Rebel ReviewsRebel Reviews -http://www.rebelhousewife.com/rebel-reviews/2008-09-02T19:25:13ZSquarespaceBOOKS: Mrs. Perfect by Jane PorterFictionhttp://www.rebelhousewife.com/rebel-reviews/2008/8/29/books-mrs-perfect-by-jane-porter.htmlSherri Caldwell2008-08-29T15:02:59Z2008-08-29T15:02:59Z"An Interesting Journey..."

MRS. PERFECT
by Jane Porter
(5 Spot/Hachette, 2008)


Trade Paperback, 420 pages, $13.99 U.S.

I will admit it was a shock to eagerly dive into the sequel to the fabulous ODD MOM OUT, only to find ourselves inside perfectly-perfect Taylor Young's pretty (empty) head; but, of course, she would be MRS. PERFECT and this one is from her perspective.

It does start empty, with fleeting, superficial and cringe-inducing meanderings on Taylor's perfect life (again, from her perspective): PTA, entertaining, weight issues, beauty regimen, shopping, managing a very large home, judgements and criticism of other women and, ultimately, in spite of it all, self-pity:

"And the problem -- if there is a problem, and I even hesitate to call it a problem -- is that this life, my life, looks good from the outside, but it's not so fun on the inside. On the inside, it's intense. On the inside, it's endless stress." (page 96)
[Poor Taylor, right?!]

Fortunately, it gets better. Something is wrong with Taylor's husband. He's acting all weird and then he abruptly decides to move the family from upscale Bellevue, Washington to Omaha, Nebraska. He goes ahead, leaving Taylor to finish out the school year with the kids. Taylor begins to realize the extent of their trouble when her credit card is declined while she is at lunch with a friend. (Turns out, her husband was fired from his executive job and has been out of work for months.)

Poor Taylor's situation goes from bad to worse, as her husband abandons her, the collection notices start rolling in and she has no money. We could almost cheer for Taylor as she begins the transformation from rich housewife to resourceful woman and mother who must figure out some way to survive and take care of her children: Taylor has a garage sale.

Next, Taylor gets a job -- a job as a go-to girl/office manager in advertising, employed by her once and not-quite-former PTA nemesis, ODD MOM OUT Marta Zinsser.

MRS. PERFECT turns out to be an in interesting journey, with Taylor's growth through challenge. She works to support herself and her daughters; she figures out a new lifestyle on her own; she moves from a very large, beautiful mansion to a dingy rental house and makes it a home. She triumphs and finds new depths of character as she re-settles her children, focusing on what they still have, rather than what they've lost and making the best of it.

While it was more fun inside ODD MOM OUT’s narrative with Marta, Jane Porter does a masterful job of portraying similar lives from two very different perspectives, making both books a must-read experience for women who can relate to the PTA lifestyle.

]]>BOOKS: Odd Mom Out by Jane PorterFictionLOVED IThttp://www.rebelhousewife.com/rebel-reviews/2008/8/25/books-odd-mom-out-by-jane-porter.htmlSherri Caldwell2008-08-25T14:00:33Z2008-08-25T14:00:33Z"LOVED this book..."


ODD MOM OUT
by Jane Porter
(5 Spot/Hachette, 2007)


Softcover, 410 pgs, $13.99 U.S.

I LOVED this book -- one of my best summer reads and perfect for Mom's New (School) Year.

Jane Porter writes pitch-perfect chick lit for the thirty- and forty-somethings, with just a hint of her bestselling Harlequin Romance writing experience peeking through in the sex and larger-than-life (ahem) physical descriptions of male characters; easily forgiven with her humor and brutally accurate portrayal of PTA social circles.

It is easy to identify with Marta Zinsser, the 36-year-old Odd Mom Out of the wealthy suburban Mommy social set in Bellevue, Washington (the land of the Microsoft elite and a bedroom community to Seattle). Marta is a fiercely independent woman, the head of her own advertising company, a happily single mother raising her 10-year-old daughter, Eva. Marta conceived her daughter with a sperm donor, which is an unusual twist to the story, but verification that this lady is truly independent, with NO interest in complicating her life with a man. Enter, of course, the incomparable Luke Flynn shortly into the story and that Harlequin description:

"He's so...so...everything...He has the coloring of great Scottish warlords, his short, thick hair shades of red and gold, and his features are strong, male, as though whittled by the wind and weather and war. He reminds me of a time long ago, of battles and warriors, peasants and kings...Makes me almost wish I believed in love." (page 158 -159)

