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Buggy's Reviews > Spin

Spin by Catherine McKenzie
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it was amazing
bookshelves: fiction, chick-lit, addicted, shelf-12, funny, romance

“Imagine if Bridget Jones fell into A million little pieces, flew over the cuckoo’s nest and befriended Lindsey Lohan along the way.� Okay I might have stolen that quote from the back of the book but it does describe Spin perfectly, so I couldn’t help myself.

This was a fantastic read and from a new Canadian author no less. Totally relatable, addictive and hilarious, I had trouble putting this one down. It's written along the lines of Sophia Kinsley’s Confessions of a Shopaholic series or as I mentioned Bridget Jones's Diary, I also had flashes of Girl, Interrupted (if the loony bin were rehab) And yet despite all the comparisons Spin still manages to have a unique feel to it.

Peppered with pop culture references from movies, TV and music there's even a chapter by chapter playlist included at the end. I also just love books that are written the way we girls actually think, you know with random disjointed thoughts and crazy insecurities. And how much fun is it to follow a heroine who isn’t perfect? Kate, well she’s a mess so it was an absolute blast stumbling along with her while she finds herself.

Kate,(Katie, whatever) Sanford has just landed the job interview she’s been dreaming about her entire adult life, (other than writing for Rolling Stone that is.) It’s an interview with her favourite music magazine The Line. It’s also Katie’s 30th birthday which is all the more reason to celebrate, right? I mean what harm can meeting her friend Greer and having one little drink do? She’ll still get home early enough to be clear headed and fresh for the big interview tomorrow. Well as most of us know there’s no such thing as one drink (especially with friends like Greer.)

Katie’s botched interview is hilarious, she’s late arriving, still a bit drunk and concludes the meeting by excusing herself to throw up and lie on the restroom floor. Needless to say she doesn’t get the job. She is however just perfect for another assignment they have in mind; entering a 30 day stint in rehab to spy on the new “it� girl of the moment and writing a 5,000 word expose for their subsidiary gossip magazine. (Should she succeed the job she actually wants will also be waiting for her.) It’s a no brainer really, at this point Katie has burned almost every bridge she can and has nothing left to loose, besides its only for 30 days.

Kate’s observations from rehab while somewhat heartbreaking still retain the comedy. Her experiments with jogging had me laughing out loud as did the descriptions of her dog obsessed counsellor. Of course there’s a romance in bloom and hey what do you know she might just have a drinking issue after all. At the very least Katie needs to grow up and stop telling people she’s still in college or at least partying with college kids. The rehab section of the story is predictable but that doesn’t make it any less fun to watch the train wreck and cheer from the sidelines. The ending reads like a Hugh Grant movie and I loved it. Cheers
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Reading Progress

January 4, 2012 – Shelved
February 27, 2012 – Started Reading
March 3, 2012 – Shelved as: fiction
March 3, 2012 – Shelved as: chick-lit
March 3, 2012 – Shelved as: addicted
March 4, 2012 –
page 424
98.15%
March 4, 2012 – Shelved as: shelf-12
March 4, 2012 – Shelved as: funny
March 4, 2012 – Shelved as: romance
March 4, 2012 – Finished Reading

Comments Showing 1-16 of 16 (16 new)

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Jennifer Lane Buggy, how did you know I've been wanting to read this one for a long time? Your review made me want to read it even more. Spin wasn't easily available in the states until recently, so I'm looking forward to it--the intriguing premise is right up my alley.


Buggy Thanks Jennifer, This would have to be one of my top reads this year. I'm glad you were finally able to get it in the States. I can't wait to read her other 2 books now.

I didn't mention this in my review but the author never tells us where this takes place; it feels more like the UK then America which is interesting because she's Canadian


Jennifer Lane That is interesting! She's a GR author--maybe you could ask her.


Buggy I never thought of actually asking her LOL.
I just assume you authors are too busy, well writing for my silly little questions.


Jennifer Lane Well she's probably more big time than me but I love hearing readers' questions!


message 6: by Buggy (last edited Mar 14, 2012 03:10PM) (new) - rated it 5 stars

Buggy Thats good to know.

Speaking of which I've been trying to get your book (with Good Behavior) on Amazon.ca for ages and its only in HC and unavailable


Jennifer Lane Hmm. What is HC? I'm going to message you later.


Buggy Hard Cover


message 9: by Tammy (new) - added it

Tammy Walton Grant Oh, Buggy this sounds like fun! Great review, looking forward to reading this.

Whatchoo been up to???


Buggy Tamster!!!!!

How the hell are you?? Been hanging out in any dark alleys lately? All good here, lost the power for a couple of days due to a big wind storm but the lights are on again

I think you would really like this book, hilarious, clever and Canadian


Kellie Maddox-Ward That sounds great!


Buggy Thanks Kellie


message 13: by Tammy (new) - added it

Tammy Walton Grant Buggy wrote: "All good here, lost the power for a couple of days due to a big wind storm but the lights are on again."

Was your wind storm just this past weekend? We had winds gusting to 90km/hr over the weekend and Monday. Temps were also around 16C, so we have no snow now and the golfers are getting itchy.


Buggy How weird, sounds like we caught the same storm. Lots of trees down, we also had pressure tides, never seen anything like it, you had to drive up to get on my little ferry.


message 15: by Tammy (new) - added it

Tammy Walton Grant That's pretty amazing, isn't it? I can't imagine how windy it was out there if, after going over the mountains it was still gusting to 90 out here on the bald prairie.

Sometimes when I have nothing else to do, I wonder if all the weird weather we are having is at all biblical. If we see locusts and dead fish I'm heading back to church, pronto. :)


Buggy LOL Erin! Yeah this one is really good


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