Make Believe and the Tales We Weave: An Otherworldly Homecoming

Ashley Poston has cornered the market on romantic dramedies with a dash of fantasy.  And by fantasy I don't mean delusions (although there are those too), but the supernatural.  In this tradition of The Dead Romantics and The Seven Year Slip, she gives us A Novel Love Story.

Elsy Merriweather is an English professor with a dirty little secret: she loves romance novels.  While her colleagues drone on about Beowulf and Byron, she's daydreaming about her next book club read.  Because there's nothing as comforting as a happily ever after.  And Elsy and her best friend Pru know that no one writes one quite like Rachel Flowers.  The author has gotten the besties through many a tough time.  So when she dies and leaves her last book unfinished, Elsy and Pru are grief-stricken.  Especially Elsy.  Because she's been in a funk ever since her fiancé dumped her, a feeling that's only intensified now that Pru's engaged.  The only thing getting her through the day is her upcoming book club retreat.  Yet Elsy is mere miles from the cabin when her pea-green Pinto breaks down.  Panicked, she doesn't know what to do -- until she realizes that she's somehow stumbled into Eloraton, the setting of Rachel Flowers's books.      

It's a book lover's dream.  But also kind of a nightmare.  Because Elsy almost hits someone in the rain, a handsome bookstore owner named Anders.  Persnickety and reserved, Anders is a bit of a buzzkill.  Also, unlike everyone else Elsy meets, she can't recall him from any of Rachel Flowers's books.  Still, she's drawn to him and his charming shop.  As the town mechanic-slash-hot-sauce-purveyor works on the Pinto, Elsy wonders just how long she'll have to stay in this fantasyland.  But as the days go by and she becomes more embroiled in Eloraton's drama -- and the mystery of Anders -- she begins to wonder how she'll ever leave.

A Novel Love Story is a great escape for readers in search of magic.  I love how Poston plays with the boundaries of the world we know and whatever else might be out there.  In doing so, she makes the impossible possible.

And it doesn't get much more happily ever after than that.  

Another Day, Another Bouquet: Contemplating Cupid

Top: Bisou Bisou, JCPenney; Skirt: Trixxi, Kohl's

Vase and flowers: Michaels

Shoes: Mix No. 6, DSW

Wrapping paper: Amazon

Bag: Fred Flare

Skirt: Mudd, Kohl's

Top: Hell Bunny, ModCloth

Shoes: Madden Girl, Kohl's

Bag: LC Lauren Conrad, Kohl's

Shoes: Circus by Sam Edelman, Kohls

Bag: LC Lauren Conrad, Kohl's

Dress: ModCloth

I guess the best way to begin is to say that, as promised, I'm posting more Valentine's Day!  Which means that hearts, flowers, lips, and bows are decorating all my clothes.  

Speaking of bows (albeit another kind), there's also a cutout of Cupid.  

But just the one.

Because between him and Charlotte, I have all the cherubs I need. 😏💖🌸🌹💌💋🎀

Tasty Tussles and the Old Cupcake Hustle: Of Prints and Princesses

Publish or perish.  Also, high school never ends.  These maxims came to mind as I read Jenn McKinlay's Going, Going, Ganache and Dying for Devil's Food.  Even if Going, Going, Ganache isn't about academia but a struggling magazine.  

After turning a photoshoot into a food fight, Mel and the rest of the Fairy Tale Cupcakes crew are sentenced to run a baking boot camp for the Southwest Style staffers.  But things really go south when one of the reporters is murdered.  As a writer who exposed Arizona's elite, the guy had a lot of enemies.  So it's up to Mel to find out which one silenced him for good.  

In Dying for Devil's Food, Mel is guilted into catering her fifteenth high school reunion despite being bullied as an overweight teen.  True to form, some of the popular kids, including the class mean queen, sling backhanded compliments about her now-svelte figure.  But the real trouble starts when said queen goes to powder her nose -- and never returns.  A poisoned cocktail points to murder -- and a lipstick-scrawled message makes Mel the prime suspect.

