Recently I had an author write a blog post about chick lit vs. women’s fiction for a blog tour she was on with her latest novel. Frankly, I couldn’t wait to read it. Hopefully it would answer a few questions for me. I know what romance is: girl meets boy, girl doesn’t get boy, then girl gets boy. Ta,da. I thought I knew what chick lit was. Romance with careers and nice shoes.
So then what’s women’s fiction? “Fiction with a female protagonist that appeals to a female audience.” Oh, such fancy words! So then chick lit must be women’s fiction, right? From the look I got I guessed that women’s fiction wouldn’t give chick lit the time of day. But what’s the difference?
Female main character? Check. 
Female audience? Check.
Was it the romantic relationship? Couldn’t be that. I know many women’s fiction books have romantic relationships.
The careers? Many characters in women’s fiction have careers.
Could it be the shoes? Nice shoes—chick lit. BOGO from Payless—women’s fiction.
And what about when the main character has a great career, great shoes(even great shoes on her book cover), but doesn’t get the guy. That SO isn’t the chick lit way! So does that make it women’s fiction?
My head is spinning. I’m sick of sticking labels on every book. Can we just go back to calling them books?
The author I was talking about with books that just don’t fit is Margo Candela. Her latest, Good-bye to All That, looks like chick lit, reads like chick lit, but(spoiler alert)she doesn’t get the guy in the end. So is it still chick lit? Does it matter?
I enjoyed Good-bye to All That. It was a fast read and, just like real life it was a crazy mish-mash of Raquel’s love life, family life, and career. Just when everything was going well in her career, it all came crashing down. Raquel was left scrambling to try and save her job. And of course at that same time both her parents and her brother developed marital troubles and enlisted Raquel as referee. And, not to look a gift horse in the mouth but, just when she absolutely no time for it, she finds herself in the middle of an unexpected love affair.
If you’d like a chance to win a copy of Good-bye to All That check out her WOW Blog Tour. Scroll all the way to the bottom of the page for a list of her upcoming dates.