Title: The Fortune QuiltAuthor: Lani Diane Rich
Published: 2007, NAL
Category: Women's Fiction/ChickLit
Rating: 7/10
I discovered Lani Diane Rich through Wendy’s blog, I think. I am rarely in the mood for ChickLit, but when I am Rich always seems to work for me. I think because I find her sense of humor very much in tune with my own. Though I was hoping this book had more to do with actually quilting. (I quilt, you know. It’s the new knitting. Not just for little old ladies.)
Carly McKay is a television producer, and she’s assigned to do a spot about a psychic quiltmaker who sells quilts that tell people’s futures. Carly, of course, thinks it’s a scam until the woman pushes one on her and all the enigmatic clues given begin to come true. Her life swirls out of control: she loses her job, her best friend declares that he loves her, and her mother, who abandoned them 17 years ago, shows up again wanting to take her place in the family. Carly blames it all on the wretched quilt and rushes to make the woman take it back. She ends up staying in the little artists’ community where the quiltmaker lives while dealing with all her issues.
This was a really fun, fast read. It’s pretty short and the action moves fast---I was sort of torn between thinking the plot winded up much too quickly and admiring the fast pacing that kept the novel from getting bogged down in the emotional blah, blah, blah that turns me off so many ChickLit books. While it is short, the characters are well fleshed out and certain scenes pack a real emotional punch (Carly's anger at her mother is done very well, with a delicacy that I appreciated).
And it is funny, full of quirky, really likable characters. It would make a great beach read.
3 comments:
I was intrigued by the review of this one at AAR, and I think I'm convinced now. I'm not often in the mood for chick lit, but for when I am, it sounds like this might hit the spot.
Yeah, it might have been me since I raved like a crazy woman about Ex And The Single Girl. Loved that book. Still need to read this one - so behind on my reading!
Rosario--It got an DIK at AAR, didn't it? I don't know if I'm quite as enthusiastic as their reviewer, but I definitely recommend it.
Wendy--The Ex and the Single Girl is really good. But actually I might have liked this one a bit better. So, yeah, you should definitely get to it. :)
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