Wasited

Waisted: A Novel by Randy Susan Meyers
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Started off really enjoying, but then got bored & then didnt really care as much.
I did of course relate to all the weight issues though & appreciated honesty in the book regarding that.

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In this provocative, wildly entertaining, and compelling novel, seven women enrolled in an extreme weight loss documentary discover self-love and sisterhood as they enact a daring revenge against the exploitative filmmakers.

Alice and Daphne, both successful working mothers, both accomplished and seemingly steady, harbor the same secret: obsession with their weight overshadows concerns about their children, husbands, work—and everything else of importance in their lives. Scales terrify them.

Daphne, plump in a family of model-thin women, learned at her mother’s knee that only slimness earns admiration. Alice, break-up skinny when she met her husband, risks losing her marriage if she keeps gaining weight.

The two women meet at Privation. Located in a remote Vermont mansion, the program promises fast, dramatic weight loss, and Alice, Daphne, and five other women are desperate enough to leave behind their families for this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. The catch? They must agree to always be on camera; afterward, the world will see Waisted: The Documentary.

The women soon discover that the filmmakers have trapped them in a cruel experiment. With each pound lost, they edge deeper into obsession and instability...until they decide to take matters into their own hands.

A compulsively readable and ultimately poignant examination of body image, family, and friendship, Waisted features Randy Susan Meyers’s signature “engaging and sharp” (Publishers Weekly) prose and is perfect for fans of Big Little Lies by Liane Moriarty, Dietland by Sarai Walker, The First Wives Club by Olivia Goldsmith, and Hunger by Roxane Gay.

Bright Side

Bright Side by Kim Holden
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Do Epic!
Oh gosh... my heart. It takes a lot for me to dish out actual tears from a book. I can get sad & I can feel the feels, but tears? Yeah, a lot. & this book, I was totally hiding my face reading this book in public.
I loved the story & just loved all the characters. I love how it shows friends become family & being surrounded by people that you love & love you can make a life complete. I just really enjoyed this book & dreaded getting to the end - for more than one reason - & just feel like I love all the characters.
Gus, Keller & Katie... I am heart broken with all of you.

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Secrets. 
Everyone has one. 
Some are bigger than others. 
And when secrets are revealed, 
Some will heal you ... 
And some will end you. 

Kate Sedgwick’s life has been anything but typical. She’s endured hardship and tragedy, but throughout it all she remains happy and optimistic (there’s a reason her best friend Gus calls her Bright Side). Kate is strong-willed, funny, smart, and musically gifted. She’s also never believed in love. So when Kate leaves San Diego to attend college in the small town of Grant, Minnesota, the last thing she expects is to fall in love with Keller Banks. 

They both feel it. 
But they each have a reason to fight it. 
They each have a secret. 

And when secrets are revealed, 
Some will heal you … 
And some will end you.

The Light Between Oceans

The Light Between Oceans by M.L. Stedman
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

All the feels!!!!!
This was written so beautifully & so heart felt. I felt like my own heart was being pulled in every direction & broken for everyone throughout the story.
I haven't seen the movie yet on this one but now I feel like I have to check it out.

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A captivating, beautiful, and stunningly accomplished debut novel that opens in 1918 Australia - the story of a lighthouse keeper and his wife who make one devastating choice that forever changes two worlds. 

Australia, 1926. After four harrowing years fighting on the Western Front, Tom Sherbourne returns home to take a job as the lighthouse keeper on Janus Rock, nearly half a day's journey from the coast. To this isolated island, where the supply boat comes once a season and shore leaves are granted every other year at best, Tom brings a young, bold, and loving wife, Isabel. Years later, after two miscarriages and one stillbirth, the grieving Isabel hears a baby's cries on the wind. A boat has washed up onshore carrying a dead man and a living baby. 

Tom, whose records as a lighthouse keeper are meticulous and whose moral principles have withstood a horrific war, wants to report the man and infant immediately. But Isabel has taken the tiny baby to her breast. Against Tom's judgment, they claim her as their own and name her Lucy. When she is two, Tom and Isabel return to the mainland and are reminded that there are other people in the world. Their choice has devastated one of them. 

