Alice's Review: Seeing Me Naked

Summary:  Elisabeth Page is the daughter of Ben Page, yes, that's right, THE world famous novelist. And yes, she's also the sister of Rascal Page, world famous novelist in his own right. So what does Elisabeth do? Much to her family's disappointment, Elisabeth is a pastry chef. And a pretty damn good one, at Beverly, the hottest restaurant in LA.  The last relationship Elisabeth had was with Will, a man she grew up with and whose family ran in the same social circles as her family. But Will's constant jaunts around the world have left her lonely and brokenhearted in L.A.  That is until Daniel Sullivan bids on one of Elisabeth's pastry tutorials at a charity auction. Daniel is everything her family is not: a basketball coach, a non-intellectual, his family doesn't summer on Martha's Vineyard, and the only metaphors he uses are about passing the ball and being a team player. But somehow they fit.  Between her family, Will, and the new cooking show that Elisabeth is recruited to star in, Elisabeth's life is suddenly incredibly new and different--the question is, can she embrace being happy or has her family conditioned her to think she's just not good enough? ~powells.com

Review:  The more novels I read by Liza Palmer, the more I fall in love with her work.  She gives her readers well-rounded characters.  They could be your friends or neighbors or even members of your own family.  Seeing Me Naked is no different.  In this novel, the story focuses on Elisabeth Page, an up and coming pastry chef at one of Los Angeles’ hottest restaurants.  She’s lived a fairly anonymous life even though her father is a world famous novelist.

It’s so easy to get wrapped up in this novel.  The characters are all unique and interesting.  There is a surprise on every page.  Seeing Me Naked feels a lot like a coming of age story.  It’s a journey of self discovery, risk, and acceptance.  I loved Elisabeth. I loved her humor, her family, her tenacity.   Overall, I really enjoyed this story.  There was one moment in particular I did not see coming at all.  Best part was neither did the characters.  There was a collective gasp heard by all.   

Seeing Me Naked is an unexpected foodie’s dream, complete with a few recipes at the end that I am anxious to try, especially the Yogi Tea.  Ms. Palmer wrote Elisabeth so well that I really felt her love for cooking.  There were so many times I wanted to dive into the pages and sample one of her pastries or that pumpkin flan. 

 I am saving the best for last in this review.  As much as I enjoyed the story, the romance, Elisabeth and her quirky family, my absolute favorite part was getting to see California through Elisabeth’s eyes.  From the farmer’s markets to her drives up the coast, she left me itching to take a trip to the west coast.  My only wish is that Elisabeth be my tour guide.

Final Take: 4/5
Google+

Julie's Review: More Like Her

Summary: What really goes on behind those perfect white picket fences? In Frances' mind, beautiful, successful, ecstatically married Emma Dunham is the height of female perfection. Frances, recently dumped with spectacular drama by her boyfriend, aspires to be just like Emma. So do her close friends and fellow teachers, Lisa and Jill. But Lisa's too career-focused to find time for a family. And Jill's recent unexpected pregnancy could have devastating consequences for her less-than-perfect marriage. Yet sometimes the golden dream you fervently wish for turns out to be not at all what it seems;like Emma's enviable suburban postcard life, which is about to be brutally cut short by a perfect husband turned killer. And in the shocking aftermath, three devastated friends are going to have to come to terms with their own secrets . . . and somehow learn to move forward after their dream is exposed as a lie. ~powells.com  

Review: What looks like a book about friendship turns out to be be much more in Liza Palmer's More Like Her. What it shows is that appearances are just that and sometimes we don't really know what goes on behind closed doors.

The book opens up with a 911 call about a shooting at a school. Immediately your preconceived notions are thrown out the window. We are then taken to the days leading up to that call and shooting. We meet Frannie, Jill, Lisa and Emma. Emma is the new headmistress of Markham School that services well to do families in the Pasadena area. Emma's husband is a Professor at nearby UCLA. The story is told from Frannie's point of view and because she doesn't like Jamie, as a reader you don't like him. While Emma might come off snooty, once you dig into her layers you realize there is much more to her.

