A Secret Online and a Crime of Our Times: Another Medal in Meddling

My sister chose our last book club pick, and she went with Jesse Q. Sutanto's follow-up to Vera Wong's Unsolicited Advice for Murderers, which is -- what else? -- Vera Wong's Guide to Snooping (on a Dead Man).  Still revved up from finding a body in her teahouse, Vera is ripe to solve another whodunit.  So, in true Vera fashion, she snoops in her son's detective girlfriend's files in search of a fresh felony.

Influencer Xander Lin has been found dead by what appears to be suicide.  But Vera's Spidey senses are tingling, telling her that there's more to the Instagram story.  So what if she herself just got scammed from a robocall?  She knows that she's smarter than most, just as she knows she cooks the crispiest pork belly in San Francisco.  Armed with this arrogance confidence -- and food -- she ingratiates herself with the suspects, just as she did in her sleuthing debut.  Sometimes irritating and always entertaining, Vera stops at nothing to get to the truth, even if it means pulling back the curtain on online life and rising to social media stardom.

I enjoyed Vera Wong's Guide to Snooping (on a Dead Man) even more than the original.  Sutanto makes us care about Vera, an intrusive old lady who emerges as somehow endearing.  What's more, she infuses laugh-out-loud humor into what shapes up to be a dark drama while also delving into what it really means to be an influencer.  Indeed, the theme of perception vs. reality is as relevant as it is chilling, giving anyone who posts anything a lot to think about long after Vera swoops in to ingeniously, preachily, save the day.

Yacht Rock at the Dock: Lint Balls Before Squalls

Sunglasses: A New Day, Target

Sweater: Ann Taylor Loft

Necklace: Amrita Singh, Zulily

Oranges to ward off scurvy and a banana to make them smile.

Bag: Sugar Thrillz, Dolls Kill

Skirt: Marshalls

Charlotte's bath boats.

Bag: INC, Macy's

Sweater: Nautica, Amazon

Shoes: Katy Perry Collection

Sweater: Delia's, Dolls Kill

Shoes: Madden Girl, Kohl's

Bag: Olivia Miller, JCPenney

Skirt: Trixxi, Kohl's

Sweater: Banned, ModCloth

Bag: Liz Claiborne, JCPenney

Skirt: Almost Famous, Kohl's

Rainbow Glow Necklace

Sailing.

Bag: Royal Monk, ModCloth

Sweater: Nautica, Amazon

Shoes: Jessica Simpson Collection, Amazon

Headband: Scunci, CVS

What better way to enjoy a cozy, nautical-themed sweater than on a boat ride?  Picture it.  The wind in your hair, salt spray in the air, and seagulls circling overhead.  But before I wax too J. Peterman poetic, I should point out that you're downing a Dramamine with warm ginger ale and sporting an armload of motion sickness bracelets like an uncool Cyndi Lauper.

That said, I skipped the boat and wore my skipper-esque sweaters on the safety of solid ground.

Because the only Poseidon Adventure I need is keeping the drain -- and boat toys -- clean. 

Musical Pairs: The Old Switcheroo Made Shiny and New

As romcoms go, Emily Henry's Funny Story is classic screwball.  Daphne Vincent's and Miles Nowak's significant others have ditched them to be together, leaving them no choice but to shack up and launch their own buzzworthy albeit faux romance.  Somewhere between farm stand crawls and action flicks, they catch feelings, and drama ensues.  Still, Funny Story isn't any old meet-cute courtship couched in a summer-at-the-lake montage.  Because, like all of Henry's romances, it hums with cerebrally sexy, soul-baring wit and emotion.  No-nonsense librarian Daphne and stoner-with-a-heart-of-gold Miles are so flawed and quirky that you feel like you know them.  I especially love Daphne's love of books and what she tells Miles about it:

"I like that it feels like I can live as many lives as I want." (127)

Same, Daphne, same.

Devil-may-care yet tender Miles is just who Daphne needs to venture outside her comfort zone.  Just as whiteboard plan-plotting but sensitive Daphne is who Miles needs to rein himself in.  That said, these characters are complex and layered, belying their tidy stereotypes.  Their love story may not be as glossy as the ones they shared with their exes.  But it's most definitely fun and funny and real.

And that's a win because at the end of the day, our stories are all that we have. 

