Michael Lee West

Teeny is all ready for her big day, with one exception…the cake. With a few ideas in mind, a great new cake decorating class paid for in full by her fiance and a few weeks to prepare she’s certain she’ll create a masterpiece. Unfortunately the class is canceled on the very first night, leaving Teeny to drive home and find her husband with two other women playing badminton in their backyard, completely naked. What starts as a wonderful evening eventually ends in the death of her show more soon-to-be husband and her subsequent arrest. This is not at all how she imagined her “big day” happening and she especially didn’t expect the one person who could save her would also be her first and possibly only true love who left her hospitalized many years before.

Gone with a Handsomer Man falls into that “maybe not quite Chick Lit” category, but who knows? There are so many forms of Chick Lit anymore that I can’t discount any of it. What I can say is that I absolutely loved this novel. From beginning to end Teeny had me laughing and shaking my head at her antics. This pint sized Southern belle could bake a delicious cake that could not only win your heart but stop it in an instant if you got on her bad side (which rarely happened). Her character was so well written, she was shy and demur, but not annoyingly so. It must be the Southern charm or perhaps her near-constant need for an inhaler, because I felt she was perfectly balanced as was the entire novel. It’s basis is obviously a bit in the mystery genre, but there is a definite pull into the romantic Chick Lit world as well.

Those who have read my reviews before, know I have a pet peeve for discovering the ending a bit too early in books. Well, when it comes to mystery novels I get even more picky, because shouldn’t they be even more difficult to figure out? With Gone with a Handsomer Man I will say I had my guesses about half of the way through the book, but West’s writing kept me plugging away at the pages without a second thought. In the end, my guess was right, but I wasn’t bothered the way I normally get. I’m positive this has everything to do with the writing and the other characters in the story who made it so enjoyable to keep turning page after page.

As for the romance, well, I went in expecting a wedding perhaps and ended up with a girl being swept off her feet by a first love all over again. Teeny and Coop’s relationship was adorable and I’m truly hoping there will be an additional novel after this one to continue on their story. I’d love to see if they ever end up having their “happily ever after” and what exactly is going to happen with that incredible cliff hanger West slipped in a the last minute of the story.

Whether you are a fan of mysteries or not, if you love a great Chick Lit novel then Gone withe a Handsomer Man is absolutely a novel you need to give a try. If for no other reason that it has one of the most hilarious covers ever, you should give it a try. But of course, the writing is superb, the romance has you holding on to the last pages wondering how it will end up and the mystery of who killed the fiance will have you guessing to the last pages. Oh, and I almost failed to mention, Teeny is a baker and the food aspects of this story will have you positively drooling throughout! This is definitely a book I’ll be recommending and cannot wait to see if Teeny and Coop’s story will continue on in another novel to come! show less

Author Michael Lee West is one of the south’s treasures as she’s shown with her previous works set amongst the live oaks and Spanish moss. Mermaids in the Basement is a worthy addition to her funny and convoluted tales of the modern day south and the resilient (and sometimes off-beat) women who live there.

No blowsy magnolia blossom, screenwriter Renata is down and depressed by her mother and step-father’s unexpected death in a plane crash several months prior to the opening of the show more story. She has a distant and superficial relationship with her father, who is about to marry a very young trophy wife. Her writer’s block is flaring up even as the latest deadline on a crap screenplay is due. And to cap it all off, she sees a tabloid showing her boyfriend, a successful director, in a clinch with the latest Hollywood “It girl” on location in Ireland. After an unproductive call to boyfriend Ferg, a few too many drinks, a bonfire, and alcohol-inspired Fed-Exing, all of which turn out to have been Bad Ideas, Renata finds a letter from her mother marked to be read only in case of an emergency. This letter drives Renata’s flight to her paternal grandmother’s home in coastal Alabama to find out the truth behind her parents' life together. Once home, matriarch and grande dame Honora, former nanny Gladys, and long-time family friend and former actress Isabelle conspire to help Renata find the steel in her backbone, share the skeletons in the family closet with her, and show her that her future, while anchored on the past, can be made to suit the person she is becoming.

Filled with grand parties, shocking revelations, and more side plots than you can shake a stick at, West has created her trademark eccentric but entirely believable characters and plot. She has a way with the turn of a phrase that sometimes doesn't dawn on the reader until they are a paragraph further on but will still elicit a bark of laughter. This is a snappy, witty, and fun read that sucks you and and doesn't let you go, through both the unconventional, crazy happenings and the more mundane. And it will make you a bit sad you don't have characters like this in your real life, because honey, you know they'd take you for some wild ride. An easy, smooth read, West does tackle some heavier topics than calling this a breezy romantic novel would suggest. And she handles them deftly, not allowing them to destroy the light touch of the whole. This is one I definitely recommend. show less

Michael Lee West writes chicklit-ish Southern lit with a distinct tang to it; she usually writes interesting female characters, and I enjoy reading her books. They're reliable comfort-reading. It doesn't hurt that there is usually food-talk involved, as well. I mean, unless you get really hungry at the mention of food, in which case I guess her books could lead to weight gain.

"American Pie" isn't my favorite West book, but it hit all the points I expected it to. There is a POV change with show more each new chapter, which usually bothers me, but she managed to keep the voices distinct enough that it wasn't confusing.

I was not struck by lightning-style revelations or anything while reading "American Pie," but it will be a sturdy addition to my little "comforty Southern lit" shelf.

(I'd give it three-and-a-half stars if goodreads made that possible.) show less

I was expecting this mystery to be lighter than it was. I found myself thinking about the characters after I finished reading, instead of having them immediately vanish from my mind. Teeny Templeton finds her fiance playing naked badminton with two other women and finds herself on her own with a restraining order and charge of criminal assault. When her fiance is murdered, she is the prime suspect, and works with a former boyfriend, now a lawyer to clear her name. In the meantime she works show more as a baker on commission to try to make some money. Recipes included. show less