Although Marta grew up in Seattle, she had escaped early to build her life and advertising career in Manhattan. Reluctantly, Marta has abandoned her glamorous life in New York to return home to be near and support her aging parents. She finds herself outside of a social situation she never wanted to be part of in the first place:

"...the perfect tawny-haired bronzed mommies.
The kind who wear Prada loafers and 7 for All Mankind jeans.
The kind who have three-plus-carat rocks on their fingers.
The kind who wear size two clothes and call themselves fat..."
(page 51)

But Eva, her 4th grade daughter, desperately wants to fit in, to be popular, and she wants her mother to be 'normal' like the other moms, especially like perfectly-perfect Taylor Young, who quickly becomes Marta's PTA nemesis.

ODD MOM OUT is Marta's first year back in Bellevue: building her company, caring for her parents, stabilizing life for herself and her daughter, navigating the social scene and the intricacies of the PTA structure; above all, setting her own course to happily ever after, which may or may not include Prince Charming.

]]>BOOKS: TWILIGHT by Stephenie MeyerFictionLOVED IThttp://www.rebelhousewife.com/rebel-reviews/2008/7/28/books-twilight-by-stephenie-meyer.htmlSherri Caldwell2008-07-28T19:22:57Z2008-07-28T19:22:57ZTWILIGHT (The Twilight Saga, Book 1) by Stephenie Meyer -- yes, the first book in the bestselling teenage vampire romance saga, which was all the rage at the Middle School Book Fair back in January (where I picked it up, to see what all the fuss was about). Once I started it, I couldn't put it down. 498 pages later, actually 527 pages with the teaser chapter to the second book in the series, I couldn't get to the bookstore fast enough Saturday morning to buy NEW MOON (The Twilight Saga, Book 2) -- What happens to Bella?!

I am about 50 pages from the end on this one, so don't bother calling this afternoon (when I should be cleaning up and getting ready for our 20th Anniversary/long weekend getaway)...I just ordered the third book, ECLIPSE, with the pre-order for the fourth and final book in the series, BREAKING DAWN, which is coming out this weekend -- to a Harry Potter-like reception, with Midnight book parties all over the country and all kinds of fanfare. I had no idea.

Not only was my timing perfect for the next book frenzy -- forcing me to break my long-standing policy of waiting for the paperback version (when I buy books at all, since I have a healthy TBR (To Be Reviewed) Pile from our publishing friends) -- Twilight THE MOVIE is coming out, too, in December (check out the movie trailers!).

If you haven't heard about Bella and Edward and Jacob and the vampires and werewolves running amok in the tiny town of Forks, Washington (I've been there!)...you will.

The really sick part of the whole thing (and you could take 'sick' either way, as a teen (good) or as a fortysomething author (enough to make you ill)) is Stephenie Meyer's biography on www.StephenieMeyer.com: the young, first-time author of an oops novel that mostly came to her in a dream and during her children's swimming lessons, published in 2005, to J.K. Rowling-esque success and fame as a worldwide phenomenon, in three short years...ugh, I need to go finish NEW MOON and lay down for the rest of the afternoon to re-think my writer-ly ambitions and cry just a little...

Love her (mostly) or hate her (just a little, jealous shrew that I am), Stephenie Meyer's books are captivating, even for old people:



]]>BOOKS: FIREFLY LANE by Kristin HannahFictionhttp://www.rebelhousewife.com/rebel-reviews/2008/7/22/books-firefly-lane-by-kristin-hannah.htmlSherri Caldwell2008-07-22T14:48:01Z2008-07-22T14:48:01Z"A satisfying journey..."


FIREFLY LANE
by Kristin Hannah
(St. Martin's Press, 2008)


Hardcover, 480 pgs, $23.95 U.S.

As summer beach reads go, FIREFLY LANE is kind of daunting from the get-go, at 480 pages. About two inches thick, I don't know how much it weighs, but it's certainly not your typical beach bag book, at least in hard-cover. Don't let that stop you, as this is a wonderful coming-of-age novel to which many of us thirty- and forty-somethings will relate with nostalgia, especially if you are from the Seattle/Pacific Northwest area (like me!).

FIREFLY LANE is about friendship: "Guys would come and go; girlfriends were forever."
(page 120). Kate and Tallulah (Tully) find each other in the awkward, lonely summer between 8th grade and high school. When Tully and her wayward mother land across the street from Kate's tight-knit, Cleaver-ish family, the two girls are drawn to each other, as opposites attract, and quickly become BFF.

