Friday, August 22, 2008

The ten best days of my life



Title:
The Ten Best Days Of My Life
Author: Adena Halpern
Publisher: Hachette Australia
Price: $39.99


Life after death looks pretty good for our 29-year-old heroine in Adena Halpern’s novel “The Ten Best Days of My Life.”

After being hit by a red Mini Cooper while out walking her dog, Alex Dorenfield finds that her life so far has qualified her for admission to seventh heaven – the highest level of heaven.

Or has it?

Just 24 hours after seeing her beloved (deceased) grandparents again, moving into her dream home with a gorgeous single man next door and more designer clothes than she could ever wear in a wardrobe as big as a bedroom, basically everything she has ever wanted, Alex’s guardian angel appears to tell her that, well, maybe there has been a mistake.

Yes, questions are being asked by the higher-ups as to whether Alex actually led a fulfilling life deserving of her spot in seventh heaven.

She is given just two weeks to prove her worth by writing an essay on the ten best days of her life.

Failure will mean an eternity in a lower level of heaven where the men aren’t so cute, the clothes not so trendy and no visits from family.

This debut novel from Marie Claire magazine writer Adena Halpern is pretty light on brain cell challenging content with heavy emphasis on the beauty/fashion/shoes/men/fluff filled world of the spoilt princess Alex. It has moments of sparkling humour and real character growth though that redeems it from becoming just another mawkish chick lit novel.

A frivolous read that would be great for whiling away a rainy weekend, it also inspired me to think about my own version of seventh heaven – an endless supply of books and passion fruit cheesecake sounds pretty heavenly to me.


2 comments:

Caffeinated Weka said...

After reading Alice Sebold's The Lovely Bones, I got to thinking about what would be in my own personal heaven. I haven't yet come up with a definitive list. However, I have decided that in my heaven I will eat chocolate, cheese, cashew nuts, and NOTHING else (cos I will also be perpetually pretty in my heaven). There will be books, music, dancing, flowers, and lots of warm, sunny days. Ahhh, bliss.

Heather said...

My perfect heaven would be an overall feeling of happiness around me, an endless supply of craft projects that I have the skills to perform, plenty of chocolate, eggs and doughnuts, dance classes of all genres and lots of people I love, to spend time with.