Book Review: Awkward Moments With Men

My friend Shannon wrote a book & it's hilarious.  I've never met her co-author, Megan, but having read the book, I feel like I know her.  This book is a collection of essays about "what it is to love & lust as young women stammering through the perils of the modern world."  Most of the essays are about dating, but Shannon is married, so some of them are about her husband.  These chapters were fascinating to me because her husband is good friends with my husband.  Don't worry, she doesn't over share, assuming you realize that couples copulate on their wedding night.  Speaking of, that was one of my favorite chapters, "The Man On My Ice Bucket List".  Here's the particular excerpt that made me laugh out loud:

"We're married," he cooed kissing me on the forehead.
I was definitely going to throw up.  His freckles were making me dizzy & all I could think about was stuffed crust pizza.

Ha!  I also loved the chapter, "The Man Who Adds Ten Pounds".  See if this sounds familiar...

After three months of dating, I was finally treated to an expertly crafted dinner of chicken parts with my newly minted boyfriend, The Man Who Adds Ten Pounds.  And simply because I hadn't done it in awhile & felt like being called pretty, I was complaining about the size of my pants.  I knew I wasn't fat; sure I might have gone an Oreo or two past my daily bi-color cookie sandwich quota, but I was insecure & if I was told that my ass was the correct size & shape by somebody that loved me, I was confident that I would feel better.

Um, yes!  I laughed a lot reading this book.  Shannon & Megan's stories are entertaining without being raunchy.  The writing is honest & good, which a lot of new writers aren't able to pull off.  I've noticed a lot of new writers, especially humor writers, use way too many adjectives & analogies trying to appear as smart, established writers, which doesn't work & emphasizes how hard they're trying.  Shannon & Megan write in a confident, straightforward fashion that lends you to believe that they've been writing books for years.  Not to mention, it's grammatically correct, a big feat for a book independently published without the luxury of an editor.

I have so much admiration for these ladies.  They did something most of us only daydream about.  They had an idea, put pen to paper & then created a Kickstarter campaign to fund it.  I forget how much money the ultimately raised, but it was an impressive amount.  The last page of the book is a thank you & a list of everyone who contributed to their Kickstarter.  I thought this was a gracious & classy way to close the book.

I loved this book & highly recommend it.  You can borrow my copy, but I suggest buying the paperback version so you can pass it along to your friends when you're done.  There's also a Kindle edition.  Both available on Amazon.

Shannon & Megan, you're so awesome.  Thank you for writing this book, thank you for the sweet shout-out in The Credits, & most importantly, thank you for showing me that this can be done.

XOXO!