Receive A Year To Remember Articulated By Shelly Bell Represented In E-Text

book that has some nostalgic moments about the Jewish community where I grew up, Wonderful story about how Sara Friedman had to learn to love herself before finding true love, Great plot and characters. When her younger brother marries on her twentyninth birthday, food addict Sara Friedman drunkenly vows to three hundred wedding guests to find and marry her soul mate within the year.


After her humiliating toast becomes a YouTube sensation, she permits a national morning show to chronicle her search, With the help of best friend, Missy, she plunges head first into the shallow end of the dating pool,

Her journey leads her to question the true meaning of soul mates, as she decides between fulfilling her vow to marry before her thirtieth birthday and following her hearts desire.
But before she can make the biggest decision of her life, Sara must begin to take her first steps toward recovery from her addiction to food.
A single twentynine year old woman, . . a drunken wedding toast with a promise to be married by her thirtieth birthday that was videotaped and posted on YouTube, . . a plan to find her soul mate within the year, . . and a national morning show following her progress, The result: one woman's year of following the yellow brick road on a personal journey of selfdiscovery,

Sara Friedman is a twentynine year old single woman from Detroit, Michigan, When her younger brother gets married on her twentyninth birthday, Sara's drunken wedding toast turns into a passionate promise to find her own soul mate and get married by her thirtieth birthday.
Someone videotaped her toast and it went viral on YouTube gaining national attention from the media with a proposal to follow her progress via a blog, and if she succeeds in finding her soul mate, they will provide the wedding on air.
From online dating to speed dating to the local Jewish social network, Sara dives into the dating pool in search of her soul mate.
With trial and tribulations along the way, Sara's embarks on a journey of selfdiscovery where she will learn about herself, what is important in life, and to accept the blessings and enjoyment of a fulfilling life.


A Year To Remember is an entertaining and witty story about selfdiscovery and acceptance, The author weaves a realistic tale that readers can relate to, who hasn't had issues in their lives that they had to deal with and overcome By following along on Sara's journey of selfdiscovery, the author engages the reader with a realistic and thought provoking look at issues that any woman may have dealt with in their own lives.
Written in a humorous and witty style, the story is told in the first person narrative by our neurotic protagonist, Sara Friedman, Sara draws the reader into her story with a lot of humor and bares her insecurities and flaws for all to see, You can't help but become her cheerleader as her year long journey of selfdiscovery leads her along the path to finding out about herself and the surprising revelation of her soul mate.


The cast of characters are realistic and engaging, their quirky personalities and interactions provide an entertaining story that will keep you laughing along with their antics.
Sara is a realistic woman with real flaws, insecurities and issues that are easy to relate to, Her strength and determination throughout her journey comes through in a way that has the reader cheering for her, hoping that at the year's end she'll succeed in not only finding her soul mate, but that she'll also discover and accept herself for who she really is.
With best friend Missy encouraging, guiding and having Sara's back like only a true lifelong BFF would, it made me smile and think about my own lifelong BFF.
I would be remiss if I didn't comment on Sara's soul mate, since I don't want to provide any spoiler information, suffice it to say I had a feeling it would be "him" all along, and I wasn't left disappointed.


The author provides a wonderful description of Sara's journey, I really enjoyed how the author described Sara's year of selfgrowth in an entertaining, thought provoking, inspiring and thoughtful manner, The neat part of the author's descriptive style of writing is that she allows Sara to be quirky and not a dark character, and even with flaws and insecurities, it's okay to laugh at yourself as you discover and accept who you really are.


A Year To Remember is a lighthearted story of selfdiscovery and finding romance that will leave a smile on your face,

Disclaimer: I received a copy of the book from the author in exchange for my honest review and participation in a virtual book tour event hosted by Chick Lit Plus.


sitelink blogspot When Sara's younger brother gets married on herth birthday and she is surprised with a speech things don't go exactly as she planned.
She starts a lovely speech about soul mates, but ends it with a vow to be married by herth birthday a year away.
The plot follows Sara through the media frenzy she is forced into after her vow makes it to YouTube and how she heads out on her search for love/marriage.


Sara joins the online dating pool, does speed dating, and follows up on other connections, All the while listening to others advice and doing what she seems to think people want her to do or she is expected to do to reach towards her goal.
Thinking she know what she wants and starts a relationship, But, maybe it is time for Sara to figure out what she really wants and that might not be what she originally expected, or she thinks others want from her.


Part of what I really appreciated about this book is that how Sara grew through out the year of this plot, She learned about herself and grew and that is what I like seeing in main characters in novels that I enjoy, Sara made her mistakes in the year and learned about her friends, In that learning and growing she came into herself and learned what she really wanted for herself,

I have to give this bookin that I enjoyed reading it and really couldn't put it down in parts as I wanted to see how Sara worked it all out.
It is not a deep book, but if you are looking for a nice read and to see character growth this is one to pickup.



This review is part of chick lit plus blog tours,

I was provided a copy of the book for review, but the summary and thoughts on the book are mine, A Year to Remember by Shelly Bell is about a Jewish girl names, Sara Friedman. She vows on herth birthday to be married by herth which creates a year of major changes, self discovery and more,

I enjoyed the book overall, I found the story to be relateable in an almost scary way, It took a turn I wasn't quit expecting in that it faced eating disorders and more specifically compulsive over eating,

In the end, the book goes where you hope it will, Although I am wondering if there will be a sequel due to unanswered questions,

Character development was well done, The characters again, were relateable and real, The story was funny, emotional, and encouraging,

There were a few editorial errors in the book, but it wasn't to distracting

I'm deciding between giving this book.
stars. I am not to certain why, maybe because parts were so predictable
I may update my review later,
Shelly Bell is visiting to Writers Corner on the Chick Lit Plus Blog Tour, She is promoting her debut novel A Year to Remember,