M. L. Stedman's mesmerizing, beautifully written debut novel seduces us into accommodating Isabel's decision to keep this "gift from God." And we are swept into a story about extraordinarily compelling characters seeking to find their North Star in a world where there is no right answer, where justice for one person is another's tragic loss

Church of the Small Things

Church of the Small Things: The Million Little Pieces That Make Up a Life by Melanie Shankle
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I absolutely loved this book. Someone who has stories that involve Xanadu & roller skating, & hair & style from the 80's & references of TV shoes & music from the same time I grew up? Yep... I love Melanie. One of those people that I know I'd be best friends with.
The book is just filled with each chapter being little stories of her life & they have subtle little life lessons in all of them. I'm all about books like this. They are easy to read - touch the heart, make me cry & totally make me laugh. Another book I'd buy all my girlfriends!

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Is my ordinary, everyday life actually significant? Is it okay to be fulfilled by the simple acts of raising kids, working in an office, and cooking chicken for dinner?

It’s been said, “Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the number of moments that take our breath away.” The pressure of that can be staggering as we spend our days looking for that big thing that promises to take our breath away. Meanwhile, we lose sight of the small significance of fully living with every breath we take.

Melanie Shankle, New York Times bestselling author and writer at The Big Mama Blog tackles these questions head on in her fourth book, Church of the Small Things. Easygoing and relatable, she speaks directly to the heart of women of all ages who are longing to find significance and meaning in the normal, sometimes mundane world of driving carpool to soccer practice, attending class on their college campus, cooking meals for their family, or taking care of a sick loved one.

The million little pieces that make a life aren’t necessarily glamorous or far-reaching. But God uses some of the smallest, most ordinary acts of faithfulness—and sometimes they look a whole lot like packing lunch. 

Through humorous stories told in her signature style, full of Frito pie, best friends, the love of her Me-Ma and Pa-Pa, the unexpected grace that comes when we quit trying to measure up, and a little of the best TV has to offer, Melanie helps women embrace what it means to live a simple, yet incredibly meaningful life and how to find all the beauty and laughter that lies right beneath the surface of every moment.

Maybe in Another Life

Maybe in Another Life by Taylor Jenkins Reid
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I am a huge fan of the movie "Sliding Doors" with Gwyneth Paltrow where she catches a train in one second/misses it another & how different her life is because of that one choice, & we get to see both versions of the lives played out. This book is exactly that. What life can look like & how differently it can be with just one small decision made.
I loved the story & how each chapter was back & forth in Hannah's life & where each direction took her. I appreciated how there were things that stayed the same in both versions & the ending, though I thought it would somehow be different - I had Sliding Door movie ending such in my mind - it didnt work out that way - so it was a pleasant surprise to get a different ending than I expected. & I didnt mind it. A good book to remind you that things play out as they should & happiness can lay at the end of each.
I especially loved the friendship between Hannah & Gabby - that to me is a big part of how special this book is. A good friendship story in the midst of life's crazy ride.
Another win for me from Taylor Jenkins Reid.

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From the acclaimed author of Forever, Interrupted and After I Docomes a breathtaking new novel about a young woman whose fate hinges on the choice she makes after bumping into an old flame; in alternating chapters, we see two possible scenarios unfold—with stunningly different results.

At the age of twenty-nine, Hannah Martin still has no idea what she wants to do with her life. She has lived in six different cities and held countless meaningless jobs since graduating college. On the heels of leaving yet another city, Hannah moves back to her hometown of Los Angeles and takes up residence in her best friend Gabby’s guestroom. Shortly after getting back to town, Hannah goes out to a bar one night with Gabby and meets up with her high school boyfriend, Ethan.

Just after midnight, Gabby asks Hannah if she’s ready to go. A moment later, Ethan offers to give her a ride later if she wants to stay. Hannah hesitates. What happens if she leaves with Gabby? What happens if she leaves with Ethan?

In concurrent storylines, Hannah lives out the effects of each decision. Quickly, these parallel universes develop into radically different stories with large-scale consequences for Hannah, as well as the people around her. As the two alternate realities run their course, Maybe in Another Life raises questions about fate and true love: Is anything meant to be? How much in our life is determined by chance? And perhaps, most compellingly: Is there such a thing as a soul mate?

Hannah believes there is. And, in both worlds, she believes she’s found him. 

