Chick Lit Party

I recently indulged in reading two wonderful 'chick lit' authors since it seems that I've been reading a lot of heavier books as of late and my mind needed to escape to the lovely and sexy mindscapes of romance literature.

I had never read Lisa Kleypas before but had picked up the first novel in her Friday Harbour Series when at Powell's earlier this year.  With a title like Christmas Eve at Friday Harbour, it felt like a good time of year to read this! Well I enjoyed this one so much that I immediately picked up Rainshadow Road (which was also lovely!) and Dream Lake (currently on my to-read pile), the next two installments in the series.  Being a west coaster, I really enjoyed the Seattle setting in these novels and all the visual imagery Kleypas uses to paint a picture of life on this side of the world.  She writes strong women characters and sexy men to accompany them; a fun series if you are looking for something contemporary, light-hearted, and a touch magical.

I had read the first two books in Eloisa James' Fairy Tale series before but I enjoyed them so much that I really felt the need to revisit these characters.  Book one is A Kiss at Midnight and is James' retelling of the Cinderella story with a feisty heroine named Kate and a dashing prince / budding archaeologist named Gabriel, along with a sexy half brother / butler, a saucy older godmother, a kind yet dimwitted step sister, and a bunch of little dogs.  Add this all together and you have a fun few hours in which you can get lost in this book.  The second book, When Beauty Tamed the Beast tackles the Beauty and the Beast tale and again we see James putting her own spin on things.  The Beauty of the story is socially ruined (and believed to be knocked up) Linnet and the Beast is the cranky doctor / duke Piers (modeled after tv's 'House').  Lots of fun dialogue between our lovers and some very sexy stuff sprinkled in.  There are at least 2 more novels and 3 novellas (eBooks only as far as I know) in this series and I'm looking forward to reading them!

If you too need something fun to read, grab any of these books and you won't be disappointed!