Book Review: Eligible by Curtis Sittenfield

Title: Eligible, Curtis Sittenfield

Length: 512 pages

Publisher: Random House

Publication Date: April 19^, 2016

Rating: 4/5 stars

Countless retellings of Jane Austen’s classic, Pride and Prejudice have been published, made into movies or miniseries specials, but none are so fun and smart as Curtis Sittenfield’s, Eligible, which offers a modern day take on Austen’s original rom-com. Liz Bennet is a brash, quick witted woman living in New York working as a writer for popular women’s magazine, along with her sister Jane, who is a yoga instructor, both rapidly approaching forty and still single (much to their mother’s chagrin).  

When their father’s ailing health brings both eldest Bennet sisters back to their childhood home of Cincinnati, they arrive to find their home in disrepair, the family’s finances askew and the younger Bennet sisters unemployed and ignorant to their family issues. Kitty and Lydia are too preoccupied with their social lives consisting of cross fit, manicures and paleo dieting to help their parents and Mary is a professional student, completing multiple degrees, and her only social activity consisting of mysterious Tuesday night outings, where she goes she won’t say.

Chip Bingley is fresh off a season of a popular TV Reality dating series, Eligible, where he infamously refused to propose to either woman at the end of the show, and has relocated from Los Angeles to the mid-west for a position as an ER Doctor in a Cincinnati Hospital. Accompanied by his friend, Fitzwilliam Darcy, a proud and aloof neurosurgeon, he encounters the Bennett family at a Fourth of July barbeque hosted by their co-worker, Dr. Lucas – I’m sure you’re seeing where this goes…

Memoir Monday: Fast Girl by Suzy Favor Hamilton

Fast Girl by Suzy Favor Hamilton

This week's memoir is Fast Girl by Suzy Favor Hamilton. Those familiar with USTF will remember Suzy Hamilton as one of America's middle distance track athletes and participant in multiple Olympic games. What many may not know is that following her retirement from running, Suzy became the second most sought after female escort in Las Vegas. To me, this was mind boggling - I mean, how does an Olympic athlete go from living a very public life as a professional athlete to working as a high end call girl in Las Vegas? And why?!

Friday Reads & A Goody for you

Happy Friday!

Congratulations, you've made it through another week and it's time for the weekend!

A couple of highlights from this week:

I changed up the look on the blog! Crazy, I'm still working on the graphics and tweaking a few things, but so far so good.

Barnes and Noble played #90sabook on Twitter and it was hilarious. Some of my faves were "Harry Potter and the Virgin Who Can't Drive," "Clarrisa Explains It All The Light We Cannot See," "Back to Goodnight Moon" and "The Pager of Dorian Gray." There were a lot of good ones, so check it out on twitter if you need a laugh.

Five Romances that Will make you Cry (and I love them all)

If you're anything like me, you love a good romance novel every once in a while (or all the time). While I definitely prefer my characters to all end up happily coupled off and living blissfully ever after, that is not always realistic or the best way to end a story. Sometimes the best stories have the saddest endings or not the ending you wanted for the characters. Below are five of my favorite romance novels that are beautiful love stories even though they didn't end up the way I wanted them to. Curl up, grab your tissues and maybe warn anyone in the house that it is very likely you're going to ugly cry - and it's best they leave you alone. Or lock the door so no one can take incriminating photos. Because I probably would.