Book Review: "Confessions of a Teen Nanny #3: Juicy Secrets"

Well, I waded my way through the last of the Confessions of a Teen Nanny trilogy, and as usual with just about any series I enjoy, I'm sad to see it end. Although, there was lots of lovely juicy drama along the way! Some of the twists, you'll probably have seen coming since the beginning of the series -- others, these came out of seemingly nowhere and will knock you for a loop. There's scandal, there's intrigue, there's love, there's drama, there's...well, everything! Trust me, you'll love it. It's a fitting end to a wonderful series. 4 star rating :)

Book Review: "Confessions of a Teen Nanny #2: Rich Girls"

The second book in the Confessions of a Teen Nanny trilogy, I found this book to be very difficult to put down, as I kept getting so sucked into the drama of the storyline, I just HAD to know what would happen next. (I blazed through this book pretty quickly as a result. ;)) Without giving too much away, all I can say is this book is just dripping with revenge. And drama. And unexpected twists and turns. FABULOUS. Giving this one a big five star rating, and anticipating digging into the third book!

Book Review: "Confessions of a Teen Nanny"

With a title such as this one, one might assume that Confessions of a Teen Nanny would be a book akin to perhaps a slightly older Babysitter's Club type of story. Spoiler alert: this is nothing like that whatsoever. Imagine, if you will, being a teenager who by some act of fate manages to land just about THE sweetest babysitting job ever: nannying for one of the richest families in the entirety of New York City. The catch: the teen daughter is going to make your life an absolute living hell.

Without giving too much away, I just want to say that this story was actually pretty engaging, and it delights me to learn that this is part of a series, so there's much more to this story than just what lies between these covers. I can't wait to see where else it goes! Rating this one a 4 star rating.

Book Review: "The Friday Night Knitting Club"

I have to admit, when I first heard mention of The Friday Night Knitting Club by Kate Jacobs on the Goodreads website, I was instantaneously filled with glee. You see, I just picked up knitting as a new hobby last November. Everything about it still excites and thrills me. To see that it was the cornerstone of a novel? Oh my goodness! Instantly it was filed into my "to reads" list (of which, if any of you have me added over on that site, know is quite the lengthy and extensive list indeed). I'm limited only by what my local library system has on its shelves, and many times, they don't have some of the titles that I get most excited about. I was delighted to see that this one, they did have. I found it slightly daunting that almost every review for this book on the website were about 2 stars and below on average. Still, I pressed forward, figuring that the people rating it so low probably aren't even knitters and "just don't get it".

The story itself is very much a Seinfeld-esque set-up. Set in NYC, the story basically outlines the life and adventures of Georgia Walker, owner of the Walker & Daughter yarn shop, as well as her family and friends. For much of the book, nothing particularly noteworthy happens as far as plot - it's one of those stories where it's just a slice of life in each of these characters' lives. I almost found it hard to keep turning the pages, but I wanted to see where it was going. There had to be some good reason that this story got published, other than the kitschy literary devices of using aspects of knitting to teach life lessons.

And then I reached the bombshell. A mere few chapters before the end of the book.

I'll give you a spoiler: the main character dies.

And you do NOT see it coming. At all.

It's enough to tear at your heartstrings - I actually did cry when I hit this part of the story. I didn't emotionally connect with much of anything else in the entire book, but when THAT happened...oh my lord. Where did THAT come from?? It TOTALLY blindsides you, but at the same time, it happens in a very realistic way. You DON'T always see it coming when you lose a close friend. Sometimes they literally are fine one minute, and within a matter of hours, they're gone. I think the reality of this drives deep at home, and THIS is what places the book in amongst the best-sellers lists.

I feel like the dramatic moments should have been spaces out intermittently across the length of the book, rather than keeping everything SO calm and casual almost the entirety of the book and saving it all up for the ending. The writing style was also fairly dry and kind of boring for the majority of the book, which makes trying to continue reading particularly difficult. But I did it, and I'm glad I did. Now....two more books to this series to get through...

I rate this book a 3 1/2 out of 5 stars.

Book Review: "California Dreaming (The A-List #10)"

So, we've come to the end of the line of the original A-List series. And it certainly does go out with a bang! A plane crash, the implosion of Ben and Cammie, a wedding, a breakup, family drama, a major medical emergency... you name it, it's in here. As we wave off these characters we've grown to know and love over the past ten books as they ride off into the proverbial sunset, there's a glimmer of sadness in realizing we won't get to see what exactly it is that they'll make of their lives. Or will we...? There's a second A-List series with an all new cast of characters that might just mention in passing the originals, for all we know. There is hope for the future!

I'm rating this book a 5 out of 5 stars. It has anything and everything you could want, from comedy, to romance, to drama, to angst, to...like I said. Everything. It's all in here. Very well written, and a very nice close to the series.

Book Review: "Beautiful Stranger (The A-List #9)

This ninth installment of the A-List series certainly seems to be starting to wind everything down now, now that it's approaching the end of the series.

This book is filled with all sorts of unpredictable twists and turns; Sam gets engaged, Sam falls out of engagement. Ben wants to start a club of his own with the aid of his father, who claims he'll back him in anything. (The dad backs out.) Cammie funds the project. Anna discovers that Yale might not be all that she'd always imagined it was going to be after all. Adam kicks Ben's ass. There's an impromptu trip to NY. And much, much more (you didn't expect me to give everything away, did you? ;)).

Still, you can't read this particular book in the series without that niggling little feeling in the back of your mind knowing that it's getting pretty near the end of the series, and there's a certain sadness that comes along with that. It took me a while to learn to take these characters under my wing, so to speak, but now that I finally have, it seems all too soon that it'll be time to let them go. (Isn't that always the way?) Still, rating this one a 4 out of 5 stars.

Book Review: "Secrets Of My Hollywood Life: Broadway Lights"

It's getting very near the end of the run, folks - Broadway Lights is the second the last book in Jen Calonita's Secrets of My Hollywood Life series, and I'm getting kind of bummed about it. I've gotten very attached to these characters over the course of the past month or two when I started reading these - what will ever taken their place? (Then again, I say that every time I hit the end of a series I love.) Regardless, I soaked up every word of this book like a sponge, and not only because of it being so close to the end and loose ends starting to become tied up. I pounced all over it because...

IT'S BASED ON BROADWAY! DUH! :-p

Seriously though, everything about this book held my attention like crazy, and mostly in part because of my love affair with NYC. Sure, it was a little bit of a stereotypical of a view of the world's greatest city, but then again, a lot of stereotypical liberties have been taken as far as the whole views on showbiz throughout the whole series, so I'm not going to dock it down any points for that.

This story takes us through Kaitlin and Austin's first ever lengthy separation, which is heart-wrenching for me to read. Especially with all the jealousy arising from jealousy in the long-distance relationship, it stirred up far too many memories and still-raw emotions of the past within myself to be able to put this book down for long. I HAD to know how it would all end up. (That said, I had expected a little more realistic solution to have arisen, but it is what it is. Que sera sera.) But also, the process of putting together a Broadway production and sharpening it to perfection for the public. This, I have a lot of respect for, given my roots in theatre culture. And there were some completely unpredictable twists and turns along the way as well - I won't give them away, but they were very cool to see!

Overall I'm giving this book yet another big fat 5 out of 5 stars, because it is just divine perfection. :)