The story follows their lives and friendship for the next 30 years, from 1974 through high school, college, the early career and dating years, marriage, children and beyond. While they begin power careers together in TV news and broadcast journalism out of college (University of Washington, of course), Kate ultimately falls in love, settles down with her Prince and becomes a stay-at-home Mom on Bainbridge Island, Washington (shout out to the Spartans!), leaving Tully to blaze trails and achieve stunning Oprah-like success in New York, and when she triumphantly returns to Seattle.

Kate and Tully's disparate paths lead to a deft examination of women's choices and the road not taken, with Tully's inevitable bittersweet realization of the sacrifices of the ultra-successful career woman, highlighted by her best friend's quieter success and apparent contentment as a stay-at-home mom. However, as we all know, it's not that simple for the wife and mother, either, as we see Kate's inner turmoil over the day-to-day monotony and challenges of life at home, in comparison to the glamour of Tully's fabulous life.

In a Forrest Gump-ish journey through the 70s, 80s and 90s, author Kristin Hannah masterfully interweaves the social milieu of three decades in her characters' lives, down to the music (ABBA, Carole King, Elton John and Kenny G), the fashions (shoulder pads, stirrup pants, big hair and scrunchies) and the emergence of new cultural touchstones, including Starbucks, Microsoft, the Internet and iPods.

All in all, even with a surprise ending we don't see coming until page 439 (uh oh), FIREFLY LANE is a satisfying journey, well worth hefting the book around for a week or two!

]]>B List -- Books I LikeB List Bookshttp://www.rebelhousewife.com/rebel-reviews/2008/6/26/b-list-books-i-like.htmlSherri Caldwell2008-06-26T17:08:07Z2008-06-26T17:08:07ZRebel Reviews, to keep karmic energy all positive and happy -- and why read something you don't like?! If I can't get through the first 100 pages, I will move on quickly, and you, Rebel Readers, will most likely never hear about it from me.

Notably, in more than four years of Rebel Reviews, there has been one exception to this policy: BOOKS: Oprah & A MILLION LITTLE PIECES, but I was an early harbinger on that one, before the big made-up-memoir scandal broke. It was a terribly icky book, regardless of fact or subsequently revealed fiction, and I said so.

I am fortunate to receive many, many books for advance and review consideration from several large publishers, individual authors and PR/Marketing/Book Promo contacts, and I am so grateful for them. I love the opportunity to read, feature, share and promo great books and authors. That's what Rebel Reviews is all about.

In many cases, I have the opportunity to accept or reject a proposed title, which helps keep my TBR* pile manage-able. (*To Be Read) Even with preview and prior approval/enthusiasm for a title, it sometimes happens that I don't connect well with the book and I can't review it as highly-recommended. I am still not going to publish negative reviews or read-to-the-end books that don't fully engage me, but I do feel an obligation to the publishers, authors and people who send books for Rebel Review consideration, and, Lord knows, just because I don't LOVE a certain book, doesn't mean other people might not respond very differently.

Having said all that, you might occasionally see a Rebel Review that is something less than love, Love, LOVE, beginning this week, with five reviews from The B List -- Books I read, books I liked, Honorable Mentions of books you might, indeed, love, Love, LOVE...

The B List -- Books I Like Format:
What it's about:
What I liked:
Why I didn't LOVE it:
You might like this book, if you liked:

The Rebel Housewife B List (June 2008):
The Wentworths: A Novel by Katie Arnoldi
Loose Girl: A Memoir of Promiscuity by Kerry Cohen
The Rest of Her Life by Laura Moriarty
Simon Says: A True Story of Boys, Guns, and Murder by Kathryn Eastburn

]]>BOOKS: Simon Says - A True Story...Non-fictionB List Bookshttp://www.rebelhousewife.com/rebel-reviews/2008/6/26/books-simon-says-a-true-story.htmlSherri Caldwell2008-06-26T16:25:07Z2008-06-26T16:25:07ZThe B List -- Books I Like



Simon Says: A True Story of Boys, Guns, and Murder
by Kathryn Eastburn
(Da Capo Press, 2007)


Hardcover, 294 pgs, $25.00 U.S.

What it's about: "On a frigid New Year's Eve 2000, just twenty months after the Columbine massacre, fifteen-year-old Tony Dutcher and his grandparents were brutally murdered at their mountain hideaway outside of Colorado Springs. All roads seemed to lead to one young man, Isaac Grimes, a schoolmate of Tony's. But as investigators scrambled for answers, they began to uncover a plot more sinister than any parent could imagine -- a plan that involved automatic weapons, careful cover-ups, and a surprising naivete that belied the gruesome murders..."

