Tuesday, March 17, 2015

Where'd You Go Bernadette?



Synopsis (from Amazon): Bernadette Fox is notorious. To her Microsoft-guru husband, she's a fearlessly opinionated partner; to fellow private-school mothers in Seattle, she's a disgrace; to design mavens, she's a revolutionary architect, and to 15-year-old Bee, she is a best friend and, simply, Mom.

Then Bernadette disappears. It began when Bee aced her report card and claimed her promised reward: a family trip to Antarctica. But Bernadette's intensifying allergy to Seattle--and people in general--has made her so agoraphobic that a virtual assistant in India now runs her most basic errands. A trip to the end of the earth is problematic.

To find her mother, Bee compiles email messages, official documents, secret correspondence--creating a compulsively readable and touching novel about misplaced genius and a mother and daughter's role in an absurd world.



One (or more) Sentence Summary: ABSOLUTELY LOVED IT.  This book had me laughing so hard and I couldn't wait to get back to the book.  The characters are all so crazy and just make the story.  Go get it today and make sure you have some time to sit down and read away!  You won't regret it.

Favorite Character(s):  Bernadette - absolutely loved her and her points of view.  Bee, Bernadette's daughter, Audrey, the crazy neighbor and Soo-Lin, Adurey's friend and the lady Bernadette's husband has an affair with are all other favorites.  Every character in the book just complete the whole story.  


Setting:  Seattle/Northwest and Antarctica - who writes a book taking place in Antarctica?  I have never one before! It added to the nuttiness of the book.

Fast read/slow read:  So fast and I was so sad when I was finished….I wanted MORE.

What Others Are Saying:  "Comedy heaven.... This divinely funny, many-faceted novel...leaves convention behind. Instead, it plays to Ms. Semple's strengths as someone who can practice ventriloquism in many voices, skip over the mundane and utterly refute the notion that mixed-media fiction is bloggy, slack or lazy.... The tightly constructed WHERE'D YOU GO, BERNADETTE is written in many formats-e-mails, letters, F.B.I. documents, correspondence with a psychiatrist and even an emergency-room bill for a run-in between Bernadette and Audrey. Yet these pieces are strung together so wittily that Ms. Semple's storytelling is always front and center, in sharp focus. You could stop and pay attention to how apt each new format is, how rarely she repeats herself and how imaginatively she unveils every bit of information. But you would have to stop laughing first."—Janet Maslin, The New York Times

"You don't have to know Seattle to get Maria Semple's broadly satirical novel.... Underlying the nontraditional narrative are insights into the cost of thwarted creativity and the power of mother-daughter bonds, although a reader may be having too much fun to notice."—O, The Oprah Magazine

Would I Read Other Books by the Author: Are you kidding? ABSOLUTELY! I found she wrote This One is Mine.I have to have it!


Maria Semple wrote for the television shows Arrested Development, Ellen and Mad About You. Her writing has appeared in The New Yorker and The Los Angeles Times. She lives in Seattle.

Thursday, March 12, 2015

Twin Piques

~ I received no compensation and opinions are 100% my own or my family. ~


Synopsis (from Amazon): Forensic accountant Sloane Tobin and kooky pet psychic Willa may have the same face, but that’s the only thing these identical twins have in common. 

How she can read the hearts and minds of animals has always been a mystery to Willa, and her rotten luck with men is equally baffling. Although she’s been looking for “The One” for what feels like forever (A teenage marriage to a French mime and dating a guy named Spider seemed like good ideas at the time!), optimistic Willa refuses to give up on love. When she meets Brody, the handsome rose expert hired to save her grandmother’s garden, she’s instantly smitten, but why does he keep sending her mixed signals? Does he return her feelings, or is their attraction all in her fanciful head? 

Unlike her twin, Sloane has zero interest in romance. Her passion is her job, where she uses her gift for numbers to take down slimy embezzlers and asset-hiding spouses. When she’s assigned two high profile cases, Sloane feels confident the promotion she’s been angling for is within her grasp. But will her plan to climb the corporate ladder be thwarted by difficult clients, her co-worker-with-benefits, or – most surprisingly of all – her own sister? And how’s she supposed to stay focused on the drama at work when her childhood friend, Gav, moves in next door and the spark between them becomes impossible to ignore? 

To get what they both want, can Willa and Sloane band together and rely on each other’s strengths? Or will their differences drive them apart once and for all?  

Purchase now for only $1.99 at Amazon.



One (or more) Sentence Summary: I am on a reading roll!  Another amazing book and I loved it.  Sloane and Willa are so different (just like my own twins) and together they make a great story.  I really enjoyed how they both found love and neither were expecting it.  One never wanted it and one had bad luck.  Brody and Gav round out the story.  

There are also a lot of one/two liners throughout the book that are absolutely hilarious.  Keep your eyes open for them.Twin Piques is loaded with them.

Favorite Character(s):  Sloane.no doubt about it.  I am a CPA and just connected with her so much!  I love books when one of the main characters is an accountant.it seems so rare.


Setting:  San Fran, but could take place anywhere and it wouldn't have mattered.  

Fast read/slow read:  Fast.  Even though this is my busy season time and I couldn't wait to steal five minutes and read!

Cover:  100% perfect!  Sums up both girls just as I see them.

Would I Read Other Books by the Author:  Give me more.  I must read Blame It On The Fame and In Need Of Therapy.

An avid reader and writer, Tracie Banister has been scribbling stories since she was a child, most of them featuring feisty heroines with complicated love lives like her favorite fictional protagonist Scarlett O'Hara. Her work was first seen on the stage of her elementary school, where her 4th grade class performed an original holiday play that she penned (Like all good divas-in-the-making, she, also, starred in and tried to direct the production.) Her dreams of authorial success were put on the backburner when she reached adulthood and discovered that she needed a "real" job in order to pay her bills. Her career as personal assistant to a local entrepreneur lasted for 12 years. When it ended, Tracie decided to follow her bliss and dedicate herself to writing full-time. Her debut novel, the Hollywood-themed BLAME IT ON THE FAME, was released in January, 2012. And she's following that up with the fun summer read, IN NEED OF THERAPY. 

Tracie blogs about books and other fun stuff at http://traciebanister.blogspot.com/