Spare Change

Here I am again. Next day too. Must be a record. Anyway, Amazon recommended that I buy this book called Spare Change by Aubrey Mace a couple weeks ago. I was a little surprised because turns out it's a Mormon chick lit book. As far as I know, the only comparable book I've bought from Amazon is Austenland by Shannon Hale (which I thought was pretty entertaining), but that was when I was on bed rest with the twins. Amazon has a long memory. I should probably clarify something. When I say Mormon chick lit, I mean it's totally clean and kind of mentions going to church. It's not overtly religious, so those of you who were worried that I might recommend a spiritual book can relax. You know I would never do that! Ha ha ha.

The book opens on New Year's Eve, when Riley is over at her family's house reluctantly making New Year's resolutions along with her brothers and sisters. She hates resolutions because she never follows through, but she finally decides on just one- to save up her spare change and give herself a treat at the end of the year. She begins doing just that but then changes the focus of her resolution as a result of interacting with people at her job- she is a receptionist at a cancer treatment center. Instead of buying something for herself, she decides to donate the money to cancer research. It starts out as collecting pennies from lunch and ice cream and then escalates into a fundraiser and a carnival. There's also a boy or two involved- it is chick lit after all.

I was pleasantly surprised by this book, which I guess tells you something about my expectations for a Mormon chick lit book. They're not high. I hate it when chick lit authors deliberately try to make their main characters flawed without any reason other than they think that somehow makes them more interesting. It usually backfires because most authors are not talented enough to pull it off, and their characters become completely horrific people that you wouldn't want to spend 5 minutes with. I liked this book because there's none of that. The main character is likeable, and you root for her. I would say the entire book is similarly likeable. I hope more books like it will be published. Ok, now I'm starting to overpraise it and maybe setting your expectations too high. I'll leave it at this. I liked the book, and I'll most likely read it again some day when I need a quick and entertaining read.