What I liked: I really, really liked this book. In spite of the horrifying subject, chilling for any parent, especially the parent of a teenager, I could not put it down. This is True Crime at its objective, journalistic, yes, sensationalistic best. Horrifying, yet gripping. Kathryn Eastburn did a masterful job with this story; meticulous in detail and interviews with all involved: the boys, family, friends, detectives, investigators, lawyers. She conveyed the hearts and minds of everyone involved, before, during and after the brutal slaughter. She leaves a lasting impression on scale with Truman Capote, Dominick Dunne and John Grisham (The Innocent Man).

Why I didn't LOVE it: I couldn't, with my usual full high-energy and enthusiasm, love, Love, LOVE this book. It was awful, nightmare-inducing, at the very thought, much less the full-schematic, step-by-step autopsy, of average kids turned into inhuman killers through peer pressure, manipulation and mind control -- and the charismatic sociopath who orchestrated it all was just a teenager, himself. It took me a long time to write this review, from the notes I took as I read it, and I could only put it on The B List -- Books I Like.

You might like Simon Says: A True Story of Boys, Guns, and Murder, if you liked:
The Innocent Man by John Grisham
In Cold Blood by Truman Capote*

* Da Capo Press, the publisher of Simon Says, has a Truman Capote-related title coming out in paperback in October, that looks very interesting in their catalog: Capote in Kansas: A Ghost Story. We'll be talking more about this title in October.

]]>Note to Email SubscribersBook Reviewshttp://www.rebelhousewife.com/rebel-reviews/2008/6/23/note-to-email-subscribers.htmlSherri Caldwell2008-06-23T20:41:21Z2008-06-23T20:41:21ZErp, which is somewhere between ugh and yippee! -- sorry about the archive of Reviews you received Monday morning -- See what you've been missing!

We are working with an email update service from Feedburner.com, which normally sends out one email update daily, at about 5:30 a.m., when there is a new blog entry the day before. It came to our attention that there was a problem with the Rebel Reviews auto-update. When the magic was done to clear that up, we were all deluged with the Reviews that were backed up in the Feedburner system, since November of last year, apparently.

Consider it a Great Summer Reading List -- all at once! ;-)

We are back on track with the email auto-update: Email subscribers should receive no more than one email daily when there is a new Rebel Review, with one, maximum TWO blog entries (as in this case) -- usually, only once a week or so, but this week, while I am catching up on The B List -- Books I Like, there will be a daily Review thru Thursday (Friday for email subscribers!), this week only.

If you are not an email subscriber, but would like to join the FUN:

Rebel Housewife Reviews


Featuring response and reviews on anything and everything: mostly books; movies, kid stuff, and other life essentials, too. Rebel Reviews are (usually) not long and drawn out in tedious detail; not everything you ever wanted to know; not even terribly intellectual--just the basic info to encourage you to check it out, whatever it is, if it interests you too!

To receive The Rebel Housewife: REBEL REVIEWS! by email:

Enter your email address:

Delivered by FeedBurner



]]>BOOKS: Loose Girl: A Memoir of PromiscuityMemoirB List Bookshttp://www.rebelhousewife.com/rebel-reviews/2008/6/23/books-loose-girl-a-memoir-of-promiscuity.htmlSherri Caldwell2008-06-23T20:20:19Z2008-06-23T20:20:19ZThe B List -- Books I Like



Loose Girl: A Memoir of Promiscuity
by Kerry Cohen
(Hyperion, 2008)


Hardcover, 210 pgs, $21.95 U.S.

What it's about: Another difficult (subject), but fascinating book about dysfunctional families. The child of divorce and parents who never grew up enough to take care of their children, Kerry Cohen painstakingly recounts her coming-of-age in New Jersey in the eighties: divorce, drugs, drinking, dangerous behavior and promiscuity..."I slept with close to forty boys and men before I figured out doing so was not serving me well..." (page 1)

What I liked: Riveting as a grown-up girl who can identify with Kerry Cohen's desperate quest for love and stability in a life turned upside-down by divorce and abandonment. Equally intriguing to see her self-discovery and growth as a writer, as she mentions degree programs and writer's workshops she attended, where she found writing as "The first thing, other than boys, that feels meaningful to me, that I can feel in my veins, can literally feel moving its way through me like a drug." (page 157)

Why I didn't LOVE it: Equally as riveting, in a more horrifying way, as the mother of a daughter at just the same age Kerry was when her world fell apart and the endless quest began toward discovering her own strength and peace. Unfortunately, her path was a rough one, through neglect, drugs, sex and inappropriate behavior. This is not fun reading, nor a book you'd want to leave out on the coffee table.