100 days of real food

100 Days of Real Food: How We Did It, What We Learned, and 100 Easy, Wholesome Recipes Your Family Will Love by Lisa Leake
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

So this is on sale right now for kindle for $1.99 & I do recommend it for that price.
It is full of helpful hints & some insight on why this family decided to give up all processed foods & go for REAL foods & how it changed their thinking on nutrition & how it effected their health.
I do enjoy the tips & tricks in this book & the recipes are totally ones that I will be checking out (all the meat-free ones, that is) - saying that - this is NOT a vegan or vegetarian book. It's a book about eating real food so if you are a meat eater, you will still enjoy this book.
I especially for the weekly challenges to help you ease into this thinking. 12 weeks with a different challenge that when broken down, doesnt seem so unobtainable. I'm going to be starting with week 1 soon.
On the down side for me - which may be an upside for many - a lot of this book is dedicated to making changes for kids. How to incorporate this thinking for children & how to involve them in the process. I'm sure most moms would appreciate this big part of the book - for me, it just was something I skimmed.
But y'all - for $1.99 - get it right now just for some of the great recipes & the tips & tricks!!!

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It Ends with Us

It Ends with Us by Colleen Hoover
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I am so emotionally vested in this book. It wasn't what I was expecting & I didnt realize the topic this book was going to take but man, it held me in. I was rooting for each person in their own way - to be stronger, to get help, to get better, to walk away, to stay... what a wonderfully written book this was. Completely grabbed me in. & I loved the history in the story of Atlas & Lily growing up & reading her journals from being a teenager. I really am glad I finally got around to this book. What a insightful look inside of domestic abuse. Loved reading the epilogue as well to find out more about the story behind the book. Makes it even more powerful to me.


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Sometimes it is the one who loves you who hurts you the most.

Lily hasn’t always had it easy, but that’s never stopped her from working hard for the life she wants. She’s come a long way from the small town in Maine where she grew up
— she graduated from college, moved to Boston, and started her own business. So when she feels a spark with a gorgeous neurosurgeon named Ryle Kincaid, everything in Lily’s life suddenly seems almost too good to be true.

Ryle is assertive, stubborn, maybe even a little arrogant. He’s also sensitive, brilliant, and has a total soft spot for Lily. And the way he looks in scrubs certainly doesn’t hurt. Lily can’t get him out of her head. But Ryle’s complete aversion to relationships is disturbing. Even as Lily finds herself becoming the exception to his “no dating” rule, she can’t help but wonder what made him that way in the first place.

As questions about her new relationship overwhelm her, so do thoughts of Atlas Corrigan — her first love and a link to the past she left behind. He was her kindred spirit, her protector. When Atlas suddenly reappears, everything Lily has built with Ryle is threatened.

One of Us Is Lying

One of Us Is Lying by Karen M. McManus
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I just devoured this book. So anxious to see what the real story was behind a guy dying after a group of teens were in detention together. The story held me to the very end. I just for some reason envisioned these kids as the gang from Riverdale - I mean, someone died, so it fits. It's like a Breakfast Club meets Riverdale meets Dateline Mystery. I just loved seeing the characters evolve into their true selves & developing relationships together & seeing how they handled themselves when their truth they tried to keep secret came to light. I also was taken back by surprises & twists in the book & in the end, I didn't figure out the mystery of it all, which makes me like a book even more. I also feel like the end was summed up pretty well giving me a 'tied in a bow' ending I feel like I can leave all the characters behind in. This totally could be a movie... or at least a season on Riverdale :)

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Pay close attention and you might solve this.

On Monday afternoon, five students at Bayview High walk into detention.
Bronwyn, the brain, is Yale-bound and never breaks a rule. 
Addy, the beauty, is the picture-perfect homecoming princess. 
Nate, the criminal, is already on probation for dealing.
Cooper, the athlete, is the all-star baseball pitcher.
And Simon, the outcast, is the creator of Bayview High's notorious gossip app.

Only, Simon never makes it out of that classroom. Before the end of detention, Simon's dead. And according to investigators, his death wasn't an accident. On Monday, he died. But on Tuesday, he'd planned to post juicy reveals about all four of his high-profile classmates, which makes all four of them suspects in his murder. Or are they the perfect patsies for a killer who's still on the loose? 
Everyone has secrets, right? What really matters is how far you would go to protect them."

Hillbilly Elegy

Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis by J.D. Vance
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

I keep seeing everyone reading this & giving amazing reviews.... & the whole time I'm reading this, i'm like, "I dont get it". To me, it was boring & ordinary & nothing groundbreaking or earth shattering. Maybe because it just felt like reading a lot of my own family history? Mamaw & Papaw in this book sounded exactly like my own grandparents, some of the relatives in the book sounds just like my own family & the situations that I read in reviews that people are in shock about, just sounds like ordinary life. I mean, I do live in Kentucky but never considered our family "Hillbilly"... maybe I need to rethink that.


