Kate Rorick

“In dark moments, when Quinn Barrett looked back and analyzed what caused the destruction of her entire life, she should have known that it would happen at the Little Wonders Preschool Happy Halloween Costume Parade (and Dance Party).”

After a long, trying day, Little Wonders Preschool Parent Association President, Quinn Barrett loses her temper when her three year old refuses to wear the Halloween costume she’d spent hours making. When her tantrum is caught on camera by another parent show more and inadvertently goes viral, Quinn’s perfect life begins to spiral out of control.

Little Wonders is an entertaining novel exploring the pressure on mothers to present a facade of perfection.

Honestly Quinn is the type of woman many of us both envy and resent, she seems to have it all and manage it without any visible effort. Her fall from grace is somewhat satisfying as the viral meltdown exposes her tenuous control over the various areas of her life, including her career and her marriage. But forced to consider what it is she really wants, Quinn earns her redemption, and in the end I found her to be a very sympathetic character.

New to Little Wonders and Boston, Daisy is struggling to fit in. Her electric blue hair, tattooed arms and love of Star Wars marks her as obviously different amongst the traditional moneyed class of Boston society. She’s unwittingly the reason for Quinn’s viral infamy as the ‘Halloween Mom’, and has her own lessons to learn about how far she will go to fit in. I identified more with Daisy than Quinn, or Shanna (Quinn’s sort-of nemesis), and I’d love to play a game of D&D with her.

In this Instagram age, where appearance is often more prized than truth, Little Wonders is relevant and often relatable, even if predictable. I loved the snarky preschool newsletters, (having written a few of those in my lifetime, the truth is definitely in what you leave out), and I enjoyed the geeky fandom/rpg references too.

Witty and winsome I enjoyed Little Wonders finding it an easy, engaging read. show less

"There's this weird thing that happens when everything falls apart. It's happened to me before, so I know. Your body, the normal one you live in every day, sort of starts to exist apart from you. You're still there of course. Still hanging out. But it all goes on autopilot, getting you through the days while you...contract."

When I started reading The Epic Adventures of Lydia Bennet, the thought that I might like it more than The Secret Diary of Lizzie Bennet hadn't even crossed my mind. But show more I did. Maybe it's because there was no web series to accompany this or maybe it's because in some ways Lydia felt more relatable than Lizzie did.

After what happened with Wickham, Lydia is trying to pick up the pieces of her life but she's not quite sure how to do that. All she knows is that she wants to get away and start over. In the beginning, instead of acknowledging or admitting to how she really feels she chooses to pretend like everything is okay. In doing so she not only jeopardizes her future plans but the trust she's working to rebuild with her family. As time goes on she decides not to let her past define her and slowly begins to find her way.
I loved watching Lydia grow. Yes, she still makes a number of bad decisions but she's learning. There isn't much Lizzie/Darcy or Jane/Bing but that's okay. They (more or less) got their happy endings at the end of The Lizzie Bennet Diaries so it's only fair that Lydia has a chance at a happy ending too.

The fact that I loved this book as much as I did is a surprise considering I have never cared much for the character of Lydia Bennet. Definitely recommend this! show less

Like any good fan of the Lizzie Bennet Diaries, I had bought The Secret Diary of Lizzie Bennet and loved it. I was therefore super excited to see that there was going to be a second book from Lydia’s point of view which takes place after the end of the series. SQUEE. I knew immediately I needed the book in audiobook form, since Ashley Clements had done such a fabulous job narrating the first one. I hoarded one lone Audible credit for months long after I had declined to renew my show more subscription just to purchase this book in audio.

Totally worth it. Mary Kate Wiles is a skilled voice actor and created different voices for each new character, and mimicked the ones we already knew from the web series. She definitely added a depth that I would not have gotten from just reading the book myself.

The book follows Lydia as she tries to move on past the events of the web series and regain her confidence and sense of self. She starts out optimistic on finishing her classes and transferring to college in SF. She even has plans to share an apartment with cousin Mary, who has moved in with the Bennets for the summer until then.

But in Lydia fashion, things don’t go as planned and she has to hit bottom again to truly move on and grow. Lydia shows that we can be our own worst enemies, both in our actions and our thoughts. But by getting through her new troubles, she grows and matures in a way that she never did post-Wickham, and I'm glad for that.

True confession time: I hated Lydia in the web series. She was annoying, bratty, self-centered, and egotistical. Even while I felt for her after Wickham, I still did not like her very much as a character. This book changed that. It got me inside her head so I understood that yes, she's a flake and selfish, but I understood her a bit better, and that at her heart she does care for other people and wants to do what is right. Plus, she stopped being so everything I disliked in this book and started growing up.

Hopefully there will be a third book in the near future focusing on Jane. One can dream. :-D show less

Kate Noble's second installment in her Winner Takes All series has me so excited for the rest of this series. I was a little concerned about having Leticia as the main character, but I'm so glad The Lie and the Lady proved me wrong.

Noble picks up the story of Leticia Herzog, Countess of Churzy, and John Turner, who we met in The Game and the Governess. Leticia is trying to outrun The Lie, which has followed her through England, hampering her efforts to find a suitable match. Having fled to show more Paris in desperation, she meets Sir Barty, a lonely widower from the town of Helmsley. Successful in securing his affections (and the security that brings), she returns with him to his estate, only to find that the man she is trying to avoid is the town miller, John Turner.

I was a little concerned about Leticia as a main character. It's no secret in Game that she is after the Earl of Ashby for his money. Though we get hints that she cares for the "Earl," how can such a materialistic woman become a heroine? Oh how wrong my fears were. Noble writes a complex and complicated character with Leticia, with the reader coming to fully understand her motivations, fears, and desires.

It also doesn't hurt that John Turner is quite the man. Where the first novel suffered somewhat because of Ned being naive, John Turner is an incredible romantic lead. Equally complex and complicated, it's not hard to see why Leticia has a hard time saying goodbye. John knows exactly what he wants and as a reader, well hot damn.

My only complaint is that I have to wait till the fall of 2016 for the next installment. As much as I enjoyed the story of Leticia and John, I was smiling just as much with the hints of what was to come for the 3rd novel in the series. Highly recommend! show less