New Mormon Books

The Actor and the Housewife is completely unbelievable and totally credible. The dialogue is witty, the romantic suspense genuine, and the finale? It ends the way it should.

Chick-lit confections: A shelf full of great summer reads
By Sherryl Connelly, DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER
New York Daily News, July 5th 2009
http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/arts/2009/07/05/2009-07-05_chicklit_confections_a_shelf_full_of_great_summer_reads.html#ixzz0Lfi2gdKQ

Shannon Hale’s The Actor and the Housewife was a fantastic read, and a much different book than what I expected from the cover and plot synopsis. I can tell form some of the other reviews I’ve read that I wasn’t the only one surprised by this book. I expected this to be light and funny – a perfect summer read. And it was funny, but it was anything but light.

Book Review: The Actor and the Housewife by Shannon Hale
By CarrieK
Books and Movies, July 2, 2009.
http://booksandmovies.colvilleblogger.com/2009/07/02/book-review-the-actor-and-the-housewife-by-shannon-hale/

“It’s not what I expected.” That’s the first response I keep hearing from readers of the actor and the housewife. I wondered if the title or jacket was misleading, or the jacket text. Or all. They may be. But as I’ve listened to these readers, I’ve come to realize that, at least in part, it’s something more ephemeral than all that: this book doesn’t have a genre.

This is what Shannon Hale says about her newest book The Actor and the Housewife and this is exactly the response I had when reading it.

The Actor and the Housewife by Shannon Hale (and Shannon Singing . . . Karaoke?!)
By Natasha
Maw Books Blog, June 29, 2009.
http://blog.mawbooks.com/2009/06/29/the-actor-and-the-housewife-by-shannon-hale/

This is a ridiculous book. The characters are stock, the premise goofy and, while a few things happen, nothing changes. Of course, this sort of thing can be enormously entertaining. All it takes is wit and inventive writing. Uh-oh.

The Actor and the Housewife By Shannon Hale.
By Tricia Springstubb
Cleveland OH Plain-Dealer, June 07, 2009
http://www.cleveland.com/bookreviews/plaindealer/index.ssf?/base/entertainment-1/1244277052117870.xml&coll=2

With the overwhelming popularity of her fairy tales, one has to wonder why she would make the jump to books for adults. The truth is, however, Hale’s books for adults are really just modern-day fairy tales cast for an older audience. As with her first novel for adults, “Austenland,” Hale’s latest work, “The Actor and the Housewife,” takes an average woman and throws her into a situation that is beyond her wildest dreams and not as perfect as initially thought.

‘Actor and Housewife’ an entertaining tale
By Jessica Harrison
Deseret News, June 6, 2009.
http://www.deseretnews.com/article/1,5143,705308768,00.html