So there you have it in a pastry shell.  Copy and cattiness kill.

That said, the real crime would be if Fairy Tale Cupcakes used pastry shells.

YOLO for Bolo: Not My First Romance Rodeo

Skirt: So, Kohl's

Fat Cat Fancy

Bag: Delia's, Dolls Kill

Scrunchies: Amazon

Boots: Betsey Johnson, Zulily

Top: Madden Girl, Macy's

Skirt: Tinseltown, Macy's

Bag: Sugar Thrillz, Dolls Kill

Bow: Wild Fable, Target

Red boots: Wild Fable, Target

Top: ELLE, Kohl's

Boots: Wild Pair, Macy's

Hair clip: Wild Fable, Target

Beats and Buds Necklace

Bag: Macy's Backstage

Not too long ago, I thought, you know what I need?  A bright bolo.  Or, as I used to refer to them in the '90s, lariats.  So I searched Etsy and discovered some cool shops.  One of them, Fat Cat Fancy, had heart bolos in all sorts of colors.  I knew I wanted one but had trouble choosing.  So I got two, a yellow heart and a red and pink heart cameo.  Once they arrived, I immediately styled western-themed outfits around them.  Denim?  Check.  Cowboy boots?  Check.  Attitude?  Check.  If by attitude I mean goofy dress-up energy, which I of course do.         

To round things out, I added a third fit featuring my own valentine necklace.  I've said it before and I'll say it again: Valentine's Day is my fave fashion holiday.  So this is the first of many hearts-and-flowers  posts.  

Let's see how many I can cram in before Presidents' Day.

Mr. Right vs. Mr. Right Now: A Tale as Bold as Time

After a hiatus, the book club is back!  So it's time to review my most recent pick, namely Rebecca Serle's Expiration Dates.

Daphne Bell has been given a gift -- or a curse, depending how you look at it.  The universe sends her pieces of paper saying the amount of time she'll spend with each man she dates.  Daphne doesn't know how or why these relationships end, only that they will.

But Daphne isn't just a thirtysomething looking for love.  Because this is Serle, who delivered a doozy of a gotcha in One Italian Summer.  In Expiration Dates, she does it again, and I didn't even see it coming.  But once I processed the say what? of it all, I appreciated how it deepened the story.

I don't think I can say more without being a spoiler.  I will say that Serle's writing is beautiful, lending magic to an already enchanted premise. 

Expiration Dates reminds us that time is as infinite as it is finite -- but ultimately what we make of it.

Peppered With Leopard and Preaching Priestly (Not Jason)

Skirt: Wild Fable, Target; Sunglasses: So, Kohl's

Bag: Mix No. 6, DSW

Geography Twee Necklace

Top: Madden Girl, Kohl's

Boots: Madden Girl, Kohl's

Coat: POPSUGAR, Kohl's

 Boots: Olivia Miller, Kohl's

Top: Madden Girl, Macy's

Skirt: Almost Famous, Kohl's

Bag: Nine West, Kohl's

Top: Madden Girl, Macy's; Necklace: Betsey Johnson, Macy's

Shoes: Mix No. 6, DSW; Socks: Amazon

Sunglasses: Zulily

Candy Shop Drop Necklace

Skirt: Vanilla Star, Macy's

Hair claw: Wild Fable, Target

Bag: Current Mood, Dolls Kill

Top: Madden Girl, Kohl's

Loafers: Betsey Johnson, Macy's; Tights: Isadora, Zulily

They say that leopards never change their spots.  I don't know about that, but I tried to change the way I wore leopard in these '90s-meets-Y2K-esque outfits.  Which means shirts and skirts and, in one case, booties.  

Then again, they also say that leopard's making a comeback.  Which makes me wonder, when did it go?  Everyone knows that leopard's a neutral.  Cue "Florals?  For spring? Groundbreaking." 

Per the priestess, that's all.