Lauren Weisberger made a huge splash a couple of years ago with her novel “The Devil Wears Prada” based on the super-famous and super-reclusive Vogue Editor Anna Wintour. The movie is currently being filmed and Weisberger has returned with a second novel, this time about a poor Manhattan loser girl named Bette, who ends up taking a job at a PR company and basically getting paid to party into the wee hours with celebrities.
Bette ends up all over the gossip pages when she is caught with the city’s most famous playboy and soon the rumours that they’re dating are everywhere, much to her new boss’s glee who sees it as free advertising. Except…they’re not really dating, she getting really tired and the boy she actually likes thinks she’s a shallow ego-maniac like the rest of her co-workers.
The book is predictable and shallow and is definitely one for the beach or plane or when you’re sick with the Chicken Pox and can’t possible handle anything that requires thought or concentration (yup, Chicken Pox, ugh). It’s not the worst chick lit we have read, but it’s not nearly as entertaining as some of the good ones like anything by Jennifer Weiner. The main character, Bette, just doesn’t ever become likeable and unfortunately, you end up thinking that Sammy (the good guy) is too good for her which isn’t what you’re supposed to think at the end of a romance.
Still, it was light and frothy and kept us entertained enough and didn’t make us throw it across the room which makes “Everyone Worth Knowing” somewhat recommended for a decent chick lit read.

The adorable Nate Berkus, like so many, has Oprah Winfrey to thank for his success. Since featuring him on her show ages ago, he has become a design megastar, with his own line at Linens and Things and numerous appearances on her show and in her magazine. It was only a matter of time before he came out with his own design book. How does it fare? Not bad.
It’s packed with beautiful colour photographs of truly lovely living spaces but we can’t help but feel a little ripped off that a lot of them have already been featured in O Magazine and on the show. Still, the guiding principle behind Berkus’s designs is that your home should be a reflection of you and a place you love. Can’t argue with that! But if we love his Linens N’ Things stuff we need to be prepared to lay out a nice tidy sum of money.
The book is easy to navigate and broken up into several sections including different types of rooms, colour and inspiration. Berkus gives colour palette recommendations, questions to ask yourself before tackling any décor project and easy tips you can accomplish in an hour, a day or even a weekend. Any Berkus fan will get a kick out of this lovely hardcover and while we do wish there was more stuff in it we hadn’t already seen, we did get some great ideas for our own house.

Two of the most important people in a bride-to-be’s life are her groom and her mother. And those are also probably the two people she gets most irritated with. Leave it to the people at The Knot, the know-it-all’s of weddings, to create guides to help these super-important peeps out with their respective roles and help keep their little bridezilla happy.
The Guide for the Mother of the Bride is packed with useful info on the engagement, mother of the bride beauty, tips on the bridal shower, bachelorette party, bridal luncheon, rehearsal dinner and then the main event. It’s a great tool to hand over to your mom if she’s feeling neglected or trying to get in on the action a little too much.
The Groom’s guide is even better. The fact is, the majority of grooms have no clue what their role is and many (amazingly) think their role in the whole shebang is over once they have slipped that rock on your finger. The book lays it all out nicely for them in a not-so-overwhelming way and stresses the main point over and over: do not be indifferent about everything, it will drive your bride insane. They’re spot on with that tip.
All in all these two guides from The Knot are very useful and make great little gifts for the two other major players in the wedding planning. Make your life easier—hand these out, and get people to help you!

To paraphrase Janise on Friends: Oh…..my……gawd…..I am in love. As a shoe lover, I proudly display my favourites on a shelf in my closet despite the fact that I have no hope of affording Blahniks or Choos and have to settle for admiring my Nine Wests. Then this little book came into my life. It is beyond stunning. Incredible. Gorgeous. I can look though it for hours (and I have!)
If you’re a fan of fashion books, photography and/or shoes, you must check out this huge coffee table book packed with full-colour photographs of shoes in some of the most creative poses I’ve ever seen. I have now taken my shoes off the bench and replaced them with framed pages out of this book.
Blahnik’s shoes are art in themselves—detailed, unique and like sculptures. Boman places them scenes and settings that both play up the shoe, or sometimes disguise it. I have included a couple of shots here for you to see, but you simply must look at this book yourselves. It would also make a spectacular girft for someone who likes shoes or original coffee table books. It’s not cheap--$115 on the label and $75.90 on Amazon.ca but as the Amazon description says “It’s shoe porn, pure and simple.” Sigh. The best kind.

Yes, it’s dark and weird and about death, but the new book by Alice Hoffman is also magical and hopeful. It’s also extremely original. The first line of the book is “Be careful what you wish for,” propelling readers into their own experiences with wishes they’d like to take back.
The protagonist is an unnamed woman who makes a wish when she is eight and angry that her mom is going out for the night, for her mother to disappear. Her mom dies in an accident that night and the girl believes she caused her death. From that moment on, she turns herself to ice to prevent future pain.
When her brother asks her to move to Florida she begrudgingly does so and there, in a moment of panic, wishes she would be hit by lightning. And she is. She becomes part of a scientific study of lightning strike survivors where she meets a lost boy named Renny and hears of a legend lightning survivor who was dead for a full 40 minutes before coming back. She decides to go meet this Lazarus Jones and falls into a love affair. They are complete opposites—she is ice and he is fire, as everything about him burns full of heat thanks to the strike. The affair can’t last, but the woman has finally found something she feels passionate about.
The book does have some flaccid parts but for the most part, the language and flow of the plot is riveting. It’s the ending I had the most trouble with. It seemed like a huge cop-out, as if Hoffman wasn’t sure how to end it so she just stuck one on. And that almost ruined the entire book for me. But then I sat back and thought about all the nuances of the story and decided I still liked it, despite the cheesy end. It’s not Hoffman’s best work, but it’s a good one, worthy of a adding to your library.

Not sure how you’re supposed to word your wedding invitations? Who to pick as your maid of honour? If you’re supposed to mention your registry on your invitations? How to tackle an Encore Wedding with taste? All this and more is answered in Emily Post’s Wedding Etiquette, a step-by-step hardcover book aimed at helping you avoid a serious social faux pas with your wedding. You might be thinking ‘who cares? My wedding is for me and I’ll do what I want.” Well, cool. Just don’t come crying to me when something offends your grandmother or people mutter behind your back at work. Okay, if you really don’t care, this isn’t the book for you. But if you care even just a wee bit, you might want to give this a spin.
The book is quite thick, 432 pages—who would have thought there was so much to know? We’ve heard it’s part of the course of study for wedding planners! It’s very neatly divided as to help you find the information you’re looking for in a snap. Some chapter include: Engagement Etiquette, Turning Dreams Into Reality, Expenses and Other Practicalities, Attendants, Invitation Etiquette, Gifts of Love, Multicultural Wedding, Wedding Attire, At the Reception, and oodles more!
The nice thing is that although the Post name has bee associated with etiquette for decades, this new version is very modern and deals with things like email, online registries and new traditions. We feel this is a great read for any bride and groom-to-be and would make a lovely gift for one as well.