Y’all know how much we loved Thin is the New Happy and It’s Hard Not to Hate You by Valerie Frankel. Well, she’s baaaack with Four of a Kind, a novel we’re considering one of our new faves. It’s about the secrets lives of four women and a monthly poker game (get it? four of a kind…) where they lay their cards on the table- literally. It’s juicy, hilarious and insightful with just the right amount of sass. There’s a character to which every woman can relate. As you read, are you Bess, Robin, Carla or Alicia?
Excited to read it? You’re in luck! We’ve got 5 copies of Four of a Kind to give away- just leave a comment and you’ll be entered to win one of five copies. We’ll randomly select the winners after 6PM PST on Sunday, March 4.
We also love Valerie’s list of things she wishes she’d told her teen self. (We hate to admit it, but she’s so right about #2.)
CHICK LIT IS NOT DEAD PRESENTS…VALERIE FRANKEL’S 5 THINGS I’D TELL THE TEEN ME
1. Find Your Truth. At first, I tried to fit in. I acted and dressed like a born-on-a-schooner preppy. As a pudgy, frizzy-haired Jew, that didn’t play. Then I tried not to fit it, and went full-on ‘80s punk with a black-and-orange Mohawk, safety pin jewelry, and snarly attitude. As a suburban New Jersey doctor’s daughter, the Cockney guttersnipe thing was a bit forced. Somewhere between those extremes was the real me. I would’ve figured out my personal style—and drawn confidence from it—a lot sooner if I’d stopped trying to look and act just like my peers, or nothing like them.
2. Let Mom Win. My mother and I had some epic battles during my teen years. Now that I’m a mother, and my two teenage daughters often drive me up a freakin’ wall, I can see now that—in some cases—I should have just gone along with Mom’s plan. If for nothing more, we would have argued less. We might’ve learned to smooth over some of our big conflicts if we hadn’t fought the little ones to the death.
3. Forever Is For Later. Why did I think any guy I spoke to might be my next major boyfriend? I put the pressure of eternity in a hallway “hello.” If I hadn’t hung my romantic dreams on, say, a guy I made eye contact with on the cafeteria patio, maybe I would have actually managed to talk to him.
4. Appreciate Your Weight. I thought I was a hideously fat teenager, but I would be thrilled now to weigh what I did then. My teen years set the foundation for thirty years of bad body image that followed. If I could re-do it, I would have elevated my thinking from constant self-criticism to appreciation. It’s a lot to ask of your teen self, or any teenager, to be grateful for what you have and not to obsess about what you want, though. It’s a lot to ask of forty-year-olds, too.
5. Write a series of books about young witches and wizards at a secret school for magic in England. Or, for that matter, Take your babysitting and waitress savings—$500 in 1983—and buy shares in Microsoft. Today, they’d be worth $1,000,000,000,000. I shit you not.
Thanks, Valerie! xoxo, Liz & Lisa
To find out more about the fabulous Valerie Frankel, visit her website and follow her on Twitter and Facebook.
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LOL-Love her 5 things!
Oh I definitely fell victim to #3 as a teen as well! Every guy who looked at me the right way was my “potential” boyfriend…yet surprise, surprise, none became an actual boyfriend. Hahaha. Thank God for college! ;P
Love it!
Love it!!!
I am dreading the day when my daughters are teenagers. I clearly remember how awful I was to my own mom…yikes.
Love #5!
Her books crack me up! She gets her point across and makes you laugh at the same time!!
Love #1!
I am loving this what i would tell my teen self series. And yes I would now give something very valuable some days to weigh anything near what I did in high school, yes i am one of those 40 year old women with body image issues, guess some of us never get rid of them. I also loved the guy comment, so true, so true, oddly one of the best benefits i got when I married my husband besides the obvious is a few guy friends which has been a nice bonus. You book is on my to read list, Liz and Lisa please keep up the teen me series for a while it keeps making me smile and even laugh. :)
These were great!
Love her and wold love to win a copy of her new book!
I am a big fan of this new series you ladies have decided to do!
How can you not love an author who uses the phrase, “I shit you not”? :)
Oh I love your 5 things!! I shit you not, I really do! :)
Really wanna read this one!
