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Recession Proof

by Kimberly S. Lin

3.87 of 5 stars 3.87 · rating details · 39 ratings · 15 reviews

Paperback, 360 pages

Published June 10th 2011 by Createspace Independent Publishing Platform

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Dec 27, 2011 Krystal rated it 4 of 5 stars

You should aim for your own goal in life, no matter what that goal is. What happens what all of what you've worked so hard to accumulate vanishes? Do you smother yourself in self-doubt? The authors attempt to answer these questions in this book.

Helen finds herself free of a boyfriend, which isn't the worst thing, and free of a job-which is very bad. Instead of wallowing, Helen decides to figure out what she wants from life-both professionally and for her own enjoyment. She sets out to find what...more

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Feb 12, 2012 Mary Gramlich rated it 4 of 5 stars

RECESSION PROOF by Kimberly S. Lin

How much do we have to give up in order to obtain what we want?

When you are riding the height of success at work you feel untouchable and that no one can replace you. Helen is right there in the cusp of a great career in Los Angeles that she hates, working for a company she does not respect, and feeling the brush of competition stabbing her in back. When the reality of unemployment provides her with the cold, hard truth of life Helen is in no way prepared to dea...more

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Mar 02, 2012 Jencey/ rated it 5 of 5 stars

She wrote about the economy and how it can be a journey of personal growth.

Synopsis:
Helen is working in a job that she hates and has a steady boyfriend of six years. Her world should be wonderful and perfect. But is it? Helen has taken jobs and boyfriends more to please others. The pay is great but the experience sucks. Her job isn’t going as well as she thought. Then her steady boyfriend of six years Mark breaks up with her. Helen suddenly finds herself unemployed and deciding what steps to tak...more

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Dec 23, 2011 Kathleen rated it 4 of 5 stars

Is living your life without passion in your career or relationship worth it? Would you be happy settling for less than what you really want? Is other people's views of your dreams as being unrealistic holding you back from fulfilling them and leaving you with self-doubt? What if everything you had and worked hard for suddenly disappeared, would you be able to pick up the pieces, and have the desire and drive to live your life the way you really want to? These are the questions that Helen Jenning...more Is living your life without passion in your career or relationship worth it? Would you be happy settling for less than what you really want? Is other people's views of your dreams as being unrealistic holding you back from fulfilling them and leaving you with self-doubt? What if everything you had and worked hard for suddenly disappeared, would you be able to pick up the pieces, and have the desire and drive to live your life the way you really want to? These are the questions that Helen Jennings faced in Recession Proof.

For the past six years, Helen Jennings has lived the successful professional career woman's lifestyle as a financial fund analyst in Los Angeles. For the same time period, she has been in an awkward relationship with her boyfriend Mark. In reality, she has been settling, and she is now feeling unfulfilled with her life choices. Her true passion has always been writing, but self-doubt led her to choose finance as her career choice. As for her relationship, she is unsure if Mark is really "The One." She's not really in love with him, and she suspects that he really isn't in love with her either, what keeps them together is that they are basically comfortable with each other. At a time when the nation is in the midst of a recession, life throws Helen a curve ball and turns her life upside down when she loses her job, and she realizes that being with Mark isn't enough, so they break up. Helen moves in with her best friend Sophie, and for a while she falls into a depression, she doesn't know what she wants to do with her life, but she does know that she wants to be happy and have a fulfilling life. It is torture waking up everyday without a sense of purpose, the hours are spent filled with uncertainty. Finally, she picks herself up and decides that she is going to give writing a shot, even if it doesn't pan out, she wants to see where her dream is going to take her. What ensues is a two year journey of self-discovery for Helen. Along the way she has discovered that she finally knows herself, and has become that independent woman that she always wanted to be, and even though the road to happiness and life's fulfillment isn't a bed of roses, maybe she'll be able to have her dream career and find a man that just might be "The One."

