Tag Archives: fluff

May 7, 2013 · 5:00 am

Top Ten Tuesday: Fluffy Reads

Happy Tuesday book lovers! It’s time for Top Ten Tuesday, hosted by the lovely gals over at The Broke and The Bookish. This topic is so spring-appropriate: Top Ten Books When You Need Something Light and Fun. In other words, brain candy reads! Or fluffy reads! (Yes, admire my cool bookish slang…)

1. Attachments by Rainbow Rowell - This is such a great book. Adorable big hunk of a guy Lincoln has a job monitoring employee email usage at the local newspaper office, and he ends up falling in love with Beth while reading the emails of her and her friend Jennifer. There are email conversations, and they are hysterical.

2. Bet Me by Jennifer Crusie – This is basically the best romance novel ever. There’s misunderstandings, snarky characters, real friendships, real conversations, delicious food, carbs, great shoes, and a grumpy cat. I read this book probably at least once a year.

3. Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen – If you’re more of a classics lover, then I think Northanger Abbey is a good pick. It kind of mocks the whole Gothic novel craze of the times, and Austen is still young and trying to figure out this whole writing thing. It’s a lot of fun.

4. Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? by Mindy Kaling – Famous for her role as Kelly Kapoor on The Office, Mindy talks about her love of comedy and her various musings on life. This was really funny, and Mindy is totally that girl that everyone would love to be friends with. There have been a lot of female comedian books out lately, and I think this one is my favorite.

5. Weird Things Customers Say in Bookstores by Jen Campbell – This is really a short, hilarious book that is just amusing tidbits from booksellers and librarians. Good for a laugh.

6. The Fairy Godmother by Mercedes Lackey – This is actually the first book of the Tales of the 500 Kingdoms series, and they’re really fun books. Lackey takes a known fairy tale and turns it on it’s head, usually with an element of romance involved. I think there are six out in the series, and I can’t wait till another one comes out.

7. Tales of the Ketty Jay series by Chris Wooding – Okay, technically these aren’t exactly fluff or brain candy books, but I love them. There’s a lot of action and witty, sarcastic banter that just makes these books so darn fun to read.

8. The Pirates! series by Gideon DeFoe – These goofy, tiny little books can straight crack me up. (Can you tell yet that I really value humor in the books I read?) The Pirates! In An Adventure with Scientists was the inspiration for the movie Pirates! Band of Misfits. The books are WAY funnier.

9. The Hero’s Guide to Saving Your Kingdom by Christopher Healy – Feel like reading something intended for 11-year olds? Here you go! This book shows the side of the fairy tales that you don’t see – the Princes’ points of view. There’s a lot of silliness, and it’s a quick read.

10. Wishcraft series by Heather Blake – Are cozy mysteries your jam? Well this series is adorable! Some inhabitants of this little town tend to have a special “craft” or magical power, and the series focuses on one witch who can grant wishes. Of course, murders pop up in town because that’s how these kind of books work, but the stories themselves are so damn cute and sappy.

Now don’t you want to grab one of these and go lay in the sunshine and read? I do. What are your light-hearted book recommendations?

~Sarah

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Filed under Fluff, Top Ten Tuesday

Tagged as beach reads, books that are light and fun, brain candy, fluff, fluffy reads, the broke and the bookish, Top Ten Tuesday

August 19, 2011 · 6:42 pm

Charlie All Night by Jennifer Crusie

Despite the fact that she was dumped, radio producer Allie’s doing pretty well for herself – until her ex gets her demoted from the radio station’s prime-time spot. Stuck with temporary DJ Charlie on the 10 pm to 2 am radio slot, she’s determined to make him a star (nevermind the fact that he doesn’t want to be a star at all). And if she can use a fling with Charlie to help her get over her ex, so much the better.

It’s not the best premise, but it’s fun and different. Allie lives in a small town, and works with a quirky bunch of people at the radio station – including her dweeb of an ex-boyfriend Mark, who’s a total jerk and really fun to detest throughout the book. Charlie comes to town with a hidden agenda – he just wants to do his job and leave. But Charlie is a lot of fun – especially for Allie. And the more they try to stay away from each other the more they fall in love. The sexy bits are fun & enjoyable, and I giggled a couple of times throughout the book.

