Not My Type, Hourglass Door, The Dating Deal

I read three fun books this month, all by LDS authors, and just fun.

First, The Hourglass Door by Lisa Mangum. I met Lisa at a writers conference last spring and found her to be a delightful, bright person. This made me buy her book (which I'd been meaning to do for a while anyway). I ended up buying it as an audio book, and it was great company while I painted two rooms and a hallway in my house. The story is about a girl, Abby, who thinks she has the perfect boyfriend, but longs for a little less predictability in her life. She definitely gets it when she meets Dante, a handsome new guy at her high school around whom controversy swirls. He makes it a point to be close to her, but when he touches her hand, time literally stops. This is a time-bending story. The writing is very poetic (so if that kind of thing bothers you, consider yourself warned) with a metaphor a minute, but all of them are apt and descriptive. I look forward to the rest of the trilogy.

Next, another audiobook, Not My Type by Melinda Jacobson. Do I love this? I do. The snarkiness was a mile thick and wit just dripped from it. I really liked the main character who started out moping because she was in a dead end sandwich shop job (despite her college degree) and because her fiance dumped her a week before their wedding leaving her with a mountain of debt (so he could pursue his American Idol-type dream) and she's forced to move back home. How she gets herself out of these doldrums is a really fun ride in Jacobson's deft hands. Suffice it to say, internet dating is involved, and blogger stardom. It's really fun. I might listen again.

And last, The Dating Deal by Melanie Marks. Years ago when I first was published by Spring Creek Books, I saw this novel as another one of their selections and thought I bet I'd LOVE this. But I never found it to buy it. Then a couple of weeks ago I ran across Melanie on Twitter, clicked her link and found this as an ebook for a great price. I downloaded it instantly and just devoured the good candy it was. Story: High school girl Megan is dumped and hating her life. She gets up to give a speech in a class and when it's time for questions, the snotty popular girl says, "Since Connor dumped you who are you going to the spring dance with, Miss Goodness and Light?" Megan is at a loss for words until Trent, the most popular guy in school pipes up, "With me. Megan's going with me." Megan has had a crush on Trent forever, but would never say so since he's not a member of her church. They proceed to make a deal. A dating deal. Good times, cotton candy readers, good times.