SAMMIE'S HILL by Kristen Gore

I am a firm believer in things happening for a reason and karma and what goes around comes around. This book not only came into my life at an appropriate time and gave me a ultra-witty way of observing my current situation but was also a way to get lost in someone else's situation without the cliche "get away from it all" feel.
A 20-something political aide on Capital Hill, Sammie is a reader's "every girl." Easy to relate to, acceptable to laugh at and unavoidable to laugh with, Sammie is a character somewhat typical of chick-lit but with a refreshing difference.
A difference that varies with the reader. Recommended to me by a friend (you know who you are) who recognized my need to read this book, Sammie's Hill was the perfect read for me at the precise moment in my life when I read it and will most likely be the appropriate time for you as well. I could also, within the first chapter, see and understand why my friend read it and how it related to her. It reads so well, circulating seamlessly between instantaneous thoughts and the immediate sitauation at hand.
Sammie advises a Maryland senator in D.C, and though tripping along over life's stumbling blocks, she seems relatively content. She lightheartedly struggles with her career and its effects on her in an all-too-familiar cocktail of passion and politics.
Of course, a man comes into the mix as only the literary staple can and stirs the concoction moreso until readers are pleasantly tipsy on her life events and their outcomes. Sammie's relationships with the man, er, men in her life -her boyfriend, her father, her boss- as well as her friends, adversaries, co-workers and those she meets along the way, allow readers to reflect on their lives, the people within it and one's appreciation and/or unfavorable emotions towards them.
Even Sammie's introspections pop and bubble as everyone's do. From her daily battle to keep her Siamese fighting fish alive, to her review of animal attack defense movements while in the shower ( a true laugh-out-loud moment) Sammie reassures us that we are not crazy after all when we find outselves pondering during the weeklt budget meeting why we can't keep a plant thriving, milk from spoiling or remember to get an oil change.
With a splash of karma and what-was-she-thinking, Sammie's Hill might be chick-lit in flavor but goes down like a delicious glass of relatively-affordable white wine.
OVERALL: Delightfully easy read without feeling patronized; great weekend read!