This is why I don't have any famous friends.....

About 8 months ago my friend Kelly told me about the website Goodreads. Have you seen this site before? If you like to read, you really need to check it out. Goodreads allows each member to input the books they have read or would like to read. It also allows you to assign a rating for those books & to write a review if you'd like. Kelly & I are avid readers, and she pointed out it that it was a great way to learn about new books & to keep up with what we were both reading. I joined and quickly found out that she was right. It's a great resource for finding new reading material.



Before I found Goodreads, I had either gone to the library or book store & stared at the book covers until I found one that looked appealing. This was a fun way to pass the time before I had children. Now, however when I tried to look for new books this way I found that my 2 hooligans would often run wildy around the store or library screaming at the top of their lungs while other patrons and store/library personnel glared at me disapprovingly not stand still long enough for me to make my selection. So, I often found myself either re-reading the same books I already owned over & over again or waiting for my Mom to feed me her books once she was done reading them.

Once I signed up & joined the site, I spent the first few evenings updating my online reading library & included many books that I had read over the past few years (you knew I was a geek right? The fact that I not only took the time to do this, but also enjoyed doing it shouldn't really surprise you....). After that was accomplished I went ahead and gave them all a ranking from 1 to 5 stars. Because I had read a lot of the books more than once, it was a pretty easy task.


Since the spring, I've used the site a lot and have gotten many really good recommendations on both fiction and non-fiction. I have seen my virtual library of books read and my pile books to read grow pretty steadily. I have even written some of my own reviews on the site.


Now let's flash forward to yesterday. I checked my emails & there was a Goodreads friend request from someone named Charlotte Hughes. "Hmm'" I thought to myself, "that name sounds familiar." Then I realized why: Charlotte Hughes is an author. She has written several books in partnership with Janet Evanovich (one of my all-time favorite authors) and has also written many books on her own.

I had no idea, why she wanted to be my friend, but I approved her online friendship eagerly, especially once I saw that I was only one of 10 other friends she had on the site. I felt special...hand picked by a New York Times best selling author as her friend. OK, I realize she doesn't really know me & yes, I know that this does not mean we are friends in any real sense of the word. But still, it was pretty cool.


Then I went to my on-line library of books & typed in her name. I soon discovered that despite the fact I have read a few of her books, only one is listed on my virtual bookshelf. I clicked to see what book it was & I noticed that I had only given her book 3 out of 5 stars! Yikes - this did not bode well for our virtual friendship. Then I looked closer & saw that I had also reviewed her book.

Here is what I wrote about her novel What Looks Like Crazy:
"I read this book because I did enjoy the books Charlotte Hughes co-wrote with Janet Evanovich. I enjoyed the characters & the story, but I felt like it was a bit too short & left a lot of loose ends dangling. It looks like this is part of a series, but even knowing that, I felt like this book could have been developed more. It was ejoyable, but a little disappointing"



OMG!!!!

First of all, how many times can I use the words enjoy and book in a 4 sentence paragraph? Secondly, check out the way I misspell the only nice part of my review on this novel: It was ejoyable?!? Aaarrrggh! This woman is an author & I did a terrible job of writing a lukewarm review of one of her books. Seriously, I think my new virtual friendship is off to a bit of a rocky start (I also think I need to stop writing reviews on the site until I can improve my writing skills!).

I now feel compelled to read her entire library of books & give them all 5 stars to redeem myself. Do you think she'll sense my desperation? Would that come off as too needy? I think the pressure of our new friendship may be getting the better of me. I mean, if she truly wants to be my friend, she'll appreciate my honest opinions, no matter how poorly written they are, right?

I'm starting to think she was trying to delete my poorly written review & accidentally hit the wrong button. She probably got my acceptance email of our friendship online & has been trying to figure out how to break off the relationship ever since. Is there even a way to do that in Goodreads? Well, until she figures it out, I get to tell everyone that one of my friends has been on the New York Times best seller list.

Don't worry Kelly, I'm not replacing you as a friend. Clearly relationships with the famous & well written are just too much for me to handle! Charlotte can just go ahead and dump me whenever she wants. I'll stick with you (besides you have too much dirt on me from our days in high school together. You'd be far too dangerous to alienate!).