From the Back Cover of Can You Keep a Secret?

Meet Emma Corrigan, a young woman with a huge heart, an irrepressible spirit, and a few little secrets:

Secrets from her boyfriend:
I’ve always thought Connor looks a bit like Ken. As in Barbie and Ken.

Secrets from her mother:
I lost my virginity in the spare bedroom with Danny Nussbaum while Mum and Dad were downstairs watching Ben-Hur

Secrets she wouldn’t share with anyone in the world:
I have no idea what NATO stands for. Or even what it is.

Until she spills them all to a handsome stranger on a plane. At least, she thought he was a stranger…. Until Emma comes face-to-face with Jack Harper, the company’s elusive CEO, a man who knows every single humiliating detail about her…

Three Quick Points About Can You Keep a Secret?

• Point 1: Emma Corrigan bears a striking resemblance to Bridget Jones–not necessarily in appearance, but personality, deed and sheer life circumstances.
• Point 2: This book redefines the statement laugh out loud funny. From beginning to end, I found myself pausing to have a good belly laugh at some of the antics and situations in which Emma found herself.
• Point 3: The British quips and expressions were rather charming from my Americanized viewpoint. Although I’m still not entirely certain what a jumper is, am still unsure whether snogging is kissing or having sex, and it took me a few pages to recognize that having a row meant having an argument, I found reading through it all added to the amusement.

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From the back cover of Literacy and Longing in L.A.:

In a wickedly funny and sexy literary debut, we meet the beguiling, beautiful Dora, whose unique voice combines a wry wit and vulnerability as she navigates the road between reality and fiction. Dora, named for Eudora Welty, is an indiscriminate book junkie – from Tolstoy to Twin, from Flaubert to bodice rippers – whose life has fallen apart. She’s coping with a painful separation from her husband, scraping the bottom of a dwindling inheritance, and attracted to an aspiring playwright who seems to embody all that literature has to offer – intelligent ideas, romance, and an escape from her problems.

Joining Dora in her odyssey is an assortment of memorable characters, including an elderly society hair-brusher, a heartbroken young girl, a hilarious off-the-wall female teamster, and Dora’s apologetic mother, an ex-alcoholic now on the wagon, trying to make amends. Along the way, Dora faces some powerful choices. Between two irresistible men. Between idleness and work. And most of all between the joy of well-chosen words and the untidiness of real people and real life.”

Ms. Bookish’s Quick Take:

Shortly after I finished reading Literacy and Longing in L.A., as I was rummaging around in one of my to-be-read piles, I discovered another, pristine, copy of the book, which goes to show the idea behind it really appealed to me. My quick take? This is one of those books where I didn’t want the story to end – I wanted to follow Dora as she moved into a new era of her life. If you love books, feel like you’re in heaven the moment you step into a bookstore or a library, and you love funny, quirky and literate protagonists, this book is a Must Read, worth five stars here at Today I Read. Continue reading »