who says you have to be crowded into the living room, kitchen, and/or dining room to hold a book club? we are ladies of the 21st century. we don’t need no stinkin’ couches. so pull up a blog and join in the conversation.
the members of the BOOK HUNGRY are (alphabetically): patty blount, kelly breakey, karla nellenbach, vanessa noble, alyson peterson, cynthia reese, elizabeth ryann, and myself. here’s the deal. we pick a book to read. we discuss via email. we post a review on our individual blogs on the same day (3rd thursday of the month). we link to each other. done. i know, genius. click on each one of their names (above) and it’ll take you to their review. browse. enjoy.
this month’s BOOK HUNGRY selection is:
MAKING WAVES by Tawna Fenske
what it’s about from amazon: When Alex Bradshaw’s unscrupulous boss kicks him to the curb after 20 faithful years as an executive with the world’s largest shipping company, he sets out to reclaim his dignity and his pension. Assembling a team of fellow corporate castoffs, he sails to the Caribbean to intercept an illegal diamond shipment. None of them counted on quirky blonde stowaway Juli Flynn, who has a perplexing array of talents, a few big secrets, and an intoxicating romantic chemistry with Alex…
my opinion: i have an issue with expectations because of this thing i call my imagination. it tends to hype things up so much that i’m usually left disappointed. i’m happy to announce i have found a cure.
its name is tawna fenske.
after spending the last year or so stalking following her blog and interacting with her on twitter, i was prepared for her debut novel, MAKING WAVES, to be funny, charming, believable, sexy, hilarious, and silly. it was all of those things and MORE, oh so much more. in fact, the only reason i put down the book was because i was laughing so hard it was shaking so much that if i continued to read, i’d probably have gotten seasick. (juli, stop being my role model!)
in movies and books, there’s usually a certain formula that keeps the main couple apart so the tension has time to mount to agonizing levels, however, the reasons keeping them separate tend to be far fetched and unbelievable. not so for Juli and Alex in MAKING WAVES. the distractions, motivations, and circumstances that pull these two apart (and push them back together again) are valid, completely realistic (albeit outrageous) and aren’t there just to up the page count.
i don’t claim to know much about the romance genre, but i have a feeling that tawna fenske is to rom-com as katy perry is to pop music. (i feel justified in making this claim because i saw the VH1 behind the music about katy perry which therefore makes me an expert.) both katy and tawna had bumpy roads to stardom/publication, but once on the scene, we all wonder how we survived without her catchy pop songs/hilariously saucy books.
yes, this is me predicting tawna’s gonna hit it big. and this is me thanking the publishing people for finally(!) bringing us her books.
and a THANK YOU to tawna herself for making time to chat with four of us Book Hungries. on monday night, tawna, patty, elizabeth, kelly and i had a conference call where we discussed our favorite scenes, the crazy characters, her inspirations, her research, and her continued publication path, in addition to her passing along some stellar blogging advice. you better believe all of the above included her usual brand of sassy honesty. suffice it to say, tawna is as cool as juli is smart. (if you’ve read the book, you’ll totally get that analogy. if you haven’t read the book yet [why ever not? GO READ IT], you probably won’t properly appreciate my wittiness, but being misunderstood is all part of being a writer, right? or, hmm, is that just when you’re a rock star?)
anyways, the moral of this blog post: READ THIS BOOK. read it if you don’t like romance. read it if you do. read it if you’re cranky. read it if you’re happy. read it if you’re 89. read it if you’re 8, WAIT, no, ask your parents first.
okay, this gushing has taken a turn for the weird so i’m just going to say this one last thing: this book is a super fine display of comedy, plotting, characterization, and romance.
*places book on pedestal.*
//
Abigail Mumford 
Whoa. Tawna wrote a book?
(Tee-hee.)
I agree with every you said. :)
ha. well played, grimes.
*nods in agreement* everything i wanted to say but couldnt seem to find the words. I think i shall simply link to your review for my post, point and say, “What she said”
think that’ll work? no? bummer :)
i’d be honored.
and i must say, i was surprised at how hard it was to write a gushy post. this is about the 15th draft and it still might be too long, but i could go on and on and on about how much this book rocked.
oh, and FYI: i did finish BEYONDERS…like a couple weeks ago…but im still supremely pissed about the ending. what was that about? and the word?!?! don’t get my started on that. bastards. *shakes fist*
uh, yeah. i’m right there with you. the word? the ending? and i mean really, the word? that freaking word? seriously? oh no he didn’t. not even voldemort is that mean.
I loved reading this review! Almost as much as I loved reading Tawna’s book :)
I hope you return to regular blogging soon, I miss you!
aww, thanks!
i can’t wait to re-read tawna’s book nor can i wait to return to blogging.
Great post Abby and I agree.
This was one book it seems the whole bookhungry crew could agree on. Was that a first for us?
it is a rare thing, yes, but i’m pretty sure we all enjoyed HUNGER GAMES. am i wrong??
Aww, thanks so much for the lovely review! I had a blast chatting with you ladies!
thanks so much for stopping by! thanks so much for writing an awesome book! thanks so much for chatting with us! you rock.
want.to.read.
welcome back, mumfy:):):)
you must read it. and thanks. oh how i missed your garbage nicknames.