review: rich bitch by nicole lapin

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In my quest to most efficiently pay off my students loans (my only debt) while keeping the rest of my life on track, I've read a lot of financial advice books, blogs, etc. Nicole Lapin's Rich Bitch is among the best. She is not one to tell you to give up your latte! Lapin knows a person still needs to have some fun. In keeping with that, Lapin's approach is fun (lots of good anecdotes) and uses layman's terms, but I really appreciated that she doesn't just regurgitate the conventional wisdom; in fact, Lapin ends each chapter with the conventional wisdom followed by her own thoughts. She also admits to the many mistakes she made as she navigated the financial world on her own (her parents believed in cash only).

My favorite section was on home ownership. I'm pretty committed to renting, but people are constantly trying to convince me I'm "throwing away money on rent." I generally shrug and point out that every career advancement I make requires moving (like Lapin, I work in television) which makes owning less practical. Rich Bitch gives me even more of a reason not to buy a place. Lapin points out that buying a house for $50,000 in 1970 and selling it for $300,000 today does not actually mean you made a profit. There's inflation to account for as well as all the repairs you likely made. So now when someone tells me about their $900 mortgage to my $1150 rent, I can point out that my rent covers all repairs and groundskeeping (plus extras like pest control, a fitness center, and two pools)!

Another great section in Lapin's book addresses whether one should first pay off debt like students loans before saving for retirement. I was a bit surprised that Lapin said yes here, but it makes sense as she explains it. Everyone's situation is unique (including the issue of owning a home; as Lapin states, it makes sense if you're going to stay for decades), so I think I'll continue to go against her advice my contributing a small amount to my 401(k) given the low interest rates on my student loans. (Note: Lapin got in touch to let me know she meant paying off credit cards rather than student loans.) On every other point, I agree wholeheartedly with Lapin, especially when she says it's alright to include some fun expenditures because I really like buying shoes!
5/5
Review copy from Amazon Vine.

review: the third twin by c.j. omololu

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Wowzer! The Third Twin hooked me right away. I raced through it because I was absolutely desperate to find out if my theory was right (I'd say I was about 60% right). Years ago two infants were found at a restaurant and the owner took them in. Unfortunately his wife took off, but one of the restaurant workers stepped in as housekeeper and nanny. The girls have wanted for nothing, but that hasn't stopped them from creating an alternate personality who's a bit wild. "Alicia" goes out with boys Lexi and Ava would never date and generally is a party girl. Lexi, the more studious of the two, realizes the danger in their game when one of the boys tries to take things too far. She requests they stop playing Alicia, but it seems someone still is. The boy who nearly assaulted Lexi is found dead and there's security camera footage of someone who looks a lot like the girls. The situation escalates as the police show up wanting to talk to Alicia and yet another boy Alicia dated dies in the same manner. C.J. Omololu has created an excellent thriller with high stakes and loads of twists.
5/5
Review copy from Amazon Vine.

review: wake by anna hope

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Focusing on three women living in Europe shortly after World War I, it takes Anna Hope a while to bring it all together in Wake which makes the start of novel slow and unfocused. Once the three women become connected through Captain Edward Montfort, the story starts to pick up though it was still hard to connect with the characters due to the scene shifting so frequently. The perspective here is interesting, but Hope then fails to provide any sort of conclusion after revealing a secret that has been kept from one of the women. That should have been the story.
3/5
Review copy from Amazon Vine.

review: all fall down by ally carter

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Grace is convinced her mother was murdered three years ago; after all, she witnessed it but everyone says she's confused. Grace has tried to go on, but she's back to looking for her mother's killer when she spots a man who looks just like him. Unfortunately the man works for one of the many diplomats of the Embassy Row where Grace is now living with her grandfather. In bouts of recklessness with the help of other teens from Embassy Row, Grace goes on the hunt. All Fall Down has all the intrigue of Ally Carter's previous novels, but diverges from the usual formula by making Grace an unreliable narrator. All Fall Down is a great start to a new series from Carter.
5/5
Review copy from Amazon Vine.

review: keeping the feast by paula butturini

Paula Butturini's memoir starts strong with the twin acts of violence carried out against her and her now-husband as they worked as journalists overseas, but then lags as Butturini begins documenting the depression her mother went through and the depression her husband also suffered after his shooting. Despite all the time she spends writing about depression, Butturini never goes beyond the superficial and only gets deep when writing about food which she tries to make relate to the events of her life.
1/5
Review copy provided by the pubisher, Riverhead Trade.

review: dirty rush by taylor bell

Taylor Bell never expected to be a sorority girl, but the Beta Zetas pursue her since she's a legacy. Soon she's heavily involved in their world with a boyfriend in Omega Sig and plenty of tasks to complete as a pledge. But it turns out Taylor doesn't know everything that went on during her sister's previous four years as a Beta Zeta. As Taylor learns the truth, a sex tape starring someone who looks remarkably like Taylor comes out and makes her life hell. Taylor knows it's not her in the video, but it's clear someone is out to get her.

The brains behind Taylor Bell (David Oliver Cohen and Tanner Cohen) somehow got these college kids exactly right. I seriously knew girls just like this and laughed so hard throughout the novel. Dirty Rush completely sucked me in and I was so caught up in Taylor's life that I was shocked when the sex tape came out despite it being mentioned on the back cover. In all, Dirty Rush is a hilarious, scandalous good time.
5/5
Review copy provided by the publisher, Gallery Books.

review: the widow's daughter by nicholas edlin

Billed as a story of a man haunted by his time as a doctor with the Marines in New Zealand during World War II, The Widow's Daughter takes an excruciatingly long time to get started. The pivotal characters (other than the Marines) are not introduced in the first 100 pages and the murder of Emily's brother occurs just shy of page 300 of a 370 page book. The earlier plot is somewhat interesting for its take on what the war was like for those stationed away from the action, but it grows tiresome as the carousing goes on and on. The Widow's Daughter starts to pick up once Peter learns of Emily's past and who she really is to Oscar, but there are far too few pages left for that story to really develop.
2/5
Review copy provided by the publisher, Penguin.