Red, Yellow, and Blue: The Core Color Crew

Sweater: Forever and Ever, Kohl's

Shoes: Chase & Chloe, Zulily

Mom's lemon bars.

Dress: ModCloth

Bag: Dancing Days by Banned, ModCloth

Top: Nine West, Kohl's

The husband's tools of the trade.

Shoes: Nine West, Zulily

Headband: Goody, Target

Flame Game Necklace

Bag: Mellow World, Kohl's

Top: ModCloth

It seems like it's always time for the primaries.  But before you can say, "Tote Trove Lady, are you crazy?  You can't make jokes like that in today's political climate!," I'll say this: I'm only crazy about color, especially red, yellow, and blue -- the trio, triumvirate, and trifecta that give way to every other hue in the rainbow.

I love how primary colors mix to make everything from green trees to purple grapes to orange sunsets.  Also, how they morph into Snow White, Wonder Woman, and Wonder Bread with a whirl of the gown, cape, or circusy circles.

And that's why I wear them so often and am wearing them today.

Magical, memorable, and, dare I say, matriarchal.

That's the power of primaries.

Even if I was tempted to say the power of Pine-Sol instead.

Turn That Frown Upside Down: The Blix Fix

 ' "Whatever happens, love that." '  That's the legacy of Blix, the woman who drives Maddie Dawson's A Happy Catastrophe without even being in it.  Bohemian, colorful, and larger than life, Blix had a gift for uniting soulmates, and it's this second sight that told her Marnie and Patrick were meant for each other.  So what if Marnie's a freewheeling extrovert who fills their brownstone with strangers, and Patrick's a set-in-his-ways introvert who avoids people?  Not to get all Jerry Maguire, but they complete each other, their differences striking a balance.

Still, all isn't rosy.  Marnie yearns for a baby, but the mere idea sends Patrick into a panic.  Then again, Patrick has his reasons for fearing change.  Years ago, he failed to save his girlfriend from a fire.  Haunted by survivor's guilt and the scars that disfigure his face, Patrick clings to his routine of walking his dog, watching game shows, and, when he feels like it, painting.  But then two things happen to upset his carefully curated apple cart.  An old contact from the art world insists he put on a comeback show, and a one-night-stand -- excuse, me two-night-stand -- from nearly a decade ago shows up with his until-now-unknown-to-him daughter.  Marnie couldn't be happier about the oddly named and even more oddly behaved Fritzie.  Patrick, however, remains ambivalent, consumed by the very art show that's plunging him into a depression.  Yet the further Patrick drifts away, the harder Marnie tries to save him -- and them.  And that's when "whatever happens, love that" heals them, however slowly.

I don't know if it's the newish mom in me, but Fritzie really pulls at my heartstrings.  What kind of a mother dumps her eight-year-old on a stranger?  Even if that "stranger" is, as Fritzie calls him, her biodad.  It's bittersweet to watch Patrick try to bond with her, probably because I too am an introvert who once worried about a little person turning my world upside down.  But I'm learning that the only way to appreciate -- and, indeed, truly live -- life is to let it get messy.  And I like to think that Patrick is learning that too.

Well, that and never leave an eight-year-old alone with a pair of scissors.

NFL Spell: Love You to Saturn and Back

Boots: Simply Vera, Kohl's

Sweater: Club Room, Macy's

Bag: Sleepyville Critters, Zulily

Turtleneck: So, Kohl's

Unshrinking Violet Necklace

Bag: Gifted

Sweater: Jessica Simpson, Belk

Skirt: Almost Famous, Kohl's

Sassy Silver Necklace

Sweater: IZ Buyer, Kohl's

Bag: Delia's, Dolls Kill

Sweater: Maison Jules, Amazon

Blast Days of Disco Necklace

I've been wearing lots of stripes lately.  It wasn't the plan, but then maybe the universe -- or Saturn -- had other ideas.  Either way, the result was a happy horizon of color.  The sweater in the first fit is actually a men's small from Macy's.  But the big orange bow, which is Wild Fable from Target, tipped the scales back to girly.  Target offered the bows in all colors (I also have red and yellow) and was marketing them with see-through bags this fall in, ahem, a clear and perhaps Taylor Swift-inspired campaign targeted toward football fan fashionistas.  Which, despite not being into sports, I found fun.  Because I'm forever Team Bow.

And Team Swifty.