Heather B

LOVE!!!

Revisado: 12-18-24

Loved it beginning to end!
Relatable, insightful, and honest.
Quick fun listen with musical intros to each chapter as well as some whimsical outtakes at the very end.
Highly recommend, especially to music lovers!!

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Perfect for 40 somethin women!

Revisado: 11-27-24

Loved this book! The heart, the humor, and the spot on emotional upheaval of life, as hormones decline and backbones grow. Becca experiences the highs and lows of this phase of life surrounded by those who matter most to her. From her boisterous dog to her aging and humorous mother to her polar opposite twins and of course, her life long friends, Read with warmth and an Irish brogue, this was very entertaining. Recommend highly and can’t wait for the sequel!

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Phenomenal!!!

Revisado: 04-08-24

Grandma Mazur is my favorite and this one was all about her!! Lots of great banter with Lula and well. It was a wild ride, pedal to the metal and I loved every minute!!
The Audible version as always rocked with Lorelei Kind narrating.

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Highly recommend

Revisado: 09-11-22

In this case the audio version over the print one was helpful. I sat and listened as I cried my eyes out. Which was very cathartic and needed. I'm still grieving but it was just very comforting to hear and had helpful suggestions.

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Trying too hard.

Revisado: 03-29-20

Bought this book based on a recommendation I wish I had ignored. I’m sorry I did as this “book” or rather her blog in print form, was all over the place.
I REALLY wanted to like it but only laughed at one story the entirety of the book.

I listened to the Audible version read my Lawson herself. She isn’t the most pleasant narrator with quirks including: pronounces words ending with “ing” as though they end with “ink” (ex goink home) & sings (badly) the chapter titles, of which there are many. She also doesn’t emote which is one of the things I find endearing when an author reads their own work. But then, most of those other memoirs are all true. It was tough to feel for the author sometimes when she so cavalierly read about dealing with sad things like health problems and the death of pets, especially her dog. Even after skipping over most of that she brought it up again in the next chapter.

Lawson is trying too hard here. To be funny. To be shocking. To be mysterious. To sometimes just be plain disgusting and horrific?! I didn’t sign up for this.

I’m not a vegetarian but I don’t enjoy reading about taxidermy In DETAIL. The squirrel stuff was beyond barf worthy. She was right to suggest skipping the first 5 chapters on her suggestion. (Not a good sign when an author does that but I appreciated the warning).

The bonus chapter on drugs? also worth skipping as per her suggestion.

I don’t think it’s shocking or clever to write/say the word vagina every other word for an entire paragraph let alone a whole chapter, about her own And a cows! We get it. You can use the word & like to shock people by saying it aloud. It’s not funny or worth repeating.

That said, the best material of the book was smack dab in the middle. The conversations & arguments with her husband were slightly humorous and bizarre. The ONLY laughs I had were during the Victor vs the Rattlesnake scene. And the other most bearable moments were as she described her diagnoses because that was real and genuine, not exaggerated.

2.5 stars🌟 and I’m being generous with my rating. I can’t believe I finished it. Upon completing it, I read comparisons to David Sedaris which explains so much!! Last year I abandoned a horrific holiday book by him. He’s Another one who thinks horrific stories with death and gory descriptions are great for shock value and humor. I’m not here for it and wish I read the reviews before purchasing his or Lawson’s book here.

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More dogs, less food, please.

Revisado: 02-27-20

Jen Lancaster is one of my favorite authors. I love her stories about her crazy pets, especially her dogs, and hilarious & heartwarming stories about what it’s like in her loving fur baby filled family. I love her stories about her conversations and arguments with her husband Fletch who is also quite funny. (their online IG Hallmark Christmas movie reviews last year were hilarious!) I also enjoy hearing her conversations with friends and strangers alike, and how her mind works when sizing people up. She used to be openly judgmental which was honest and funny but in today’s world that kind of humor is being cancelled and it’s terrible in my opinion. Must make it really challenging not just for comedians but for authors who say it like it is. I loved her first several memoirs the most, especially “Such a Pretty Fat” & “Bitter is the New Black” as they are so relatable.

I think this is the 5th or 6th memoir I’ve by Jen and sadly “I Regret Nothing” is my least favorite along with the everything Martha book. I still found it enjoyable especially as now her books are available on Audible with her reading her own work which I love. I am really hoping this is the only 3 star review I’ll ever give to one of her books. I can’t wait to read “Stories I’d Tell in Bars”.

