Tales of a Drama Queen

Elle Medina is definitely a drama queen. Not only is she out of a job, money, and a place to live, her ex-fiance Louis wasted no time on his 5 day trip to Iowa; he met and married another woman! Elle is left with 5,000 dollars and needs to get her life back together!! She moves into a trailer, "No, it's a trolley!" she exclaims. She tries her hand at undercover shopping (basically catching shoplifters) but loses her job when she decides to lecture them instead. Then she meets Joshua, who she will come to think is the love of her life. Is he really this wonderful, or too good to be true? She also meets Merrick (actually, Louis, but she can't stand the name anymore) and this is where the Bridget Jones antics begin! The first time they meet she thinks she is making Cosmopolitans, but somehow adds brandy, the second meet (first date) condoms fly out of her purse and into his hands.(She was using them as water balloons to get back at her landlord's grandson) The third time they meet... well, you get the picture. Can this girl ever win? This book had me going for two days. Elle Medina is the most wonderful anti-heroine! Humorous, excellent writing, and full of DRAMA! What more could a girl want?

I picked this book up at an airport, and read and read way after the flight landed. I embarrassed myself on the plane by laughing out loud. As an avid reader of chiclit, I was sure it would be another "good escapeist fluff" book, but was pleasantly suprised at how hilarious it was. Read it - you won't be sorry!!!

--in public!You'll embarrass yourself by laughing out loud. This is the funniest chicklit book I've ever read. It sneaks up on you, you're reading along, having a nice time, and suddenly you burst out laughing. This is nothing but pure pleasure. If you want a serious book, don't buy this! If you want angst and tragic romance, forget it. But if you want a silly, outrageous, incredibly funny romp, you MUST read this book! It's fast, it's funny, and it's fabulous.

I was very pleasantly surprised with this book. Meet Elle Medina, a twenty-something year-old girl who has just been dumped by her fiancé and is left to pick up the pieces of her life. Not only did her fiancé dump her, but he actually married someone else while on a business trip to Iowa, mere weeks before their wedding! "Tales of a Drama Queen" is written by Lee Nichols, and is one of the July Red Dress Ink books. This chick lit novel seems to be geared towards the younger, single gal, although I believe anyone can enjoy this story. Lately there have been so many chick lit books about married women and/or mothers. I can understand that chick lit is "growing up", but I'm glad that there are still authors penning younger, single-girl books. At the beginning of the story, Elle has just moved in with her good friend Maya (who lives with her Perfect Boyfriend Brad) in Santa Barbara, CA. After the requisite few days lying around feeling sorry for herself and watching endless hours of TV, she makes a to-do list. She must: find an affordable car, find a decent job, find her own place, and get her head (and life) together. Add in a new boyfriend and she'd be thrilled. However, things just don't seem to go very well for Elle. She gets fired within a week at her new job; not long after moving into a tiny new place, gets evicted because of an unfortunate accident involving water-filled condoms; has a couple of embarrassing mishaps in front of the guy she'd like to date; and much more. It is one disaster after another for Elle. Will she ever be able to find something tangible and get her life together? Or is she destined to become a failure? "Tales of a Drama Queen" is a fast-moving, well-written book that many women will be able to identify with. The main character Elle is one of those types that despite all her wrongdoings and mistakes, comes across as someone you'd want to know. Somehow she retains her aura of innocence even through all of the mayhem that ensues due to her mishaps. She is also a very real character that jumps off of the page with her vibrancy. I found myself unable to put this book down, because I had to keep reading to find out what would happen to Elle next! The supporting characters in "Tales of a Drama Queen" were very well crafted and defined. Lee Nichols definitely has a great talent for characterization. This book is also very funny, so beware of reading it in public (unless you don't mind howling with laughter from time to time wherever you may be!) As for the downfalls of "Tales of a Drama Queen", I really can't say I found anything worth mentioning. Unlike many chick lit books, this one wasn't predictable in the least. Some readers will undoubtedly be put off by Elle's many mistakes and flaws though. I definitely wasn't, however. I feel the book was true-to-life because whenever the character made a mistake, (intentional or not), disastrous results would usually follow, and isn't life like that usually? It is for me at least! L