A Book for your Beach Bag

Hey everyone! It is hard to believe it is hump day already. May is rapidly coming to an end. Memorial Day, the official kick off to summer is next week.

One of my favorite things to do on summer vacation is to take books to read on the beach. I think it is so relaxing to be under an umbrella with a good book.

One book I've recently had the chance to read is "the bright side of disaster" by Katherine Center. I was sent an advanced copy of the book by being one of the lucky folks who was first to respond to an offer on the webside formerly known as sk*rt (now know as kirtsy, check out the button on the right).

This book is an interesting read. To be honest, it is the type of book I would have read if a friend loaned me, but I don't know if I would have picked it out if I saw it in the book store. That isn't a negative towards the book, this book is just different from the type of books I normally pick out.

Book Synopsis

This book is the story of Jenny Harris whose live in boyfriend, Dean skips out on her when he gets cold feet about marrying her and becoming a father to their unborn child. One night he goes out for cigarettes and doesn't come back. The very next day Jenny goes into labor and gives birth to their child (won't tell you the sex of the baby, I'll let you find out).

The story unfolds with Jenny finding herself as a single mother. She joins a mommies group, gets support from her family, and learns how to do everything by herself. She becomes friends with a handsome neighbor who is handy and great with the baby. A blossoming romance starts. Just when things start to heat up with the hunky neighbor, her old ball and chain Dean shows up. The story takes a turn and leaves you guessing who she will choose - hunky neighbor or dead beat Dean?

This book was a fun, easy read. I will definitley lend it to friends. I enjoyed the different personality dynamics of the various characters and to see Jenny's character develop over her first year of motherhood. The one criticism I have is that Jenny's friend Meredith is in a good portion of the beginning of the book and then drops off the face of the earth to appear at the end. I would like to have seen that character's transition in the story a little better, but it isn't an earth shattering event that ruins the book. I still would recommend this as a summer read.

I hope to have some other book and magazine reviews in the upcoming weeks. If any of you have any great books that you'd like to review, I'd love to have you as a guest reviewer here on the Chic Crafty Chic blog. I'm all about finding great summer reads. Please email me if you are interested.