Thursday, September 13, 2012

So L.A. - TLC Book Tours + Giveaway

My Rating:  A Good Read

Synopsis:  Beautiful Magdalena de la Cruz breezed through Berkeley and built an empire selling designer water. She'd never felt awkward or unattractive... until she moved to Los Angeles. In L.A. where everything smells like acetone and Errol Flynn Magdalena attempts to reinvent herself as a geographically appropriate bombshell with rhinestones, silicone and gin as she seeks an escape from her unraveling marriage and the traumatic death of her younger brother, Junah. Magdalena's Los Angeles is glitzy and glamorous but also a landscape of the absurd. Her languidly lyrical voice provides a travel guide for a city of make-believe, where even Hollywood insiders feel left out.

My Review:  I started out really liking So L.A., in fact I read the first 100 pages in 2 days (remember I am a sloooow reader).  After that, the book seemed to drag for me, until the last 75 pages.  I did like the short chapters (that is one of my favorite things!).  Overall, the story comes full circle.  I liked Magdalena and really liked Ricky and Puck.


There are a lot of extremely funny parts throughout So L.A.  The author knows her stuff about L.A.!  The book starts off in Northern California and the two locations, while completely different, are blended together and makes the story.  I also really liked the 5 Parts - "Takes" and the title for the chapters.  Very clever!

I was completely shocked on how So L.A. unfolds and what we find out near the latter part of the book (Take 4).  I would have never guessed the twist in the plot and the outcome.  Once I read what is reveled, it made more sense to me the 200 pages (approximately) that seemed to drag for me.  In hind sight, they were setting me up for the "punch."  It was a good read and I do recommend it.  It would make a great book club read.  Lots to talk about, that is for sure.  This is the authors first novel and I would purchase more books from her.


Meet the Author:  Bridget Hoida lives and writes in an imaginary subdivision off the coast of Southern California. In a past life she was a librarian, a DJ, a high school teacher and a barista. In this life she experiments with poetry and fiction and has taught writing at UC Irvine, the University of Southern California and Saddleback College. Bridget is the recipient of an Anna Bing Arnold Fellowship and the Edward Moses prize for fiction. She was a finalist in the Joseph Henry Jackson/San Francisco Intersection for the Arts Award for a first novel and the William Faulkner Pirate's Alley first novel contest. Her short stories have appeared in the Berkeley Fiction Review, Mary, and Faultline Journal, among others, and she was a finalist in the Iowa Review Fiction Prize and the Glimmer Train New Writer's Short Story Contest. Her poetry has been recognized as an Academy of American Poets Prize finalist and she was a Future Professoriate Scholar at USC. She has a BA from UC Berkeley and a Ph.D. in Literature and Creative Writing from the University of Southern California. So L.A. is her first novel.

You can connect with Bridget on-line at her website and Facebook.  You can purchase So L.A. on-line from Amazon for $16.00 ($6.99 Kindle version).


Giveaway:  I am so lucky to have one copy of So L.A. to giveaway.  Complete the form below and good luck.  Contest closes September 20th at midnight EST.

a Rafflecopter giveaway




Make sure you check out the other TLC Book Tours for great reviews on So L.A.:

Thursday, July 5th:  CBS Los Angeles – LA’s Summer Reading Guide
Monday, August 13th:  The 3R’s Blog
Wednesday, August 15th:  Peppermint Ph.D.
Thursday, August 16th:  Hopelessly Devoted Bibliophile
Monday, August 20th:  Kritter’s Ramblings
Wednesday, August 22nd:  Sweet Southern Home
Thursday, August 23rd:  Book Chatter
Monday, August 27th:  Reviews by Molly
Tuesday, August 28th:  Travel Spot 
Wednesday, August 29th:  Book Club Classics!
Thursday, August 30th:  A Chick Who Reads
Tuesday, September 4th:  A Bookish Affair
Thursday, September 6th: Bookish Whimsy
Friday, September 7th:  In the Next Room
Monday, September 10th:  Colloquium
Tuesday, September 11th:  Oh! Paper Pages
Wednesday, September 12th:  Conceptual Reception
Thursday, September 13th: Seaside Book Nook

8 comments:

  1. I actually lived in Monterey for 3 years and liked it a lot. L.A. is just too much of everything.

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  2. I would love to visit either place but would pick northern Calif. if I had to make a choice.

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  3. I've already visited LA so I'd definitely want to visit Northern California : )

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  4. I'm glad you'll be looking for more from this author!

    Thanks for being a part of the tour.

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  5. I'd go to Northern California, so I could see San Francisco.

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  6. LA, just b/c it sounds exciting. they both would be beautiful, I'm sure!!

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  7. I would rather visit northern California.

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