Always and Forever Lara Jean

By: Jenny Han
Published Year: 2017
Publisher: Simon Schuester
Pages: 325

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Summary (Provided by Goodreads): Lara Jean is having the best senior year.

And there’s still so much to look forward to: a class trip to New York City, prom with her boyfriend Peter, Beach Week after graduation, and her dad’s wedding to Ms. Rothschild. Then she’ll be off to college with Peter, at a school close enough for her to come home and bake chocolate chip cookies on the weekends.

Life couldn’t be more perfect!

At least, that’s what Lara Jean thinks . . . until she gets some unexpected news.

Now the girl who dreads change must rethink all her plans—but when your heart and your head are saying two different things, which one should you listen to?

First Impressions

Honestly, I remember being a little irritated by this book when I first heard it was coming out. Hence not reading it until almost 2 years after it came out. I enjoyed the first book of this series, but not as much as everyone else seemed to. I then disliked the second book. The series was originally supposed to be a duology, so I became irritated when I found out a third book was all of a sudden being added. I worried it was going to be a bunch of lip service to fans. It wasn’t until the Netflix adaptation of To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before that I finally considered reading this book.

What I thought

I don’t know if it’s because my opinion on this series has changed since the Netflix adaptation, but I found this story to be very cute and much more enjoyable than I expected it to be.

Lara Jean and Peter are finishing up their Senior year and planning for college. Their hopes are to both get into UVA and attend together, but a wrench is thrown into their plans when Lara Jean is denied. Amongst trying to fit in as much time together before college, Lara Jean’s father is getting married.

As always, I enjoyed Lara Jean’s relationship with her sisters the most, followed closely by her relationship with Peter. I think my biggest issue with this book is there seemed to be a lot going on. I know that’s kind of the point, but there were a few storylines that in the end came off as a bit pointless to me. When (and I will say when, not if) this book is adapted by Netflix, I can see them easily trimming the fat and I think I’ll prefer it that way.

I did appreciate the complicated thoughts of going to college with a boyfriend versus going single. It was an interesting comparison between Lara Jean and her sister Margot and I enjoyed watching Lara Jean and Peter work through everything. In all honesty, Peter is a bit annoyingly perfect in this book and I think I was only able to tolerate him because Noah Centineo was so charming as Peter in the movie. I was able to easily picture him as Peter as I read and it made his perfection easier to swallow.

I do wish there had been an epilogue that forwarded like 10 years into the future, but I understand why there wasn’t. I would gladly read about Lara Jean and Peter through their college years and I think it might be a bit more interesting to me as they mature.

I liked this book a lot more than I thought I would and I think it’s a sweet ending to the trilogy. I think I prefer the movie adaptations to the books, but it’s still a solid read. If you, like me, were avoiding the third book because you disliked the second one, I’d encourage you to go ahead and read this book. The characters are all sweet, wholesome, and likable, so there really is nothing to not like about this story.

The Girls at 17 Swann Street

By: Yara Zgheib
Published Year: 2019
Publisher: St. Martin’s Press
Pages: 384

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I received a copy in exchange for an honest review. This in no way shape or form influenced my opinion.

Summary (Provided by Goodreads): The chocolate went first, then the cheese, the fries, the ice cream. The bread was more difficult, but if she could just lose a little more weight, perhaps she would make the soloists’ list. Perhaps if she were lighter, danced better, tried harder, she would be good enough. Perhaps if she just ran for one more mile, lost just one more pound.

Anna Roux was a professional dancer who followed the man of her dreams from Paris to Missouri. There, alone with her biggest fears – imperfection, failure, loneliness – she spirals down anorexia and depression till she weighs a mere eighty-eight pounds. Forced to seek treatment, she is admitted as a patient at 17 Swann Street, a peach pink house where pale, fragile women with life-threatening eating disorders live. Women like Emm, the veteran; quiet Valerie; Julia, always hungry. Together, they must fight their diseases and face six meals a day.

