Book Review: "Waking Up in the Land of Glitter" by Kathy Cano- Murillo

Struggling domestic-goddess-in-training Ofy is determined to turn heads at this year's International CraftOlympics. To do that, she'll need the help of her best friend, Star. Considering herself a serious artist, Star is hesitant, but finally agrees to help as a way to end her own creative slump. Truthfully she thinks Ofy is a little loca about the whole craft thing - and about her idol: Local TV personality, Crafty Chloe. Star doesn't trust the bottle-blonde, even after she becomes part of their crafting team. As the competition heats up, Star will learn Chloe's dirty little secret, why crafting means so much to Ofy, and that beauty, art, and creativity can take many more forms than a canvas hanging in a gallery.

Truth be told, I've never really been an arts and crafts type of person. I am not very creative when it comes to this sort of stuff and usually when doing A&C I end up making stuff that isn't very recognizable. I also will use glue too much resulting in things that aren't supposed to be stuck being glued together. The store Michael's and me don't get along that well either. Still though I was really excited to read this book because lately I've been drawn to books where women get together and bond through a shared hobby. Plus the cover of the book really drew my eye especially since I didn't know the author at all.

The story is really great. The three women portrayed in the story are all very different from each other. There's friction as well as kinship as they learn to get along with each other. Even though Star, Ofy and Chloe are around the same age, they are each at a different stage in their life and must learn from experience about what best fits them. Throughout the book there's lots of laughs as well as serious moments. The crafts talked about actually did make me consider looking into the hobby. I really liked reading about the glitter. The scene where the cop starts to taste it had me cracking up.

I also really liked how this was a great multi-cultural book. The characters are all Hispanic and give insight into the culture. I liked how Spanish words are tossed into the story but there is a glossary at the back of the book in case you're not sure what they mean. It's great because the characters' culture is a huge part of the story but it doesn't stand out like sore thumb. It's just there to be celebrated without making it the huge focus point.

Honestly I found absolutely no faults at all in this book. I really enjoyed reading it and getting to know all the women in the story. I learned about crafts and what goes on in the hobby plus got a story that was really fun to read. To be honest I personally thought it was even better than books like The Friday Night Knitting Club because it was more fun, less drama than books like that. I really hope that there will be more books in this series as I totally dig this combination. Maybe one day it will encourage me to retry arts and crafts again!

Waking Up in the Land of Glitter by Kathy Cano-Murillo is published by Grand Central Publishing (2010)

This ARC was provided by the publisher