This is Chick Lit edited by Lauren Baratz- Logsted

The genre of fiction known as "chick-lit" has been a lightning rod for debate in the world of literature, raising questions such as Is chick-lit really literature or just harmless fluff? Is this really an accurate portrayal of the lives of modern women? Eighteen renowned authors--including Jennifer Coburn, Raelynn Hillhouse, Harley Jane Kozak, Cara Lockwood, and Rachel Pine--weigh in with the best of chick-lit--proving that this genre deserves as much, or more, respect as any other. In addition to their story, each author elaborates on her feelings about the 'chick-lit' label, and recommends literary fiction writers that have inspired them.

Some time ago a book titled "This is not Chick-Lit" was published. Well not much of a surprise to me, but quite a few authors of Chick-Lit were upset. Well the finished product of some up in arms Chick-Lit authors? A great book titled "This is Chick-Lit", and I've had the honor of reading this book (or most of it) and posting this review.
This book is a combined effort of 18 different authors. Each of them writing very different stories, each their own. At the beginning of each of their stories they give a brief description of what Chick-Lit means to them. Not only that but there is also a portion of this book, in the back, called 'Reaching Across the Aisle' which is each author recommending a book by a literary author they think their readers would enjoy. I love this!
I've only read 7 of the 18 stories so far, but I though maybe since there are so many stories I would break up the review to a two or three part thing. Sound good? Great! Okay, here we go.
Some I liked, some I didn't, lets be honest no matter what genre you read your never going to like it all.

Two Literary Chicks by Jennifer Coburn

(I won't be posting what each author wrote about Chick-Lit, but as I think this author summed it up perfectly I'll just post her thoughts.)

"As a feminist, I find the attack on chick-lit more than a bit disheartening. Is this where we are-one group of women writers mocking another, deeming it's work irrelevant? Are women really criticizing each other about what they read?! And author recently commented that the term chick-lit sounds as if the writing is about, for and by women, nothing more. Nothing more?! Why isn't that enough?! I love chick-lit and am proud to be associated with this genre. People who don't appreciate it should stop moaning about the relevance of chick-lit and simply spend their time reading what they like."

Very good story. About two women who were in a writing group together in college, neither really liking the others work. Years later they cross each other on the street and make some small talk. One is a published author of a very successful book the other has a great book written but is struggling to get it published. Through different events they end up getting to know each other better and liking each others work. As well as helping.
Although I think it was well written and a good story I also felt it was inconclusive. Your left wondering about Marley at the end to much. I just wish it was tied up a little better in the end.
But I will definitely read this author again.

The Infidelity Diet by Harley Jane Kozak

Gripping. I really enjoyed this one and it was ended very well for a short story.
About a woman that starts to wonder about her husbands faithfulness to her. She's been married for quite awhile, and they've just both grown so comfortable. Long nights at work and some thoughts start to crowd in. Looking for advice from all different friends make for an entertaining view on woman's thoughts on cheating men. I'm not totally sure what we were meant to think of Christopher (husband) in the end, but I would love to read more of this author.

Confessions of a Three-Eyed Freak by Arielle Papa

Okay not one of the ones I liked. A story about a woman uncomfortable with a birthmark on her neck and goes to get it removed. She ends up waking up with an eye where the mark was on her neck. Okkkkaaay..... I kept thinking she was going to wake up and it was a weird dream. But no, it was real. She grew to like the third eye and was obsessed with it. Only when the eye started looking at different men did she go to have it removed. The eye was getting out of control. Ummmm......need I say more???? And the woman in the story had the same name as the author. That's just weird to me. This entire one was strange.

The Commitment Phobe by Cara Lockwood

Loved this one. Soooo cute! About a woman and man that are dating and of course she's ready for the next step, marriage, and he is content the way they are. He isn't against marriage it just seems like something they'll do eventually. Well she shakes some things up and gives her man a wake-up call. He is so cute, how much he loves her. Adorable read. I am all kinds of excited to find more work by Cara Lockwood!