Something about this book just didn’t have me racing to finish it. I think “that something” is the lack of what I listed above that I love about Jen’s memoirs. I especially found this most true once I got into the Italy vacation chapters. I’m not much of a foodie so the detailed descriptions of foods in Italy were boring to me. However I loved her interactions with the Frat boy in the sunglasses shop & the needy idiot in her Italian class.
I don’t know much about furniture restoration and though I’m glad she found a hobby she loves, I didn’t much care to hear about it. I never got a tattoo but have heard many a story of tattoo regret so I understand but can’t much relate to that mindset, but learned how expensive “No REGERTS” is to erase! (Misspelling is deliberate here). I never understood the Martha obsession and don’t call anyone my queen so I was kinda glad Jen got to see her true colors in this book after the last one praised her relentlessly. Not because it hurt her but simply in hopes to not hear anymore mention of “her Queen” in future books. Road trips are relatable and her disastrous journey with the gals was probably my favorite part, but nothing made me really laugh.

Bucket lists and crossing things off lists are both relatable things and therefore the premise of this book and it’s title were very appealing, and of course written & read by Jen Lancaster. I think I expected some more scandalous material with the title & cover art. Silly of me judging a book by its cover. I’m just glad she wrapped things up with coming home to the dogs.

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A great story you didn’t know you needed to hear!

Revisado: 02-09-20

I was pulled right into this Audiobook version of the novel by both the reader’s voice as well as the story. If you are a fan of the book(s) by L. Frank Baum or the movie The Wizard of Oz based on his first book, your curiosity will most likely be peaked straight away.
Told from the perspective of the authors wife, Maude, the Hollywood scenes initially reminded me of “Saving Mr. Banks” (the Disney movie about PL Travers, the nasty author of the Mary Poppins, & how difficult she was to work with to get film/ creative rights to the book). Luckily Maude is more tolerable and likable and she didn’t have creative control so it wasn’t nearly as complicated or contentious as with Travers.
I was captivated and lost myself in the world Maude grew up in & then in the life she and Frank created together, and her senior years. It was fascinating to see how many things from the Baum’s lives were incorporated into the land of Oz. What an excellent historical fiction piece!

With strong female characters in a time of Suffragettes to backstage Hollywood gossip and chats with Judy Garland, I found myself enthralled and wondering just how much was true. Turns out a great deal! As explained in the Afterword of the book this author clearly did her research & but had to use editing liberties to streamline the story for the purposes of this book. She explains what little was left out and differentiates historical facts from gossip & skipped over info. It was very helpful to hear about her research and writing process after completing the novel.
It’s just great! There were some slow parts here and there but overall it was a captivating novel. 4.5 Stars

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Great Independent Women

Revisado: 02-01-20

4.5 stars. Well, Reese picked a good one here! Such bold and sassy Southern (& British) women in a time where it wasn’t easy to be such a way.
I enjoyed this story with one major exception.
What happened to the dog was NOT okay! So I’m deducting a 1/2 star from the story. I wish I had known so I could have skipped that part especially since I listened to the Audible version.
Julia Whelan the narrator, had a very animated voice and did a great job with both British & Southern accents and performing this novel.

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Inside a Dog’s Mind- What’s NOT to Love?

Revisado: 01-22-20

A must read for dog owners who like mystery! This series was just recommended to me by family & fellow dog lovers, along with copies of the 2nd & 3rd books in the series. I downloaded this (the 1st of the series) on Audible. Immediately I was hooked. This story had me laughing out loud at Chet’s thoughts & shenanigans, while also involving me in the mystery. It wasn’t the most compelling mystery on its own but wrapped together with the humor & perspective of a dog it was very enjoyable! Looking forward to more mysteries & adventures with Bernie & Chet!

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Straight from the Legend Herself!

Revisado: 01-11-20

This was an interesting read if you, like so many, do indeed love Lucy. Since it is essentially like reading a “found manuscript” written by Lucy herself without any editing or expansion, it is devoid of any “juicy” events that she clearly did not wish to delve into it. And of course it doesn’t go into her later years of life.

I had expected it to be almost like listening to a daughter read her deceased mother’s diary, but It was quite the opposite as it was guarded & lacking emotion or detail. (Of course she may have intended to include more later or added to it if she had gone back to it later in life. This may have been just the start... we will never know.)

Lucy steered away from the intimate nature of difficult life events & controlled the narrative by writing only what she had wanted her audience to know. While other books & tv specials have divulged much of the gossip, specifically about Desi’s philandering ways, Lucy’s book was meant to be a labor of love and she painted everything with a rose colored paint brush. She also quickly sailed through painful events without much emotion, particularly her painful & challenging times in marriage & childbirth. (This strangely seemed even less emotional with the Audible reading being done by her daughter).

I was amazed by how many doors just opened right up for her so early on in her career. While she struggled of course, overall in comparison to many others who struggled to make it, she still kept receiving chances and jobs without much rejection. And if she did struggle, then that rose colored paint brush sure didn’t make it seem so in this book.

When it came to her experience with being black-balled, she was straight forward because she clearly wanted to set the record straight once and for all. I was listening with surprise & sadness, amazed at just how similar the comparisons were between her experiences and today’s cancel culture! Seems things haven’t changed much at all in Hollywood.

Favorite take away: I learned that much of today’s canned laughter on TV came from the I Love Lucy audience. I found that fascinating!

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