This thread is for chick lit reviews.

Burning the Map
By Laura Caldwell
Reviewed by Sabrina Williams

Casey is pretty uncertain about her relationships. Her relationship with her mother is being strained by menopausal outbursts and her boyfriend, John, is addicted to his work and not her. When she embarks on a European vacation, she is shocked by the depth of her preoccupation with the Bar Exam and vows to bring back the camaraderie she shared with her two best friends, Kat and Sin. Maybe this girls' vacation will be just what they need to restore their friendship to what it used to be.

In Burning the Map by Laura Caldwell, the girls begin their journey in Italy to relax and let their guard down. It takes no time at all for outgoing Kat to find some "friends" to entertain them. One of these friends evokes feelings in Casey she didn't know she missed and she reluctantly says goodbye when it is time to travel on. When the girls continue their trip to Greece, once again Kat quickly finds companions to guide them on their tour. Casey knows that Kat and Sin are hiding something from her, and their indifference sends her on a sabbatical of introspection. When secrets begin to surface, it's time for the girls to flee to a new destination and try to make a fresh start.

This is a novel of self-discovery. Each encounter Casey has affords her the opportunity to analyze her relationships and she tries to discover what is missing from her life. "Sin" is actually a nickname for Casey's friend Lyndsey, and the author's insistence on switching back and forth from calling the character Sin to calling her Lyndsey was a bit confusing. At times, I thought the group had acquired a fourth member. The book is divided into three sections; Part I details their vacation in Rome, Italy, Part II relates their first adventures in Greece, and Part III takes on their final destination of the Greek island of Mykonos. Some of the events were disappointingly predictable and a bit cliche. Caldwell has a talent for storytelling, but Burning the Map does not showcase much creativity. This reviewer considers it to be typical chick lit, nothing exceptional.