Dear Author: Lori L. Tharps

Hi guys. I know. Let's just move past it! ;) So today, I'm rolling out a new feature I'm calling Dear Author.... As I'm sure you can glean from the title, this new feature will be letters I've written to the author of books that I either loved or loathed. No idea if the authors will actually *see* these letters, but it'll be a fun way to switch things up around here. Today's featured author is Lori L. Tharps, newly published fiction writer of the "nanny" novel Substitute Me. I've reviewed one of Tharps' nonfiction books here before when I started the 100 Books in 100 Days quest, so I was pumped to hear she was making her foray into fiction.

In Lori L. Tharps' Substitute Me Zora Anderson is a 30-year-old African American middle class, college educated woman, trained as a chef, looking for a job. As fate would have it, Kate and Brad, a married couple, aspiring professionals with a young child are looking for a nanny.

Zora seems perfect. She’s an enthusiastic caretaker, a competent house keeper, a great cook. And she wants the job, despite the fact that she won’t let her African American parents and brother know anything about this new career move. They expect much more from her than to use all that good education to do what so many Blacks have dreamed of not doing: working for White folks. Working as an au pair in Paris, France no less, was one thing, they could accept that. Being a servant to a couple not much older nor more educated, is yet another. Every adult character involved in this tangled web is hiding something: the husband is hiding his desire to turn a passion for comic books into a business from his wife, the wife is hiding her professional ambitions from her husband, the nanny is hiding her job from her family and maybe her motivations for staying on her job from herself.

Summary via Amazon.com
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Dearest Lori L. Tharps,

Hey girl! How are you? How's el esposo? The kidlets? Your mom n'em? Everyone's good? Fabulous! Sooo...Substitute Me is out! How exciting is that?! So...can we talk. Like I can give you my honest opinion and stuff? I can? Great! Here's the thing...I'm a little upset with you.

First of all, who gave you access to my journals?! Outside of the nanny thing, I could absolutely related to Zora. All of her thoughts, fears, insecurities, doubts, etc? I have the same. Reading this novel (Zora's sections specifically), I found myself nodding my head and saying "yessss" repeatedly. You accurately and descriptively captured the voice of many people in this society. Those of us who are unsure about what path to take through life next and desperately searching for something that feels right. Seeing our friends and their passions and being envious that they have found what they have been looking for as we still search. Taking a "just to get by" job and wondering how we ended up here in the first place.

Kate, Kate, Kate...oh my dear. I found myself feeling so sorry for her at times. I know moms who have gone back into the workforce after an extended leave to spend time with their kids. It's never easy. Their jobs were way less high profile than Kate's, so I can just imagine the pressure she was feeling. She manages to be both sympathetic and irritating at the same time, though. While it is valiant of her to believe she can have it all without something suffering, the reality of that is nearly impossible. That's what irritated me about her the most. Well that and her mother. Gah, that woman. Such a minor character, but such a burr in my bottom, haha!

Brad. Ohhhh B.Rad (my nickname for him in my head). I was equal parts angered and enamored by him. Love that he sought out his dream much to the exasperation of Kate. Hate the method in which he went about it. Of course, I could somewhat understand why, but still...& the twist w/ him at the end? Did not see that coming at all. #whoa

I needed more Keith. I wanted to know more about him. I feel like he was a temporary distraction that could have developed into more. I found myself missing him though I barely knew him.

Lori. We're on a first name basis by now, yes? Ok then. Girlfriend. Friendgirl. this book, This book, This Book, THIS BOOK! I found myself moving through it fairly quickly because I needed to know how situations were resolved, who did what & how, and the conclusion. After finishing, I concluded that we need a sequel. I need to know what happens to Kate, Brad, Zora, & most of all Baby Ollie! To quote the youth of today, "You did that!!!" I absolutely adored this book & hope others will too. I've already recommended it to a few friends I know will enjoy it. I'll definitely be on their backs to purchase a copy!

