We love when someone has the cajones to tell it like it is. And when they are hilarious too? Well then we CRUSH on them bigtime, yo! So how excited were we that the very funny Jenna McCarthy agreed to share her 5 Loves and a Dud with us? Um, VERY. Jenna's fifth novel, If It Was Easy, They'd Call The Whole Damn Thing A Honeymoon:Living With And Loving The TV-Addicted, Sex Obsessed, Not-So-Handy Man You Married., is an incredibly funny take on marriage that had us rolling on the floor. She's so freakin' fabulous-she was on the TODAY show earlier this week chatting with Hoda and Khloe Kardashdian about it-watch it here! And we think you'll love her 5 Loves and a Dud. (Liz is a total hat whore too!)

Here's the dealio: Jenna McCarthy presents an uproarious but insightful peek behind the curtains at the unholy state of matrimony. With ballsy wit and bawdy humor, she explores everything from male domestic idiocy and the frustrating misfires in spousal communication to how to stay true to the peskiest of vows: forsaking all others. Part in-your-face guide, part brutal confession, this book is a must-read manifesto on surviving marriage in an age when everyone seems to live forever and getting a divorce is as easy as ordering a latte.

Sound fabulous? It is! Leave a comment here and be entered to win one of FIVE copies. We'll choose the winners on Sunday October 9th after 6pm PST. Good Luck!

CHICK LIT IS NOT DEAD PRESENTS...JENNA MCCARTHY'S 5 LOVES AND A DUD

1. Hats. I might be the Imelda Marcos of hats. I collect them as souvenirs the way some people stockpile refrigerator magnets or shot glasses. My two favorites are a fluffy red chenille one I got in Dingle (best town name ever), Ireland and a furry leopard bucket model a girlfriend sent me from Paris. Hats are the perfect accessories because they dress up boring basics and you don’t have to style your hair! Cowboy hats, bowlers, newsboy caps, berets—I love them all. Anything but beanies. I have a big head so I look like a convict in those.

2. Tennis. I grew up actively not playing sports. In my twenties I went to the gym religiously, but I mostly hated it. I’ve probably spent a year of my life on some or another miserable cardio machine, going nowhere. I was thirty when I took my first tennis lesson, and I admit the most compelling thing about the sport to me was the outfits. My first tennis skirt was pink and ruffled and I couldn’t wait to put that thing on. I may have looked halfway cute, but man was I bad. We’re talking balls-flying-off-into-the-street bad. In retrospect, I’m surprised that I had the optimism to stick with it, or the audacity to think that I might ever be able to play the game. But I did and I can and sometimes I even win. That’s still hard for me to believe.

3. Crazy-super-soft fabrics. Minky blankets, slinky dresses, plush robes, velvety bamboo t-shirts, faux fur anything, zillion thread count Egyptian cotton sheets: If it feels good to wear it or touch it, I am powerless to resist. (I’m a Taurus; I hear lots of us are wired this way.) As it happens, I am violently allergic to cashmere—which is probably a very good thing.

4. America’s Funniest Videos. I watch very little TV. Not because I’m holier than anyone; I have a hard time sitting still. I have never seen Sex and the City or any of the Real Housewives shows. But I do record AFV. I watch it with my kids—or by myself—and I laugh until I cry. I’ll even rewind the good clips and watch them in slow motion. (Did I really just admit that?) It’s totally lowbrow, I know—and probably says something disturbing about my personality seeing as it’s mostly a show about dumb people hurting themselves—but I can’t help loving it.

5. Salt. I can’t think of a single non-dessert food that doesn’t taste better to me dusted with salt. I put it on everything, even toast and cheese and licorice. Thankfully I have extremely low blood pressure—at least for now.

DUD

There are plenty of things I don’t particularly care for (apathy, regret, flying, Spinning, telemarketers, cellulite, the word “mauve,” Renee Zellweger, coffee with skin milk in it, dull pencils, the way people in LA refer to the movie business as “the industry” as if it’s the only one in existence, touching the wet hair around the shower drain) but at the tippy-top of the list is plain old rudeness. It’s everywhere! Every day! There’s the jerk who walks through the bank door and doesn’t bother to pause and hold it for you. The cashier who answers the phone while you are standing in front of her trying to complete your transaction. Bores who monopolize every conversation. Children AND ADULTS who don’t say please and thank-you. I realize I sound like someone’s grandma here (“When I was a kid we knew how to be polite, uphill in the snow both ways!”) but honestly, a lack of simple courtesy makes me mental.

Thanks Jenna! xo, L&L

To read more about Jenna, head on over to her website or find her on Facebook and Twitter.

Have you ever wondered what your handbag says about you? Did you know that the kind of purse you carry is directly linked to your personality (or "purse-onality" as bestselling author Kathryn Eisman calls it)? Maybe your bag of choice pegs you as a drama queen, self-indulgent or a people pleaser. Well, Kathryn can tell you with frightening accuracy what kind of person you are based solely on the purse you throw over your shoulder, clutch in your hand or lug into the office every morning. She's written the incredibly fun and very insightful How To Tell A Woman By Her Handbag. (She's also the author of How To Tell A Man By His Shoes. We could probably all learn a lot from this one too, ladies!)

And you know we were dying to know what our purses revealed about us. So we emailed Kathryn a picture of each of our handbags, but did not tell her which purse was Liz's and which was Lisa's. Let's just say the results were dead-on! (remember that "frightening accuracy" remark above?)

