Search - Carrie Pilby (Carrie Pilby, Bk 1) (Red Dress Ink)

I loved this book! I thought it was going to be a chick lit book, but not quite. Yes, it's a young girl finding her way, but it is much more well-written than your usual chick lit. (No offense, because I do love my chick lit.) A very cerebral, thought-provoking, yet fun book. My new favorite author!

I almost didn't finish this book. I was getting pretty irritated with the main character. However, I did finish and was pleased with the ending. I probably won't read it again but it wasn't a waste of time.

Let me start by saying that this book is not "chick-lit", however it's very interesting and had me glued to the pages the whole plane trip. Carrie is a child genius who skipped three grades in school and ended up in college at 15. Because she was rarely with her age group, she never learned to interact socially. She tries to apply logic and reason to all her relationships, with poor results. The book is about her at 19 and her journey towards finding out how to interact with people and to make friends, as well as how to give her life meaning. It has a slow start, but Carrie grows on you and you end up rooting her on as she searches for a way to reconcile her oh-so-logical mind and her heart's need for human relationships.

Different, sarcastic, unusual, too smart for her own good - those are the words I would use to describe the main character - Carrie Pilby. A character unlike I usually read and completely unlike myself. At times it was difficult for me to follow her thought process because she is way more than a methodical thinker.

I don't want to overwhelm you with negativeness - I loved this book. I read it for the New York part of my Goodreads challenge and I am so glad I did because it was so different. Carrie is an outsider. She has the hardest time in any social situation and it was almost awkward to read her adventures that took place outside of her apartment.

As to whom I would pass this one to - all my ladies, although I would probably limit it to the younger ladies. Carrie has just finished college and the young alumni group would enjoy hearing her antics entering into the adult world.

This book is supposed to be chick lit. If you judge it based on that criteria it is a poor example of the category. Don't get me wrong, I liked a lot of the writing, it just isn't romantic. Also the story fizzes in the end. If you are looking for something light, brainless and fun I wouldn't recommend Carrie Pilby.