You might like Loose Girl: A Memoir of Promiscuity, if you liked:
Lullabies for Little Criminals by Heather O'neill
Reviving Ophelia: Saving the Selves of Adolescent Girls
Ophelia Speaks: Adolescent Girls Write About Their Search for Self

]]>BOOKS: The Wentworths: A NovelB List Bookshttp://www.rebelhousewife.com/rebel-reviews/2008/6/22/books-the-wentworths-a-novel.htmlSherri Caldwell2008-06-22T17:42:03Z2008-06-22T17:42:03ZThe B List -- Books I Like



The Wentworths: A Novel
by Katie Arnoldi
(The Overlook Press, 2008)


Hardcover, 255 pgs, $23.95 U.S.

What it's about: A highly dysfunctional high-society family in Los Angeles: dirty-old-man patriarch, August; uptight, cold, carefully-preserved and utterly-self-involved matriarch, Judith; outwardly-successful, yet twisted, cruel, perverse, Oedipal older son, Conrad; mother-clone, high-strung, anorexic daughter, Becky, with her cardboard stand-in, clueless, vaguely homosexual husband, Paul, and damaged children, Monica, the druggie, and Joey, the kleptomaniac; and, finally, August & Judith's younger son, Norman, who opens the book by dragging his family to the police station at three in the morning, because he's been out running around in women's clothing, make-up and high heels. It only gets worse, as far as dysfunction and anti-social behavior.

What I liked: Clinical narrative, like an autopsy; Well-written and a page-turner, in an accident-by-the-side-of-the-road-can't-look-away kind of way.

Why I didn't LOVE it: More than a little icky. Truly dysfunctional and deviant behavior; these characters, as people, are horrible, horrifying and depraved. I was expecting a glitzy, gossipy high-society tell-all, a subtle roman à clef like Dominic Dunne's An Inconvenient Woman or People Like Us. This is not that.

You might like The Wentworths if you liked:
Running with Scissors: A Memoir

Interesting interview with the author: Katie Arnoldi.

]]>The B List -- Books I LikeB List Bookshttp://www.rebelhousewife.com/rebel-reviews/2008/6/22/the-b-list-books-i-like.htmlSherri Caldwell2008-06-22T16:41:35Z2008-06-22T16:41:35ZRebel Reviews, to keep karmic energy all positive and happy -- and why read something you don't like?! If I can't get through the first 100 pages, I will move on quickly, and you, Rebel Readers, will most likely never hear about it from me.

Notably, in more than four years of Rebel Reviews, there has been one exception to this policy: BOOKS: Oprah & A MILLION LITTLE PIECES, but I was an early harbinger on that one, before the big made-up-memoir scandal broke. It was a terribly icky book, regardless of fact or subsequently revealed fiction, and I said so.

I am fortunate to receive many, many books for advance and review consideration from several large publishers, individual authors and PR/Marketing/Book Promo contacts, and I am so grateful for them. I love the opportunity to read, feature, share and promo great books and authors. That's what Rebel Reviews is all about.

In many cases, I have the opportunity to accept or reject a proposed title, which helps keep my TBR* pile manage-able. (*To Be Read) Even with preview and prior approval/enthusiasm for a title, it sometimes happens that I don't connect well with the book and I can't review it as highly-recommended. I am still not going to publish negative reviews or read-to-the-end books that don't fully engage me, but I do feel an obligation to the publishers, authors and people who send books for Rebel Review consideration, and, Lord knows, just because I don't LOVE a certain book, doesn't mean other people might not respond very differently.

Having said all that, you might occasionally see a Rebel Review that is something less than love, Love, LOVE, beginning this week, with five reviews from The B List -- Books I read, books I liked, Honorable Mentions of books you might, indeed, love, Love, LOVE...

The B List -- Books I Like Format:
What it's about:
What I liked:
Why I didn't LOVE it:
You might like this book, if you liked:

The Rebel Housewife B List (June 2008):
The Wentworths: A Novel by Katie Arnoldi
Loose Girl: A Memoir of Promiscuity by Kerry Cohen
The Rest of Her Life by Laura Moriarty
Simon Says: A True Story of Boys, Guns, and Murder by Kathryn Eastburn

]]>