Adena Halpern’s 5 Do’s and a Do-Over

We’re just going to put it out there.  We LOVE Adena Halpern.  Her last novel, 29 was SO MUCH FUN(and is being made into a movie!!!).  We’re thrilled that Adena is sharing her 5 Do’s and a Do-Over with us too-we’re girl crushin’ on her pretty hard!

So you can imagine our excitement when we got our hands on her latest, Pinch Me.  Like her other novels, it’s fun and fresh. We devoured it and think you should add it to your growing list of beach reads.  Or better yet, download it RIGHT NOW and take it to the beach!

Here’s the skinny on Pinch Me: Lily married the man of her dreams. Then she woke up. “Never marry a man unless he’s short, bald, fat, stupid, and treats you badly.” That is the advice that twenty-nine-year-old Lily Burns has heard her entire life from her grandmother Dolly and her mother, Selma. Despite this, when she meets Gogo, the handsome, successful pediatrician who treats her like a queen, she has no choice but to let her heart take over.

When she agrees to marry him, Dolly and Selma are inconsolable. They decide it’s time to tell her the truth: their family is cursed. If she marries for love, there will be unimaginable consequences. Nevertheless, Lily and Gogo elope. Unable to believe her good fortune, Lily asks Gogo to pinch her—to make sure all this isn’t just a dream. The moment he does, Lily finds herself transported back to the house she lived in when she was single. Gogo is gone. When Lily tracks him down, she finds that he’s married to someone else and has no memory of her. In this modern fairy tale, Lily must find a way to break the curse and turn her nightmare back into a dream come true.

Sounds FAB, right?  Leave a comment and you’ll be entered to win one of FIVE copies. We’ll choose the winner randomly after 6pm PST on Sunday July 24th.

CHICK LIT IS NOT DEAD PRESENTS…ADENA HALPERN’S 5 DO’S AND A DO-OVER

5 DO’S

1.  Do put yourself first instead of paying for non-essentials. So what if someone writes, “Wash Me” on the back of your hatchback? Your hair looks amazing!  What’s that saying, “To look good is to feel good?”  Too true.  Figure out your own difference between a priority and a non-priority.  Case in point: I bought a fabulous new pair of shoes in lieu of fixing the jammed lock on the back door of my house making it impossible to open, and guess what?  I now go out the front door in style.

2.  Do use the good dishes and silverware every day. Why save your good plates for Christmas and Thanksgiving when you could make a dreary Wednesday that much brighter? Starting the day off with my Special K served in my best bowls makes me feel like I’m in an episode of Downton Abbey.

3. Do listen to your best girlfriends- I know, I know, this isn’t just a DO, it’s a huge DUHHHH. I’ve had the same best girlfriends for the past 20 years.  I don’t have scrapbooks or a diary to remember the lessons I’ve learned in life.  I have them.  They are the first people to piss me off by telling me the truth and the last people who would ever let anyone hurt me.

4. Do Take a moment to enjoy the sights- Lakeside views are very nice, but those aren’t the sights I’m talking about.  A hot fudge sundae dripping with chocolate sauce and sprinkled with rainbow jimmies brings a smile to my face that no picture postcard setting ever could.  I’m not telling you to devour the whole thing.  The after effects are no fun.  Sharing the delight, however, with four other friends (and four spoons) turns everyone at the table into a bunch of five year olds.

5.  Do READ CHICK LIT AT 2am. – If you’re anything like me, all your worries hit you in the middle of the night.  Those little doubts that don’t amount to much at two in the afternoon seem to wreak panic and anxiety when the house is dark and everyone is asleep.  When this happens, there is nothing more soothing to me than going into the bathroom, turning on the light, throwing a towel on the floor, and reading some Becky Bloomwood.  I’m back to bed 45 minutes later and the fears are long forgotten.

DO-OVER
When I was in my 20s, I fell in lust with an idiot moron.   To impress him, I was getting my hair professionally blown out and getting my car washed.  One month, I found myself short on cash to pay my car insurance.  “You don’t need car insurance,” the moron informed me as if this was the most absurd thing he’d ever heard me worry about at 2am.  I looked into the eyes of my Obi-Wan Kenobi and said, “Yes.  You’re right! I’m a great driver!  I would never into an accident!” A few months later, the moron dumped me for another girl.  To make matters worse, I had gained five pounds from all the hot fudge sundaes I ate by myself for comfort.  The hot fudge sundaes gave me such a toothache that I needed root canal.  The pain was so debilitating that I got into not ONE, but TWO car accidents on the way to the dentist.  I lost my license for a year, and had to pay for all of the damages I’d caused to the other cars. My best girlfriends, the ones who lent me the money to pay off the people I’d hit, berated me every time they had to chauffeur me around, for not listening to them when they told me the guy was no good.

If I could have a DO OVER pass, I’d erase that whole saga of my life.  Since I can’t, I just take what I learned from the experience. I know now that sweets are even more spectacular to look at than how they feel on my thighs, and even more delectable when they’re served in china bowls.  I know that my teeth and car insurance are much prettier than any pair of shoes, but having HBO or going over my cell phone minutes aren’t half as gorgeous as a monthly mani/pedi. Most importantly, even with my worst problems, I know I’ve got four best girlfriends who help will ease my fears.  And the times they can’t be there?  A little Jane Green in the middle of the night does the trick better any idiot moron ever could.

Thanks Adena!  xo, L&L

To read more about Adena, head over to her website or find her on Twitter.

Tagged as: 29, Adena Halpern, Chick Lit, chick lit blog, Chick Lit is Not Dead, Pinch Me