At a time when our nation's economy has been in the midst of a prolonged recession, and times have been hard for so many people, Recession Proof is a novel that everyone can relate to. The storyline is very well written and gives so much food for thought, it begs the readers to take a good look at their own lives and question if they are really happy and fulfilled in the choices that they have made. I really loved Helen's story, as she went on her journey of self-discovery, I came along for the ride and saw so much of myself in her, it was like looking in the mirror. There is so much that the reader can learn from reading this debut novel by author Kimberly Lin. I think the ultimate message that one can take away from reading this novel is to NEVER SETTLE, and the following quote quite nicely sums up the title of this novel: "I suppose it's always scarier to risk pursuing something you really love and want because failure and rejection could be completely devastating. However, what makes life worth living is taking a stand for what you love and want whether it results in measurable success - a high-salaried career, a marriage or a new house with all the trimmings. There is no singular way to complete a task or solve a problem; in the same, there is no one way to live life. I have learned that I am the only supply of me, which is the most recession proof job I can possibly ever have." What a profound quote, thank you Ms. Lim for sharing Recession Proof with the world.

Disclaimer: At the request of the author and Chick Lit Plus (CLP), a Paperback edition of this book was sent, at no cost to me, for my honest review and participation in the virtual book tour event.

Virtual Book Tour Events: On Thursday and Friday, December 22-23, 2011, in association with Chick Lit Plus (CLP), Kimberly participated in the virtual book tour events with an Author Interview and Author Guest Post on Jersey Girl Book Reviews.
http://jerseygirlbookreviews.blogspot...
http://jerseygirlbookreviews.blogspot...

http://jerseygirlbookreviews.blogspot...

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Dec 26, 2011 Samantha Robey rated it 4 of 5 stars

Kimberly S. Lin is on tour with CLP Blog Tours and her novel Recession Proof. I really enjoyed this book because the topic is one that was and still is so heavy on the majority of people after the recession. The main character is Helen Jennings, a young professional who has been working her tail off as a financial fund analyst. She knows she doesn’t love her job or have any sort of passion for it, but it pays the bills and looks good on paper. Helen also feels like she is settling in her love li...more

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Mar 04, 2012 Katie Cody rated it 4 of 5 stars

“Recession Proof” is a provocative read that really captures the idea of living life to its fullest.
The story was captivating and written very well. I loved this author’s writing style and easy it was to relate to the character.
Helen is a smart successful woman, but soon loses everything because of the recession. I liked seeing how she dealt with a situation that is shared by many during the recession and how she grew as a person because of it. She is very easy to relate to and I found myself tu...more

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Dec 13, 2011 Susan (The Book Bag) rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: books-read-in-2011

This story is about Helen's struggle over what she knows she 'should' do and what she wants to do, to be happy. I imagine that a lot of us struggle with a similar dilemma every day. When Helen loses her job, she has the perfect opportunity to remake her life, as well as having a great friend who is there for her and the resources to be able to take the time to 'figure it out'.

I marked a couple of great lines in the book that I want to share.

'My idea of a good time was always curling up with a b...more

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Jun 05, 2012 Laura rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: reviewed

I haven't read a Chick-Lit book i've falled in love with this hard in a long time! I gave myself plenty of time before my tour date to read this because i've been reading slower then normal lately (reading slump, blah...) and wanted to prepare myself. This book is 350 pages and normally (if I wasn't that invested in the story) It could take me 4-5 days to read, well I read this book in all of two sittings. I got so engrossed in the story and the characters that I couldn't put the book down and t...more

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Nov 19, 2012 Berenice rated it 4 of 5 stars

Helen was trapped in her life and she still didn't know it, after dedicating her time to a job in finance that she didn't love and kept her away from her friends and family while being stuck in a relationship that was clearly going no where.
The twists and turns of life take Helen to a life with unemployment and being single in L.A. where she will have to find out what makes her happy and what dreams are worth following. The road to rediscovery is a bumpy one will Helen chicken out before she fin...more

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Mar 15, 2012 Emily rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: reviewed, chick-lit

