Pretty in Plaid by Jen Lancaster

I finished off Jen Lancaster's newest book last week - "Pretty in Plaid." I happened upon her first book, Bitter is the New Black : Confessions of a Condescending, Egomaniacal, Self-Centered Smartass,Or, Why You Should Never Carry A Prada Bag to the Unemployment Office,
one day at Barnes and Noble a few years ago, and have eaten up each of her other three books now as soon as they arrived in the bookstore. I love her totally sardonic style and she has some pretty wild, entertaining stories to tell about her life. If you want to see a taste of her writing, she keeps a pretty hilarious blog, Jennsylvania.

Before you can read Pretty in Plaid, you ought to know a little bit about Jen. In her first three books (and these really aren't spoilers, more like basic plotlines), she loses her high-paying corporate job, shares the truth about living in the big city (and having awful neighbors), and then goes on a quest to lose some weight. Jen Lancaster is one of the few authors that can have me laughing out loud repeatedly throughout a book. This, in itself, is a bit of a double-edged sword - the laughter is super fun, but then when Husband hears me laugh, he wants to know why, and then I have to try to explain it to him, so on and so forth.

Pretty in Plaid is the story of the old Jen, as a child, then a tween and teen, and finally as a college student and young adult. Let me tell you, she was just as rambunctious and hilarious back then. She was an overachieving Girl Scout (just as I had dreamed of being, but my mother never let me), an eager-to-learn fashion victim teenager. Her stories are not only hilarious, but relatable and fun. It may not be as good as her first three books, but it was still a very enjoyable read, and I tore through it very quickly because I couldn't put it down. I'd definitely recommend it, and I'd also recommend her other three books. Happy reading!