While we get to know each of the girls through Frannie's eyes and then through some revelations, you realize that some people hold things close to their chest. They don't open up until something extreme happens. You realize that no one is perfect and everyone has their own demons to work through.

Ms. Palmer does a great job of moving the story along and making you wonder what's going to happen. I wish we actually did learn a little more about Emma and Jamie. What was the trigger? Was it her standing up for herself for the first time in her life? What it something else? All of the characters are well thought out and have a specific way of moving the story forward. I would be remiss if I didn't talk about how dreamy and delicious Sam was in the novel. Yet, no matter his heartthrob factor he has some serious issues to work through before he could offer Frannie what she needed as well.

Even though the ending was a little too neat, I was still happy with it. If you haven't read More Like Her, I definitely recommend it.

Final Take: 4.25/5

Alice's Review






 Google+

Alice's Review: More Like Her

Summary:  What really goes on behind those perfect white picket fences? In Frances’s mind, beautiful, successful, ecstatically married Emma Dunham is the height of female perfection. Frances, recently dumped with spectacular drama by her boyfriend, aspires to be just like Emma. So do her close friends and fellow teachers, Lisa and Jill. But Lisa’s too career-focused to find time for a family. And Jill’s recent unexpected pregnancy could have devastating consequences for her less-than-perfect marriage. Yet sometimes the golden dream you fervently wish for turns out to be not at all what it seems—like Emma’s enviable suburban postcard life, which is about to be brutally cut short by a perfect husband turned killer. And in the shocking aftermath, three devastated friends are going to have to come to terms with their own secrets . . . and somehow learn to move forward after their dream is exposed as a lie.

Review:  Look at the cover of More Like Her…three friends, legs crossed, high heels.   Total chick-lit.  Summary?  Girl loses boy, gets new boss, girl meets other boy.  Total chick-lit.   I read one novel by Liza Palmer before this one, Conversations with the Fat Girl.  Great book.  Great writer.  Total chick-lit.  What’s my point?  Oh, Liza Palmer pulled a fast one on us.

This starts as a classic novel about a few girlfriends and failed romance and turns into one of the best contemporary works of fiction I have read in a while. This novel is anything but typical. Ms. Palmer took a boy meets girl story and laced it with shock and tragedy. I knew from the summary there would be death. What I didn’t know was how it would come to fruition. It wasn’t what I expected. I was as stunned to experience it as the characters in the novel. It caught me off guard, I was genuinely shocked. I love that in a novel.

Frannie, our protagonist, shares her story with us in a voice that is refreshing and honest. A key plot point is her breakup with the perfect Ryan and subsequent blooming romance with architect Sam. This has the perfect funny debacles of romance characteristic of chick-lit. Frannie thinks too much, at times analyzing things to an exasperating level. She relies on her friends for guidance and support, and they give both with wisdom and with comedy. I was especially drawn to Jill, she reminded me of my BFF Roe. Ms. Palmer gives the reader multi-faceted characters. There was more to Frannie than her love life. And it’s this other part of her that gets tested, what shines in the face of this disaster. One would think romance and tragedy couldn’t coexist in the same story, but they do. And that’s the beauty of More Like Her, Ms. Palmer weaves them together organically.

There are two blemishes in this otherwise perfect novel. The first is that the ending was just a bit too conventional. I loved it, but for some reason it felt off. The second is the synopsis of this novel does not do it justice. Lisa does not come across as too career-focused, if anything she is the one whose heart is most opened to finding, giving and receiving love. Jill’s recent unexpected pregnancy isn’t revealed until the last 50 or so pages of the novel. This knowledge robs the reader of the surprise and makes us think it is a major plot point when in reality it is relatively insignificant.

Those two things aside, More Like Her is a page turning powerhouse.  I was riveted to the end.


Final Take:  4/5