The AAR Seventeen in 17 Reading Challenge – June Update

Simply Seventeen Challenge (The Whittler)
Lady of the Star Wind by Veronica Scott: The book started strong. The heroine was an interstellar princess/doctor who’d been kidnapped. The hero was her former love who’d been exiled twenty years earlier when her evil grandmother discovered their relationship. During her rescue they mysteriously wound up on a much less advanced planet. He was resentful that he’d been tortured and forced to spend two decades living life as someone else so reluctant to let his guard down. She was resentful that he’d allowed her to believe him dead for so long. They actually talked through their issues – yay! As a reunion romance the book worked well for me. The problem was there wasn’t enough focus on their relationship. The story became all about them helping the large cast of secondary characters in their quest to defeat the usurper to the thrown of their kingdom. The book had some nice twists at the beginning, but the romance took a backseat to the political shenanigans. I enjoyed most of the book despite my issues with the plot, but the ending was so extremely anti-climactic it made me roll my eyes. I wish more page time had focused on the h/h. There were also two secondary romances I would have liked to have seen more of.

The Breakfast Cereal Challenge
Muesli (1900) = Created by a Swiss physician. Read a romance set in Europe.
The Chocolate Kiss by Laura Florand – set in France: The heroine worked in her aunts’ chocolate shop; the hero was a world-famous fifth generation pastry chef. The h/h spent the first two-thirds or so of the book sniping at one another and refusing to eat/drink anything the other made. Readers were probably meant to find this amusing and flirty, but it came off as mean spirited much of the time. The hero was an arrogant jerk and casually dismissive of others. Several characters pointed this out to him at various points. He improved somewhat in the final third, but never really changed. The heroine had childhood issues. Her parents were portrayed as totally oblivious while his were perfect (other than the father’s occasional professional jealousy, but even that was ultimately pride in his son). There were moments I liked and I enjoyed the setting, but overall a lackluster read.

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The Breakfast Cereal Challenge: 11 down, 6 to go…
Seventeen Magazine(s)! Challenge: 8 down, 9 to go…
The Alphabet Challenge Variation: 11 down, 6 to go…
The Cocktail Challenge: 13 down, 4 to go…
Simply Seventeen Challenge (The Whittler) – Novellas: 9 down, 8 to go…
Simply Seventeen Challenge (The Whittler): 2 down, 15 to go…
The 20th Century Challenge: completed!

Continuing with the Cocktail Challenge…

London Fog – Read a book about a weather person or where the weather plays a significant part of the plot or read a book set wholly or partly in London.

First off, just wanted to say, I posted this “review” on the AAR Goodreads message board (so no one thinks they’re seeing double). I did that mostly because I thought people who weren’t following along with the monthly challenge might also want to hear about this book.

For this part of the challenge, I read Kirsty Greenwood’s The Vintage Guide to Love and Romance, published in 2015. The book fits into the British Chick Lit genre, generally, and I found it laugh-out-loud funny and touching.

The story centers on a 28 year old blogger/writer who is a true character. Unlike other women in this book – or in many romances – Jessica Beam has no interest in marriage or a relationship. She just wants to have a good time, usually involving the closest pub, partying, alcohol, and possibly, a roll in the hay. Through a series of unfortunate events and a disloyal “best friend” Jessica ends up without a home or a job. With nowhere to turn, she travels to London to find the grandmother she never knew. It doesn’t hurt that the old lady lives in a tony house in Kensington, which suggests a healthy bank account. However, appearances are deceptive and, before you know it Jessica, her grandmother Matilda Beam, and Matilda’s assistant, Peach, who reminded me a bit of Agnes Gooch from “Mame” (only with an American southern accent) have embarked on a scheme to replenish their financial coffers. It seems Matilda was also once a writer of a set of very popular 1950’s self-help books for proper women who wanted to know how to attract a respectable, accomplished man, be a good wife, a good mother, etc. — a Martha Stewart for one’s personal life. However, Matilda’s books are so out-of-date in 2014 … or *are* they? With the promise of a possible publishing deal, Matilda (and her former publisher) talk Jessica into following the 1950’s books to a tee, applying it to the 2014 dating scene in pursuit of one of the most elusive bachelors in London, and authoring the results. Will this independent, potty-mouth, party girl be able to woo a respectable, socially-connected, accomplished man following her grandmother’s tutelage and her “Good Woman” guide books? And what will she discover about herself, the family she hardly knew, and the man they’ve targeted?

Vintage Guide was definitely an “A” read for me, and I immediately googled to see what else the author had written. Through most of the book you’re giggling if not laughing loudly, but the end brings the warmth and tenderness that wraps up the loose ends. As for writing style, there’s a number of “British-isms,” but it’s very accessible with a fair amount of salty dialogue, because our heroine often sounds like a sailor. ;-) However, reflecting the more traditional Matilda, the beginning of each chapter features a snippet of advice from her 1950’s books, and additionally, throughout the novel, there are excerpts from Jessica’s mother’s diaries.

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The Cocktail Challenge – 7 down, 3 to go.
Alphabet Challenge – 5 down, 5 to go. (B, G, H, J, & M)