Whitney Gaskell

I've never read anything by this author before and although the pace of the book was slow it was an enjoyable slow. I liked all the characters, even the ones you're not supposed to like and she went in some different directions with the plot so it was never a typical chit lit book. Nice read, enjoy.

I'm sure it's the English teacher in me that's all freaked out by the premise of this book, but I have to say that the range of emotions I felt ran the spectrum! After being accused of sexual harassment by one of her students upset over a bad grade, Lucy Parker's life only goes from wretched, to unspeakable. She walks in on her live-in boyfriend with another woman, loses her job (obviously), and is being hounded by the press. In the midst of it all, she flippantly buys a lottery ticket that show more lands her the winner of a cool 34 million dollars.

While this is a story about finding oneself and not losing the core of who you are to money, there is a sweet romance embedded in it. Lucy has been hurt and betrayed, which leaves her not feeling like she's the best at picking men to be in a relationship with. So will she recognize a good guy, even if she judges on all accounts that he's bad?

I really enjoyed this novel, even though I was thoroughly freaked out by the sexual harassment charge landed against her. As a teacher, I try to take measures to ensure that someone couldn't annihilate my career in one fatal swoop, but hearing stories like this can be really unnerving. I think this connection to another teacher, and feeling for her after having so many hard knocks, I was more engaged in the story and really enjoyed it. In fact, I couldn't get through the last 100 pages fast enough! show less

Reviewed by Tasha for TeensReadToo.com

The Snowflake Gala is done and out of the way and Miranda Bloom, math genius, is headed off to England for Christmas break to visit her mother. When she arrives, she expects to spend her time sightseeing with her mother and catching up. What she doesn't expect is that Henry, the son of her mother's publicist, will be showing her around London as her mom still has lots of work to do. Miranda doesn't mind too much, especially since Henry's so adorable, but show more right now she's not sure what's going on with her and Dex and doesn't want to risk messing that up.

When Miranda returns home she is greeted by confusion. She still doesn't know where her and Dex stand, Hannah (her stepsister) is still being really nice to her, her best friend, Charlie, is hopelessly lovestruck, and the dreaded MATh team competitions are quickly approaching. On top of all of that, Miranda's evil stepmother has become even more unbearable, making her life nothing short of crazy.

Will Miranda's semester pan out the way she wants, or will all her confusion lead to a tangled up mess?

It's rare that you find a sequel better than the first book, but I think in this case GEEK ABROAD definitely outdid its predecessor, GEEK HIGH. The characters were more developed, it felt like there was more going on in the story, and overall I thought it was a better book.

First of all, I felt I really got to know Miranda in this book. As the book progressed, she became a more secure individual and she took on a leadership role with her MATh team. I really enjoyed seeing her develop into a stronger individual and really stand up for what she believed in. I could see a lot of myself in her and felt a real bond with her. I also could not stand Peyton, Miranda's evil stepmother. What's funny is this is not a bad thing at all. I loved how the author created such an unlikeable character. It was infuriating to see the way that Peyton treated Miranda and I am eternally grateful that my mom treats me so well! It was also nice to see Miranda's dad stand up for her in this book. He didn't take any flak from Peyton and his bond with Miranda (and the reader) really developed in this book.

I also really liked how much emotion the author was able to provoke in me. When Miranda was mad, I was mad right there with her. When she got irritated with Charlie I could feel myself getting agitated, as well. I was really impressed with this because not many books get me as involved with the characters as this one did.

This book could also make a great stand-alone book. While it is a sequel, it filled in all the necessary gaps where needed. Even if you haven't read the first book, GEEK HIGH (which you really should), you wouldn't be left confused.

And finally the romance in the book was too cute. There were some classic elements to it, but then there were a few times when I thought something would happen and then the author threw us a curveball. Overall, this was the perfect light read, perfect for any time of year. I really hope that the author will create more Miranda-filled adventures that we can all embark on! show less

So I have been reading Whitney Gaskell off and on for years. I noticed she hasn't put out something new in years though. I decided to do a re-read of some of the books I owned and I can't understand why I loved this book when I read it before. Maybe because I was younger and thought the whole plot was so romantic. Now I am older and call BS more I guess.

"True Love and Other Lies" follows Claire. Claire is a travel writer who has pretty much given up on love after being shat upon by her ex show more called Sawyer (that name you guys). But she has an absolute awesome meet cute (yeah...it was alright) with a lawyer named Jack on her way to London. Claire feels herself getting excited about Jack, but second guesses everything he says and does after he expresses interest in seeing her while she is in London. A huge surprise is in store for Claire though when she finds out who Jack was dating before he started seeing her.

Claire was driving me up the wall through most of the book. She hates her job, has a dubious relationship with her sister (who she diagnoses as anorexic or bulimic) and acts like an asshole towards her parents when they make other holiday plans without her (this is after she goes into how she doesn't want to go out of town to see them) and also acts like a jerk towards her best friend Maddie when she makes other plans to go out and once again Claire doesn't want to see her since she has plans. Did you follow all that? Pretty much Claire wants everyone to be thinking about how her all the time while ignoring how she is not putting any effort into her personal relationships at all. She's also a jerk at work and I didn't find myself rooting for her at all. I think some of the characters she was tormenting would be writing into "Ask A Manager" cause of the crap she pulls.

I think I just got tired of Claire and her woe is me thing she had going through the whole book. Her own mother tells her she has self esteem issues. But honestly, I don't think that's it. She just acts contradictory about every little thing and it drives you up the wall.

The secondary characters don't work that well. There is Claire's best friend Maddie, that I wish we had gotten more details about since most of the book is about their relationship. And Claire's next door neighbor Max who I found to be off-putting the entire time I read about him.

I did love the writing about London and New York. I wish that we got more details about Claire's travel assignments, but we just get tidbits here and there.

Without giving away the plot, I no ma'amed through most of this book. I just could not with Claire and also side eyed the hell out Jack as well. When you get to the end things fall apart (the center cannot hold) with an explanation about things that did not make any sense at all.

The book fast forwards about a year or so though and we get a happily ever after. show less