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In honor of this title being put into paperback this month I decided to republish this review from the old site. Its a great book I have enjoyed every single Emily Giffin I have read and would urge those of you who read this to go out an get it especially now that in paperback it will be cheaper! *smiles*

By Emily Giffin

April 21, 2009

St. Martin’s Press

ISBN-10: 0312348665

ISBN-13:978-0312348663

From the woman that brought you Something Borrowed, Something Blue and Baby Proof is her newest release Love the One You’re With. In this title we are introduced to Ellen, a recently married woman who has a chance encounter with an old but intense flame that makes her question the choices she has made to date.

Ellen is a semi successful photographer in NYC who is married to what most may think is the perfect man. Andy is a sweet, thoughtful and compassionate man of means, who is the brother of her best friend of Margot who she met in college. Ellen had always had a casual eye on him, but was in a relationship with a rather trite intense and brooding man by the name of Leo. Leo, however, was not as committed to their relationship as she first thought and she one day wakes up and realizes he has vanished seemingly forever. A little more then half a year later Andy FINALLY gets the guts to ask her out, hoping that a significant enough time has passed since her breakup that she might accept. She does (obviously) and a year or so later they are married.

Another year or so goes by and while making her way back home at the end of a busy workday, she sees Leo just casually walking across the street two years since their last meeting as if no time has gone by. The decide to meet up at a diner nearby and catch up, Ellen telling him about her still newlywed marriage and him telling her of his successful writing career. This meeting instantly brings feelings of anger, resentment and strangely, longing into her heart confusing her all over again about whether she made the right choice in not waiting longer and marrying Andy.

As are all Emily Giffin titles that I have read previously, this title is no less superb then it’s other siblings. Emily mixes all the emotion of love, loss and regret perfectly, keeping the reader guessing who will ultimately be chosen once and for all till the very last chapters. I highly recommend this title, whether you have read other books by this author or not is not necessary, as it is a stand alone story on its own. So, pick it up, snuggle into your ideal reading spot, whether it be with a coffee or a Cosmo and read on!

5 out of 5

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Ok so I again went to one of my favorite websites Bookshelf and took a look around for some interesting designs and found this little number. It’s name speaks for itself for obvious reasons and according to the website; “To design a SHELF was the focus here, a single line flowing through the shelf to make out an expression” was the point and I’d say the creator accomplished their goal and then some. If I had the cash this one would totally be housed in my living room!

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By Kate Jacobs

November 2008

Putnam Adult

ISBN-10: 039915583X

ISBN-13: 978-0399155833

Never has a book driven me to want to learn to knit yet again! I never quite understood even the simplest instructions and been able to come away with anything other then a knotted mess. Yet, I felt the pang again reading the sequel to The Friday Night Knit Club called Knit Two.

The ringleader of the group Georgia’s death which came at the end of the previous title is picked up five years later with everyone five years older, maybe a little wiser, but still leaning on each other for support.

Dakota is now eighteen and a freshman at NYU studying communications. The choice in major, however, is due to parental pressure from her dad James. What Dakota really wants to go to school for is baking. That little girl who at twelve was making goodies for club members now wants to be a professional. If only she could convince her father that this career would be a success for her.

Darwin just had twins! She prepared herself to the hilt with charts, graphs, research and tons of information. What she begins to realize though after taking them home from the hospital is that the books can only go so far. Will she ever find the mothers intuition within?

Lucy is now a famous video producer. Thanks to some rave reviews of the video she made about Georgia and the knitting club, she now gets regular jobs to do what she loves. Trouble is with a full schedule and now five year old daughters to be mindful of things are more then a little bit stressful. Add to that her mothers declining mental health like forgetting where she lives or leaving a faucet on and forgetting about it…

Let us not forget Anita, who has decided to take the plunge and marry Marty, the man she met in the first book. There is one event though in her past that haunts her so much, however, that she doesn’t feel it would be right to marry until it is resolved.

I enjoyed this book, it continued from the first rather seamlessly leaving no stone unturned. Kate has once again made us for in love all over with these NY knitters. Showing us that life is not so much how you live, but the company you keep.

