Review: The Favorite Sister by Jessica Knoll

The Favorite Sister by Jessica Knoll
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
Published: May 2018

Goal Diggers is a reality TV show based on women entrepreneurs. These women have made their own way in life without the help of a man. The story centers around two characters on the show, Brett and Stephanie. Brett is the lesbian who doesn't care about what others things about her, with the bike riding studio who donates proceeds from her studios to women in Morocco who have to walk miles for water. They use the money to purchase bikes for these women. Stephanie is just the opposite refusing to film without a full face of makeup and she has written a few novels and now is on tour for her first "memoir". The other 2 characters on the show are Jen and Lauren, who don't really get along with the rest of the cast, and joining them this season is Kelly, Brett's older sister. Is reality TV really real? Are what is going on in these women's lives really happening or is it played up for the audience. This book takes us from Pre-Production on the show to Post-Production for one of the most explosive seasons. Are you ready for the ride?

Thank you to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for the opportunity to read and review this book.

Getting into this book was hard. It took me 10 days to read it and I thought I would get through it pretty quickly. I love the Real Housewives series with my favorites being Atlanta, and Beverly Hills and this book I thought was going to be like taking a behind the scenes look at a show like that. It was, but for me it fell a little short.

The book starts with Kelly talking about Brett's death. But we have to go through the whole season of filming to see how that all plays out. Each woman has a secret to keep with one being bigger and juicier than the next. So from the start I was intrigued and I had to find out how Brett died, but it just took so long to get there. Back stories and front stories, and Interviews and lies. It's all a complete mess. The best part of the book for me was the last 10%.

Do you watch Reality TV? My husband calls it mind polluting. But he watches a couple of them with me. I've always wanted to know if the show was scripted and if these women were all either enemies or best friends when the cameras go off. You get a glimpse of that in this book. They take us through an entire filming season before the audience gets to see what happens. Producers sending texts to cast members before they are going to meet up with certain people to remind them of last filmed conversations? I need to ask Andy Cohen if that really happens. But with so much drama going on, whose lies do you believe?



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Review--Eyes on You by Kate White

Robin has just started a new job and is about to release her first book.  RIght now, is seems as if life couldn't get any better for her.  When a series of strange events begins to happen, Robin has to figure out exactly who is trying to sabotage her career.  There are a few people it could be and right now Robin isn't sure who she can trust.

This book held my attention from start to finish.  It was hard to put down.  The book had a little bit of everything in it.  A little thriller, a little romance, some conspiracy and murder.  All throughout the book, you think you know who is going to be the one doing all of the dirty work.  There seems to be so many suspects.  Is it the handsome co-host?  The ambitious intern who is desperately trying her best?  The veteran at the station who will stop at nothing to stay on top and relevant?  The associate producer whose story ideas always seem to fall a little short.

I could not put this book down.  I had to know what was going to happen.  I stayed on the edge of my seat.  There was even one part where I shouted, "Holy Shit!" out loud.  Luckily, I wasn't any place public when that happened.

This was a great book.  One of the best that I have read this year.  I look forward to reading more from this author.

I read this book as a part of Overdrive's Big Library Read.

Other books by Kate White:

The Wrong Man
Hush
The Sixes
So Pretty It Hurts
Lethally Blonde
Over Her Dead Body
'Til Death Do Us Part
A Body to Die For
If Looks Could Kill

Review--Jemima J by Jane Green

Jemima J: A Novel About Ugly Ducklings and Swans by Jane Green
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Jemima Jones is overweight.  She is aware of this fact and she's okay with it.  She loves models and magazines and frequently cuts out their pictures and tapes them to her wall.  Currently she writes the Top Tips for the Kilburn Herald in London.  She would like to right features, like her friend Geraldine, but right now, she enjoys "proofing" the copy.  She has a crush on another colleague, Ben Williams and occasionally, the three hang out.  Ben is crushing on Geraldine, while Jemima is crushing on him.   After an internet seminar given by the newspaper, the trio decides to check it out what all the internet hype is about for themselves.  When they find a chat room called Cafe LA, Jemima becomes JJ and her world is flipped upside down.

JJ meets Brad in the chatroom and after talking for a while, they exchange photos.  Brad is a hunk and JJ is smoking hot, but Jemima is not and before she agrees to meet Brad in person, she has to lose about 100 pounds.  With this goal Jemima sets out to join a gym and get a personal trainer and the weight falls off. Armed with a new body and a new attitude, JJ is off to LA to meet Brad.  Is he going to be the man in the pictures?  Will they fall madly in love and will she finally get the man of her dreams?

Many women can relate to Jemima J.  She is self conscious about herself and how the world perceives her.  I could see myself in her shoes.  I was afraid for her when she went to meet a man on the other side of the world that she had met on the internet.  I wanted Ben to see her as more than a friend.  I wanted her roommates to not be such idiots.  Jemima is a character that you can understand and root for.



Second Title in Take Control of Your TBR 2015.


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