Mama Knows Best by Kayla Perrin

Short, sweet and kinda funny. Yeah this one had me laughing a bit. Sometimes when you read a book about a black couple all you hear about is the color factor. You only hear it once or twice in this story, and not in a way to draw attention to the fact. Just in regular description like any other person or story. It really was a good read. A woman dumps her fiance the day before (or is it the day of) their wedding when she found out he cheated with a stripper. Then on a girls night out her ex is there with a Tyra look a like. Taking a deep breath she pretends to be there with a hot guy that happens to be sitting next to her. After a perfect performance she apologizes to the hot man and kisses any chance of actually talking him up now that he probably thinks she's a crazy. But surprise surprise who is her mama setting her up with the next night???

Nice Jewish Boy by Karen Siplin

Absolutely no point to this story. It's about two women, best friends since high school. They go to a friends baby's party, Jewish friend. One of the girls is Jewish on is black. The story is mostly about how the black girl stands out in the crowd of Jewish people. And then how all the Jewish mama's wonder if she is a mother herself even after she told them she is single and living with her parents. It's made out to be like every black woman is supposed to be a single mom. Sorry but I don't make that assumption or a normal basis! The the other girl gets propositioned for an affair with an ex that is married. Well I have no clue why she is only wearing the skimpiest outfit ever. So basically it's two mid-30's women that both live with their parents and wonder why nobody takes them seriously.....hmmmm, I don't know I just can't figure it out. Oh and did I mention neither of them drive so the parents still drive them around....oh and the 'nice Jewish boy'? Yeah that's a 15 yr. old that hit on the black girl. No more to say.

Dead Men Don't Eat Quiche by Deanna Carlyle

Started this story thinking it was kinda cute. A girl living in France her parents coming to visit. Blah blah blah. They tour the city have fun, of course she is dragging her feet. Then we find out her ex was murdered and she was a suspect. Oh but wait she figured out the true killer and cleared herself. So they go out to the restaurant that her mother made reservations at and there is a mix up. No availability, they lost the reservation. The mother is yelling (and don't ask my why the daughter was embarrassed, I would have been yelling too!)Basically a man comes and says they can join their private party. They flirt all night, have a private bathroom get together. Next thing we know the guy ends up dead in the bathroom with a fork in his neck. Again the heroine is a suspect and again clears herself. Not a great read, not bad either. Kinda Meh...

So ladies. Like I said, some bad some good. Do I think you should run out and grab this book? Yeah, it's a nice book to have when you have a few minutes for a short story. It's nice cause they are very short and mostly interesting. Also introduces us to many new authors that we may not have otherwise read. I love the purpose behind the book!

Grade~ B-

Veils of Time, an Anthology

Title: And The Groom Wore Tulle
Author: Lynn Kurland

Scottish nobleman Ian Macleod falls asleep in a medieval dungeon-and awakens in a room filled with long white dresses. Jane Fergusson longed to create great fashions, but instead toils in a bridal shop. Will their fateful meeting over dressmaker's shears lead to bloodshed or bliss?

Hero: Ian MacLeod
Heroine: Jane Fergusson
Grade: C

This story was too short but sweet.

Ian MacLeod does unmentionable things that lands him in the hands of his bitter enemy, the Laird of the Clan Fergusson. He wills himself more or less (actually we don't know how he does this but he does) and finds himself in Modern day New York, the year is 1999. He thinks he's in heaven or in limbo, so he tries to dress the part to impress St. Peter, but since he's in the middle of a Wedding Gown parlor, he puts on one of the wedding gowns and I laughed.

He meets Jane Fergusson and she agrees to help him even though she thinks he's psycho. (of course, don't they always think they're psycho but still help them anyway?) Between the two of them, they set off to find Ian's family.

It was a really sweet story, I would have liked like one more chapter of Ian and Jane falling in love because everything happened so fast for me to really believe the story, it just seemed implausible that Jane fell so fast for someone she thought was a complete lunatic two weeks before, but I guess that's what love does to a person.

I did like watching Ian learn about the future appliances, him eating Cheetos was a riot, the elevator? hilarious...it was a good, sweet read, I just wish there was more.

Title: The Con and the Crusader
Author: Maggie Shayne

Fleeing thugs, con man Jack McCain jumps into a well- and into the past. Mistaken for a criminal, he's headed for prison, until he's freed-with a wedding proposal! The widow Hawkins marries him to get help for her farm, but the attraction between them makes Jack wish he'd never escape this sweet captivity...