Yara Zgheib's poetic and poignant debut novel is a haunting, intimate journey of a young woman's struggle to reclaim her life. Every bite causes anxiety. Every flavor induces guilt. And every step Anna takes toward recovery will require strength, endurance, and the support of the girls at 17 Swann Street. 

First Impressions

The cover doesn’t do much for me but the summary grabbed my attention. I am (was?) a dancer so anything that involves dancers will always get a look from me.

What I thought

This was such an interesting read and I wish that I had read it as a book club read because I want to discuss this with other people.

Anna has been admitted to 17 Swann Street, a recovery home for women with eating disorders. Anna’s husband Matthias admitted her after he found her passed out in their bathroom. Anna used to be a dancer until she got injured. She and Matthias moved from France to Saint Louis for a job, and that it when her eating disorder really started to take a hold.

The chapters alternate between Anna’s life at 17 Swann Street, her health reports, and her life before anorexia took hold. The interesting, and slightly irritating thing about this book is the unique formatting. The paragraphs are double spaced (similar to the formatting of my blog) and there are no quotation marks. Instead, spoken words are italicized. But this is still a little confusing because the past chapters are all italicized. I liked that the italics made it seem as though the whole book was told from the inside Anna’s head. It gave it a more intimate feel for sure. However, it also made it difficult at times to follow who was speaking.

I haven’t read many books about eating disorders, but I felt that this one handled it wonderfully. It was honest and gave insight in a way that I haven’t read before. There were a lot of ups and downs and I liked the balance of Anna’s present struggles with her past ones. I did expect to see her work through a few more of her issues than she did, but I still enjoyed following her progress.

I also enjoyed the dynamics of all of the girls in 17 Swann Street. To see the way that eating disorders impacts a variety of lives in a variety of ways was insightful. I think that discussing the factors that caused each girl’s life to take the path that it did would be interesting. I will definitely have to pass this book on to some of my friends so we can discuss it.

Regardless of the formatting issues that I could never quite get used to, this story was one I couldn’t put down. I enjoyed watching Anna’s journey and I want to pass this book onto other people. I know that it was very different from The Book of Essie, it had a similar feel to me. If you have read that book and liked it, I would recommend checking this one out.

Final 2018 Goal Updates

When I started the year I was feeling pretty positive and ambitious. For the past three years I had solidly read more than 80 books per year and I had a solid handful of new releases I was looking forward to. I was confident in my ability to reach all the goals, so I even added a reading challenge back into my life this year!

Well… you know what they say. Man plans, God Laughs.

This was the first time since setting a Goodreads challenge that I didn’t meet it. I know that this is mostly because of some life changes and difficulties, but it’s still a little bit of a bummer. I went from being ahead at the beginning of the year to pretty much coming to a halt the second half of the year. Now, I still read over 70 books and I know that’s not too shabby, but it’s easily the least I’ve read in the past 4 years or so.

One positive is that I did read 7 of the 8 books I shared as the ones I was most looking forward to in 2018. In regards to the eigth books, The Elizas, I think I got suckered in by the cover and the author. When I picked it up and re-read the description I just knew it wasn’t something I really wanted to read so I didn’t bother.

I’m still thinking about whether or not I want to do a most anticipated list for 2019. There are definitely books I’m looking forward to (hello Things You Save in a Fire and Famous in a Small Town) but I don’t know if I have a whole list full. We’ll see.

Lastly, I attempted the Uppercase Reading Challenge. I even intended on updating on this challenge quarterly, but only did so at the end of March. When I last updated you, I had completed 4 of the 10 challenges. As of the end of 2018, I have completed 6 of the 10 challenges. While this isn’t a complete failure as it’s more than 50% completed, I had ideas in mind for the remaining challenges that I didn’t get around to.

I think what I’ve learned is that I’m not a reading challenge kind of girl. I like challenging myself with what I read, but I’m not great at checking off challenges set by someone else. For example, I challenged myself last year to read more books by diverse authors and ended up finding one of my new favorite authors, Maureen Goo!

I don’t have a specific challenge for myself yet for 2019, but I’m sure I’ll come up with something!

Are you completing any reading challenges? Any goals you have for yourself for the upcoming year?

