I recently finished a book that made me cry. Jane Green's most recent book, Promises to Keep, was a heart wrenching tale of two sisters, best friends, love, and family. It dawned on me slowly as I was reading through this popular author's book that companies kept getting mentioned in descriptions. The snobby wife had to have her Starbucks coffee in the morning, the vegan chef threw on her Uggs to walk the dog, and even Imitrex showed up when the main character had a migraine, to name a few.

I hate to admit it, but mentioning these products helped build the characters as I was reading through the book. This book is such a popular beach read, that I noticed two other people reading it while I was at the pool last weekend. It makes sense that popular books would be the next logical step for advertisers. But the question still swirls in my mind, isn't this going a bit overboard?