Book Club Friday: Faking It

You know why Twitter’s cool? Well, there’s a few reasons. Okay, more than a few, but for the purpose of this post, let’s focus on one of the big ones: Connections.

During the #ChickLitChat last week, where people talk about…well...Chick Lit, I “met” an author named Elisa Lorello. We chatted away about our Chick Lit pet peeves, and then bonded over our mutual love of glitter. I checked out her webpage and saw that she had written a few novels. Since I’m always on the lookout for new authors, and thought she was cool from our limited Twitter exchange, I checked out her books on Amazon, read the description of FAKING IT, and decided to invest three bucks to see what it was all about.

Spoiler Alert: I underpaid.

FAKING IT appears, at first glance, to be an a-typical Women’s Fiction novel. The heroine, Andi Cutrone, is a mid-thirties English professor who decides to hire an escort named Devin to teach her to be a better lover in exchange for writing lessons. Sounds like something that rhymes with Blipty Trades of Shey, right?

Wrong.

It’s not even almost the same thing.

  

I started reading FAKING IT at 7:30am on a Saturday and finished by 9:30am (I read quickly). In fact, my tea went cold and I forgot to eat breakfast. Yes, it was so good that I forgot I was hungry and let’s just say that it takes a lot for me to forget I’m hungry. Mostly because I always am.

In those two hours, I laughed, cried a bit, and felt my little Grinch-y heart swell on more than one occasion. Andi was a lovable, vulnerable character who also had guts, a solid backbone, and a fantastic sense of humour while her counterpart, Devin, was pretty much one of the best male characters ever.

The best way I can describe FAKING IT is to compare it to the beloved nursery story of "Goldilocks and the Three Bears." You see, I love Women’s Fiction. Heck, I write it myself! As such, I’m constantly devouring titles in order to better my craft—hoping to get swept away on a woman’s journey of self-discovery and acceptance. Often, though, the fit isn’t quite right.

Jodi Picoult and Kristin Hannah's novels are full of tales where frequently blue heroines discover something major that changes their lives. Often times, though, I don't totally relate them. Also, I don’t really like to sob my face off cry. These books are too sad for me to read all of the time.

Meg Cabot and Sophie Kinsella's books are hilarious, bursting with witty and smart dialogue but sometimes, the stakes aren’t high enough and I’m left wanting more. These books don’t always hold me hostage, making me forget that I have things to do—forcing me to read them in one sitting.

Elisa Lorello, though, created a perfect mix of plot, sympathetic characters with real issues, enough f-bombs to make me smile, and a touching and very believable relationship between two lost people who are trying to get their shit together. I say "people" because within a few chapters, they became real to me and I watched them with fascination like a non-creepy voyeur as they guided each other towards fresh perspectives. Yes, this book was juuuuuust right.

I’m not going to go into great detail on how the story develops in unexpected ways because…well…that would be mean. I will, however, say that FAKING IT is totally worth the meager three dollars. And the best part is that there's a sequel AND two other books! YAY! 

So, guys and gals, you really need to go and buy it.

BUY IT RIGHT NOW!

And another super-cool thing about Ms. Lorello is that if you choose to have one of her books for your book club, she’ll join you in a Skype chat-session! For reals! How freaking awesome is that?

But seriously. Buy FAKING IT. You won’t regret it.

Have a great weekend, everyone!


Thanks to Heather and Katie for hosting!