Jennifer Weiner

I was first introduced to Jennifer Weiner a few years ago when my mom got me In Her Shoes for some random holiday. Anyway, this was years before the movie came out, and so I had no idea what to expect. But man was I pleasantly surprised! Sure, she writes what most would categorize as "chick lit" but it's more than that; her stories have a brain and cover more than just shoes, shopping and sex – they delve into race, class, gender, workplace dynamics, etc. And has Jennifer's life has changed, so have the novels. Her first two, Good in Bed and In Her Shoes deal with dating, breakups, family and all the frustrations that go along with them. By Little Earthquakes and Goodnight Nobody, she's dealing with young parenthood and miscarriages and the emotional turmoil associated with those. Certain Girls brings back the heroine from Good in Bed but this time, she has a teenage daughter to contend with. It's kind of a nice progression and while I can't confess to have gone through the issues in some of the later books, I also don't feel like I can't relate to the characters.