Coffeespoons

Grace is a 20-something Chinese-Filipina who lives in Manila. She teaches pre-school, has a more-or-less traditional Chinese-Fil family, and, finally, a fiancé. Except that now, she's wondering about the fiancé. Her "dream" man, not to mention the man her parents approve of, tells her, soon after he's proposed, that he's moving to Singapore for a few months. Supposedly, it's to secure their future. Now, a fiancé leaving right after his proposal and sounding excited by it does not seem to bode well for the relationship. Especially when he starts talking a lot about another woman. So Grace, not to be hoodwinked out of her future marital bliss, decides to go to Singapore, surprise her man, and lay claim to him. And therein begins Grace's true search for herself. In the process, Grace traipses after her fiancé across three countries. What happens in the end? Something I am happy about. And that's all you'll get from me, at this point. Tara Seri...

Read: 4/24/09 2/5 stars You know when you read a book by a supposedly good author, and you're not getting it, so you just keep reading hoping something good will happen? Then you're rewarded with little blips of plot development, but few and far between. Then the book ends, and you are left wondering, "What happened here?" That about summarizes my experience with Baby Proof . I bought this book since I enjoyed reading Something Blue by the same author. Actually, I was keeping an eye out for Something Borrowed, but since I couldn't seem to find a copy, and this one was on sale, I figured this one might be as good. Apparently not. Claudia, the main character, does not want to have a baby. She finds a man who shares her sentiments. They seem perfect for each other, get married, and proceed to have the kind of union most people would dream about. Up until the point that Ben, Claudia's husband, decides he wants a child. Here lies the conflict, and the rest of the ...

Read: 3/22/09 4/5 stars I heard about Emily Giffin through a book club friend (thanks, Blooey !). Supposedly, Giffin writes a different kind of chick lit. Not having read a lot of chick lit really, aside from the Shopaholic books of Kinsella, and that awful-book-but-good-movie, The Devil Wears Prada , I don't really have much to compare with. Regardless, based on what I have read, Something Blue seems a more mature look into relationships in the chick-lit world. Giffin's first book, Something Borrowed , actually introduces the readers to the same characters in Something Blue . Admittedly, I haven't read the first book yet. According to the background, Something Borrowed 's protagonist, Darcy Rhones, is the first book's antagonist. Hence, Darcy begins as an annoying, self-obssessed character, much like Kinsella's Becky Bloomwood. Darcy's character change, however, begins when everything that she took for granted was taken away from her, and she ends up alon...

Read: 2/1/09 4 stars This book has been waiting on my shelf for months now, and I got to picking it up because I was looking for something light and fun. Turns out, I picked perfectly. For those of you who haven't--Stephanie Plum just got laid off and can't seem to find any job for her. So, she turns to her cousin Vinnie, who gets her a job as a bounty hunter, the type that brings in FTAs (Failure to Appear, which is what they call people who fail to show up for their court date.) The money is immensely attractive to Stephanie, but her first case is somewhat complicated since she has to bring in Joe Morelli, a cop who was accused of murdering an unarmed person and a man with whom Stephanie has had a colorful history. The book is funny, and the action really moves along quickly, but what I really liked was Stephanie's character and the predicament she was in--not having a job, therefore no money, and having to do whatever was necessary just so she could live. That situation ...