Roomies

By: Christina Lauren
Published Year: 2017
Publisher: Gallery Books
Pages: 368

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Summary (Provided by Goodreads): Marriages of convenience are so...inconvenient. 

For months Holland Bakker has invented excuses to descend into the subway station near her apartment, drawn to the captivating music performed by her street musician crush. Lacking the nerve to actually talk to the gorgeous stranger, fate steps in one night in the form of a drunken attacker. Calvin Mcloughlin rescues her, but quickly disappears when the police start asking questions.

Using the only resource she has to pay the brilliant musician back, Holland gets Calvin an audition with her uncle, Broadway’s hottest musical director. When the tryout goes better than even Holland could have imagined, Calvin is set for a great entry into Broadway—until his reason for disappearing earlier becomes clear: he’s in the country illegally, his student visa having expired years ago.

Seeing that her uncle needs Calvin as much as Calvin needs him, a wild idea takes hold of her. Impulsively, she marries the Irishman, her infatuation a secret only to him. As their relationship evolves and Calvin becomes the darling of Broadway—in the middle of the theatrics and the acting-not-acting—will Holland and Calvin to realize that they both stopped pretending a long time ago?

First Impressions

As you know, I discovered and fell in love with Christina Lauren last year after reading Josh and Hazel’s Guide to Not Dating (review here). This is the third book of theirs that I have read and I was very excited about it. Since they have become a go-to author for me my first impression was excitement.

What I thought

I haven’t stayed up late to finish a book in a while but I could not put this book down. I devoured this book.

Holland has had a crush on a musician who plays in the subway for months. When her Uncle needs a replacement for a lead musician in his hit Broadway musical, Holland thinks of her musician, Calvin. But after he auditions and is offered the job, he shares that he is in the US illegally and can’t accept. As a joke, one of Holland’s coworkers suggests she marry him for a green card. After some thought, Holland doesn’t think it’s such a terrible idea and neither does Calvin, so they quickly get married and move in together as strangers.

Holland is a bit awkward and self-depreciating and Calvin is a hot confident musician. When she offers to marry him so that he can play in the musical she doesn’t share with him that previously she had a crush on him and had been watching him play for months. I really enjoyed the dynamic between the two of them, even if Holland is a bit naïve. It’s pretty obvious from the start that Calvin is attracted to her but she is completely clueless.

They have a fun banter and I was rooting for them from the beginning. The quick pace of getting to know each other and the awkwardness made me smile. I also loved Holland’s uncles and her relationship with them. It’s nice to see a unique family dynamic that works.

I also enjoyed Holland’s growth. Christina Lauren do not disappoint in this story. it has their trademark light-heartedness and I read it with a smile from beginning to end. I wanted to know how their story was going to play out, if their sham marriage was going to get caught, and how the Broadway show was going to do! Even though this wasn’t a mystery or thriller I got sucked in and couldn’t stop.

How can I not rate it 5 stars when I read it in a day? The characters were great, the banter delightful, and the writing is wonderful. Between this and Josh & Hazel, they have solidified themselves as auto-read authors for me. If you like quirky romances I highly recommend checking this story out.

Book Club January 2019- The Alice Network

I got the honor of picking the first book club book of the year for 2019! I was a bit nervous because  I wanted to make sure that we got off to a good start. I also have been a bit disappointed in my past few picks so I really wanted to pick a good one this time around. I tend to gravitate towards World War II historical fiction in the winter and I had had The Alice Network on my TBR for a while, so it seemed like the perfect pick.

By: Kate Quinn
Published Year: 2017
Publisher: William Morrow
Pages: 532

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Summary (Provided by Goodreads): In an enthralling new historical novel from national bestselling author Kate Quinn, two women—a female spy recruited to the real-life Alice Network in France during World War I and an unconventional American socialite searching for her cousin in 1947—are brought together in a mesmerizing story of courage and redemption.

