[.ca] A Clean Slate (ISBN 037325038X)

interesting premise, same old everything else:
Kelly MacGraw wakes up to a day of clarity when she discovers she has essentially been in a depressed state for 5 months, and didn't know she had lost her lucrative job, sold her townhouse and been dumped by her boyfriend on her 30th birthday. On top of this, her younger sister had died in a car accident a few months before her birthday and her mom had moved to LA in an effort to deal with it. Kelly must start over, but can she really when she doesn't know where she has been? Her best friend Laney has been nursing her through it and -- after an annoying chapter on shopping + makeover --- Kelly is ready to retsart her life. She takes a break from financial analyzing to be a photographer's assistant in a studio apartment and tries to figure out why Ben dumped her and went to Therese. It's all right but not that fascinating.

Best RDI Author!!:
Caldwell is definitely becoming one of my favorite writers. Her writing is wonderful in a way that doesn't make you feel guilty for reading some random chick lit. Her books are beyond the ramblings of a lost and confused 20something, but she makes it seem possible to be young, beautiful, and successful. A Clean Slate is no different. It is extremely well-written with a touch of mystery that makes you keep reading til the last page. I stayed up late on a work night to finish this. The only reason I gave it 4 stars instead of 5 is because it didn't quite turn out the way I expected and hoped. I would recommend this to anyone who wants to read some quality chick lit.

A different type of chick lit:
I loved Laura Caldwell's first novel, "Burning the Map" and have been looking forward to her second book. "A Clean Slate" deals with Kelly who discovers that she has some memory loss problems had a chance to "do it all over again." The only thing Kelly remembered was that she was dumped by her longtime boyfriend Ben on her 30th birthday, retrenched by her company and was basically alone. Thankfully, her best friend, Laney was at her side to give her all the encouragement and support that she needed but despite that, Kelly was still not able to remember the events between her birthday and now. However, Kelly felt that something important happened during those months but she was at the same time too afraid to find out. Putting it behind her, Kelly was eager to start a new life and pursuing her interest in photography full time. I think this is one of Red Dress Ink better books. It is definitely a lot more thought provoking than your regular chick lit. The author did a fantasic job of characterizing Kelly and is able to bring her to life. In addition, I like the relationship between Kelly and Laney which I thought was well developed. In addition, the book was very well-written, great secondary characters, and good plot. The whole "thing" that Kelly forgot but knew it was important was quite intriguing and the author was able to keep her readers guessing. This is a more serious chick lit compared to the rest and it is definitely worth your money. Laura Caldwell is certainly a promising writer in this genre.

A beach blanket book at best.:
If you are looking for some light reading this book would be it...it would make a great beach book. Kelly McGraw suddenly comes out of a fog, realizing that she can not remember a thing about the last five months of her life, during which, according to pieces of stories she gets from her ex-boyfriend and her best friend, she lost her job, lost her fiance, sold the townhouse she loved, and became some sort of hermit-like stalker...but now she is miraculously all better...except not really. This books attempts to chronical the life of a young woman who decides to wipe the slate clean and start over in a job that she loves...(photography) instead of a job where she made a good salary but didn't have a passion for (investment banking). She convienently falls into a dream job working as the assistant to a fallen-from-graces famous photographer because she has taken a couple of photography classes at a local community college. The problem with this book is that everything seems to fall too neatly into place in Kelly McGraw's new life. Dream job, dream boyfriend who wants her but she doesn't even know is there at first...it is far too predictable for my tastes...but as another reviewer said...it comes with a pretty pink cover.

A Clean Slate:
This book had a way of holding my attention even when I wasn't reading it. I noticed my self so curious of what was going to happen next that I would continuously sneak a few pages in at work. The authors talents for repeatedly causing intense curiosity, and plain fun reading was amazing. Definalty the BEST book I have ever read!