Hero: Jack McCain
Heroine: Emily Hawkins
Grade: B+

I enjoyed this story much more than the Lynn Kurland story, but I like westerns, I love cowboys and farm hands, all of those things don't bother me none. To see Jack really having to earn his keep, and keep his word was just all around sweet.

His relationship with Emily was a strong one and it showed in the short story. Even though this was a short story, it didn't end abruptly, I didn't get the feeling that it was rushed or anything, the story flowed great with the pace the author set and everything just worked.

The change we see in both Emily and mostly in Jack was fantastic to read about, to see Jack developing relationships with Emily's kids was touching and very endearing and then with him learning how to be a hardworking husband, while he's out there plowing the fields in the hot summer sun, LOL it was just good to see that he became someone his grandmother would be proud of and to see Emily learning to lean on others for help and for it to be okay with her gave you a sense of satisfaction at the end when everything worked out for the best between them both.

So far, this is my favorite story in the anthology, Jack was a stud and Emily was sweet. A very good story.

Title: A Bride Most Common
Author: Angie Ray

A time machine hurtled Lucy Taylor back in time to Regency England- and into the middle of a wedding to a dashing gentleman! Could she change history to save her future, without falling in love with a handsome new husband?

Hero: Kieran
Heroine: Lucy Taylor
Grade: D

This story I couldn't get into at all. I didn't think anything was funny, I didn't like the whole time travel idea behind this story, it just all seemed so unlikely and unoriginal, I just didn't really like the whole time travel machine concept that Angie Ray came up with for this story, because well the hero never got to see and fall in love with LUCY TAYLOR, there was nothing wrong with Lucy and yet because of the way the story played out, Kieran, the hot stud muffin didn't fall in love with Lucy, as she really was but by Lady Cynthia, who was totally different from Lucy.

It just didn't pan out for me, I was bored with the story, I was unhappy with her whole time travel concept and I just didn't really care for anything in the story. I didn't connect with either Lucy/Cynthia or Kieran and because of that, I didn't really care for the story.

I didn't like it.

Title: Conyn's Bride
Author: Ingrid Weaver

On the eve of her wedding, museum curator Alanna Moore is cataloguing antiquities, when suddenly a Celtic warrior appears-claiming to be her long-lost betrothed! Can she listen to her heart, and remember a love that was destine to be?

Hero: Conyn ap Rhys
Heroine: Alanna Moore
Grade: C

This story was all cheese and fluff. But it was cute, I thought that Conyn's undying love for Alanna was a little over the top but hey, you do crazy things when you're in love I guess. This story was really short, really sweet and just cute. Nothing grand or anything, I didn't get an instant connection with the characters but I didn't hate it and it was just that....cute.

Before I end this review, I'd like to send a million thank you's to Mailyn from Imaginary Origin for sending me this book, I really did enjoy it and I'm still fantasizing about Jack McCain, thanks a bunch sweetie, love ya tons!! =)

Undressed by Vicki Lewis Thompson, Suzanne Forster, and Alison Kent

Undressed: Illicit Dreams/ Unfinished Business/ The Sweetest Taboo

Reality can be even better than fantasy in New York Times bestseller Vicki Lewis Thompson's scorching tale...
Lindsay Scott can't help but overhear Hunter Jordan's nightly activities though her thin apartment walls. But she finally decides to do something about her crush when she discovers a naughty book full of ideas guaranteed to make Hunter her sex slave...

New York Times bestselling author Suzanne Forster proves that with sexual revenge, everybody wins...
Two years after waking up married to her one-night stand, writer Melissa Sanders has created a sensation with her new book based on sex tricks she uses on her "husband," Tony-the erotic stranger she hasn't seen since she fled the scene. But when he suddenly shows up on her book tour, it's clear the honeymoon is far from over...

Steamy, sexy, satisfying. Bestselling author Alison Kent explores that sweet taboo: the bad boy ...
Erin Fletcher sees no reason why she can't hook up with the wrong kind of guy until Mr. Right comes along. So what if her mysterious neighbor is a recluse, maybe even a bit dangerous? He's consumed her thoughts for so long, it's time to see what Sebastian Gallo is like for real...

Illicit Dreams

The shortest of the three stories but a very good story.