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So, every once and a while I like to visit this site called very simply, Bookshelf. It is a blog dedicated to, you guessed it, bookshelves. Well, I don’t know about you but, I am not that big of a fashionista so looking at this site for me is like trying to pick out a great pair of Manolo’s for others. There are just so many cool styles, colors and features, how can one choose.

My current favorite is this one…..it’s called Fulguro.

I sometimes when I am very sleepy forget to mark my page or just don’t feel like it. Which is great in theory but, has me fishing for the right page the next day. This nifty lamp however helps solve that problem! Not only do I have a light to read by, but also a placeholder for my story! It is one those times for me where I said to myself, “why didn’t I think of that?”

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By Liz Tuccillo

Atria (June 2008)

ISBN-10: 1416534121

ISBN-13: 978-1416534129

How to Be Single is the first novel for Liz Tuccillo, who according to Amazon is the coauthor of He’s Just Not That into You, which as it turns out helped make this story poignant, heartbreaking and funny. HTBS follows the trials of five friends going through different relationship struggles trying to find happiness.

At first this story seems to parrot Sex an the City, but within the first few chapters and a scene involving one of them dancing on a bar while another trying to get them down, I knew I was going to like this story.

Julie is the main protagonist in this story, who has become very cynical about life and dating in general. Her job is in a rut and after the aforementioned bar scene decides she needs to get out and explore the world. She comes up with a plan and pitches an idea to her boss where she would travel the world and talk to women (and a few men) about dating in different parts of the world. Though not very excited her boss gives her the green light and she prepares to set off on her journey. Her best friends Georgia. Alice, Ruby and Serena have problems of their own.

Georgia having recently divorced her husband is having a VERY hard time with being single. She blames her ex completely as he cheated on her with a much younger woman, but the way she deals with it isn’t exactly sane and brings her at one point to realize maybe she had a part in her marriages downfall as well.

Serena is so sick of dating that she takes the most radical step of all five of the girls and swears off sex and dating in favor of something more spiritual and becomes a swami! The new path seems to work well at first, until she meets a sexy guy swami that is.

Ruby is in love with the idea of having a child. After a rather disappointing upbringing herself, she wants to make things right and be different and what’s better then the love child to make you forget about those bad dates. (crazy huh?) So she begins a rather tired regimen of fertility shots and vitamins.

Alice, sick of finding the losers in the dating pool decides she is just going to settle and tries to make things work with the guy she is with. She’s not in love with him exactly, but hopes that it will develop over time. He is a nice enough guy and is totally in love with her. What more can a girl ask for?

Will these five ladies forever be lost in sea of confusion we call dating? Being that the endings rather muddled I’d say so. Instead of breathing a sigh of relief or smiling as I closed the book when I was finished I was left confused. A good attempt my an accomplished individual, but it just doesn’t cut the mustard.

3 out of 5

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Hello all!

So sorry for the heinous lack of just about everything. I am taking the site through a major and massive revamp. It’s time for Love Reads to reach the next level! There is a major need for this site and 2009 is going to be the beginning of a new and awesome era.

So far, I have installed a new and completely rocking theme which makes things ten times better for me to make changes. I am also learning as much as I can about how to install a forum so that I can add that as well because I think it will help me not only provide more comprehensive content, but provide and easy way for all of us to chat not just about chick lit but some of the things you would like to see here.

I am expanding a bit in terms of what I cover as well by adding a teen category. Books likes those from the Gossip Girl and A-List are some of what you will see. Have a happy holiday, whichever ones you celebrate and happy reading!

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By Candice Bushnell

September 2008

Voice Publishing

ISBN-10: 1401301614

ISBN-13: 978-1401301613

Since the release of “Lipstick Jungle” we haven’t heard a proverbial peep out of Ms. Bushnell, at least not until now. Candace recently released “One Fifth Avenue” a story about a snazzy address and social climbers trying to keep their hard earned spot or dethrone another. At the beginning of the book there has been a terrible accident, one of One Fifth’s oldest and longest renters. Louise Houghton, has died from pneumonia. Ms. Houghton owned the biggest of all the apartments which had three floors of classy goodness including a ballroom, a study and a wood burning fireplace.