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From a former Marine and Yale Law School Graduate, a poignant account of growing up in a poor Appalachian town, that offers a broader, probing look at the struggles of America’s white working class. Part memoir, part historical and social analysis, J. D. Vance’s Hillbilly Elegy is a fascinating consideration of class, culture, and the American dream.

Vance’s grandparents were “dirt poor and in love.” They got married and moved north from Kentucky to Ohio in the hopes of escaping the dreadful poverty around them. Their grandchild (the author) graduated from Yale Law School, a conventional marker of their success in achieving upward mobility for their family. But Vance cautions that is only the short version. The slightly longer version is that his grandparents, aunt, uncle, and mother struggled to varying degrees with the demands of their new middle class life and they, and Vance himself, still carry around the demons of their chaotic family history.

Delving into his own personal story and drawing on a wide array of sociological studies, Vance takes us deep into working class life in the Appalachian region. This demographic of our country has been slowly disintegrating over forty years, and Vance provides a searching and clear-eyed attempt to understand when and how “hillbillies” lost faith in any hope of upward mobility, and in opportunities to come.

At times funny, disturbing, and deeply moving, this is a family history that is also a troubling meditation on the loss of the American dream for a large portion of this country. 

What She Knew

What She Knew by Gilly Macmillan
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

I've heard a lot of great things about this one & I'm just like Meh... ok then.
I was anxious to find out 'whodunit?' since it was after all a mystery - but it sort of got on my nerves. I felt like a part of the story just drug on & even caught myself just skimming pages towards the end because it was getting too long in areas.
It wasn't awful, it wasn't finger gripping suspense - it was just 'meh' to me.

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Rachel Jenner is walking in a Bristol park with her eight-year-old son, Ben, when he asks if he can run ahead. It’s an ordinary request on an ordinary Sunday afternoon, and Rachel has no reason to worry—until Ben vanishes.

Police are called, search parties go out, and Rachel, already insecure after her recent divorce, feels herself coming undone. As hours and then days pass without a sign of Ben, everyone who knew him is called into question, from Rachel’s newly married ex-husband to her mother-of-the-year sister. Inevitably, media attention focuses on Rachel too, and the public’s attitude toward her begins to shift from sympathy to suspicion. 

As she desperately pieces together the threadbare clues, Rachel realizes that the greatest dangers may lie not in the anonymous strangers of every parent’s nightmares, but behind the familiar smiles of those she trusts the most.

Where is Ben? The clock is ticking...

The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry

The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry by Gabrielle Zevin
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I was not prepared for how much I loved this book.
Everything about it.
I'm not even sure I knew what the story was going to be about but kind of liked that it unfolded in such a beautiful tale of the life of A.J. Fikry & his bookstore & the people that came into his life because of the shop.
This so far is my favorite read of the year & am sad to see it go, but so glad I got to spend some time in Island Books.

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As surprising as it is moving, The Storied Life of A. J. Fikry is an unforgettable tale of transformation and second chances, an irresistible affirmation of why we read, and why we love.

We are not quite novels.

We are not quite short stories.

In the end, we are collected works.

A. J. Fikry's life is not at all what he expected it to be. His wife has died; his bookstore is experiencing the worst sales in its history; and now his prized possession, a rare collection of Poe poems, has been stolen. Slowly but surely, he is isolating himself from all the people of Alice Island—from Chief Lambiase, the well-intentioned police officer who's always felt kindly toward him; from Ismay, his sister-in-law, who is hell-bent on saving A.J. from his dreary self; from Amelia, the lovely and idealistic (if eccentric) Knightley Press sales rep who persists in taking the ferry to Alice Island, refusing to be deterred by A.J.'s bad attitude. Even the books in his store have stopped holding pleasure for him. These days, he can only see them as a sign of a world that is changing too rapidly.

And then a mysterious package appears at the bookstore. It's a small package, though large in weight—an unexpected arrival that gives A.J. the opportunity to make his life over, the ability to see everything anew. It doesn't take long for the locals to notice the change overcoming A.J., for the determined sales rep Amelia to see her curmudgeonly client in a new light, for the wisdom of all those books to become again the lifeblood of A.J.'s world. Or for everything to twist again into a version of his life that he didn't see coming. 