Lindsay is in the middle of helping her best friend plan her wedding. Every time they go to the Devine Events to make more wedding plans she is drawn to the red leather book full of sexual fantasies. The book is there to be used, to tear out a page and fulfill a fantasy. But all Lindsay can think of is her neighbor Hunter. And she won't be having any sex with him. Just listening to him having world class sex with his model type girlfriend through their paperthin walls. Oh and their Saturday morning hang outs while they both wash their clothes.

Hunter cannot get Lindsay out of his head. He has a perfect looking girlfriend that he likes a lot and they have great sex, but his mind keeps wandering over to his neighbor Linsay. So feeling guilty about having fantasies about one woman while with another he breaks up with his girlfriend.

Want a hot hot story? Read this...and just wait and see if Hunter and Lindsay act out his fantasy of doing it in the laundry room on top of a cycling washer! And all the other inventive things they can think up and the helpful hints they get from the 'Red Book'. Straight and to the point we see some unsure feelings, a little misunderstanding, and a very hot sex.

Grade: B

Unfinished Buisness

Melissa and her girlfriends take a trip once a year and had decided on cancun this year. One night with all of them drunk Melissa ends up getting proposed to and married, not to mention the best sex of her life. But when she wakes up in a hotel room and realizes what she's done she flees. Not even sure if the marriage is legal she doesn't wait to find out. Two years later, she has used that one incredible night and her many fantasies about her 'husband' to write a how to book on Sex. 101 Ways... It is a smash hit and next thing she knows she is wanted on a book tour and talk shows. Only one problem, they want her and her husband! The one that she dedicated her book to, the one that she only meet and was with for one night. What to do now!

Antonio has no idea what possessed him to get down on one knee and propose to Melissa only that is was right. She was right for him. So they got married, had the best sex ever....then she was gone. Her name on the marriage certificate is unreadable so he has no way of tracking her down, heart in pieces he tries to move on. Two years later, he is more than shocked to be contacted by Melissa's publicists and given an offer he cannot refuse. Pose as Melissa's husband, get a quick annulment when it's done, and just maybe a little revenge for her walking out on him. But he needs to keep one big secret from her till the end of the book tour.

Full of a lot of sexual tension. I felt it drug along a little but made up for it with all the good parts. A nice shock at the end, makes your heart ache and maybe cry a little. But of course has the happily ever after we all want in a good romance.

Grade: B-

The Sweetest Taboo

Erin is up to her eyeballs in work with the planning of her anniversary party for her pub. One year and counting. She has no time for a relationship which is good since the last few were so bad. But she cannot stop dreaming about her neighbor upstairs. Hot, dangerous, what would sex be like with the wrong guy, with no strings. Just until Mr. Right comes along?

Sebastian knows Erin watches him, he watches her too. He has never let anyone into his world. His world is his and his alone, no room for friends no room for romance. He is to messed up with a painful past and a lonely future.

But when both of them find themselves at the end of their rope (sexually) they can't resist. And what they tell themselves is only physically turns out to be so much more.

A little dark, a lot hot, and some powerful writing this is a must read too. A nice sub plot with another couple is a nice addition even if it didn't compare to the intensity to the main plot. I couldn't stop reading it.

Grade: B

Secrets of a Perfect Night, an Anthology

Once upon a time, three young women each attended a New Year's Eve ball...The moon shone brightly, music filled the air. Kisses were stolen and promises made. But what happens when morning comes?

Stephanie Laurens

A new year brings new scandal when a rake awakens in the bed of the flame-haired temptress who had seduced him years before. All of society has them bedded, but can he convince her to become wedded?

Victoria Alexander

When their midnight elopement is foiled, a handsome young earl and his dazzling debutante swear to love each other forever—no matter what. Now it's midnight once again...can their love be rekindled with one perfect kiss?

Rachel Gibson
She's attending her high school reunion as a newly formed ravishing beauty; he's now sexy, successful, and determined to give her her come-uppance. What will happen when the clock strikes twelve?

I loved all three of these stories. I've been in kind of a historical funk for the last few months, not wanting to read anything but contemps. RG's story here is just that, but the other 2 are historicals. I was kind of bored and decided to go ahead and read them and I was really glad. Even SL, who tends to irritate me, pulled through and delivered beautifully on this one!

Highly recommended!

4.5 out of 5 (because they're short)