Chick-Lit

Version: Paperback (369 pages)

Series: Me Before You #1

Source: Purchased

Genre: Romance • Contemporary • Woman’s Fiction

Book Synopsis:

Lou Clark knows lots of things. She knows how many footsteps there are between the bus stop and home. She knows she likes working in The Buttered Bun tea shop and she knows she might not love her boyfriend Patrick.

What Lou doesn’t know is she’s about to lose her job or that knowing what’s coming is what keeps her sane.

Will Traynor knows his motorcycle accident took away his desire to live. He knows everything feels very small and rather joyless now and he knows exactly how he’s going to put a stop to that.

What Will doesn’t know is that Lou is about to burst into his world in a riot of colour. And neither of them knows they’re going to change the other for all time.

Continue reading “Book Review: Me Before You by Jojo Moyes” →

Author: Lisa Beazley

Hardcover: 320 pages

Publisher: NAL (April 5, 2016)

Language: English

ISBN-10: 1101989866

ISBN-13: 978-1101989869

Amazon // Goodreads

Read an excerpt

Book Synopsis

Two sisters share the surprising highs and cringe-worthy lows of social media fame, when their most private thoughts become incredibly public in this fresh and funny debut novel.

Sisters Cassie and Sid Sunday have not done a bang-up job of keeping in touch. In their defense, it hasn’t been easy: life veered in sharply different directions for the once-close sisters. Today, beautiful and big-hearted Sid lives an expat’s life of leisure in far-off Singapore, while harried, iPhone-clutching Cassie can’t seem to make it work as a wife and a mom to twin toddlers in Manhattan.

It doesn’t help that Sid spurns all social media while Cassie is addicted to Facebook. So when Sid issues a challenge to reconnect the old-fashioned way—through real, handwritten letters—Cassie figures, why not?

The experiment exceeds both of their expectations, and the letters become a kind of mutual confessional that have real and soul-satisfying effects. And they just might have the power to help Cassie save her marriage, and give Sid the strength to get her life back on track.

But first, one of Cassie’s infamous lapses in judgment comes back to bite her, and all of the letters wind up the one place you’d never, ever want to see them: the Internet…

My Thoughts…

This book was not at all what I expected, but I was pleasantly surprised. When I first read the synopsis for Keep Me Posted, I thought this book was going to focus more on the relationship between the sisters, but I would say this book focuses more on motherhood.

If I had to describe Keep Me Posted in one word, it would be RELATABLE. Lisa Beazley hit the nail on the head with the main character, Cassie. It was so easy to identify and sympathize with the common issues she was going through as a new mom and a stay-at-home mother. I myself have struggled with many of these issues, and am sure many others have as well. I’ll let you in on a little secret, most of us moms don’t have a clue what we are doing. None of us have all the answers. Most of us are in survival mode in the trenches of motherhood. Beazley captured the essence of what it is like to be a mom. Being a mother is not all sunshine and rainbows, but it’s worth the craziness.

I loved how social media was addressed in Keep Me Posted. When Cassie transitioned from a career woman, to a stay-at-home mother, it was as if she lost touch with the world except through social media. It was if social media was her only connection to the outside world. At the start of the book, Cassie is addicted to social media, but by the end of the book, Cassie learns what is really important in life, and that it can’t be found on Facebook. The sad truth is that social media HAS become an addiction for some people. People today are so wrapped up in their online worlds, that they are too busy to live in the real world. People create these perfect digital worlds that depict unrealistic lives. More often than not, it’s a ruse. No one’s life is perfect, and it isn’t meant to be. Life is meant to be REAL. Keep Me Posted was exactly that, REAL.

I enjoyed Beazley’s wit and humor throughout the book. I found myself laughing out loud on a few occasions. Bravo to Beazley for her brilliant sense of humor, particularly the “mom humor.” See the noteworthy quotes section below to see some of my favorite laugh out loud moments.

I did have a few issues with the book, but they didn’t take away from my overall enjoyment of the story. The writing was decent, especially for a debut novel, but it didn’t blow me away by any means. A few times, especially in the beginning, I felt like Beazley was throwing in big complicated words that didn’t really fit. Almost as if she was trying to jazz things up. This lessened as the book went on. There were a few parts of the book that I feel should have been omited, or developed further. Too many loose ends. Also, I think this book could have been a great dual perspective book. I wanted to know more about Sid and her experiences. I think this would only have enhanced the theme of the bond between sisters.

Bottom Line: If you enjoy light hearted chick-lit with “mom humor,” give Keep Me Posted a try.

Stay-at-home moms unit! This is our anthem. This book is for all of you who wear workout clothes every day, feel like they are screwing up their children, who have forgotten how to interact with other adults, who have had a child lose their shit in public, who have felt judged by their fellow moms, who count down the minutes until bedtime, and to those who crack open that bottle of wine the second their children are asleep.

Cheers to you!

Noteworthy Quotes:

“The kids were still happily playing Play-Doh (a magical substance, as far as I’m concerned. I’ve often wondered if it contains a mild sedative, based on the uncharacteristically calm and content behavior my boys exhibit under its spell).”

“Quinn had a stage-five meltdown on the front stoop because I again refused to patronize the Mister Softee ice cream truck that followed us home from the park like a f*ing stalker. (I’m sorry, but that Mister Softee driver has caused more family strife than a Vegas bachelor party)”

My Rating: 3.75/5 Stars

*Thank you to NetGalley, Text Publishing, and Lisa Beazley for my digital copy in exchange for an honest review.

About the Author

Lisa traded her corporate communications career for fiction writing when she moved from New York to Singapore with her husband and children. Born and raised in Toledo, Ohio, Lisa has a journalism degree from Ohio University and has lived and worked in Cleveland, Honolulu, and New York City. When she’s not reading or writing, Lisa is sharpening her toad-catching, Lego-building, and deep-breathing skills as the mother of three young boys. Keep Me Posted is her first novel.

Website // Facebook // Twitter // lisabeazleykling@gmail.com