Eligible

Eligible by Curtis Sittenfeld
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I just loved this book - makes me want to read the other books in The Austen Project now.
I'm not a person who has read all the Jane Austen books but I've seen a few of the movies & more of the adaptions of the stories... so I had a lot of visuals in my head reading this - but loved the Bennet sisters in this & loved they tied in a show similar to The Bachelor to play along with it as well. Always love a Darcy character (though this one, I visualized the Darcy from Pride & Prejudice Zombies - which is surprisingly good actually)
I was actually sad to see this one end & will miss each of the sisters & Mr. & Mrs. Bennet & their own personalities.
A light & fun read with romance & family dynamics. Just a really delightful read to me.

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This version of the Bennet family and Mr. Darcy is one that you have and haven't met before: Liz is a magazine writer in her late thirties who, like her yoga instructor older sister, Jane, lives in New York City. When their father has a health scare, they return to their childhood home in Cincinnati to help and discover that the sprawling Tudor they grew up in is crumbling and the family is in disarray. 

Youngest sisters Kitty and Lydia are too busy with their CrossFit workouts and Paleo diets to get jobs. Mary, the middle sister, is earning her third online master's degree and barely leaves her room, except for those mysterious Tuesday-night outings she won't discuss. And Mrs. Bennet has one thing on her mind: how to marry off her daughters, especially as Jane's fortieth birthday fast approaches. 

Enter Chip Bingley, a handsome new-in-town doctor who recently appeared on the juggernaut reality TV dating show Eligible. At a Fourth of July barbecue, Chip takes an immediate interest in Jane, but Chip's friend, neurosurgeon Fitzwilliam Darcy, reveals himself to Liz to be much less charming. . . . And yet, first impressions can be deceiving.

The Breakdown

The Breakdown by B.A. Paris
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I really did enjoy Behind Closed Doors so was anxious to see how I'd like another of B.A. Paris's books. I ended up enjoying this one more than the first one.

I felt like at points, I was loosing MY mind & was so anxious to see how this was going to turn out. & when I did find out, I was surprised. I thought for sure I had it figured out, but nope. It had a little twist I wasn't expecting. That's all the signs of a good book to me.

I am enjoying the suspense & mystery of this author & ready to check out more from them now!

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Cass is having a hard time since the night she saw the car in the woods, on the winding rural road, in the middle of a downpour, with the woman sitting inside—the woman who was killed. She’s been trying to put the crime out of her mind; what could she have done, really? It’s a dangerous road to be on in the middle of a storm. Her husband would be furious if he knew she’d broken her promise not to take that shortcut home. And she probably would only have been hurt herself if she’d stopped.

But since then, she’s been forgetting every little thing: where she left the car, if she took her pills, the alarm code, why she ordered a pram when she doesn’t have a baby.

The only thing she can’t forget is that woman, the woman she might have saved, and the terrible nagging guilt.

Or the silent calls she’s receiving, or the feeling that someone’s watching her… 

Today Will Be Different

Today Will Be Different by Maria Semple
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

I'm not even sure what to think about this book. I feel like it was all over the place & even IN the same story line, the thinking was just scattered & full of characters & details that just felt like they were taking up space.
& even the main character, Eleanor, she just got on my nerves at points.
I didnt give it a zero or 1 star because I will say, there were some things that made me laugh & chuckle, but in the end, it's just not a book I really enjoyed. It felt more like getting through to see where this was going... & in the end, to me, I'm not sure it was worth the ride.

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Eleanor knows she's a mess. But today, she will tackle the little things. She will shower and get dressed. She will have her poetry and yoga lessons after dropping off her son, Timby. She won't swear. She will initiate sex with her husband, Joe. But before she can put her modest plan into action-life happens. Today, it turns out, is the day Timby has decided to fake sick to weasel his way into his mother's company. It's also the day Joe has chosen to tell his office-but not Eleanor-that he's on vacation. Just when it seems like things can't go more awry, an encounter with a former colleague produces a graphic memoir whose dramatic tale threatens to reveal a buried family secret.

TODAY WILL BE DIFFERENT is a hilarious, heart-filled story about reinvention, sisterhood, and how sometimes it takes facing up to our former selves to truly begin living. 

