2016 Carefree Colourful Women Beach Reads

Summer is just around the corner. I know the calendar says it doesn't start until June 20, but if you're like me, it starts somewhere around Memorial Day and doesn't end until Labor Day. While some people prefer mysteries, thrillers or biographies for their beach reading, I like to keep it light. I'm sharing some of my favorite reads that pair nicely with a refreshing pina colada or Bahama Mama. Or maybe you're not planning to hit the beach this summer, but you need a palate cleanser after some of the heavier books you've been reading.  I've got you!

Some of my favorite books are about women of colour just having fun. Too often we get saddled down with other people's problems and take on the burden of the world. All you'll find in these selections are carefree, colourful women who sometimes get caught up in quirky situations, bad romances and silly schemes. All of the books are about women of colour from around the globe and were written by women of colour from around the globe. Happy reading!

The Broke Diaries: The Completely True and Hilarious Misadventures of a Good Girl Gone Broke by Angela Nissel
The Awesome Girl's Guide to Dating Extraordinary Men by Ernessa T. Carter
Imaginary Men by Anjali Banerjee
Life in Spades by Frances Frost
Waking Up in the Land of Glitter by Kathy Cano-Murillo
Confessions of a Call Center Gal by Lisa Lim
It Ain't Easy Being Jazzy by Quanie Miller
A Pinch of Ooh La La by Renee Swindle
Chore Whore: Adventures of a Celebrity Personal Assistant by Heather H. Howard
Sexual Healing/Let's Get It On by Jill Nelson
Losing To Win by Michele Grant
Fairy Tale Fail by Mina V. Esguerra
Year of the Chick by Romi Moondi
The Bollywood Bride by Sonali Dev
One Flight Up by Susan Fales-Hill

#BookReview: THE AWESOME GIRL'S GUIDE TO DATING EXTRAORDINARY MEN by Ernessa T. Carter

I have only been waiting on this book for two years.  Actually, a little over two years, but who's counting?  Even as 32 Candles was released, Ernessa T. Carter promised that a new book was coming.  She let us see chapters and everything.  Then life happened and the book was delayed.  Imagine my surprise when I saw someone mention The Awesome Girl's Guide last month.  I squealed with glee knowing that it would just be a matter of time before I'd have a chance to immerse myself in the world of Ernessa and her true to life characters.

Why the title?  I know it will throw some people who see it and automatically assume that it's another self-help book for women written by the latest Twitter dating guru.  It so is not.  Remember Davie Jones from 32 Candles?  Well she's back in a lesser role as the author of said self-help book.  You know how awesome Davie is (remember her invitation to crazy line?), so just imagine the kind of advice she gives.

If you say you want to find an extraordinary man, and you've got a habit of turning down social invitations, I mean any social invitation at all, then I just plain don't believe you're serious in this endeavor.  When you're searching for true love, you had best take every invitation you get, because for all you know, somebody's handing you an Invitation to Extraordinary.

Why do I love Ernessa's writing so much and why should you buy this book as soon as you finish this review?  Because we all have friends just like the people she writes about.  She doesn't create worlds so ridiculous that no one can imagine actually living in them.  And her characters are multidimensional and human.

Alternate cover

Though only one of the women claims to be looking for love, in actuality, all four of them are. Sharita is a by the book accountant whose professional life is on track, but her love life fell off the rails a long time ago.  She hates stepping out of her comfort zone and will find every excuse to avoid social gatherings, so when she does meet a man (most likely at work or the grocery store), she goes ghost on her friends, only to reappear when things don't work out.  I could write a book on people like that, and if you think about it, you have a friend just like that.  Or maybe you're that friend, I'm not judging you (yes, I am).

Thursday is the queen of one month stands.  Right, not one night stands, one month stands.  This love them and leave them queen can attract men like bees to honey, she just doesn't want to keep them.  As soon as it seems like the men are catching feelings, she gives them the old heave ho.  When Davie's book falls into her lap, coupled with a recurring dream about a mysterious man, she begins to think that she might finally be ready to settle down with the one.

