Book 15, The Pioneer Woman: Black Heels to Tractor Wheels

My RS book club selected this for May's read, and I think it's not too much of a stretch to say I would never have read it otherwise. Fortunately, I'm glad I did. It was a fun, light, entertaining read chronicling blogger Ree Drummond's transition from pampered, spoiled city girl to real-life rancher's wife. 

I have been a follower of The Pioneer Woman Cooks blog for a while, and believe me when I say there are some amazing recipes on there. I hadn't ever found my way over to Ree Drummond's main blog, which I think is just called The Pioneer Woman, but had caught bits and pieces about her life from her commentary on the cooking blog. Turns out there is a lot more to her story, and it's pretty entertaining. 

Of course, I think there are many, many people out there who have entertaining stories-- perhaps more entertaining than Ree's-- and just haven't become famous bloggers, so I haven't heard their story. It's times like these that I think to myself, "Ya know, I wonder how much useless info I will accumulate in my life time simply because people blog." 

Really and truly, I just read a book that was published because some random woman, who happens to live on a cattle ranch in Oklahoma, decided one day to start a blog. Just like you or me. On Typepad, no less. And one day, she woke up and didn't know what to write on her blog that day, so she posted a blurb about how she and her husband met. And it went viral. Turns out, people like to read real-life love stories that feature men who look like the Marlboro Man and gorgeous red-headed city girls meeting in a smoky bar and falling in love. Turns out.

And now Ree Drummond has one amazingly successful blog with several equally (if not more so) successful sub-blogs, one of which is The Pioneer Woman Cooks. Ree has published the memoir I read, two cookbooks, a children's book, and is known as a food writer and photographer. She's sold the movie rights to her memoir to Colombia Pictures, so we may even see it on the big screen at some point. She has appeared on Good Morning America, The Today Show, The View, The Chew, and The Bonnie Hunt Show. As of last year, her blog receives 23,300,000 pages views a month. Dang.

Now for a review. I liked this book. I give it three stars. Ree's writing is honest and entertaining. She doesn't hide the fact that she grew up a spoiled, selfish, rich girl. Her transition to rancher's wife is usually hilarious and very engaging. There were times I thought the gushing about Marlboro Man (the only way her husband is referred to throughout the entire book) was a bit much, but hey, she's in love, she's in love, and she doesn't care who knows it. ;) Some of the reviews of this book on Goodreads are truly scathing, but I didn't find it to be that bad. It is a quintessential beach read. Pick it up sometime.