I am back on schedule now, I swear!

I just finished reading a YA chick-lit type book and I don't know what to do with it. I requested this book because I liked the premise: a group of friends who decide to defy parental expectations and demands and each strike out on her own to pursue what they have always wanted. (Or to at least figure out what they want.) The girls meshed together well - I liked their personalities and the way they clicked together. I was bugged a bit by the directions they took - one wants to be an actress (of course), one decides to travel across Europe (whose money?) etc., but still, they were doing something different and it was fun to follow their separate paths.

But then it started getting a wee bit predictable. One got attacked (of course), one got drunk and rescued by the right guy (of course), one fell for the wrong guy (of course) and one had a long time crush finally notice her (of course - and then it happened to another one!)

Basically, my sweet little dose of chick lit got boring.

Here's the thing, I like a decent chick book. Katie Fforde is one of my all time favorite writers and I pretty much chew up and swallow every new book she puts out (as soon as it shows up in the states, that is.) Sometimes I want happily ever after as much as the next person, but I don't want it to insult me in the process - I still want a good story. And with this book, I feel like they tried, but they didn't make it and as a reader I was left frustrated and a little annoyed. The problem (my problem anyway) is that I wonder if I am feeling this way because I am adult reader and not a teen reader. In other words, would this book work well for a 15 year old and am I slighting all those teens if I don't review it? And what the hell do I say about it if I do decide to write about? One of the things I try really hard to do is only review the books I love - the ones that make my head spin for whatever reason. So how do I honestly write about this book?

It's a problem (a tiny problem), but it's not going away. And I need to figure out what I'm going to do with this book so I can move on to other books I'm dying to read and let this one go, one way or the other.

I wonder sometimes if other reviewers worry this much about the book they write about, or if I'm just too worried about it all. I have to set my own standards I guess, it's just not easy always figuring out where they are.

In other news, if you are not reading Jane Yolen's journal then you are missing something amazing. I have been reading her journal for awhile now, and the story she is sharing with the world about her husband David's illness is both breathtaking and inspiring. It must be an awesome thing to have that many people love and care for you when you are desperately ill. It's a sad beauty she reveals on her site, but a beauty nonetheless.

Must read The Constant Gardner, must buy Good Night and Good Luck. Loved Rachel Weisz's acceptance speech. I was holding out hope that Clooney's movie would win big - I'm a huge fan of any and all McCarthy bashing. But at least it was nominated and that alone is still something. And Meryl Streep and Lily Tomlin? They were magic, pure and fabulous magic.