Tell All, Tell Tall: The Skeleton is the Key

Emily Henry writes a rad romcom. Her characters are warm and witty, their worlds a heady mix of magic and familiarity. But her latest, Great Big Beautiful Life, is on another level.

Writer Alice Scott wants to make her mark. So when she learns that celebrity recluse Margaret Ives is holed up on an island in Georgia, she's determined to write her biography. But Pulitzer Prize-winner Hayden Anderson may have beaten her to it. Per Margaret, Alice and Hayden will spend a month interviewing her, separately, under ironclad NDAs. Then Margaret will make her choice. It's not what Alice wants, but she'll do anything to land the job. So she goes all in, setting out to win over even no-nonsense Hayden. An incurable optimist, Alice wears Hayden down one green tea at a time. As they grow closer, it becomes a challenge not to discuss Margaret and the stories she feeds them. Still, they can't help but wonder: Who is Margaret Ives really, and what does she want from them?

Engaging and poignant, Great Big Beautiful Life is one of those books that stays with you. Although Margaret's story within the story is the star, Alice and Hayden are the heart. Their writerly romance is irresistible, their connection stronger than any NDA.

Finding out how Margaret's -- and their -- stories end is the key to a great, big, beautiful beginning.

A Star is Torn: Rewind the Music

Jennifer Weiner is a virtuoso at writing women.  Our dreams, our insecurities, and our obstacles.  And the way we're trapped into fighting each other when it's men who make the rules.  Her latest novel, The Griffin Sisters' Greatest Hits, spotlights what it means to be a woman -- and a sister -- amid the grit and glam of the music industry.

The Grossberg sisters are an unlikely pair.  Pretty, popular Zoe was born to perform, but her singing is mediocre.  Overweight outcast Cassie is a piano prodigy with a golden voice, but she's awkward to the point of near muteness.  Zoe is jealous of Cassie's talent, and Cassie wants to be "normal" like Zoe.  Zoe is mean, manipulative, and sometimes cruel.  Nevertheless, per their mother, she serves as Cassie's protector and tour guide in navigating an unkind and confusing world.

One night, Zoe strongarms Cassie into performing at a local battle of the bands.  A record label exec's nephew's in the audience, and before they know it, they're the Griffin Sisters, the hottest new band of the aughts.  At their epicenter is singer-songwriter Russell D'Angelo, the sensitive yet flawed young man who changes their lives.

Star-studded, heart-wrenching, and poignant, The Griffin Sisters' Greatest Hits is riveting.  Weiner alternates between Cassie's and Zoe's voices, going back and forth in time to tell a story of emotional depth and nostalgia.  Cassie and Zoe -- but especially Cassie -- are complexly drawn and speak to women of all ages.  

Because whether you're "just a pretty face," "different," or somewhere in between, the struggle to be heard is timeless.

Hallowed Ground Bound: Home is Where the Hart Is

It isn't Christmas without Jenny Bayliss.  Her heartwarming romcoms are everything that make the holidays happy.  So of course her latest, I'll be Home for Christmas, cozily captures that comfort and joy.

Fredericka "Fred" Hallow-Hart is in freefall.  Instead of crushing it as an ad exec in London, she's fired and dumped with no place to go.  So she heads home to Pine Bluff, Scotland to live with her mum and eccentric aunts.  To her, it's a huge step down, and she's less than gracious about it.  But after much deliberation and self-flagellation, she deigns to help with their Christmas cracker business.  Indeed, despite being in her mid-thirties, Fred has a lot of growing up to do.  But first she must confront her past, which includes Ryan Frost.  As kids, Fred and Ryan were inseparable.  Then Ryan rejected Fred's kiss, and their friendship fizzled.  Now Ryan's a small business mogul and eager to be in Fred's life.  But so is a handsome journalist, and Fred becomes entangled in a love triangle that tests her loyalties.

Wreathed in charm and second chances, I'll be Home for Christmas is the holiday hug we all need.  I was particularly taken with Hallow-Hart Crackers.  Fred's mum designs the prints on the wrappers, then fills each cracker with locally sourced, handmade treasures.  It's creative and fun and authentic and had me itching to get back to my jewelry making.  Fred gets bewitched too, using her advertising savvy to give Hallow-Hart's socials a glow-up.  Because Hallow-Hart Crackers is more than a business.  It's community and hope and home.

Just like Jenny Bayliss.

Thanksgiving Living

Autumn aesthetic.

Squirrel girl.

