Pat Gaudette

‘Books For Women’

Flirting With Forty is the third book I’ve read by Jane Porter and while it may have the most improbable story line, I thoroughly enjoyed each and every page, even those that had me tearing up a little.

Flirting With Forty is told from the perspective of Jackie Laurens, a newly divorced, on the brink of forty, single mother of two, who laments the life she had until she discovered her wonderful and successful husband was having an affair… with a gorgeous and much younger woman. In the divorce, she gets the big house and the two kids, and he gets to keep the second home, the Porsche, and the younger lover. It’s not an even split by any means. Read more »

Mrs. Perfect by Jane Porter was sent to me to review because it deals with divorce and midlife issues, relationship themes I primarily focus on. As I mentioned in my review just below, this was the first of Porter’s books that I’ve read but it definitely won’t be the last.

Mrs. Perfect is told from the perspective of Taylor Young, a woman who is the absolute perfect “trophy” wife. She’s flawless, always in total control, and she manages her household and a staggering array of community involvements without raising a sweat (or so it would seem). To tell the truth, I pretty much hated her and was quite happy when her perfect little world started crumbling. I’d be surprised if anyone lives life for long in that kind of rarefied atmosphere except Kimora Lee (and who isn’t just slightly happy to see that even she can’t keep the weight off?). Sorry, I think I got off track a bit.

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I’ve just finished reading Odd Mom Out by Jane Porter. To be honest, until I received a copy of one of her latest novels, Mrs. Perfect, to review, I hadn’t heard of Jane Porter. After absolutely loving Porter’s writing style in Mrs. Perfect, I wanted to read more and bought Odd Mom Out. I wasn’t disappointed.

Maybe if I read Harlequin novels I wouldn’t have been so clueless about Jane Porter because she’s written 22 novels for Harlequin since 2000 (this week’s count). That’s in addition to her four “chick lit” novels: The Frog Prince, Flirting With 40, Odd Mom Out, and Mrs. Perfect.

This Jane Porter shouldn’t be confused with the Jane Porter who wrote The Scottish Chiefs in 1810. Read more »

A Man Worth Waiting For: How to Avoid a Bozo by Jackie Kendall is a dating book based on the biblical account of Ruth that teaches how to look for a Boaz not a Bozo. Kendall uses real-life stories to explain how to avoid dating mistakes and includes questions at the end of chapters that would make for good group discussions.

BOOK EXCERPT – Chapter 1 The Original MWWF: Boaz

Before Tristan and Isolde, before Romeo and Juliet, and even before Mr. Darcy and Miss Elizabeth of Pride and Prejudice, there were Boaz and Ruth. Their love story, dating from approximately 1000 BC, is still powerfully relevant in the twenty-first century.

Boaz, the leading man in the Hebrew book of Ruth, enters this short love story in chapter 2. This book is the story of a young widow named Ruth, whose heart had been broken by her husband’s death yet healed by faith in the God of Israel. Having touched God’s heart, she also touched the heart of one of God’s champion followers­–Boaz. The intersection of their lives becomes not only the framework of an earthly love story but also the foreshadowing of the greatest love story, God’s love for the world through Jesus­–Himself a descendant of the union of Boaz and Ruth.

Where Did I Leave My Glasses?: The What, When, and Why of Normal Memory Loss by Martha Weinman Lear is a book that could almost be funny if it only happened to someone else. Lear’s research turns up some answers that make memory loss even less funny. She questions of the experts that many of us might be reluctant to ask, fearing the answers. Are there characteristics or traits that make memory loss a sure thing or bring it on earlier than “expected”? And when does memory loss “normally” kick in?  Will we all experience memory loss or are there factors that bring it on and/or factors that can delay it? Is age, or education, or family history a factor? The answers may surprise and perhaps shock you.

BOOK EXCERPT – Chapter One: Say Hello to Whatsisname

Here am I, chasing some elusive name up and down the windowless corridors of my mind—Yoo-hoo, name, wait for me!—and the merry little bugger keeps outrunning me, pausing every now and again just to give me the business, make me think I can grab it, and my annoyance turns to frustration, then to indignation, then to impotent laughter—I? practitioner of words, fumbling around in the dark for a Tom, a Dick, a Harry? How absurd.

I begin the usual lament: “I can’t remember his name, it’s right here on the tip of my tongue, this is driving me crazy, you know, way back when Whatsisname was president, the Contract with America guy, what the hell was his name?”

Looks: Why They Matter More Than You Ever Imagined is written by Gordon L. Patzer, Ph.D., founding director of the Appearance Research Institute and a tenured professor at Roosevelt University in Chicago. Dr. Patzer has investigated “lookism” and the physical attractiveness phenomenon for more than thirty years. I was fascinated by his research and appalled by many of the stories including one about a woman chosen to be on, and then rejected by, the Extreme Makeover reality show.

From the publisher:

It’s true that beauty pays. Better grades, success in romance, higher salaries -these are just a few of the well-documented advantages bestowed upon the good looking at the expense of everyone else. But the beauty fixation gets even uglier than that. A constant flood of images celebrating the thin and glamorous has triggered deadly eating disorders, dangerous cosmetic surgeries, and unhealthy obsessions that are affecting women and men of all ages-even young children.

Dr. Gordon L. Patzer has spent more than thirty years studying this phenomenon. Here he uses original research to provide a unique examination of physical attractiveness and how it has changed the lives of both men and women.Looks is the first book to explore how attractiveness affects every aspect of our lives-from whom we choose to befriend and hire to the candidates we choose to elect and whom we presume to be innocent or guilty in a court of law. Unflinching and revealing, Looks uncovers the sometimes ugly truth about beauty and its profound effects on all of us.

History Lesson For Girls: A Novel by Aurelie Sheehan, is the story of two teen girls growing up in the 1970s. The teen years are difficult enough but add in dysfunctional family issues and sometimes terrible tragedy is the result.

From the back cover: In 1975, Alison Glass, age thirteen, moves to Connecticut with her bohemian parents and her horse, Jazz. Shy, observant, and in a back brace for scoliosis, Alison finds strength in an unlikely friendship with Kate Hamilton, the charismatic but troubled daughter of an egomaniacal New Age guru and his substance-loving wife. As the sincere but misguided “Women of History” plan the town’s bicentennial (complete with red, white, and blue Porta-Potties), the girls escape into the world of their horses, seeking refuge from the chaos in their lives.

I enjoyed this book even if it left me feeling more sadness for the characters than I would have liked.

The Girl’s Guide to Absolutely Everything by Melissa Kirsch is a hefty book, 478 pages in size, written for women in their 20s and 30s. It could certainly be a third less pages but then the nicely done typography and graphics would have to go and that would pretty much destroy the easy reading of this book.

The Girl’s Guide to Absolutely Everything is crammed with useful information on every topic a woman would need and/or want to know from health to work to fashion to manners to friends to love and more. Mixed in with the easy to read information and tips are websites, recommended books, authorities on various topics. Read more »