Helen has a job that sucks the life out of her, a boyfriend of 6 years that is safe and does nothing else for her, that she doesn't even live with, and with no time for it is on the edge of a nervous breakdown. Something has to give, so she moves in with her boyfriend to see if that can save their relationship, her best friend is pregnant and her fiancé is sick, leading Helen to shift some of her focus away from work. Not long later she finds herself unemployed, boyfriend less, ands the support...more Helen has a job that sucks the life out of her, a boyfriend of 6 years that is safe and does nothing else for her, that she doesn't even live with, and with no time for it is on the edge of a nervous breakdown. Something has to give, so she moves in with her boyfriend to see if that can save their relationship, her best friend is pregnant and her fiancé is sick, leading Helen to shift some of her focus away from work. Not long later she finds herself unemployed, boyfriend less, ands the support system for a single mother. But, Helen finds that she is finally happy and maybe it is time to consider what she wants and find a career that brings her happiness. So, Helen heads down that path fumbling in love on the way and considers waiving up a few times. But, with her friends and families support she can find and keep her own happiness.

I flew through this book. The characters and the writing style made me want to keep going so I could find out more, and how they were going to deal with the situation they were faced with now. Though there were times where you really wanted to be like, duh you shouldn't have done that or that is so cliche don't do it. But, overall those elements made the character seem real and were responses that would happen in real life. Though outside the situation when you see them happening you still want to say don't do it.

One of my favorite part about this book was how time passed in the book. It took place just over a year. And the breaks and then pickings up caught me for a moment the first few times but once I got use it it I could just go with ok, so three weeks/two month/ etc has passed and nothing really happened. The nothing happening was important as it showed the need for something to happen which is where we were picking up at something happening. Time frame is always something I struggle on in writing, so I could appricaate how it was used here. Also, since Helen went through some big changes it was nice to see those take place over a reasonable timeline rather than look I grew up and learned to x in the process of a month like plots can fall into sometimes.

Another, strong part if this plot was the supporting character. Yes, Helen is the main character and the one we expect to do the growth and change. But, I think all of the supporting characters learned something and did some growing in the plot and I appreciated that. Even if you had trouble relating to Helen change there was her sister's growth, her ex boyfriend figure stuff put, and more that you could also relate to. I give this book 4 stars and would suggest it to friends as a new way to look at chick lit, it is not oh my life is horrible/let's go shopping or win my ex back, but my life if just ok and I think I need more than that. It is hard to get to more than that, but have to try.

I was provided a copy of the book for review, but the summary and thoughts on the book are mine.(less)

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Apr 02, 2012 Vicki rated it 3 of 5 stars

I think everyone would agree that most of the time your idea of what would make you happy is different from what others expect of you. This book is about finding your happiness no matter the concequenses, whether it’s your job, your love life or your friends. At a little over 350 pages, it doesn’t seem that long, in fact it seemed like a short read due to the fact that the characters were engaging and the storyline was always interesting a had a steady flow.

I’d definitely recomend this one.

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Apr 01, 2012 Jessica Sinn (Chick Lit Cafe) rated it 5 of 5 stars

This is a fun and engaging character-driven read. This talented new author proves her understanding of women’s relationships with a style that’s both snappy and heartfelt. Women will absolutely recognize themselves and their friendships on the pages. Fans of Emily Griffin, Jennifer Weiner and Jane Green will enjoy this introspective, sharply realistic and tenderly humorous novel. Don’t get comfortable because you won’t be able to put it down!

For the full review, go to Chick Lit Cafe: http://loon ...more

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Dec 26, 2011 Chelle rated it 4 of 5 stars

I love this book! The characters were fabulous, the storyline relatable. My only complaint would be the amount of errors in this book. Maybe hire a fresh set of eyes to assist in the grammatical errors.

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Feb 03, 2013 Kelley Cole rated it 2 of 5 stars

Story was cute but sooooo many grammatical errors. Very distracting.

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Mar 21, 2012 Erica rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: own-it

Review to come!

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