Belong to Me: A Novel

By Marisa de los Santos

Having enjoyed Marisa de los Santos’ last novel Love Walked In, I was truly looking forward to Belong to Me. Ms. de los Santos’ books are just a pleasure to read, with her beautiful writing style, true to life characters and unpredictable plot twists. Her work definitely rises above most of the mediocre chick lit published these days and surprisingly, her second book exceeded my admittedly high expectations.
Readers familiar with the characters of Love Walked In will be happy to revisit Cornelia, Teo and Clare, (but you don’t need to have read the previous book to appreciate this one.) Belong to Me begins with tiny, quirky Cornelia recently transplanted from city life and adjusting to the world of suburbia. She and her amazingly attractive husband Teo are also trying to conceive their first child after a recent miscarriage.
Cornelia finds her polar opposite when she meets her neighbor Piper, a beautiful blonde housewife obsessed with her gorgeous home and perfect children. Cornelia finds Piper judgemental, shallow and self centered, but has better luck finding friendship with a local waitress named Lake, who recently moved to town with her teenage son Dev.
As these characters interact, Marisa de los Santos slowly reveals their pasts and personalities, somehow making each person likeable and sympathetic by the end of the book, which is no easy feat. We watch Piper endure the death of her best friend and the end of her idyllic marriage. We see Lake struggle with single parenthood and the shocking secret she’s hidden for years, while her son adjusts to a new school and falls in love for the first time.
My only minor criticism of this great book concerns Teo. He is just too perfect – he has the perfect job (doctor, of course!), a down to earth and extremely likeable personality, he is not just handsome but amazing looking. My initial reaction was that this guy is completely unbelievable. Men like this simply do not exist. But then I reconsidered. Who is to say someone like Teo doesn’t exist? And what’s so terrible about wanting to believe that men like Teo are possible? Don’t we all want to believe in fairy tales just a little bit?
Regardless of Teo, Belong to Me is a wonderful story about soul mates, about finding a love so powerful that it changes you forever and keeping that love alive no matter what life throws your way. A love story beautifully written by a talented writer. I’m already looking forward to Marisa de los Santos’ next book!

Turning Tables: A Novel

by Heather and Rose MacDowell

In this “chick lit meets haute cuisine” novel, twenty-eight year old Erin Edwards stumbles into waitressing while waiting for her dream job in marketing. Although Erin has spent some time eating in restaurants, she’s never worked in one, especially a place like Roulette, one of the best (and most expensive) eateries in Manhattan, complete with one ambitious celebrity chef and two miserable managers. Erin endures all sorts of embarrassment and humiliation at her new job while the kitchen workers place bets that she won’t last a week. Luckily, an experienced co-worker takes pity on Erin and shows her the ropes of food service. Although she eventually gets the hang of it, she has a hard time adjusting to this high stress environment where rich customers are allowed to treat you like a slave for a (usually) measly tip.
As a former waitress, I was really looking forward to this book, which Publishers Weekly called “whip smart” in a starred review. I also sympathized with Erin’s situation because I too stumbled into waitressing with zero previous experience. (Of course, I learned the ropes at a low end, diner type place named the Char Pit where our best seller was the $9.99 prime rib special instead of a hip, expensive restaurant like Roulette.) While I enjoyed most of the MacDowell’s story, especially the staff camaraderie and Erin’s romance with a cute customer, some efforts to be humorous felt slightly forced to me. So while I can’t give this novel a rave review, it was a good, authentic look at restaurants and waiters and for the most part, a fun book to read.

Beauty Confidential: The No Preaching, No Lies, Advice-You’ll-Actually-Use Guide to Looking Your Best

By Nadine Haobsh

I’ve always been what I call “beauty product challenged.” My skin is ultra sensitive and I never know what cosmetics are good for me or how to apply them correctly. Usually I end up either looking like a clown or like I have no makeup on at all. So, this book sounded perfect for me. Haobsh is a beauty expert and answers all your questions about must have products, and also offers insider tips to clueless women like myself, on everything from finding the ideal mascara to creating the perfect ponytail.

Products recommended by Nadine include many tried and true, timeless favorites, and she usually includes different price ranges so even if you can’t spend a fortune, you can try some of her suggestions without blowing your bank account.

Some of Nadine’s favorites include:
NARS blush in Orgasm
Terax Original Crema
Essie Mademoiselle nail polish
Kiehl’s Lip Balm #1
Lancome Definicils mascara
Clinique Black Honey lip gloss
NARS eye shadow in Nepal or Bobbi Brown in Bone

She also advises splurging on eye shadow, concealer, and conditioner, and saving on fragrance, cleanser, nail polish (Rimmel, Sally Hansen, Revlon), and moisturizer (Olay Regenerist). She lists the best conditioners (like Aussie 3 Minute Miracle Deeep) and many other recommended, easily procured drugstore products, including L’Oreal True Match Super Blendable Concealer, L’Oreal Voluminous Mascara, Clean and Clear Persegel, Olay Total Effects Anti Wrinkle/Anti Blemish, and Burt’s Bees Beeswax Lip Balm.

One small suggestion for improvement would be a few color photos to better illustrate the author's instructions on make-up application and a few other tips. For the most part, this is an great little book that's packed with interesting information. If you ever feel overwhelmed by all your choices in beauty products or wish you had your own personal beauty consultant, this book is for you.

Certain Girls: A Novel

by Jennifer Weiner

Although I liked In Her Shoes, I've never been a huge Jennifer Weiner fan. Her latest book is a sequel to an earlier novel, Good in Bed. The narration alternates between Cannie Shapiro, a pleasantly plump, happily married writer in her early 40s and Cannie's daughter, Joy, a thirteen year old girl about to celebrate her bat mitzvah.
While the inside flap assures me that readers "fell in love with Cannie Shapiro", in this sequel, it's difficult to see why. Cannie has turned into the most overbearing mother on the planet. You almost feel sorry for poor Joy, but she is equally unlikeable and portrayed as a self absorbed, hateful, spoiled teenager. The main premise is that just as Joy turns into a teenager, she discovers a novel that her mother wrote years ago and assumes that this work of fiction is true, when in reality, the truth has been greatly embellished. However, instead of asking Cannie about her past, Joy prefers to quietly store up all her resentment and treat her mother like dirt for most of the book. Joy is also dealing with typical teen issues like boys and popularity while Cannie's problems include her writing career, parenting her ungrateful daughter and possibly having another child with perfect husband Peter.
I suppose I would have liked this book more if one character felt real or likeable to me. In my mind, I couldn't stop imagining Cannie as a heavier version of horrible housewife Ramona from Bravo's Real Housewives of NYC. It also felt like nothing really happened for most of this book, which weighs in at just under 400 pages, many of which were spent catching readers up on the plot of Good In Bed. This novel has many fans and some good reviews, but to me it was pretty disappointing.