Story for the Week
I find it hard to believe that I am on the verge of turning 60…but here we are. Everyone knows the big milestone birthdays—driver’s license at 16, legal adult at 18, legal drinker (in the U.S.) at 21. Once we get past those, they pretty much space out to the decades.
Fifty was a big one. For my husband Dennis’s 50th, we flew to New York. Dennis lived in New York when we met. His mom and sister still lived there, and he had lots of friends and family there. He was the oldest child in that generation of his family. His mom was one of 13 children—11 of whom survived to adulthood. Dennis had literally dozens of cousins scattered around the country and the globe. So we planned it a year in advance, giving people enough time to plan their own travel from California, Florida, London, and Trinidad.
It turned into quite the party. Lots of drinks and dancing and speeches. Corinne was obsessed with hearing her own voice over the karaoke machine once the speeches started. Now that I think about it, maybe we should have taken that as a sign that she would want to be a performer. 🤔 It truly was one of our best trips to New York.
We stayed home for my 50th because most of my family and friends are in Illinois. Dennis planned the party. I baked a cake and decorated it with an AARP solicitation, which arrived a few days before my birthday. Where Dennis had an “Over the Hill” hat for his birthday, I received a sash and big sparkly glasses for mine…and a special wine glass celebrating the milestone. 🍷🥂
As I approach 60, though, I don’t expect it to be a big deal. I’m going to work because it’s on a weekday, and we already have vacations planned at the beginning of June and in August before Corinne goes back to school. Corinne hopes to work full-time over the summer, so who knows if she’ll be working that evening. We may just spend the evening ordering dinner (because I refuse to cook for my birthday) and watching television. And I’ll go to work the next morning…just like normal.
It seems like, the older we get, birthdays become less of a milestone and more of just another day.
Thirty, however…that felt like a big deal. Thirty feels like the point at which you should have your crap together. Time to really be an adult. When I turned 30, I received a number of birthday cards talking about how old I was. And birthday cards can be mean. I don’t remember what kind of snarky card my brother sent me, but I know it was snarky. I know because, shortly after my 30th birthday, I bought his 30th birthday card…and he’s four years younger than I am.
People were convinced I would lose it because I had to hang onto it for nearly four years. But I was in my giant Franklin Planner phase (Never Recovering from My Notebook Obsession). I tucked it into the pocket in the back and waited. I even had a poster made of the front of the card because it was perfection.
“Thirty reeks.
Thirty sucks.
Thirty means not getting carded at bars anymore.
Thirty means knowing that teenagers think you’re a dinosaur.
Thirty is people who say, ‘well, it’s better than turning forty!’
Thirty is getting a headache at a concert.
Thirty is having furniture that matches.
Thirty is wondering if you still look cool in ripped jeans.
Thirty is wondering if ripped jeans are still cool.
Thirty is wondering if saying ‘cool’ is still cool.
Thirty is cruel and unusual punishment.
Thirty is the nightmare that never ends and the torture that never stops.
Thirty bites the big one.
Thirty.
Game over.
You lose.”
The main character in the book below is on the cusp of 30 when the story begins…and desperately needs to get her life together. Because 30 bites the big one. 🤷🏻♀️
But 60? Eh, 60 doesn’t seem that different from 59 or 58 or 57 or…. Well, you get the idea. 😉
Book Review
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
5 Stars for Made for Me by Kathryn R. Biel
269 pages
Publisher: Kathryn R. Biel
Publication Date: September 30, 2016
Purchased directly from the author.
Publisher’s Description
I’ve committed a cardinal sin in my traditional Italian family. I’m 29 and unmarried. Not only that, but I’m now jobless and homeless and moving back into my parents’ basement.
Desperate times call for desperate measures, so applying for a reality TV fashion show seems like a good idea. And it is, until I find myself on the show, Made for Me, tasked with designing a wedding gown for a princess.
It’s pretty apparent I’m the underdog here—vanilla in a sea of 31 flavors—but I need to prove to everyone, most of all myself, that I can do this. And I know I can, if only I could focus on designing instead of falling in love.
Maybe, just maybe, I can do both?
************
Main Characters:
- Michele – 29 years old, the youngest of four siblings with a big age gap between her next oldest sibling, works at a small boutique in upstate New York, flunked out of design school but enjoys sewing and designing, sells her designs on Etsy but doesn’t make enough to sustain herself, selected as a contestant on the reality show Made for Me
- Asher – another contestant on Made for Me, currently works for a successful men’s fashion design firm in California but wants to break into women’s fashion, originally from England
- Lincoln – a middle child with six sisters, grew up next to Michele’s aunt and uncle, her cousin Tony’s best friend, works for a broadcasting company in New York City
- Tony – Michele’s cousin, lives in New York City with Lincoln and another roommate
- Christine – Michele’s best friends, works as an event planner and ballet teacher, Michele considers her the perfect model
- Kira, Butch, Fink, Lexington, Sancere, Gordon, Weyler, Breckyn – the other eight contestants on Made for Me
I decided this year that part of my reading goal would be to read fewer ARCs and more of the titles I already own. As a part of this, I made a conscious effort to include some older titles from a couple of my favorite authors. One of those authors is Kathryn R. Biel, who I’m excited to meet at Happily Indie After in August. Made for Me is the first of six Biel titles I have scheduled between now and the middle of August and the first book in her New Beginnings series.
I chose this series to start with because Biel posted a TikTok video a while back mentioning that Made for Me is her best-selling book. Seemed like as good a reason as any to start there in her back catalog. 🤷🏻♀️ And I am so glad I did! Back in January, I reviewed the prequel Completions & Connections (The Ultimate Holiday Quiet Time), which introduced Michele, the main character of Made for Me, and her best friend Christine. And Made for Me delivers.
One of the things I love about Biel’s writing style is her ability to give her main characters a voice all their own. When she writes her stories with a first-person point of view, it’s easy to hear that voice in your head because it sounds exactly how someone might be thinking.
“Now I think my stomach is going to explode. Or at least the button on my pants is. I reach my hand oh so discreetly under my sweater and release the button. Aaaaaah, sweet relief.” I mean, who of us hasn’t felt that way after overeating on a holiday?
Michele also tells us that she deals with ADHD, and her actions and the way she communicates both bear that out. She narrates in a very stream-of-consciousness way and often catches herself not paying attention. But when she’s designing and creating, she’s hyper-focused on what she’s doing for hours at a time. It’s more than a little entertaining.
But it doesn’t help Michele get her life in order until she finds herself without a job, without a boyfriend, about to lose her apartment, and planning to move back home with her mountain of debt…only to discover her parents plan to sell her childhood home to downsize. About to be homeless and with nothing to lose, Michele applies to be on a reality television design show.
I had so much fun reading this, even though I knew how everything was going to play out in the end. Michele’s big Italian family stick their noses in her business constantly…but they are always there to support her. The cast of characters she meets on the show are…unusual. 😉 And Biel has a gift when it comes to creative character names—Breckyn, Sancere, Weyler, Fink. She even names a character Taliance Ho, who I have to hope appears in another novel with the nickname Tally Ho. 🙏🏻
But what I really love is Michele’s character arc. She learns to appreciate her family, makes some real friends, and truly comes into her own and starts to believe in herself, which seemed like her biggest issue all along. “I am slightly taken aback when they ask for my design story before they ask to see the clothes. Who cares if I’ve got a good story—which I don’t—if you have no talent? It’s all about the talent. I’m not sure I have that either.”
I am looking forward to Kira and Maryn’s stories in the other two books in the series. New Beginnings indeed.
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