfectly capturing the wild frustrations and soaring joys of modern life. 

 

About the Author

 

Jennifer Close was born and raised on the North Shore of Chicago. She is a graduate of Boston College and received her MFA in Fiction Writing from The New School in 2005. She worked in New York in magazines for many years and then in Washington, D.C., as a bookseller. Girls in White Dresses is her first book.

My Review

Awesome debut novel by Jennifer Close. I was ready for a funny, chick lit book after reading Triple Crossing.  This book is a perfect blend of hilarity and the poignant reality of being a young woman in New York City.  The twenties are such an emotional time in any young person's life...what am I going to do with my life?  Am I ever going to get married?  Jennifer Close captures those feelings perfectly and blends in a dose of fun and laughter. I kept catching myself laughing out loud!  I loved the endless parade of showers and weddings that seem to fill everyone's twenties.  Six showers for one bride!..that was just crazy...

This is a heartwarming story about women and the friendship that they share with one another. I had a hard time putting this book down.  It is a easy but captivating read.  Excellent book to read on a lazy summer day.

I highly recommend this great book!

Review: Triple Crossing by Sebastian Rotella

• Hardcover: 416 pages
• Publisher: Mulholland Books (August 10, 2011)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0316105309
• ISBN-13: 978-0316105309

Product Description

 

Valentine Pescatore, a volatile rookie Border Patrol agent, is trying to survive the trenches of The Line in San Diego. He gets in trouble and finds himself recruited as an informant by Isabel Puente, a beautiful U.S. agent investigating a powerful Mexican crime family.

As he infiltrates the mafia, Pescatore falls in love with Puente. But he clashes with her ally Leo Mendez, chief of a Tijuana anti-corruption unit. Politically charged violence escalates, plunging Pescatore into the lawless "triple border" region of South America and a showdown full of bloodshed and betrayal.

Writing with rapid-fire intensity, Sebastian Rotella captures the despair and intrigue of the borderlands, where enforcing the law has become an act of subversion. TRIPLE CROSSING is an explosive and riveting debut.

About the Author

 

Sebastian Rotella is an author and award-winning senior reporter for Propublica, an independent organization dedicated to investigative journalism. He covers issues including international terrorism, organized crime, homeland security and immigration. Previously, he worked for 23 years for the Los Angeles Times, serving as bureau chief in Paris and Buenos Aires and covering the Mexican border. He was a Pulitzer finalist in international reporting in 2006. He is the author of Twilight on the Line: Underworlds and Politics at the U.S.-Mexico Border (Norton), which was named a New York Times Notable Book in 1998.

Excellent article on the Mulholland Book Site here.


My Review

Excellent debut novel by Sebastian Rotella. Triple Crossing refers to the three country junction of Paraguay, Brazil and Argentina in South America which is similar to the Mexico/US border with its smuggling of people and goods.  Corruption and militaristic governments are the norm in the area.  I have dozens of friends who grew up in Mennonite colonies in the area and I have heard endless stories of violence and corruption that has existed for decades.

The story follows Border Patrol rookie Valentine Pescatore from the US/Mexican border near San Diego to the Triple Border area.  Rotella paints a vivid picture of the realities of both border regions where political corruption and organized crime intermingle to form this lawless landscape.  Violence is a daily occurrence.  Mexicans are no longer the only migrants trying to cross into the United States.  South and Central Americans along with Asians are also crossing illegally.  They are known as OTMs...Other Than Mexicans.  The organized crime element in the form of global mafias are moving migrants across borders in all regions that have uncontrolled borders.  The book focused on middle eastern mafioso in the Triple Border region.  

This was a really interesting book besides being an excellent crime thriller.  I haven't been in Tijuana since the mid 1970s and all I remember was extreme poverty, shacks made of cardboard and children trying to sell us paper flowers in the street.  I remember giving my Canadian flag pin to one of the young boys who asked for it.  A lot has changed since then.

Highly recommend this informative and thought provoking crime thriller.

Review: 52 Ways to Wow Your Husband: How to Put a Smile on His Face by Pam Farrel

• Paperback: 160 pages
• Publisher: Harvest House Publishers (August 1, 2011)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0736937803
• ISBN-13: 978-0736937801

Product Description

 

With the same candor and creativity that made Men Are Life Waffles—Women Are Like Spaghetti (more than 270,000 copies sold) a bestseller, author Pam Farrel gives wives 52 ways to wow their husbands and add spark to their marriages. Pam delivers humor in her fun woman-to-woman style through inspirational stories, godly advice, and easy-to-read offerings that include:

• wow assignments: simple ways to support, love, and encourage husbands
• wow wisdom: Bible verses and wisdom to help women cover their spouse with prayer
• wow dates: creative ideas for everything from shared meals to weekend getaways

Newlyweds, married with kids, or empty nesters will appreciate these ideas crafted for the busy life. A woman can try one idea a week for a year or take on a few at a time to deepen her spiritual, emotional, and physical bond with her loved one.


About The Author


Pam Farrel is a relationship specialist, international speaker, and author of over 25 books, including the best-selling Men Are Like Waffles--Women Are Like Spaghetti. Formerly a pastor's wife and director of women's ministries, Pam is now president of Seasoned Sisters. Pam and her husband, Bill, write a column on relationships and are frequent guests on shows like Focus on the Family.



My Review

I am reviewing a ebook copy of this book provided by NetGalley.  This is a Christian book so you know there will not be any risque surprises in it!  The book provides 52 ideas to improve your marriage relationship, that is one idea for each week of the year.   In each of the 52 chapters, the reader is provided with some thoughts, then an assignment for that week, scripture based biblical wisdom, and finally an idea for a "date" or activity to do with your spouse that week. 

This is a great book for Christians and non-Christians alike.  It provides a lot of great ideas for working toward a better martial relationship.