Wednesday, April 10, 2013

The Good Life by Jodie Beau Blog Tour - Review and Giveaway

Twenty-­two year old Roxie Golightly is a fun and carefree spirit...until she marries a wealthy man and her role as a trophy wife leaves her isolated in a condo with an ironing board and an obsessive desire to impress people. 

When her marriage ends after seven years, Roxie's identity is buried under layers of furniture polish and piles of designer shoes. She doubts she can ever be the person she once was. 

But when Roxie's charmed life is turned upside down, her best­friend creates The Good Life List to help turn it back around. The instructions are simple: Complete each task on the Good Life List by the end of the summer. 

With list in hand and the help of a sexy and charismatic guy from her past, Roxie is only a few check marks away from living the good life, even if it means getting thrown out of a bar or skinny­dipping in the neighbor's pool at 3am.


~~~~

Love. Love. Love.  For once a book that I could totally relate to!  Not that I'm divorced or anything like that.  I do wish I had a Jake living with me, but I've given up on trying to live in my Kindle.  But as a twenty-nine year old who loves New Adult books, it's kind of hard to relate to characters who are in their late-teens/early twenties.  So to read a book about someone who is almost thirty and doesn't really know where to go in life was very refreshing.

"I'm not a control freak or anything; it's because, well, I guess I am a bit of a control freak.  And if we're dissecting my personality here, I should probably admit to being a tad bit neurotic because you're going to find out anyway.  But not in a crazy, spastic kind of way."

See above quote?  Yea...I've had to defend my crazy control freak ways to people and I'm pretty sure I've used those same words.  Ask my husband and co-workers.  They'll agree.  They'll also probably call me crazy and spastic, but that's besides the point.

Also, I'm pretty sure Roxie and I share a brain.  Is it possible to share a brain with a fictional character?  Anyhoo, her off the wall and quirky comments she made to herself are the exact same things I would say to myself at times.  That being said, I freaking loved Roxie.  She reminded me of me...and let's be frank...I'm pretty awesome.

Here's the deal.  Roxie got married when she was 22 and had dreams to move to NYC.  She met Caleb in college and together they started their new life in New York.  She eventually became a trophy wife to her Wall Street husband.  New York City condo?  Check.  Louboutins?  Check.  Loveless marriage?  Check.

Roxie's life was well kept, her marriage not so much.  That's when Caleb hits her with the news that he's filing for divorce.  She never saw it coming because it's not like they argued or anything.  Everything was fine, or so she thought.  She wakes up one day and all of a sudden her life as she knew it was over.

"Some people say heartbreak is a myth, but it was real as ever to me."  I touched my chest and reminded myself to breathe."

Enter The Good Life List.  Roxie decides to move back home to Michigan since living in New York was so expensive and she didn't have a job.  Roxie's best friend Hope sends her back to Ann Arbor with a checklist of things to do by the end of the summer.  Things that Roxie would never be caught dead doing...things that hopefully would help Roxie find her free spirit again.

"The one who planned everything, in a borderline-OCD kind of way, was doing something unplanned."

Roxie moves back home and lives with her brother Adam and his best friend Jake.  Oh Jake.  Hot bartender photographer man.  I mean, seriously.  Is there anything hotter than a bartender who is also a photographer?  And Roxie gets to live with him.  Lucky bitch.  *Note to self, try and figure out a way to live in my Kindle.*

Oh Jake.  I have to fan myself when I think about him.  He's what every girl needs.  Sweet, sexy and not afraid to call you out on your bull shit.  Did I mention he's a bartender and a photographer? And he has tattoos?  Seriously...he is ineffible.  I wouldn't mind throwing snowballs with him...as long as we can roll around in the snow afterwards.

I totally related to Roxie.  I felt what she felt at some point in my life.  Trying to find myself.  Not liking the person I've become and trying to find that inner self that would smack you upside the head for turning out the way you've turned out.  Trying to navigate this world when life squeezes lemon juice in your eye and pushes you off a cliff.  Trying to trust love when all you've known is heartache.

This book had me cringing, laughing out loud and swooning.  The book has characters that anyone can relate to.  Especially neurotic-OCD almost thirty-somethings.

"I was ready to be fun and happy again, even if it meant peeing on myself."

This book is a must read and a strong debut for Ms. Beau.  It quickly became one of my favorites.  I've been reading a lot of dark and twisted stories lately and I'm happy to find that I don't need dark and disturbing to capture my attention.  So yes, you should read this book.  Let me know what you think!  And I promise, you will never look at Winnie the Pooh the same...ever again.

Source:  ARC provided by author for honest review
Release date:  April 9, 2013

About the Author:

Jodie has been writing fiction since she was a child and it was only natural she would pursue it as a career. While studying at Wayne State University in Detroit, MI, she took every writing class offered before she received a BA in Media Arts. After graduation she moved to Wilmington, NC, with big dreams of one day writing for movies and TV. Then she met a boy...and there was a wedding. A few years later came another boy, this one even cuter. She gave up her “pipe dream” of being a Hollywood screenwriter and moved back to Detroit to be a wife, mom and career waitress. But babies sleep a lot and she got bored and it was either write or clean the house. So she wrote. She began with a pregnancy/mom blog (http://underthebigmac.blogspot.com/), but she dreamed of doing more with her writing than making people laugh with stories of baby poop. So she decided to take a chance, to see if success wasn’t just a pipe dream. The Good Life is her first novel.


Follow the rest of The Good Life Blog Tour hosted by Madison Says!


Giveaway:  Up for grabs are two e-book copies (open internationally) of The Good Life and the grand prize winner will receive a signed paperback copy (US only) of The Good Life.

2 comments:

  1. Fantastic review for a fantastic read!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Love Jake. Love Roxie. Love Hope. Hate Caleb! Most of all...love this book. A great spring-type novel.

    ReplyDelete