Very light reading... ( )

This book was recommended by my Sister during, yes, a beach trip! While not my typical reading by any stretch, it was cute, it made me laugh a few times and the family was pretty endearing. I'm not a "chic lit" kind of woman, but if you are I believe you would find this quite enjoyable. It is a quick, easy read about a 41-year-old woman trying to find herself and her lackluster boyfriend and eccentric family. It was kind of fun to read a fluffy book with a happy ending for a change. The writing is not poor, but it is written in an incredibly simple style. For what it is (i.e. "beach read"), it is pretty good, but certainly don't expect it to be great literature. ( )

Geri and Ginger are sisters and they are polar opposites. Geri is a successful business woman, mother and is rarely seen without her BlackBerry. Ginger is a single 41 year old woman with a job, not a career, and lives over her parents' garage. While Ginger is dealing with her parents decision to sell their house (where will she live?) and her "going-nowhere-fast" relationship with Noah, Geri is planning her big 5-0 birthday party.

I have to say, I didn't enjoy reading this book. The plot was lacking and the characters were easily forgettable. ( )

Decent But Forgettable, June 18, 2008

The Chick Lit Book Club I lead read Life's A Beach for our June, 2008 selection. The general agreement was that it wasn't a "bad" book and actually had a few funny parts but overall it was pretty forgettable.

What's Good About It:
Claire Cook does a great job of portraying family relationships. The characters are very realistic. The interaction between parents, mom and daughters, sisters, and siblings are pretty accurate and most of gals in the book club could relate to those aspects.

What's So-So About It:
It's kind of boring. Nothing major happens...there is a small family crisis here and there. Nobody's life is usually as interesting as books make them out to be but this novel fell a little flat.

The other major flaw is character development and believability. The relationship between Ginger and her boyfriend Noah isn't there...there were more sparks with the Gaffer, whose name escapes me. The passion wasn't there. In addition the characters didn't seem to change or grow that much at all. Ginger comes to realize a few things at the end of the book but big whoop, if she had half a brain she's have figured things out sooner.

I'm not saying that Claire Cook isn't talented it's just that normally the gals in the book club are clamoring for the list of other books by the author and in this case we ended earlier and had moved on to next month. ( )

Shelly