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New writers...

I'm always on the lookout for new authors since I love to read so much.  I was very lucky recently, find these two amazing authors in the clearance section at Barnes and Noble. 

I'll admit, I judge books by their covers.  This one certainly looked interesting, so I picked it up and checked out the storyline.  I was hooked, the blurb seemed really funny. So I decided to read the first few pages to get a feel for the author.  3 pages in and I was laughing out loud in the middle of the store. I took it home with me and thoroughly enjoyed this book.  The main character has a great voice telling the story. I looked up Eileen Cook to see what else she's written and was disappointed to only find 3 other young adult novels.  Hopefully she'll write another adult novel soon!

This was another cover that really grabbed me.  The book really has nothing to do with the cover in this story, but that's okay.  The important part is that it got my attention.  Just Breathe by Susan Wiggs is about a woman who loses her job, is artificially inseminated with her husband's donation the same day discovers her husband's infidelity, and the marriage ends.  She moves back home and then discovers that she is pregnant with her ex's twins, while falling in love with her high school crush.   Right before I found this book, I had just been to the theater to see The Back Up Plan with Jennifer Lopez, which is about a woman who is artifically inseminated the same day she finally meets Mr. Right, and she then later finds out that she has twins. 

I was surprised that two similar story lines were jumping out at me the same day, so I went ahead and picked this up.  Another book where the main character has a fantastic voice, interesting plot lines, and believable situations for the characters.  Upon looking up more books by Susan Wiggs, I was dissappointed to find that she is primarily a romance novelist, but I might try a few of them, she's a great author.  I hope that she writes more contemporary novels soon!

Sundays at Tiffany's

I am a pretty big fan of James Patterson's books.  I loved his other two romantic themed novels, Suzanne's Diary for Nicholas and Sam's Letters to Jennifer.  I really liked the idea behind this book as well, but I admit, I wanted more.  The idea behind the books is very powerful.  A young girl grows up and finds out that her childhood friend is really the love of her life.  But in my opinion, it happened too easily.  There wasn't enough standing in their way.  And sure, sometimes that is okay, but in this situation, I just didn't feel that the character development was strong enough.  As I kept turning the pages (I read the book in less than 2 days, while and work, and sleeping... it went fast!) I was waiting for something really amazing to happen.  A twist of some sort, something major for them to overcome.  I was also waiting for the title to come into play.  Sundays at Tiffany's refers to the aftertoons the character spent with her mom.  The books should have been called, Sundays at the St. Regis, which is where the two main characters spent most of their time.  I really did like the book, but I was just left wanting so much more.