Absolutely love and relate to all 5 things!!!
Ha! Adorable! Really loving this new series!
I’m new to the site but I really like it so far – I’ve read a couple of the books recommended and really enjoyed them.
I am always looking for great new authors and new books to read. Thanks.
I love this new feature…5 things I’d Tell my teenage self…LOVE IT!
#’s 3 & 4 are so great!!
I love Valerie’s books and can’t wait to read more. I can relate to a couple of these items myself.
Sounds great! I love the teacups on the cover. Wonderful if there is a specific cup for each woman?
Margaret
singitm(at)hotmail(dot)com
This is great! I’m a huge Jen Lancaster fan and saw this site on her Facebook page. Glad I came here!
wow – although i haven’t read any of her books, i can’t agreee more with her 5 things. #s 1, 3, and 4 are SPOT ON!
Love #5!
very funny!
Like the list- I think I can relate to almost ALL of them! *sigh*
Can definitely appreciate #2 right now!
I love Valerie and I am so happy she s writing Chick Lit agian! She makes me laugh out loud. I already bought her book – but I did want to express my love!
I need to check into these books!
How could I not want another Valerie Frankel book? She speaks to my heart!!!
I just love her, chick lit is the best!
Number 4 speaks to my very soul – I just found some pictures of teenage me and I can’t believe how skinny I was! And to think I used to walk around never showing off my legs because I thought I had fat thighs! I would kill for those right now! Oh teenage me…I’m so sorry I led you down that bad path :) Looking forward to finding this new book!
Those comments ring true. Wonder if having my daughter read #2 will have any affect? Hmmmm…maybe in 20 years?
Nicole
I love all five, but am so damn jealous you can wear that hair accessory so fabulously well… That Kate Middleton _itch has nothing on you! (sorry, but she’s a size O)
Can’t wait to read your latest!
cindy in miami
Good advice. But Ms. Frankel looks waaay too youg to have teenagers. Seriously.
I have read all of Valerie’s books and they are all great! Can’t wait to read this one!
Love Valerie! I am reading “It’s Hard” right now and adore it!
Love!
I love number 5!!!!!!!
my mother would definitely agree with you about the letting mom win comment! lol
I’d love to win this book and I love her list!
I’ve seen this book on a few websites and still haven’t won a copy! I can’t wait to read this!!!
Sounds like a really fun read.
She speaks the truth. The redeeming thing is that even if you fight with your mom as a teenager, you eventually become friends as an adult. At least I did.
The guy comment is right on. Why did we get so hung up on forever??
I vote for letting Mom win sometimes after dealing with a teenage girl. I like the idea of a poker game.
Have to agree with # 2, also! Would love a copy of the book.
xx, Lauren Clark
Thanks, everyone, for such sweet comments. To the woman who said I was too young looking for teenagers? God bless you, forever and always. Lisa and Liz: Thank you again for supporting me, and being so generous.
XO,
Val
I totally agree with the ” let mom win” statement. I feel so foolish now that I am older and a mom myself that I ever argued over every little thing. Many of her points were well founded but I was just too stubborn to see it.
Thanks for the giveaway, the book sounds great!
Sounds like a great read!
Valerie – I like your top 5 list, especially #4 about weight! You are a new author to me, and I look forward to reading your books!
Hope today’s teenagers are reading these and taking the advice to heart.
Love Valerie and love her 5 things
Oh I can so relate to number #3! :D :D That´s absolutly me most times. True romantic and thinker – sometimes a bit to much :D.
I absolutly loooooove the cover!!!
Her 5 things are the same as mine would be.. expect the weight. Mine would be that I got teased for being a carrot top. Kids get teased for being different. Now I love being a redhead and being unique.
#2. Nuff said. Oh and #5…sweet. Wonderful sense of humor.
Congrats to marlamartenson@xxx.com, mellsimons@xxx.com, frontpageink@xxx.com, canative66@xxx.net, afmassengale@xxx.com! They’ve each won a copy of FOUR OF A KIND by Valerie Frankel! Thanks to all who commented! xoxo
Thanks a million, this is so exciting!
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