Charlotte's new favorite book.

Hallway harvest.

Coat: LC Lauren Conrad, Kohl's

Mom's place settings.

Mom's tablescape.

Top: Madden Girl, Macy's; Skirt: ModCloth

Garland: Michaels

A can-do Thanksgiving.

Bag, pouch: LC Lauren Conrad, Kohl's; Acorn ring: Decoration from some old dessert

The holidays are never perfect.  Still, I sometimes often succumb to the hype that they should be.  So this Thanksgiving, in addition to the posing and pageantry, I'm serving reality.  

In this last pic, Char Bar has collided with my lipstick for the third time, staining her clothes.  And I'm handling it with my usual grace and equanimity.  Granted, a makeup malfunction is a bogus thing to bemoan -- especially considering my sister missed Thanksgiving because her youngest was sick.  But in that moment, my micro-misfortune was magnified, blocking out all thoughts except momlife is hard.  

Three slices of pie later, I was feeling more zen.  So much so that I remembered something.  Five Thanksgivings ago, I was gearing up to start fertility testing, which I started but never finished.  The whole thing made me panicky, and I decided it wasn't meant to be.  And now here I was with this beautiful baby.  Sure, she snatched my bookmarks and deprived me of sleep and flung her pears on the floor.  But I loved her more than anything and couldn't imagine life without her.

So Charlotte, you're what I'm thankful for, this Thanksgiving and every Thanksgiving after.  

Also that for Christmas you can wear red, camouflaging the lipstick.     

Saddle Baggage: Greener Pastures

Top and skirt: LC Lauren Conrad: Kohl's

Bag: Apt. 9, Kohl's

One of my old leaf barrettes.

Shoes: Katy Perry Collection

Dress: Candie's, Kohl's; Top: Madden Girl, Kohl's

One of my oldest necklaces.

Bag: Mix No. 6, DSW

Coat: ModCloth

Shoes: Madden Girl, Kohl's; Tights: A New Day, Target

Boots: Penny Loves Kenny, Amazon

Go for the Golden Girl Necklace

Top: A. Byer, Boscov's

Lyla Sage's Wild and Wrangled: A tale of lovers with luscious locks.

Bag: Madden Girl, Kohl's; Scarf charm: A New Day, Target

Green seems big this season.  Emerald, jade, and evergreen are springing from racks like leaves.  Then again, I've been seeing lots of burgundy too.  So maybe it's more of a Christmas thing and not a trend.  Either way, I'm in.

I especially love when green winks at western, like in my equestrian blouse.  When I saw it in Boscov's, I was immediately transported back to the '90s.  Tween me had at least one turtleneck sporting a stable motif, and I thought it was all the rage.  So I bought the blouse.  Because it was fun and fed that nostalgia.  Even if it also brought back memories of getting made fun of for my outfits -- and for saying things like "all the rage."  It was a nice reminder that my world has grown so much since then.

And that believing in your style -- and yourself -- is the happy trail Holy Grail.

Book Crooks and Crusaders: Reading Between the Lies

When my sister chose Elle Cosimano's Finlay Donovan Digs Her Own Grave for book club, I was disappointed.  Although I enjoyed the series about a single mom and romance writer-turned-PI, the last one we read, Finlay Donovan Rolls the Dice, got really gruesome.  But I started reading Digs Her Own Grave anyway, wondering if the title would prove to be prophetic in more ways than one.  Here's what I dug up:

They say that fish and visitors stink in three days.  But Mrs. Haggerty is a whole new class of crusty crustacean.  After she's sprung from the slammer, her grandson dumps her on Finlay and her nanny Vero.  Yet the fact that Mrs. Haggerty allegedly did not murder the man exhumed from her rose garden isn't the most disturbing thing about the octogenarian.  It's that she's been judging --and spying on --- Finlay for years.  But things go from annoying to alarming when Finlay's ex-husband is arrested instead.  Although part of Finlay would love to see Steven behind bars, she ultimately doesn't want the father of her children to end up with a teardrop tattoo.  So she and Vero do what they do best -- set out to solve a murder.

What follows is the usual roller coaster ride of hijinks and danger.  And also, this time, a book club.  Mrs. Haggerty becomes a tough love Mary Poppins to Finlay's kids.  Teen hacker Cam and Finlay's flamboyantly dressed agent Sylvia add to the chaos.  But it's hot cop Nick who commands our attention -- and Finlay's.  Their on-again, off-again romance is very much on and becomes more layered.  That said, the tale is more mystery than thriller, making it my favorite in the series.  Which is a plot twist I didn't see coming.