I always really enjoy Jennifer Crusie’s female characters – they’re often described as warm & soft, rather than thin and beautiful – each Crusie heroine is beautiful in her own unique way. I also enjoy it when Crusie has two male characters fighting over the heroine – it makes her seem extra awesome, and it’s fun to watch her shoot the jerk down.

Charlie is one of the funnest Crusie male characters I’ve seen – he’s kind, witty, and laid-back. I always enjoyed the dialogue that he was in, which is good since he’s a radio DJ. He also drums up some interesting controversy for the town, and I personally think that stirring up a little storm about political dirty business is attractive.

There’s only really one thing the bugged me in this book, and that was Allie’s annoying hissy fit that proclaimed all rap to be psychopathic and all about raping women. As someone who really likes rap and knows that most rap is NOT like that, that was really irksome and I kinda wanted to smack her for being so close-minded about an entire music genre – especially for someone who works for such an unusual radio station.

Other than that small hiccup, this book was a really quick, fun, fluffy read – which I desperately needed.

Sarah Says: 4 stars

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Filed under 4-star, Fiction, Fluff, Romance

Tagged as beach reads, Charlie All Night, contemporary romance, fluff, Jennifer Crusie, radio station romance

May 31, 2011 · 9:02 am

>Top Ten Tuesday: Perfect Beach Reads

> Good morning ya’ll! Time for my favorite meme of the week, Top Ten Tuesday, which is hosted by the fabulous peeps over at The Broke and The Bookish. This week’s topic is Top Ten Books That Should Be In Your Beach Bag. Perfect topic for today, since it’s going to be about 90 degrees here. I wish I was going to the beach…

1. The Mermaid Chair by Sue Monk Kidd – This books takes place for the most part on a small island. The main character, Jessie, comes home to Egret Island to re-evaluate her life and rediscover who she is and her passion for life. There’s a lot of local mermaid history too. Good if you want kind of a deep beach read.

2. Mrs. Whippy by Cecelia Ahern – This is a SUPER-short book, so it’s perfect for those beach-goers who fall in asleep in the sun, or who get distracted by friends and family. It’s about a lady and her interest in an ice-cream man. This might make you want to go visit the ice cream stand by your beach, if you’re lucky enough to have one.

3. Are You There Vodka? It’s Me, Chelsea by Chelsea Handler – Basically a bunch of hilarious stories about Chelsea’s life, it’s funny and it has short chapters, so again perfect if you can’t really concentrate. Or if you’re drinking while you’re at the beach.

4. The Fairy Godmother by Mercedes Lackey – If you like fairy-tale retellings with a little bit of romance, this novel is right up your alley. And it’s light and cute, perfect for the beach.

5. anything by Christopher Moore – Moore’s books are all hilarious, and they take place for the most part in California. Fluke in particular takes place a lot in the ocean.

6. Married With Zombies by Jesse Petersen – Cute book about how a couple close to divorce reconnects when the zombie apocoplyse hits. It’s the start of a series too. The newest, Eat Slay Love, is coming out in June.

7. Harry Potter books – Because most of us have read and read them again, these are perfect comfort reads. And yet they’re still SO good that you won’t want to put them down.

8. Barefoot by Elin Hilderbrand – Honestly, I haven’t read anything by this author yet. But if I was going to the beach today, I’d stop at the library and borrow this book. Look up the author and look at the book covers – they’re all beach scenes!

9. anything by Jennifer Crusie – She’s my favorite contemporary romance author. Her books are always fun and sweet and fluffy.

10. The Sookie Stackhouse series by Charlaine Harris – Especially if you already like True Blood, give the books a try. They’re not great, but they’re easy and fun and have vampires.

This list was surprisingly harder than I thought. I know that “chick lit” is usually the go-to genre for beach reads, but I haven’t read a lot of it. At least not that I’ve liked. Anyhoo, those are my suggestions! What are yours?

BTW, this list is PERFECT for my Summer Mini-Readathon coming up in July! It’s only 12 hours long, and there are prizes to win at the end, so check it out and sign up before you leave! It’ll be fun, I promise.

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