book review

The New Mrs. D Conquers the Roller Coaster of Life

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Oh hey! Hi there. I know it’s been quite some time since last we spoke. I’m trying to rectify that and will do more to rectify it in the coming year. Today I’m dipping my toes back in to the pond with something I’ve never written before, a book review, which as it turns out fits well with the book I’m about to review.

 

But before we get to the actual book review I have to tell you a story. In August, after a long year of ups and downs, I love my father to congestive heart failure; I was shattered. No matter how long someone’s sick you’re never really prepared for the end to come. In September while I was early in my mourning phase I read a sentence in blog that spoke to me, no, that’s not correct; it shouted at me. Celeste, at Learn Her wrote about losing her father saying, “…Like riding a rollercoaster you were only pretending to be brave enough for.” Those words reached out of the screen and said, I understand how you feel, I’ve been there, I know.

 

I asked Celeste if I could quote her in a future blog and then promptly stopped writing. I’m sorry about that, I sort of lost myself there for a while. Celeste’s quote could be the guiding principle of “The New Mrs. D” because as it turns out, life in general is “…Like riding a rollercoaster you were only pretending to be brave enough for.”

 

When I chose “The New Mrs. D” by Heather Hill as my first book to review I thought it would be just another light and fluffy chick lit book, a fun read to pass the time and occupy my mind; turns out it was much more than that.

 

I have to admit that there were parts I didn’t enjoy and when I first started reading I was like, “A bride married to a guy with a porn addiction, meh,” but I kept reading and I was pleasantly surprised. As the book goes on there’s a whole lot of girl power, healing, and personal breakthroughs. I was looking for light and fluffy and I found it along with a few inspiring thoughts on life, living, and being your own authentic self while riding life’s roller coaster.

 

Please Note:  I received this book free from CLP Book Tours in exchange for a review, all opinions are my own.

 

 

Rory Gilmore Reading Challenge Book One: I’m With the Band

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I am participating in the Rory Gilmore Reading Challenge, (reading the books mentioned during the 7 seasons of Gilmore Girls) the first book I made the choice to read was I’m With the Band by Pamela Des Barres. I chose it because I thought I’d start the year with a light, fun, trashy read and I was surprised to find it was anything but. I actually felt sorry for most, if not all who were profiled in the book, including Pamela. I was surprised at how much heartbreak and being used and abused she endured. I was very much surprised that she wasn’t a tough bitch who could handle herself or a light and airy type who flitted from one guy to another without forming attachments.

It was also heartbreaking to read about the sorrowful broken rock stars and aspiring rock stars who moved in and out of her life. At the conclusion of the book she goes on to list those who’ve passed on and how. In the end I felt this read like a tragic tale of heartbreak and a reminder that those who burn brightest often do so because tortured — no matter how beautiful or talented they are — souls live so very much in darkness.

To sum up, this wasn’t the trashy book I’d hoped to read. Instead it was a very raw and very honest depiction of a time and a place and of a subculture that started out innocently enough and became something else much darker.