Chick Lit

Following up on my recent post on light fiction, there's a whole genre I left out of that post that is generally pretty light and not too depressing, though some books definitely have their darker subplots - chick lit.  Some people take issues with the term "chick lit" but to me it's not an insult, just a descriptor of a genre.  They're usually books about women in their 20s and 30s where the main plot is about love and/or finding yourself, and they're written in a pretty light style that no one would describe as heavy literary fiction.  Then there's the related genre I would call "contemporary women's fiction" which perhaps includes chick lit as well.  But to me, there's a fine line between the two which is a little hard to define. There are definitely some writers that straddle the line too, where the books they wrote when they were younger are more chick lit, but the books they have written later have a more contemporary women's fiction vibe to me.  But for the purposes of this post, I'm going to concentrate on more chick-lit-y authors, other slightly more serious contemporary women's fiction will have to wait for another day!

Anyway, although I read less chick lit now than I did when I was younger, I still love it so much that I can't limit myself to just naming a few favorite books.  So I'm going to go ahead and profile some of my favorite authors instead.


American chick lit

Jennifer Weiner - To me, Jennifer Weiner is one of the reigning queens of American chick lit.  She has written 11 novels and one book of short stories, all of which I have read.  (She has also written a memoir which is supposed to be great but which I haven't gotten to yet, and two middle grade novels which I also haven't gotten around to  yet either.)  My favorite book by Jennifer Weiner is still her very first book, "Good in Bed," which despite a title that might make you feel embarrassed to read it on the subway (at least according to my friend Sarah), is not a salacious book but one of those books that manages to be both light and deep, about a plus-size woman figuring out who she is. That book made one of my top 10 favorites lists, as did 2 of her other books - "Little Earthquakes" and "Who Do You Love."

Emily Giffin - Emily Giffin is the other reigning queen of American chick lit in my opinion.  I believe she's about my age, and I love how her characters have grown up along with her (and me).  She has written 8 novels, all of which I have read, and has another one coming out this summer.  Two of her books have made my top 10 lists - her very first book, "Something Borrowed," and "Love the One You're With."

Bethany Chase - Bethany Chase has only written two books so far, but I've loved them both.  "The One That Got Away" made my 2015 ten favorite list, and her second book "Results May Vary" just missed making my list for 2016.  Her third book, "Seneca Lake" is due out this summer and I can't wait!

Taylor Jenkins Reid - Somehow I only discovered Taylor Jenkins Reid last year, so I've only read two of her five books - "Maybe In Another Life" which made my 2017 ten favorites list, and "One True Loves."  Looking forward to catching up on the rest of her ouevre.

Hannah McKinnon - Hannah McKinnon is definitely the least well known of the American chick lit authors I've listed here, but I've loved all 3 of her books so far.  She always seems to publish them in June and set them in summer on a beach, and they are just perfect summer reads.  Indeed, she has another book set to publish this June, this one set on Cape Cod.  I'm very excited because I just got an ARC of her new book, but now I have a dilemma - do I read it soon, or do I save it for summer?!?

Chick lit from the rest of the world

Marian Keyes - Marian Keyes is an Irish chick lit novelist who I adore.  I've read all 12 of her novels which have been published in the US; I'm anxiously waiting for her most recent book which was published in the UK last year to be published here!  Hard to pick a favorite - I'm going to go with her series of 5 Walsh family novels, each of which is about a different sister in the same family, the first of which is "Watermelon."

Liane Moriarty - Liane Moriarty, an Australian author who writes chick lit/contemporary women's novels is one of my favorite authors, and I discovered her all the way back in 2009, long before HBO adapted her book "Big Little Lies" into an award-winning tv show.  I've read all 7 of her novels, and even scrounged up copies of her very obscure kids books for my daughter when she was younger!  Two of her books have made my ten favorites lists, "What Alice Forgot" and the aforementioned "Big Little Lies."

Sophie Kinsella  - British chick-lit author Sophie Kinsella is most famous for her "Shopaholic" series, but I actually hated those books because of the insanely annoying main character, and stopped after the first two (there are now 8 total)!  However, I have enjoyed her 8 standalone novels, even though they are generally on the silly side - VERY light reading.  (Haven't read her young adult book yet either.)  My favorite of her books is actually the one that was just published a few weeks ago, "Surprise Me."

Jane Green - Jane Green is an interesting one as her books have really changed over time.  She's British, and her early books are set in the UK and are VERY light.  Somewhere along the way she moved to the US and started setting her books in the US as well (though sometimes with British characters), and for the most part her characters have gotten older as well.  If I've counted correctly, she has written a whopping 19 novels, and they definitely vary in quality - though I haven't read all of them yet.  My favorites that I've read so far are probably "Promises to Keep" and "Summer Secrets."

Harriet Evans - I can't remember how I first discovered Harriet Evans - she is a less well known British chick lit writer but her books are really good.  They do tend to be a little on the longer side though.  I've read 5 of her 8 books which have been published in the United States.  My favorite so far is "The Love of Her Life."

Hester Browne - Hester Browne is another fun British chick lit author - she's most famous for her 3 book "Little Lady Agency" series, but I like her standalone books even more.  They're very fluffy but fun.  My favorite is "Swept Off Her Feet."

Chick lit mixed with other genres

If you don't mind a dash of another genre mixed in with your chick lit, I have two more authors' series to recommend.

Shanna Swendson - Shanna Swendson's "Enchanted, Inc." series is an adorable mix of chick lit with fantasy, set in New York City where the ordinary main character discovers that there's a whole world of magic secretly existing but that she's immune to magic, and goes to work for a magical agency.  I've read 5 of the 8 books in the series, my favorite is the very first one, "Enchanted, Inc.," which landed on my 2005 10 favorites list.

Lauren Willig - Lauren Willig deftly mixes historical fiction with chick lit in her 12 book (!) "Pink Carnation" series, each of which goes back and forth between the present day storyline of a contemporary grad student in the UK to research spies in the Napoleonic era, with a historical story set in the time she is researching, with each novel's historical story from the POV of a different character but most of whom overlap throughout the series.  Yes this series is crazy long, but I started back when the first one was published so read them over a period of many years.  And I LOVE them!  The present day story is more standard chick lit and less compelling, but the historical stories are so great but still have a nice light vibe.  The series gets pretty formulaic as it goes along, but is also deeply enjoyable - there's only one book that I didn't give 4 stars to.  If this sounds interesting to you, obviously start at the beginning, with "The Secret History of the Pink Carnation."  (Note that Lauren Willig has also written some standalone books that are more standard historical fiction. I've only read one of these but have the rest on my very long to-read list.)

What are your favorite chick lit authors?  Have I missed any?