Risa is a hot mess.  When I first started reading about her, I immediately thought of Lynn from Girlfriends.  Risa doesn't mooch off of her friends like Lynn, but she is determined to make it as a musician.  Her budding career was stunted before, but she has a plan to make a comeback.  All of her friends think she's out of her mind, but Risa knows that if she becomes the rock star she's meant to be, The One will come back to her.

While Sharita, Thursday and Risa are all friends from college, Smith College to be exact (Ernessa's alma mater), Tammy joined the group after the trio relocated to Los Angeles.  Readers will remember Tammy from 32 Candles as James Farrell's younger sister who tormented Davie Jones in high school.  Tammy is the character that we know the least about, but we do know that Davie is now her sister-in-law.  Most of the focus of the book is on the other three ladies, with Tammy kind of flitting about the perimeter as she tries to learn to love herself, but when she steps into the story, she does so in a big way.

At 494 pages, it seems like this could be a long read, but it's really not.  Carter's writing has a way of pulling you in and not letting you go, so the pages fly right by.  No one's story line is predictable and I promise you'll find yourself talking to the characters at times.  I absolutely loved this book and can guarantee that I'll be re-reading it soon.

494pp
Published: September 2013
Disclosure: Copy of book received from author, opinions are my own.

Purchase: Amazon | B & N | Book Depository | IndieBound

#BookReview: 32 Candles - Ernessa T. Carter

When was the last time you stayed up late to read a book? 32 Candles is so good that I started reading it at a bowling alley, ignored Twitter and the TV when I got home and stayed up until I was done with it. Yes, it's that good.

32 Candles is the story of Davidia Jones, also known as Monkey Night the mute chick.  Growing up in small town Glass, Mississippi, Davidia life has been nothing nice.  The daughter of the town skank, she's shunned by adults and ridiculed by her classmates who name her Monkey Night because "she looks like a monkey and is dark as night." A severe beating by her mother leads her to the decision to just stop speaking.  Her silence is accepted by her classmates, who easily overlook and ignore her from elementary school until her sophomore year of high school.

Davidia has found solace in, what I call, "the holy triumvirate" of teen movies: Sixteen Candles, The Breakfast Club and Pretty in Pink, and the star of them, Molly Ringwald.  Davidia's less than perfect life is made just a little brighter when she watches them.  Though she doesn't speak out loud, in her mind she rehearses what she would say should anything close to what happens in the movies happens to her.  And when she runs into James Farrell, a new transfer student, she's sure that he's her Jake Ryan.

If you've never seen Sixteen Candles, right about now you're asking, who is Jake Ryan? "Jake Ryan? He's only the most popular boy in school."  Even though he's a football star and big man on campus, James is nice to Davidia.  When he and his sisters host a party at their mansion, she's excited to receive and invite and heads to the party where she's sure she'll finally have her moment.  But Davidia's life is no movie and she's no Molly Ringwald.  Faced with the realization that things are never going to change for her in small town Mississippi, she strikes out on her own.

Having reinvented herself as Davie Jones, the pirate, not the Monkee, the girl formerly known as Monkey Night finds herself with a new job, new family and for the first time, friends, in California.  Life is going pretty well for Miss Davie until the day she runs into James Farrell.  Fifteen years have passed since Davie last saw him and surely she's outgrown her obsession with both him and Sixteen Candles, right?

What did you like about this book?
Even if you're not a fan of 80s films, you're bound to cheer for Davie.  This is the story of anyone that's ever been ridiculed for daring to be different. 

What didn't you like about this book?
Nothing


What could the author do to improve this book?
 Nada, zilch, zero. You know a book is good when you go to sleep dreaming about it and wake up still thinking about it.  I need a movie and a sequel ASAP!

Sneak peek! Starting today Wednesday, you can read the author's rough draft of her next book at 32 Candles.com.  She told us at last week's book signing that even though there's no sequel, the character of Davie does play a role in her next book.  I can't wait to read it!

338pp
Published June 2010


Theme: Originally I was going to go with Don't You Forget About Me by Simple Minds (yeah, I know it's from The Breakfast Club, hush it!), but instead decided India.Arie's Get It Together was much more fitting.