1947. In the chaotic aftermath of World War II, American college girl Charlie St. Clair is pregnant, unmarried, and on the verge of being thrown out of her very proper family. She's also nursing a desperate hope that her beloved cousin Rose, who disappeared in Nazi-occupied France during the war, might still be alive. So when Charlie's parents banish her to Europe to have her "little problem" taken care of, Charlie breaks free and heads to London, determined to find out what happened to the cousin she loves like a sister.

1915. A year into the Great War, Eve Gardiner burns to join the fight against the Germans and unexpectedly gets her chance when she's recruited to work as a spy. Sent into enemy-occupied France, she's trained by the mesmerizing Lili, the "Queen of Spies", who manages a vast network of secret agents right under the enemy's nose.

Thirty years later, haunted by the betrayal that ultimately tore apart the Alice Network, Eve spends her days drunk and secluded in her crumbling London house. Until a young American barges in uttering a name Eve hasn't heard in decades, and launches them both on a mission to find the truth...no matter where it leads.

What I thought

I am so glad that this was my first read of the year. I absolutely loved it and am hoping that this is a foreshadow of my reading year to come!

The Alice Network alternates between two stories in two different times that intersect. In 1914, Eve is in France as a spy during World War 1. In 1947 (present day), Charlie is unwed and pregnant in London and France, searching for her cousin Rose who disappeared in World War II. Charlie’s only lead is Eve.

So often when a book has multiple storylines across multiple timelines there is one story that I connect with and enjoy significantly more than the other. That is most definitely not the case for this book. I loved both of the storylines and never found myself rushing through one to get back to the other. Quinn did a wonderful job of balancing the stories. The book moved constantly because when one story was a little slower the other story picked up. I also feel like a lot of the times with historical fiction it can take a little while to get into the story because it’s setting up a lot of information, but The Alice Network jumps you right in!

I am a fan of learning about how women made a difference in previous wars since so often it is the men/soldiers that are haled as heroes. Learning about the real life Alice Network and the female spies in World War I was fascinating. Eve and Eve’s superior, Lili are such strong women and I loved reading about them.

Charlie is a good contrast to Eve. She starts off a bit more shy and reserved to Eve’s hard and strong, but she grows nicely as the story goes on. The only bit that shocked me was the point in the story at which Charlie’s story reveals certain information. I hit a point in Charlie’s story where I wondered where it was going to go, but it was handled better than I expected and I still enjoyed Charlie’s story a lot.

I am going to push this book on anyone and everyone. Even if you don’t think you’re a historical fiction person, I think you would enjoy this book. It has a very modern feel to it and I enjoyed all (well…most) of the characters.

What Book Club Thought

Everyone loved this book! A lot of the comments were similar to the ones that I have already talked about. It was a great book to discuss and there were a lot of aspects that we talked about. We also discussed how we would like to see this as a mini-series on HBO or Amazon. Maybe, since it’s a part of Reese’s book club, she’ll pick it as her next project for a TV show! I would highly recommend this book in general but if you are looking for a book club suggestion then you should definitely add this to your list.

The Au Pair

By: Emma Rous
Published Year: 2019
Publisher: Berkley
Pages: 384

I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. This in no way shape or form influenced my opinion.

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Summary (Provided by Goodreads): Seraphine Mayes and her twin brother Danny were born in the middle of summer at their family’s estate on the Norfolk coast. Within hours of their birth, their mother threw herself from the cliffs, the au pair fled, and the village thrilled with whispers of dark cloaks, changelings, and the aloof couple who drew a young nanny into their inner circle.

Now an adult, Seraphine mourns the recent death of her father. While going through his belongings, she uncovers a family photograph that raises dangerous questions. It was taken on the day the twins were born, and in the photo, their mother, surrounded by her husband and her young son, is beautifully dressed, smiling serenely, and holding just one baby.

Who is the child and what really happened that day?

One person knows the truth, if only Seraphine can find her.

First Impressions

I didn’t read many mystery/thrillers last year because they just truly didn’t catch my eye. This one pulled me in immediately with the synopsis as well as the cover. The color of the background is beautiful and you don’t often see a lot of white book covers. The girl on the front also looks extra glamourous and there’s something intriguing about a thriller about glamorous people.

