Review: The Journal Of Mortifying Moments

I was happily surprised at how much I enjoyed this novel. Kerry Spence, the main heroine of the novel, is one of those characters who are good enough to make the book, should the book not have a good plot. She is funny (hilarious at times), endearing, clueless in some ways, and vibrant. However, since this book had an excellent plot too, the book ended up being amazingly good. At the beginning of our story, Kerry is stuck in an on-again, off-again type of relationship with Sam, a good-looking guy who she thinks is way out of her league. In order to try and get over the angst this dysfunctional relationship has produced, Kerry begins seeing a therapist, who instructs her to write down some of the most mortifying moments in her life. And mortifying they turn out to be – from a twelve year old kissing game that ended badly, to a horrifying ski “date” that ended with a terrible bloody nose, to a night where Kerry realized at the end that she had tape stuck on the bridge of her nose throughout her date (hence the odd, strange looks he’d been giving her the entire time), and much more.

As Kerry deals with her past, she also has to deal with her present. She is stuck in a soulless advertising job with a horrible boss and a ridiculous co-worker who is not only in love with her, but manages to humiliate her thoroughly when she turns him down. She decides to enroll in a program that helps “medium to high risk teens”, and goes on a few interesting dates. But Kerry realizes that perhaps her therapist wasn’t being a total ogre when she’d had her write down her most embarrassing moments. Maybe looking into the past is how she can get her present sorted out…

I laughed out loud on more than one occasion while reading this book. The author has a wickedly fresh sense of humor, and mixed together with a plot that will keep you guessing until the end, this is one wonderful and engrossing read. The journal entries only add to the book’s overall tone. Think you’ve had some embarrassing moments in life? Well, after reading this novel you will discover – you are not alone!

5 stars
reviewed by Rian

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