Spooky Little Girl by Laurie Notaro
Release date: 2010 / 293 pages
Synopsis (from back cover): “Coming home from a Hawaiian vacation with her best girlfriends, Lucy Fisher is stunned to find everything she owns tossed out on her front lawn, the locks changed, and her fiance’s phone disconnected — plus she’s just lost her job. With her world spinning wildly out of control, Lucy decides to make a new start and moves upstate to live with her sister and nephew.”
Review: This novel was so quirky and fun!! After reading a bunch of heavy, thought-provoking, literary tomes, I really needed a purely enjoyable, fun read and this fit the bill perfectly! I packed it for a baby shower weekend in Chicago, knowing that any reading time would be a few pages before bed or on the plane, and loved having Lucy along for the flight. Then, when I returned, exhausted and happy, I finished the novel in one sitting on my deck in the sunshine. Lucy was the perfect companion for both sun on the deck time and a baby shower weekend!
Lucy is very likeable and very “familiar” — as in, a friend you are glad to have and sorry to lose. Now, I’m going to include a minor spoiler next — Lucy dies almost immediately. Killing off the protagonist does not seem like a minor spoiler, does it?! But the bulk of the novel involves Lucy discovering why her fiance seemed to desert her without a thought moments before her death. In addition, Notaro presents a very manageable and even fun vision of life-after-death — and who doesn’t need a dose of that?!
Here is what Lucy is told soon after she dies:
You’re here because you did not reach your full potential in life when you had the chance. You missed opportunities, maybe left things unsaid, or didn’t come through on promises you made… It wouldn’t be fair or just to let those who didn’t leave a good mark slide on in without doing the necessary work. This is your second chance…”
So, much of the narrative involves Lucy embarking on her “second chance” — with the help of her ornery grandmother — and I couldn’t help but root for her the entire time. I recommend this novel as a fun pick-me-up and would be happy to pass on the smile to one lucky winner…
Interested? Simply drop me a comment and I’ll choose a winner soon! 
I love everything I’ve ever read by Laurie Notaro, and would love to win this to read this next!
This sounds like a book I would really enjoy. I like to read a fun book sometimes! Thank you for the giveaway!
This sounds fun – please include me! Thanks!
The book sounds great. Please enter me if the contest is international
mishamary@gmail.com
You got me hooked!
well, this sounds a very fun, enjoyable book. Like you, I take pleasure in reading light books in between serious ones. Love the cover, too.
Thanks.
Sounds fun, I could use a literary pick-me-up about now. Please include me. Thanks!
Sounds like a fun light read. I am very interested. Please enter me. Thanks!
This books sounds like a lot of fun.
Please enter me in this contest.
me! Me! ME! Pick me! This book book is so up my alley:)
Thanks Kristen!
A quirky pick-me-up sounds like just what I’m looking for ~ please enter me. Thanks!
Delightful review! Count me in,please.
Going to the beach and would love fun and quirky!
great blog! I love Notaro.
Sounds like a good book.
I’m adding this one to my list! Last year I read The Late Lamented Molly Marx by Sally Koslow. Molly, the narrator is dead. And it was a good book, interesting. So I really think I’ll like this one too. Thanks for all of the good suggestions.
I’ve never read anything by this author, but it sounds like a great book!
i’m trying to finish up an ann bronte book so i too could use a fun little book!
I’m so glad you many are interested in this quirky little novel!! I wish I had more than one copy to give away…
I have not had the opportunity to read anything by this author. I love the sounds of it. Please enter me.
sharon54220@gmail.com
Sounds like a fun book! Please enter me in the giveaway.
Please enter me in the giveaway. I have not read any books by this author and this one sounds fun! Thank you!
I would love to win this book. I love the title and it sounds like a fun read.
I love the cover and it looks like a fun read! Thanks for the giveaway.
s.mickelson at gmail dot com