Here are a few books I read and enjoyed recently.
Break in Case of Emergency: Jen ditches her painting career to take a job at a feminist nonprofit. The Leora Infinitis Foundation—or LIFt—claims to empower women, but the team spends all their time thinking of acronyms, undermining one another, and sucking up to their celebrity philanthropist boss. Jen also starts to compare herself to her two best friends, an attorney with a young family and an artist. I wanted to love the book because the premise sounded fun, but I thought it was a bit dull.
All the Lives I Want: Alana Massey wrote short essays about different celebrities she admires, what she’s learned from them, and similarities between herself and them.
She shares her own experiences with mental illness, the sex industry, and toxic relationships…and also everyone from Scarlett Johansson to Amber Rose, Lil’ Kim, Anjelica Huston, Lana Del Rey, Anna Nicole Smith, Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen, and more. It was a quick and easy read. I definitely recommend it for journalists who write profiles.
The Lying Game: Four former best friends from boarding school share a big secret and, years after leaving school and moving on with their lives, they find out that their secret might be uncovered. The friends were inseparable at school and were well-known for playing the Lying Game, they would tell lies to other girls at school and the faculty. Now they have to go back for an event and to try to cover up their mistakes. I really liked the book and was surprised by the ending.
The Royal We (c/o): Confession: Ever since I wrote an article about gifts that I’d get Prince Harry and Meaghan Markle, I’ve been fascinated by the royals. I watched the Lifetime movies about Prince Harry and Meaghan Markle and Prince William and Kate Middleton, both royal weddings, and a few different documentaries about the royals. I picked up The Royal We, which is basically fan-fiction about Prince William and Kate Middleton’s early relationship under the guise of the fictional couple, Prince Nick and Rebecca Porter. Instead of meeting at St. Andrews, they meet at Oxford and Rebecca is an American who is there as a study abroad program. I studied abroad at Oxford so I love reading about their time on campus and, of course, the fictional royal romance.
Tell Me Lies (c/o): This book is about toxic relationships. It is clearly about the toxic relationship between Lucy and Stephen who are on-and-off throughout college and into their early twenties. (The chapters alternate between her perspective and his, but it’s also about Lucy’s toxic relationship with her mom.) I thought it was really well-written and thoughtful. None of the characters were completely likable..but maybe that makes it more realistic? I recommend it and there was a major twist, which is always something I like in a fiction book.