Black Bag:

This person is unpretentious and hard working. They have a slightly rebellious nature and don't like to be told what to do (nor do they need to be because they are so very capable). Even though they come across as very strong, they are very sensitive and live in their head. The stay away from competitive women because they are already so hard on themselves that anyone one else adding more pressure on them would just be a pain in the backside.

They can be very tough on themselves and should give themselves a few more pats on the back. They like to feel empowered and like an 'equal' in a relationship- but it's very important that they let a man look after them from time to time. As I say in the book, "asking for help is a fundamental part of being self sufficient".

The Louis Vuitton Bag:

They are essentially a romantic and even a little idealistic. Some may call them a 'dreamer' but they've actually got their head firmly screwed on. She likes to take charge and is not a wall flower by any stretch of the imagination. She loves to have a good time and their greatest fear is living an ordinary life (by this they mean emotionally neutral and without the highs and lows of life). They are a very loyal friend and have high expectations of others from friendship (because they give a lot of themselves, they also demand a lot of their closest friends).

Playful and up for a laugh...sometimes life has offered them the odd 'reality check' and while it's a lot to take for someone like this...ultimately they know that all good and bad things are good...because through them is emotional growth (something they are passionate about). This girl looks like she's playing by the rules, but makes them up along the way.

And here's what she said we have in common: Both are go-getters and are more practical than they realize. They are both multitaskers- although the black has slightly more on her plate of late. They are warm and friendly, but both of them are the type of people that get better the more you know them. They seem very open, but in truth they don't share everything with the world, and are essentially quite private (although they may never admit this).

And today, we have FIVE COPIES of How To Tell A Woman By Her Handbag to give away! Just leave a comment here and you'll be entered to win. And we'll randomly select the winners this Thursday! Good luck!

And now, here's 5 1/2 THINGS LIZ & LISA DIDN’T KNOW ABOUT KATHRYN EISMAN….

1) I FREAK PEOPLE OUT WHEN I DO “HANDBAG READINGS”. I have the uncanny ability to read someone’s personality (or as I say Purse-onality) just by looking at the handbag they’re carrying. Whenever people hear about the title of my book, they immediately ask for a “bag reading”. Now, some 4,000 readings later, I can honestly say that I’ve never been wrong. I’ve done it in business meetings, on dates, at dinner parties and on live TV (like NBC’s TODAY Show). Each time- people quietly freak out because I can see things like; where they went to school, what they’re like in a relationship, if they were an only child, and what their greatest passions are. Often, I freak myself out with how accurate they are!

2) I’M AN AUSSIE- I moved to New York at the age of 21 on a whim and never went home. I actually grew up on the beautiful beaches in Sydney, Australia and visit home over the holiday season to escape the northern hemisphere winter when Sydney it at its blue skied and crystal water best. I am now based in West Hollywood, CA and absolutely adore living here. But at the end of the day I’ve got a very self deprecating Australian sense of humor, which basically means I’m constantly making fun of myself!

3) I’M AN “ANCHOR WOMAN” BY TRADE- I was the on-air features reporter for NBC in New York for nearly four years and had my own daily entertainment show in Australia. I’ve had the privilege of interviewing everyone from President Clinton to Sarah Jessica Parker, George Clooney to Mayor Rudy Giuliani, Cameron Diaz to Daniel Craig. The best part of being a reporter is visiting other people’s lives and discovering what makes them tick, and what obstacles they’ve had to overcome. That access has helped me better understand people in general and has really helped me research my books.

4) I STARTED OUT IN A BIKINI- I started modeling in Australia at 17 years of age and was constantly booked on swimsuit and lingerie jobs. I always had a bikini in my bag to run off to castings between classes. It was a fun and crazy time because there I was walking down a catwalk at Fashion Week in designer bra and panties, when I hadn’t even been see in that level of undress by my own mother! You learn to sort of disconnect from your body in order to protect yourself. Now I am a “big sister” and the ambassador for SISTER2sister, a charity that mentors at risk teenage girls. It’s really important for me to make sure teenage girls have someone they can talk to, because I remember the feeling of being trapped somewhere between being a girl and a woman.

5) I’M ON A MISSION- I believe people reveal themselves in details. We’re not the grand declarations of who we say we are, we’re certainly not what we tell the men in our lives- we‘re the little details that we don’t think anyone will notice; our bags and shoes, the way we hold ourselves, how we answer the phone. My mission is to help other women break these unspoken codes and see the world through a fresh perspective.

5 1/2) I AM OBSESSED WITH MY MAINE COON KITTEN- I recently adopted Samson from a shelter but before I met him I was NOT a cat person at all! Now I spend way too much time snuggling with him, instead of writing my next book. He sits and snoozes all day on my lap (and sometimes on my head) and at night he's a little devil - but it's love. He grows bigger everyday and will probably be over 20 pounds of pure mischief when he's fully grown...I can't wait!

To get your own handbag reading, check out Kathryn's website! And to order a copy of How To Tell A Woman By Her Handbag, click here.

xoxo,

Liz & Lisa

Jenna McCarthy's 5 Loves and a Dud

How To Tell A Woman By Her Handbag: 5 Things Liz & Lisa Didn’t Know About Kathryn Eisman