This sudden vacancy has the entire building buzzing. Some wanting to split up the three floors into three separate apartments, while others would like to interrogate possible renters as if it was the Spanish Inquisition. The head of the buildings housing association Mindy Gooch is the tenant wishing to lead that charge. Her endless rants and raves about the most trivial things are so tedious you wonder how her husband James deals with it all. She has even gone as far as to author a blog where she not so anonymously rants about all of the things bugging her. She is actually the one who ultimately decides who is going to live there, though later I believe it is a decision which she regrets many times over.

Paul and Analisa Rice are new money who has heard about the building through their friend Billy Litchfield. Billy knows the building because he is connected to many well off New York elite. Being that he himself is very poor it is not hard to understand why he surrounds himself with the very rich hoping that one day their good fortune rubs off on him. Analisa is the character who I can say I identified the most with because her personality is a lot like mine. She is fun, bubbly and easy to get along with; her husband however is horrible and thinks that all the money he makes in hedge funds gives him license to be a huge jerk.

This is a just a few of the varied cast of characters of one fifth. The book is told in Candace’s “insider on the outside” prospective and goes along at a pretty good pace that if you were to concentrate you could finish rather quickly. The only thing I wish is that there was at least one not all together evil character other then Analisa. Everyone in this book it seems has something to beg, borrow or steal off another. Each person looks out for themselves and does not care who they hurt in the process of getting what they feel is due to them. So, read at your own risk!

4 out of 5

Just finished watching a very funny Jeff Dunham Christmas special on USA cable channel Comedy Central and have decided to bring you up to date on some news. Many of you may have heard some rumblings about the fate of Lipstick Jungle. Thursday thanks to Trashionista it was reported via some findings on another page that Lipstick Jungle was getting the ax because of very poor ratings and would finish out the remaining episodes of their thirteen episodes that were slated to be broadcast. Yesterday though while checking my email I saw on yahoo an article via their entertainment portal that this news is just rumor! According to Huffington Post the remaining four of the thirteen that were contractually ordered will air and the network will continue to watch to see if their moving the show from Wednesday to Friday was a good idea after all.

Lipstick Jungle obviously though is going through hard times and we all really need to be there for them. So, here are some things you can do if you, like me, want to see the show continue.

1) Write a letter! Whether it is to NBC themselves or the talent agencies that represent its stars it’s a tried and true way to get your opinion heard.

2) Email! A bit more tech friendly then writing a letter, but if you’re crunched for time it is still an effective way to have your opinion heard. Make sure the subject line is direct even something as direct as Keep Lipstick Jungle on the Air! is affective. Plus you don’t want who ever is in charge of reading the emails to think yours is a virus laden cocktail of computer death.

3) Create and online petition! There are some services that provide you with the means to create one () but if your not that tech friendly I plan to create one! Just keep your eyes peeled I am going to do some research to see the best way to do this and as soon as I do.

4) Join Love Reads FREE RSS or email feeds! These are ideas that I have come up with in the last couple days. I hope as time goes on and more research is done I will have some other waves of genius to contribute. If you want to be the first to know joining either or both would make the feat rather attainable.

If you have any ideas yourself do not hesitate to comment. Be aware that I have become quite a comment commando thanks to spammers and make sure it obvious you are trying to contribute rather then annoy. I may be tiny but I have a tendency to get rather cranky when ticked off!

<3

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Just wanted to let those of you who were curious know that I went to my orthopedic doctor about my bum knees as I now refer to them and they are healed!! Huzzah and thank the lord for that one! I have been given the all clear to start physical therapy and occupational therapy on my legs so that pretty soon it will be back to my place!

I added more ways for you all to be able to interact with me and my blog including Tweet This! which allows you to be able to reccomend my posts to your twitter followers by simply clicking the icon to the right of it. (big blue bird you can’t really miss it ) Also added a contact form and will be adding a poll sometime tomorrow. Stay tuned I will be posting a review of One Fifth Avenue in a few days. Make sure to sign up for my free RSS or email feed so you can stay up to date! Plus, contest is still running so comment comment comment!

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