looking for ward by laurel osterkamp

Title: Looking For Ward
Author: Laurel Osterkamp
Pages: 80 (pdf)
Series: Novella
Published: August 22nd, 2008
Rating: 3.5/5
Source: Author

Summary (Goodreads):

What if your love disappeared and your loyalties changed? Would you change your life, or would it change you? In Looking For Ward a bride-to-be confronts these questions as she faces the ultimate threat to her wedding plans. Meet Chloe Langley, a wannabe jewelry designer and spoiled Daddy’s girl. Chloe is used to getting what she wants, and for months she’s been planning the dream wedding for herself and her finance, Ward. Then, thirty days before their wedding day, Ward disappears, leaving only an e-mail, instructing her not to look for him. In the month leading up to her wedding, Chloe must decide if and how she should find Ward, whom to trust, when to let go, and what to do about their wedding plans. The story is told through a series of e-mails between Chloe, her best-friend Bethany, and Ward’s best man Owen. As the month goes on and the wedding date gets closer, secrets come out that change the lives of everyone involved. In the process Chloe discovers the true meaning of love and loyalty, and finds that she’s capable of more than she ever thought possible. Looking For Ward is a wonderful story about what it means to believe in love, and to believe in yourself.

My Two Cents:

The novella was a fun read, as I feel like a total bad person, reading other people's emails. The email format writing style and a little bit narrative part from the characters really work. It started when Ward suddenly disappeared and left Chloe with full of questions when the wedding is in a month. I felt awful and sorry for her. Her best friends Bethany is likeable, she gave Chloe obvious advices and very rational to reasons why was Ward chicken out and make fool of Chloe like that. There was a conflict involved and despite of that, other truth about lost feelings and to come clean about it. I found the book very clever even though the cheesiness of it was there. A relationship that start with a lie will never work, same goes here in the story. Even when you love your lover very much, you will find it very difficult to give another chance to start over when you found out he's lying about himself and you don't even think you know him at all. This is the feeling that I got when I read the novella. I love Chloe, she's strong, sometime freaking out but that is fine, and brave enough to make a wise decision even though she's broken hearted in the end. I felt sorry for Ward, even though he loves Chloe, he don't love her enough to trust her to share his darkest secret, it brings frustration to Chloe because he lets his problem dragged until they are about to get married. Owen on the other hand wins all, well, he deserves it even though he kept his love to himself for years. All in all, the novella is fun, page turner and I really feel connected with the characters nevertheless of it was written in emails format. Read it and you'll find it okay.

About the Author

Laurel Osterkamp originally wrote this 22,000-word novella for fans of her chick-lit novel, Following My Toes. Those readers received a new installment of the story by e-mail each day during the month of March 2007. Now this 2008 Kindle edition offers Looking For Ward to the general public. Laurel Osterkamp has been a comedy writer for Minneapolis performance groups over the last seven years. She currently teaches creative writing to high school students, and lives in Minneapolis with her husband and son. Download here.

i heart new york by lindsey kelk

Title: I Heart New York
Author: Lindsey Kelk
Pages: 305
Rating: 3.5/5
Source: Borrowed from Poo

Summary (Goodreads):

When Angela catches her boyfriend with another woman at her best friend's wedding, she's heartbroken and desperate to run away. With little more than a crumpled bridesmaid dress, a pair of Louboutins, and her passport in hand, Angela decides to jump on a plane for - NYC! Settling into a cute hotel and quickly bonding with benevolent concierge Jenny—a chatterbox Oprah wannabe with room for a new best friend—Angela heads out for a New York makeover, some serious retail therapy, and a whirlwind tour of the city. Before she knows it, she's dating two sexy guys and blogging about her Big Apple escapades for a real fashion magazine. But while it's one thing telling readers about your romantic dilemmas, it's another working them out for yourself. Angela has fallen head over heels for the city that never sleeps, but does she heart New York more than home?

My Say:

I never read chic lit much, but sometimes, I do corner my direction of reading to something lighter and quick. Reading I Heart New York is a very great choice when you want something light, quick and funny. Let us meet Angela, a naive, sweet and indecisive woman. What happened to her could happen to anyone on earth nevertheless it sounds quite unreal when she started her journey to New York. Maybe I think it's illogical, but proves me wrong if; 1) I runaway as far as to another continent (not a country!), 2) I get a best friend who is very a stranger to you that would do anything to cheer you up in a whim in less than 24 hours, 3) I can date two hot guys at a time! For me, it sounds like that is NOT what a normal/wise people would do. But who knows, maybe there's actually someone did that when they've been cheated by their boyfriend.

All in all, I'm not saying that I dislike it, I do like it because it brings out the impossibilities that I've reasoned. I wish I can be like her; not to get dumped of course but to have all the fun she experienced. And all those shoes! It's actually a good book to enjoy and I think I will her other two books in the series as well, but not so soon.