Dear Martin

Dear Martin by Nic Stone
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I heard a lot about this book going around & when I saw it on sale this past week on Amazon, I snagged it up - & devoured it. It's a super fast read, but man, all the heaviness in it.
We see the struggles that a young African-American man goes through as he gets caught up in an incident that seems to snow ball into a series of unfortunate events. It really was intriguing to see how things rolled out & even more, how the media took situations & turned them to what they weren't.
This book is a look a prejudices in so many ways, through so many different eyes.
I really did enjoy this book completely. It held my attention & really made me think. I think its a book everyone should check out.


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Justyce McAllister is top of his class and set for the Ivy League—but none of that matters to the police officer who just put him in handcuffs. And despite leaving his rough neighborhood behind, he can't escape the scorn of his former peers or the ridicule of his new classmates. Justyce looks to the teachings of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. for answers. But do they hold up anymore? He starts a journal to Dr. King to find out.

Then comes the day Justyce goes driving with his best friend, Manny, windows rolled down, music turned up—way up, sparking the fury of a white off-duty cop beside them. Words fly. Shots are fired. Justyce and Manny are caught in the crosshairs. In the media fallout, it's Justyce who is under attack

The Hating Game

The Hating Game by Sally Thorne
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I dont know if its because I read a rom-com right before this (The Beau & the Belle) but the characters reminded me a lot of each other. The kind of relationship where they want to take it slow & not rush into anything, & they both are full of a gentleman type guy & a kooky, funny, mess up everything they try, kinda gal.
I enjoyed this one just as much as the other book. I especially love the relationship having the rifts between them where they can take jabs at each other & laugh it off in good humor. & I really loved that this story takes place in a publishing company.
Another book where I laughed & swooned & rooted on the couple. Totally enjoyed it.

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Nemesis (n.)
1) An opponent or rival whom a person cannot best or overcome;
2) A person’s undoing;
3) Joshua Templeman.

Lucy Hutton and Joshua Templeman hate each other. Not dislike. Not begrudgingly tolerate. Hate. And they have no problem displaying their feelings through a series of ritualistic passive aggressive maneuvers as they sit across from each other, executive assistants to co-CEOs of a publishing company. Lucy can’t understand Joshua’s joyless, uptight, meticulous approach to his job. Joshua is clearly baffled by Lucy’s overly bright clothes, quirkiness, and Pollyanna attitude.

Now up for the same promotion, their battle of wills has come to a head and Lucy refuses to back down when their latest game could cost her her dream job…But the tension between Lucy and Joshua has also reached its boiling point, and Lucy is discovering that maybe she doesn’t hate Joshua. And maybe, he doesn’t hate her either. Or maybe this is just another game.

The Beau & the Belle

The Beau & the Belle by R.S. Grey
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This was my first time reading R.S. Grey & what a fun & spicy read.
I totally laughed so many times in this book. When I was reading it at work during lunch, someone even said, "why are you smiling so much? What are you reading?"... Lauren & Beau were just so funny together & the situations they got themselves in was just so cute & charming.
Makes you think back of those first crushes you had when you were a teenage girl.
I so fell in love with Beau myself (such a gentleman) & so wanted to be Lauren's friend (love a girl who embarrasses herself so easily).... & totally want to hang out in New Orleans with both of them.
This was a fast & fun & light read. Totally remember this one when warm weather comes & you need a fun beach read.

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eau Fortier starred in most of my cringe-worthy teenage fantasies.

I met him when I was a junior in high school, a time that revolved exclusively around bad hair, failed forays into flirting, and scientific inquiries into which brand of toilet paper worked best for stuffing bras.

That is, until Beau moved into the small guest house just beyond my bedroom window.

A 24-year-old law student at Tulane, Beau was as mysterious to me as second base (both in baseball and in the bedroom). He was older. Intimidating. Hot. Boys my age had chicken legs and chubby cheeks. Beau had calloused hands and a jaw cut from steel. Our interactions were scarce—mostly involving slight stalking on my end—and yet deep down, I desperately hoped he saw me as more of a potential lover than a lovesick loser.

Turns out, I was fooling myself. My fragile ego learned that lesson the hard way.

Now, ten years later, we’re both back in New Orleans, and guess who suddenly can’t take his eyes off little ol’ me.

My old friend, Mr. Fortier.

But things have changed. I’m older now—poised and confident. My ego wears a bulletproof vest. The butterflies that once filled my stomach have all perished.

When I was a teenager, Beau warned me to guard my heart.

Let’s hope he knows how to guard his. 