What I thought

Ooooo! What a good thriller! This book is a bit bonkers but I really enjoyed it.

Seraphine’s dad just passed away so she and her brothers are left to pack up his things. While doing so, she stumbles across a picture of their mother on the day she was born. Only thing is, her mother committed suicide hours after she and her twin brother Danny were born. Not only was she never told this picture existed, but there is only one baby in this picture and her mother looks happy.

The story alternates between Seraphine’s present day perspective and Laura’s story from 1991/1992. Laura was older brother Edein’s au pair in the year leading up to Seaphine and Danny being born. After losing her dad, and having a history of being accused of not really being a Summerbourne twin, Seaphine decides to seek out Laura and find out the true story of her birth, her mother’s death, and who she really is.

I loved the writing of this book. Everything flowed really well and moved quickly. Even though I knew that there was going to be a surprise, I never felt as though I was reading just to get to the twist. This is Rous’ debut which makes it all the more impressive. So many times a debut for a thriller author can feel clunky as they work to find their voice and rhythm, but that was not this case with this novel.

Even though I had a general idea of what the surprise could me, I wasn’t sure how it would come about or exactly which twist was going to be used. I’m also someone who enjoys alternating view point chapters and I found these transitions to be smooth. I enjoyed both Seaphine’s perspective and Laura’s. In addition to the mystery of who Seaphine really is, there was a balance of smaller secondary mysteries. Such as, why Laura didn’t take her exams and moved out of London to become an au pair.

I feel like I always say that it’s hard for me to review thrillers because I don’t want to give too much away, so I apologize if this review is a little short and vague. This was one of the first books I’ve read in a while that I couldn’t put down and finished in a matter of days.

If you are looking for a soild mystery/thriller, I highly recommend this book. It doesn’t rely on tricks and twists just to keep you entertained and I appreciated that a lot. I liked all of the characters, and as I mentioned, the writing. While this may not be one of those “omg! I never would’ve guessed that/seen that coming!” kinds of thrillers, that doesn’t stop this from being a page turner. I would definitely recommend this book to start your 2019 off right.

Hallmark Countdown to Christmas Books?- Part 2

My friends and I are admittedly obsessed with the Hallmark Christmas movies. Personally, I love the festivity, the predictability, and the all around positivity. This season we saw that there 6 (and a half) movies that were adapted from books. Since we all enjoy reading just as much as we enjoy the Hallmark movies, we decided to make a mini book club and read the books and then compare them to their movie counterparts. So, I decided to provide mini-reviews for the books, and then how it compared to the movie as well as which one I preferred. If you would like to check out Part 1, you can do so here.

Christmas at Honeysuckle Lane by Mary McDonough

Book: I did not finish this book. I got about halfway through before giving up. It wasn’t like Pride, Prejudice, and Mistletoe where the writing was horrible and the story was just as bad, but this one moved way to slow for me. The story is centered around siblings Andie, Emma, and Daniel being together in their parents’ house for the first time since their mom passed away. Daniel asked his sisters to come back home for Christmas to take care of their mother’s estate. In addition to the story moving too slow for my tastes, I didn’t like any of the characters. They were a combination of petty and apathetic that I just got annoyed with. I’m hoping that Hallmark cuts out a lot of the animosity and I’m curious to see what changes are made.

Movie: Well… at least I was able to get through the movie? Again, I don’t have a specific issue with the tory, more so with the pace. I watched this one with my mom and she agreed. We both started falling asleep about halfway through. The movie stayed true to the characters of the book and mostly started true to the storyline. In fact, I had to explain a little bit to my mom about the story because there is a lot going on and it didn’t translate as easily to the movie. If you have read the story and enjoyed it, you would be happy with the movie adaptation. If you read the book and couldn’t get through it, the movie is a nice way to find out what happened. Unfortunately, I think my overall feelings about this book and movie combo is meh.

