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Monday, June 15, 2015

The Status Of All Things by Liz Fenton & Lisa Steinke

You know how sometimes it's good to try something a little different than what you've been reading - step a bit outside of recent selections?  Well, have a I got a book for you!  First of all, let me tell you that I love romantic comedies.  I have a list of them that I've watched over and over.  Movies like You've Got Mail, While You Were Sleeping, Clueless, 13 Going On 30, Legally Blonde - you know the type.  There are times when a favorite romantic comedy is just the ticket.  And as 'light' as they may seem to be, most of the time, there are some great life lessons included in them - between the bubbly humor and the good music - they always have a good soundtrack.

The Status Of All Things is just such a book.  Written by longtime best friends Liz Fenton and Lisa Steinke, it asks the eternal question - if you had the power to rewrite your life, would you?  Kate is a typical woman of today.  She's an executive with an ad agency.  Her life revolves around her job, her fiance', Max, her best friends from college, Jules and Liam, her wedding planner, and her Facebook status.  As our story begins, Kate, Max, their friends and their families are in Hawaii.  It's the night before Kate and Max's wedding, the rehearsal dinner in fact.  All is well and then it definitely isn't.  Max asks to speak to Kate alone and he tells her that he's so very sorry but he can't marry her.  He has, in fact, fallen in love with her co-worker, Courtney.  Seriously??  Kate can't believe her ears.  He tells her this at the rehearsal dinner?  Now?

As I said, Kate is pretty much addicted to her Facebook status.  She shares a lot, always carefully edited and cropped and filtered pictures and words.  She has spent months planning the wedding so that everything would be perfect.  She worries a lot about perfect.  And whether things could be better if she just tried a little harder or figured things out a little better.  She has a mostly normal life.  Until she doesn't.  After her humiliation of having to listen to Max telling everyone that the wedding is not going to happen, Kate can't imagine what kind of status update she will type, 'Feeling sad. Got jilted.'  She wishes that her life was as perfect as what everyone posts on Facebook.  And she gets her wish granted.  Whenever Kate updates her status, life reflects that reality.  She decides to go back in time and fix her relationship with Max before it goes wrong.  While she does that, she'll help a few of her friends with their problems as well, with the best intentions.

So, how do you suppose all of this works out?  Well, I did say it could be a romantic comedy, so there are hijinks and laughs and tears and misunderstandings.  And finally, there is growth and realization and a happy ending.  All ingredients of the best romantic comedy.  I was pleased and I did enjoy The Status Of All Things.  There were those nuggets of wisdom and a pretty good assessment of what people put on their social media.  I liked the style of this duo of authors and want to read their first book, Your Perfect Life.  I suspect that it too will have a few good things to say about life and also a few laughs.  I'll leave you with a quote that says it all:

Sometimes you just have to let your arm look fat in the picture.

34 comments:

  1. This sounds wonderful. I'm going to add it to my to read list. Thanks for your great review.

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  2. This sounds like a great summer read.

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  3. I met Liz and Lisa at BEA and they are a hoot! I can't wait to read this book!

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    1. Wow, Kathy! How fun! I could see them being really funny. I'm really, really tempted to go ahead and get their first book and read it.

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  4. I love the quote! I like the change of pace of romantic comedy, too, and this looks really good!

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    1. It was fun, Monica. Made me laugh and made me nod my head over some parts in agreement. :-)

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  5. OK! Now I _have_ to read this one. Put it on my list, for sure.

    Also OK. What am I going to do? Should I avoid reading here, until I finally get my list read? So as not to be tempted by another great read, you are always listing here? Or would that, make me miss some fantastic book, which I would have loved-to-pieces?

    What-to-do? What-to-do?

    -giggggles-

    Hugs,
    Tessa

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    1. I don't know what to tell you, Tessa. LOL

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  6. This sounds wonderful and if I'm going to take a break from my normal genre then a romcom does the job - thanks for a great review and the alert about this one.

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    1. I had a good time with it, Cleo. I'm very tempted to go ahead and get the first book by these authors as well.

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  7. What a great quote. :-) This does sound like a fun book. I love romantic comedy movies, but don't read a lot of books that would fall into that category. This one sounds fun. I am glad you ended up enjoying it, Kay!

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    1. It was a very nice read - quick and fun.

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  8. Lol. I love that quote! This sounds like a great read. I have their first book but haven't had a chance to get to it. I'll have to check into this one though. I love romantic comedies too. Every once in a while I settle in with one of the oldies but goodies that you mentioned and just enjoy it.

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    1. Oh, I want to read the first one. I suspect it will be just as good.

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  9. This book sounds like so much fun. I've been trying to make room for it in my reading plans but haven't gotten to it just yet. Soon. Very soon!

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  10. Funny. I like Rom Coms. All the one's you mentioned are ones I own and have seen a zillion times but when it comes to reading I never gravitate toward that same genre. This one sounds like I could actually like it.

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    1. You might try it, but I do understand liking things in movie form and not so much in print. I'm like that about fantasy.

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  11. Normally, I only enjoy RomCom movies. Books seem to just rarely work for me maybe because I want my characters to be better fleshed out on paper than on movies. But, this book sounds great. Love the premise, love the fact that it is a romantic comedy, so I will be checking it out.

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    1. It was a lot of fun, in between some more gruesome reads. LOL

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  12. Love that quote! lol Sounds like a good book and funny.

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    1. That quote just jumped out at me, Gayle. Seemed like a good summary. LOL

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  13. As you were describing the story I could see different actors in the roles. It sounds like it would make a great movie. I also loved the quote.

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    1. I agree. I could definitely see this one as a film.

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  14. I love romantic comedies, both the books and movies. This sounds like a fun read.

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  15. I was sold at romantic comedy. I'm embarrassed to admit how many times I've seen my favorites!

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  16. Sounds like fun! I too like to take a step back out of my usual genre and lighten up, thus some of my cozies and contemporary fiction lately. This sounds like a good read for me for those "other times". Thanks.

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    1. Yes, I'd say this is a good one for those times when Karin Slaughter's books just won't do. LOL

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  17. I'm glad you enjoyed this one! I requested it from my library and it just came in. I'm actually picking it up today. Yay!

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Thanks for stopping by! I am so happy to hear your thoughts and will respond as soon as I can. Happy Reading!