Stretch Marks
by Kimberly Stuart
Author Website: www.KimberlyStuart.com

Available in paperback and Kindle. David C. Cook, 2009; ISBN: 0781448921; 304 pages.

Mia and her mother, Babs, could not differ more. Mia dresses retro, cares about the energy crisis, goes to yoga religiously and lives a pure vegetarian lifestyle in Chicago. Her mother, while morally conservative, sports plastic surgery, works as a social director on a Caribbean cruise ship and is passionate about steak. They drive each other crazy!

But when Mia gets pregnant, her live-in freeloader boyfriend jumps ship. Actually, he kinda slithers off into the night. Babs to the rescue. She drops everything and moves into Mia’s apartment building to “help.” Can anything can bring these opposites together? The promise of a new baby, one they both already adore, may be their only hope.

Delightful characters fill this book! From Frankie, the librarian with technicolor hair (Mia’s best friend), to Silas, the mysterious gentleman who lives downstairs, and Adam, the hottie who runs the local grocery store. Each contributes their own charm to the story.

Consistent with the author's style, this book is subtly infused with inspiration. It is witty, intelligent and funny, all while being perfectly authentic -- the opposite of preachy.

You’ll love it — I promise.

And so does the publisher. If you don’t like the book, you can send it to them under their “Good Read Guarantee!”

Final Thoughts: Kimberly Stuart's books are like chocolate: take one bite and you'll need another. I can't get enough!

My Name Is Russell Fink

by Michael Snyder
Author website: http://www.michaelsnyderwrites.com/

Available in paperback. Zondervan, 2008; ISBN: 0310277272; 368 pages.

Michael Snyder is a member of one of my online writing forums. Not long ago we had a discussion about genre. His answer to the “what do you write” question is this: neurotica. After laughing at his stories of appalled reactions to this, I finally connected that this Michael Snyder is the same Michael Snyder who wrote Russell Fink, the book friends have been nudging me for months to read. My interest piqued, I bought and packed the book for vacation.

I now understand the difficulty in pinning down his genre. This book is a humorous, contemporary not-quite mystery with a romantic thread, faith veins and lots of …neurotica. The result is touching and hysterical. In an interview the author stated: “What interests me most is what’s happening around us right now, the wealth of humanity and unique predicaments in the house across the street. Almost anyone you meet is all at once funny, interesting, unique, and filled with love and fear and hate and peculiar notions about how life is supposed to work.” This is exactly what he writes.

This debut novel details about five weeks in the life of Russell Fink. He’s a broke hypochondriac, who may or may not have cancerous moles, stuck in a job he hates and still living with his parents, whom he doesn’t trust. During the course of the book he investigates the murder of his dog, gets kicked out of parents’ house, tries not to get fired (without actually doing any work), discovers he’s in love with someone who isn’t his fiancé (a wanna-be actress) and somehow stumbles upon faith.

The character development is fantastic, some of the best I’ve read. At first I felt the story was just about a lovable loser, but it’s much more than that. It’s hysterically funny and touching. These kooky characters, simultaneously wild and believable, brought me to embarrassing out-loud laughter and even tears.

And if that’s not enough, you’ll find a cool flip-book at the bottom of the pages. Nothing like watching a cartoon dog run to make you love a book.

Final Thoughts: I’m not going to say this is one of my all-time favorite novels, but I really enjoyed it and I’ll definitely recommend it to those who share the right sense of humor.

Act Two: A Novel in Perfect Pitch

by Kimberly Stuart
Author Website: http://www.kimberlystuart.com/

Available in paperback. David C. Cook, 2008; ISBN: 1434700119; 241 pages.

Okay, as a Midwestern farmgirl transplanted to the busy East Coast, I may be a bit biased, but I loved this book.

It's your classic fish-out-of-water story. Thanks to a little career desperation and a religious experience, a classical music diva from New York accepts a one-time, one-semester job as a college voice professor in Iowa. Things get worse when she arrives to find she'll be living in the attic of an old house on a pig farm. Oh, and did I mention it's filled with kids? And that her daily chauffeur is an opinionated country music fan? Not exactly what she had in mind when her agent arranged this gig. What ensues is a delightful tale and a journey of discovering what's really most important.

While this type of story has been done a thousand times, Ms. Stuart fills her novel with fresh, sassy characters and authentic details. A love of high society, fashion and cuisine meets practicality and downhome families in a plucky collision of real life in different cultures.

Final Thoughts: It's fantastic. In fact, it's the most enjoyable book I've read so far this summer. I highly recommend it.