In a nutshell: Moving away from Beck Bloomwood, Sophie Kinsella brings up Lexi Smart, a twenty-eight-year-old who wakes up one day with amnesia and what seems to be the perfect life. Of course, all is not what it seems. Lexi Who? I couldn’t help picturing Christina Applegate in the role here as the book reminded me an awful lot of her new sitcom, Samantha Who? Hmmm… Still… In typical Kinsella fashion, I was highly entertained and laughed plenty. The descriptions of Lexi’s clothing and life were quite mesmerizing and such a far cry from my own dull existence it was some nice escapism. For a day. These are still a very fast read. Smart cookie: Kinsella has done an amazing job marketing herself and I wish I’d thought of the Shopaholic books first. Can’t wait for the movie.

In a nutshell: The daughter of a world-famous director tries to make her own way in Hollywood by landing a huge celebrity to wear a certain designer’s dress on the Oscar red carpet. Delicious: Full of inside tidbits (Hopper is Dennis Hopper’s daughter and Goldberg’s father is a film and television producer)about Oscar night this was a juicy one to dig into. Some celebs were named outright and others you had to take guesses at. It’s like reading a long US Weekly. Not just trash: Still, despite all the name-dropping and celeb obsession is good writing and very appealing characters. These two have a future and I’d read anything else they put out.

In a nutshell: Emma Sullivan gets dumped out of nowhere by her “perfect” fiancé and takes off to live in Paris. There she finds a new life, new friends, gets in a pickle and then manages to have a happy ending. Of course: It’s pure chick lit so it’s completely predictable. But reading this on the beach was perfect, and although you can read it in one sitting it will keep you entertained and give you a few laughs. I could see it as a chick flick too. Paris, mais oui! The Paris parts are completely dreamy and make you wonder why the heck you live in grey dingy Toronto. Sigh. Maybe we should all jet off and eat baguettes and drink wine till we puke. Bien sur!

In a nutshell: Ruth Ramsey is a human sexuality teacher at a high school being forced to teach a new abstinence curriculum she doesn’t believe in. Tim Mason is her daughter’s soccer coach and a reborn Christian who wants others to be saved. They butt heads and of course chemistry surfaces. Damn endings: Again, anther unsatisfying ending. I know they’re planning to turn this into a move and they’re going to have to fix that. Judging a book? The plot may not sound too riveting but it’s very well-written and the characters are very appealing. It’s a page-turner right until the end. Wtf is going on?

In a nutshell: Emily Haxby decides the guy she’s been dating who is about to propose to her isn’t her lobster so she dumps him. Then she regrets it and freaks right out. Compelling? The writing here is excellent and Buxbaum really makes this group of characters memorable and quite likeable. I was attached to this book right until the end where I find a lot of books actually let me down. Let down: I found the end to be much too neat and tidy. Emily is such a real and messy heroine that it seems like a cop out to end the book the way it does. I wouldn’t have and I wish Buxbaum hadn’t chose the easy way out.