Finlay Donovan Digs Her Own Grave is as compelling as it is complicated, widening the feminist lens through which the series is filtered.

And, of course, reminding us to keep our friends close -- and our neighbors closer.  

Good Witch vs. Bad Bitch: Order on the Tennis Court

I don't have an athletic bone in my body, and I hate competitive sports.  So I was wary about reading a novel starring a tennis pro.  But Lauren Weisberger's The Singles Game won me over from the first serve.  That's because The Devil Wears Prada phenom is unparalleled in telling tales of fame and fortune.  She drills down through the glamor and games to give us very human heroines torn between glory and the truth of their hearts.  And The Singles Game's Charlotte Silver slams some of the toughest truths yet.

Charlie's story starts when a career-threatening injury at Wimbledon forces her to make a choice: retire early or double down to become the champion she's always known she could be.  So she ditches her compassionate coach for a viper and embarks on a rebrand that transforms her from goody-two-shoes to "warrior princess."  She's immediately thrust into the celebrity sphere of parties, hookups, and a near-sadistic training regimen.  It's a cocktail of glitz and grit (even if she's only allowed Pellegrino), all part of the persona that her new coach plots to portray.  But winning the warrior way means more than swapping her tennis whites for bedazzled black.  It means playing dirty, which is the opposite of what Charlie's old coach and her tennis pro dad taught her.

I didn't always like Charlie or the choices she made, but I think that's what Weisberger wants.  We're supposed to question her dubious path and wonder what we'd do in her Nikes.  Yet her never-say-die spirit, girl-next-door origins, and inner moral compass, however thwarted, make her sympathetic even when she's wrong.  She's the everywoman we want to root for because at her root, she's all of us.

Game, set, match, Weisberger.

Color Me Happy Halloween

Boots: Simply Vera, Kohl's

Bag: Nine West, Marshalls

Sweater: ModCloth

Sweater: Bar III, Macy's

Bag: Betsey Johnson, Amazon

Scary Skate Necklace

Shoes: Madden Girl, DSW

Headband: Lady Arya, Zulily

Pretty scary in pink and purple.

Bow: Target

The husband's handiwork.

Pumpkin: Marshalls; Cat: LC Lauren Conrad, Kohl's; Ring: PinkBopp, Etsy

Creepy cute cozy.

Tights: Marshalls; Shoes: Circus by Sam Edelman, Kohl's

No one makes a graveyard cake like Mom.

Too cool for school supplies?  Never!

How is it Halloween already?!  I don't even have anything clever to say, just this shock that the year's almost over.  Last Halloween, Char Bar had just learned to roll over, and this year I had to put the pumpkins on the mantel so she wouldn't run off with them. 

So yeah, like every other parent, I'm exhausted.  So much so that I sometimes wish I could trade all my shoes for a nap.  But I'm also -- happy.  Because that's one of the things about being busy.  The little things that used to bother you seem kind of ridiculous.  Mostly because they're replaced by big things, like trying to stop your toddler from racing across the street.  But also because being in charge of a life other than your own has a way of putting things in perspective.  

So happy Halloween.  I'm grateful that I get to spend even a little of mine with you.

And also that the husband snagged me some pumpkin M&Ms.

Wed but Undead: Bride of Frankenstein State of Mind

Cardigan: New York & Company; Skirt: Tinseltown, Macy's

Garland: Michaels

Prismatic Pumpkin Necklace

Bag: Zulily; Ring: PinkBopp, Etsy

Hair clip: Walgreens

Shoes: Madden Girl, Amazon; Socks: Amazon

Michaels

Tee, ModCloth

Sunglasses: Nordstrom Rack

I've never had strong opinions about the Bride of Frankenstein (or, more accurately, the bride of Frankenstein's monster).  Then last Christmas, I found this tee for just a few bucks at ModCloth.  Its bride is far from the frumpy lady love of the lugubrious lug.  Instead, she's a va-va-voom vixen rocking a mini dress and an insouciant expression beside the age-old challenge of trick-or-treat.  So I snapped it up and tucked it away with high hopes for Halloween.

And now it's time to bust it out in a fit of candy-colored chaos.  Styling it with patterns and accessories a-plenty was more fun -- and freeing -- than wearing a costume.  Because it's still me -- only amplified.

It's what Mary Shelley would've wanted.

Well, that and the right to own property.