Synopsis:

Sara is the older sibling and today her younger brother Seth is getting married, Sara being the eldest child feels some animosity towards her sibling on his special day, She is asked to give a speech at his reception then caught by surprise and doesnt know what to say at first, Sara vows to get married by her thirtieth birthday, Let the online dating journey begin, Sara brings along her friend Missy for support in carrying out this quest, Will Sara find someone special What will she learn about herself

My Thoughts:

If you like Jennifer Weiner then you will also like Shelly Bell.
I had a hard time putting this book down, I am interested in checking out this JDate website is it real I thought the story was great, I loved how the author developed the characters as the story went along,

I thought that this book was very easy to read, I loved how the plot wasnt just about finding your mate but also having a fulfilling life, Another question that could be asked is what you do have to contribute A great relationship should seek to fulfill you, It should also matter what you have to contribute, Where do your interests lie I am a cook, writer, and reader, I am interested in joining writing groups or joining a cooking class, I loved A Year to Remember by Shelly Bell! I will definitely read more of her books! The book made me feel for the main character.
I felt her happiness, frustration, heartbreak, pleasure, and joy! It was a great read!

Following the journey of Sara to finding her soul mate in one year before she turnswas a bumpy ride.
As a women in my thirties I could totally relate to the hardships of dating online and finding Mr, Right.

I would recommend this book to anyone who wants a laugh and to cheer on the heroine to finding her hero! I loved this book because it was funny and authentic.
Sara, the heroine, faces the same dilemma we all do

learning how to accept ourselves, When she corners herself into finding her soul mate by her thirtieth birthday, she takes a wonderful life journey often with hilarious and sometimes heart rending results.
Her trials and tribulations force her to take a hard look at herself, Wonderfully written, this is a great debut novel! I found this story to be enchanting, real, funny, and ultimately fulfilling, Shelly Bell has created a truly likable and interesting character in her protagonist Sara, The reader follows Sara through her yearlong search to find her soul mate, something she declares she will do while drunk at her brother's wedding and captured on video for the whole world to see via YouTube.
Sara struggles not only with love but with her codependent relationship on her best friend, Missy, and with the underlying body image issues that have plagued her since childhood.
Throughout it all, I found myself feeling more and more attached to Sara and really pulling for it all to work out for her.
The pace and the plotting of the book are lively and wellexecuted, more reasons I found A YEAR TO REMEMBER to be a really pleasurable read.
I also learned a bit about Jewish customs and lifestyle in this book, which fascinated me, I hope everyone who loves a good romantic story will put A YEAR TO REMEMBER on their mustread list! After reading the reviews I borrowed this from a friend of mine.
Let me start off by saying that it wasn't what I expected to read but really enjoyed this book,

I though it was a basic love story which it was with a few twist amp turn along the way, I didn't expect for her to have an eating disorder or have to have her life change so drastically to finally end up where she wanted to be by herth birthday.
I was amazed at the way this book was written, Easy to follow amp couldn't really put it down expect when I went to work but even then I would sneak to read more.
If you can get over the talk of vibrators amp a little sex I would suggest it, I even suggested it to my motherinlaw, Really rewarding read for me, I'm conflicted about my rating a little bit, I really enjoyed this story, But I sort of didn't want to, This isn't the type of romance I usually go for, This is Chicklit.

A Year To Remember isn't the story of Sara and Adam's fight to an epic HEA, It's about Sara's fight to selflove, She thinks her fight is to find her beshert soulmate, that marriage to a good guy would somehow make her unhappiness and selfesteem problems disappear, somehow make her feel worthy.
And thanks to a magic combination of weddingenvy, alcohol and a long dating and sexual dryspell, Sara publicly declares that in one year she will be married.


The media latches on to this and puts her under a microscope and under pressure to back up her outrageous declaration, So for one year Sara manages to hit rock bottom, find love, lose love and rediscover her own strengths by tackling the weaknesses she's ignored for so long.


As a woman who can identify with more than one facet of Sara's character, I was really into this story, I couldn't wait to see what was next for her, couldn't wait to see how she managed to fix the relationships she had,

As a romancefan, this made me a little unhappy, But I realize that it's because I went into this story expecting all of the things I love about romances, What I got was something a little more realistic, A story where you think, and the heroine thinks, that the hero is the endall, beall, but in the end it was truly just Sara's tale.
Sara's hard won love for herself was the real story here, The lasting, beautiful relationship she has with her beshert was just the awesome byproduct of all of the hard work she did on herself for herself.


This was the perfect book for me to start the year reading and I'm so happy that I did,

Shelly Bell is currently on tour with CLP Blog Tours and A Year to Remember, Sara Friedman is tired of being single, and something inside her snaps at her younger brothers wedding, His big day also happens to be her twentyninth birthday, and Sara drunkenly announces towedding guests that she will be married by her thirtieth.
When someone so kindly records her “speech” and puts in on YouTube, Sara goes viral, With a national morning show offering to help her one year journey of finding a husband and her best friend Missy backing her up, Sara dives in head first into the dating game.
She accepts blind dates, tries her hand at internet dating, and finds the meaning of soul mate where she least expects it, Sara also happens to be a food addict, and has struggled with her weight throughout her life, She is determined to shed the pounds while she searches for her Mr, Right but will thin equal happiness

I loved the beginning of this book, and was immediately hooked by Saras story, Even though I have never struggled with weight or had an unhealthy relationship with food, I still felt like Sara was very relatable, which makes for a great MC in my eyes.
The ending of the book took a different turn, While I knew Sara was struggling with food and that was clearly part of the plot, the ending seemed to only focus on that, and I found my interest waning a bit.
But I still highly enjoyed this book, and I would recommend!
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