The Elite

The Elite by Kiera Cass
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

So yep, still totally into this series. I'm so glad I waited for the entire series to be out before I started reading this because I would be FURIOUS if I had to wait for each book to come out. My library has a wait list on the final 3 so I've just ordered the entire series so no more waiting. & I'll be diving straight into book 3 ASAP.
This wasn't AS great as the first one to me, just because I was getting a little frustrated at America & her decision making skills.... but the deeper story of the relationships developing & the inner workings of the royal family - especially the story with Marlee that kept me gasping & a tad freaking out - had me still wrapped up in this story ... & cant wait to see what the next step in The Selection is since we're down to five. I'm here for every dramatic moment of it.

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The Selection began with thirty-five girls.
Now with the group narrowed down to the six Elite, the competition to win Prince Maxon's heart is fiercer than ever—and America is still struggling to decide where her heart truly lies. Is it with Maxon, who could make her life a fairy tale? Or with her first love, Aspen?

America is desperate for more time. But the rest of the Elite know exactly what they want—and America's chance to choose is about to slip away

The Selection {Book One}

The Selection by Kiera Cass
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

So I waited for this whole series to come out before I started because I knew I'd read straight through them & true to form, I zoomed through the first book... & already into the 2nd one. I'm going to tear through this series, I have a feeling.
Someone asked me what it was about & I said its a mixture of The Hunger Games meets The Bachelor. What a weird combo - but it really fits.
Girls getting picked out of their castes to marry the Prince... & when America, a FIVE is picked, she goes in with a broken heart after Aspyn leaves her feeling rejected. Little does she know what lays ahead of her in the process of The Selection.
I am just a sucker for corny romance books & this is just a fun little twist & a great little love triangle. I know I'm into it when I can't pick a side ... One minute, I'm totally Team Maxon & the next, Team Aspyn... so I'm excited to see how this all plays out.

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For thirty-five girls, the Selection is the chance of a lifetime. The opportunity to escape the life laid out for them since birth. To be swept up in a world of glittering gowns and priceless jewels. To live in a palace and compete for the heart of gorgeous Prince Maxon.

But for America Singer, being Selected is a nightmare. It means turning her back on her secret love with Aspen, who is a caste below her. Leaving her home to enter a fierce competition for a crown she doesn't want. Living in a palace that is constantly threatened by violent rebel attacks.

Then America meets Prince Maxon. Gradually, she starts to question all the plans she's made for herself—and realizes that the life she's always dreamed of may not compare to a future she never imagined.

In the Unlikely Event

In the Unlikely Event by Judy Blume
My rating: 1 of 5 stars

I'm just mad I wasted all my time.
This book just felt like it took forever... & by the end of the story, I was like, "What's the point of this book?"
If I hadnt gotten so far into it, I would have just stopped but I kept thinking there had to be some revelation or something more towards the end.
Nope.
I didnt care for this book at all. Between the zillion characters & just the weirdness of the plane crashes that hinted there would be something more to this story... again, nope.
& then it just aggravated me to think how young the characters were in this book & it just threw another wrench in it to me on how their experiences were happening.
I'm just disappointed. I grew up a Judy Blume fan... Give me her YA stuff any day over this.

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In her highly anticipated new novel, Judy Blume, the New York Times # 1 best-selling author of Summer Sisters and of young adult classics such as Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret, creates a richly textured and moving story of three generations of families, friends and strangers, whose lives are profoundly changed by unexpected events.

In 1987, Miri Ammerman returns to her hometown of Elizabeth, New Jersey, to attend a commemoration of the worst year of her life.

Thirty-five years earlier, when Miri was fifteen, and in love for the first time, a succession of airplanes fell from the sky, leaving a community reeling. Against this backdrop of actual events that Blume experienced in the early 1950s, when airline travel was new and exciting and everyone dreamed of going somewhere, Judy Blume imagines and weaves together a haunting story of three generations of families, friends, and strangers, whose lives are profoundly changed by these disasters. She paints a vivid portrait of a particular time and place — Nat King Cole singing “Unforgettable,” Elizabeth Taylor haircuts, young (and not-so-young) love, explosive friendships, A-bomb hysteria, rumors of Communist threat. And a young journalist who makes his name reporting tragedy. Through it all, one generation reminds another that life goes on.

In the Unlikely Event is a gripping novel with all the hallmarks of Judy Blume's unparalleled storytelling