Eagerly Awaiting the sequel, Replaced (haha),

Jeanette Nicole

Teaser Tuesday: Conception - Kalisha Buchannon

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

* Grab your current read
* Open to a random page
* Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
* BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
* Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

Today's Teaser:

"There was something to be said for children's intuition as well as mothers'. It was a curious bond, where two beating hearts still seemed to be connected to the thoughts, activities, and well-being of another." -Conception, pg. 163-4

One True Theory of Love - Laura Fitzgerald

Meg is a school teacher and a recently divorced mother of a nine year old son named Henry. Ever since her divorce, Meg has developed what she calls a "Hokey Pokey Theory of Life", which basically equates to her "putting her whole self in" in any endeavor that she undertakes. She and Henry frequent a local coffee shop and one day she meets Ahmed, an Iranian-American man who is very interested in getting to know her socially. Once bitten and twice shy, Meg brushes off Ahmed's chances every chance she gets. Sooner rather than later though, Ahmed wears Meg down and they begin dating, much to the delight of her son Henry.

While Meg's love life is on an upswing, her parents' relationship is a different story. Her mother discovers that he father is having an extramarital affair, which leads her to have a midlife crisis. Meg is in denial about her father's infidelity and this causes a strain in an already brittle relationship that she has with her mother. As if that wasn't enough complication, when her mother learns of her relationship with Ahmed, she is uber critical & borderline bigoted toward him. Her father however, welcomes Ahmed with open arms.

The sudden reappearance of Meg's ex-husband cranks the drama meter up a bit higher & causes tension between Ahmed & Meg. After the required amount of angst & breakups, Meg, Ahmed, & Henry live happily ever after.

So...this book. Well I didn't fall in love with it nor hate it with the fire of a thousand suns. It was just all right. Nothing about it really stood out and it probably won't be one of those that will be memorable to me. It was very...paint-by-numbers. Predictable plot, character development, etc. There were a few moments that made me smile, but other than that...eh.

Three Daughters - Letty Cottin Pogrebin

Three Daughters is the story of three women who are struggling to deal with life despite the secrets their family holds. Shoshanna, the youngest, lives a life of order and rigid structure until her Filofax blows into the wind. Rachel, the eldest, is concerned with always presenting a perfect facade but soon has to learn to deal with life when it all comes crashing down. Leah, the middle child, is the most screwed up of them all. Abandoned by the father she shares biologically with Shoshanna (&legally with Rachel), Leah is a strong willed, no nonsense woman who refuses to show any sort of emotions.

Did I mention that they were all Jewish and their dad's a rabbi that lives in Jerusalem who is in line to receive a major award? Did I also mention that Leah holds an elephantine amount of resentment towards said father for his lack of presence in her life? As the story unfolds, Three Daughters becomes a story of love, loss, and lots of alliteration.

It took me a while to read this book. It wasn't terribly long...about 300 or so pages, so that wasn't the problem. My problem was that Pogrebin took too long to get to the meat of the story. She tacked on all of these extraneous, tedious details that could have been left out. She padded the book with overly detailed descriptions of the most humdrum things. Then she would throw important & necessary plot details in as if they were an afterthought. The whole thing read sort of confusing at times. I was pretty much bored for 42% of the book.

When she finally got down to it and delved into the conflict betwixt the sisters is when I got interested in the novel. Then, of course, it was nearly over. I'm not going to malign the book as a whole because in the end I did come to enjoy it. I will say, read with caution if you choose to seek this one out. You'll find yourself looking for context clues to understand the Yiddish words weaved into the story. You'll get frustrated with her circular storytelling device and lament that you wish she'd JUST GET THERE, but when she does get there, you will be pleased. Or that could just be how I saw it. ;)

QUICKIE: Chelsea Chelsea, Bang Bang - Chelsea Handler

Handler's back at it again. In Chelsea Chelsea Bang Bang, she recounts tales of ridiculousness and hilarity. In one story she recounts being at a sleepover (approximately around age 8) and getting "The Feeling". One of her girlfriends had learned the power of humping pillows & making one's self feel good. At the sleepover, she introduced everyone else to "The Feeling" and Chelsea was hooked. She became a fiend for "The Feeling", trying to do it as much as humanly possible. Another story that had me laughing out loud was a practical joke that she played on her boyfriend in which she makes him believe that she killed their friend's dog. Ehhh, that sounds bad, but once you read it, you'll see the humor, haha.

If you're a fan of Handler's TV show/brand of humor, then you'll love it. If you think she's an unfunny, talentless hack, then perhaps this isn't the book for you. I, for one, find her hilarical and she seems to be getting better with each book released.