CBR # 4 - The Heir Affair by Heather Cocks & Jessica Morgan (aks The Fug Girls)

I think I have mentioned in numerous comment diversions and facebook threads that I came to Pajiba by way of  GoFugYourself (by way of thefashionspot, by way fansofrealitytv by way of watching america's next top model on youtube).  Needless to say, I have  a soft spot for The Fug Girls.  I don't read the blog anymore because I can't with the interface, but I have read some of their books, which are breezy, light and fun (as far as I can remember them).

The Heir Affair is the sequel to their 2015 book The Royal We.  That book was a quite transparent Will and Kate fantasy with Kate as an American, and a lot more down to earth.  My problem when reading book two, was that I had read The Royal We 5 years ago, and my memory is not it.  So, I had forgotten the specifics of the ending and the side characters, which made it a bit frustrating for me at first.  But the book is not high literary fiction, so things do get explained and recaps are done so it wasn't really THAT confusing.  

This book starts with Will and Kate (not their book names, but whatever) running away from the Harry (the heir's younger brother)-Kate related scandal.  But the Queen is sick (or so they say), so they come back to face the music, and their royal duties. 

The book was long and kinda meandering, but not in a totally bad way.  There was no sense of urgency to the plot and it understandably focuses less on romance.  I think this is because they are already married and it has been established that they love each other and are in it for the long haul.  So the story is more about coming to terms with their life and dealing with frayed interpersonal relationships, especially between the couple and Harry.  Like I said, it's not a bad thing.  I find these long reads covering long periods of time strangely comforting.  But there are a few plot twists and choices that made me go WHAAAT.  There is definitely some soap opera stuff going on. Plus, I can't with Kate.  He's your husband's brother and you know he loves you, NO, you aren't allowed to have a "special" relationship with him!  I don't care if you love him as a friend.  All interactions should purely be within the sister-in-law realm.  Ugh.

Another struggle I have is that these characters are so obviously patterned after the real royals, at least in the initial book, that all the stuff going on with their real versions sort of intrude a little bit with my enjoyment of reading the book.  But, it is an enjoyable and soapy read.  Not world changing and a bit too wish fulfillment-y sometimes for my personal taste but overall worth your time if you're into this kinda thing.  

CBR 9 #2 - Chasing Harry WInston by Lauren Weisberger

Having enjoyed Last Night at Chateau marmont and finding The Singles Game, ok, if a little meh, I decided to read another Weisberger book.  Well, not so much decided as saw that it was the next book in my unread books dropbox folder.  Did I regret my lazy choice?  Yes.  Yes I did.

Emmy, Leigh and Adriana have been best friends since college and have maintained the so-called BFF status even as they approach their 30s.  The girls are of course, so different from each other but are utter stereotypes.  And not pleasant ones either.  Emmy is the "desperate" one who is desperate to get married and have babies.  Leigh is the "cold" one who is unhappy despite a pretty much perfect life because she was not complete without the bad boy married novelist.  Adriana is the "slut", of course.  The Brazilian maneater, superficial and shallow.  

After Emmy's long time boyfriend broke up with after cheating numerous times and giving her STDs, the girls decide to make resolutions for the following year, to do a complete 180 on their tried and true moves.  Emmy was going to fuck numerous guys instead of rushing into yet another long term relationship.  Adriana was going to stick to one man, get engaged and married.  Leigh didn't have a particular resolution yet, but you bet your ass it had something to do with finding her true passionate love.  Who cares if she agreed to get engaged to a perfectly good, even great guy that she didn't love, because she was too spineless to say no?

I really did not like this book.  Seriously.  The characters are ridiculous cliches and so unlikeable to boot.  Emmy is the least worst, though she is whiny as hell.  Leigh is horrible and Adriana is the wooorsstt.  The plot was boring and so unbelievable at the same time.  The writing is so meh.  Adriana says 'querida' every other sentence.  Because she is Brazilian.  Get it??  There was a whole Aruba vacation that was both pointless and boring.

I think that the author was trying to be all girl power with this on in the sense that it wasn't ALL about the romance.  They supposedly learned something about themselves and and their happy ever after was not the fairy book romance happy ever after but a supposedly real-world happily ever after.  But to this, I call bullshit!  Ok, Emmy did get to have some casual sex but still got the perfect guy in the end, on the way to babies and marital bliss.  Leigh broke up with her perfect, sportscaster fiance to be with an asshole author.  But Adriana is what irked me the most.  Her thing was that her ex supermodel mom wanted her to get married to a rich guy before she became to old to snag one.  Never mind that she was already fabulously wealthy.  And how was that subverted?  She decided not to marry a rich guy but became an advice columnist on how to snag rich guys using hard-to-get tactics and basically luying.  I think this is an older book, but it feels really icky in the present climate.  

Oh my gosh, I did not realize that I felt so strongly about this book.  Final verdict:  Did not like, do not read.  Do you guys have any advice on which "chick lit"/ romance books are good and won't make my brain rot?  That won't invoke any feminist rage?  I haven't really read a lot of them but from what I've read, I liked marian Keyes the best.