Sleigh Bell Sweethearts by Teri Wilson

Book: I liked the overall concept of this book but didn’t quite like the execution. Zoey is an aspiring pilot who inherits a reindeer farm from her old flight instructor. She also inherits a grumpy ranch hand named Alec. Amongst this, she is struggling to figure out how to afford running a reindeer farm. I liked Zoey a lot. I thought she was a strong female character who as independent and had her own aspirations. I liked that she wanted to be a pilot, so she worked hard and saved the money to buy her own plane. Alec on the other hand irritated me. Every other line was him brooding with “I shouldn’t think she’s pretty. I’ll just hurt her. I’m a bad man.” *insert major eye roll here* The thing that irritated me the most about this is that there was zero growth. He continually complains about how he’s such a bad guy with a bad past but then one second later he’s *spoiler* asking Zoey to marry him! I am hopeful that this book translates to a great movie though!

Movie: Even though the book was Sleigh Bell Sweethearts, the movie is Northern Lights of Christmas. The movie starred Ashley Williams whose movies I always enjoy. This movie didn’t disappoint. The main plot points of the movie did stay true to the book, but I was a bit disappointed that they eliminated the dog that Alec bought for Zoey. It did also focus more on a Christmas Festival in true Hallmark fashion that didn’t really happen in the book. Overall, it was a cute movie. Not one of my favorites but a solid movie and not disappointing after enjoying the book.

Favorite Beauty Finds of 2018

This year I decided to start eliminating products from my life that were not cruelty free. As a result, I have found a lot of new products that I love. Below are the top products that I found that, if I haven’t already, I will be repurchasing in the future.

My number 1 find of this year is probably the Herbavore Coco Rose body polish. I talked about this in my Skincare Empties post. I had tried the sample size in a set that I purchased but I did buy the full size version. My skin loves this product. It exfoliates my skin without drying it our or causing irritation. In fact, it takes away a lot of the redness that my skin gets. Also, who doesn’t love this pretty pink?

Another produce that I love (and have already repurchased) is the Tula Illuminating Serum. This was a product I discovered towards the end of the year and I just love it. The Tula website describes it as a serum used to target dark spots, hyperpigmentation, and dull skin. I have always had difficulty with dark spots and redness in my skin. While this hasn’t made every single spot disappear, the redness of my skin has dropped significantly. I even had family members comment on the glow of my skin at Thanksgiving! If you need a new serum, I highly recommend this. And not just because I love their blue packaging.

Staying in the Tula category, another find that I’ve been enjoying is their Multi-Spectrum Eye Renewal Serum. This is a serum that is caffeine infused and is meant to reduce the appearance of wrinkles and puffiness as well as hydrate. I have been using this every night before bed and the packaging makes it relaxing to spread around my eyes. I immediately feel some tightness after application and in the morning I feel like I look more awake than on the nights when I don’t use it. I also appreciate that it’s not ridiculously expensive for an eye cream. You only need one pump for both eyes, so I think it will last a while.

For moisturizing, I found and loved the Tatcha Water Cream. Yet another product with glorious luxe packaging, the product inside is just as luxurious. It’s a little pricey for a moisturizer, especially since it doesn’t have an SPF. Although, I haven’t found many SPF skincare products that are also cruelty-free. This product is oil-free and is said to provide optimal hydration, tighten pores, and smooth skin texture. I don’t know if I noticed it tightening my pores, but my skin did drink this product up. And even though it’s expensive, it does last a long time since a little goes a long way.

Another product that I had mentioned in my Skincare Empties post that I have loved is the Korres Greek Yoghurt Foaming Cream Cleanser. I honestly didn’t expect much from this cleanser. It’s been a while since I have found a cleanser that I have loved enough to purchase the full size. I get a lot of samples of cleansers and while they all so the job, that’s kind of all they do. This was the first cleanser I’ve used in a while that I saw significant improvements on my skin. I always get hormonal breakouts and this even helped lessen those!

Finally, the last skincare product that I found this year are the Lapcos sheet masks which I previously reviewed here. I wasn’t crazy about sheet masks before finding these. I love that they offer a variety pack because I enjoy so many of these masks that I couldn’t choose just one. I love using the various moisturizing and soothing ones after travel because airplanes do a number on your skin. I find these to do just what they say they will and they actually fit pretty decently on my face.