Before I jump into March's book review, I wanted to thank you all for all the support you've shown Skylights Magazine over the past two weeks! It's been a whirlwind and I'm so grateful. I've written a post over there about learning how to edit as a writer, if you're interested :)

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Title: Love, Lucy

Author: April Lindner

Publication: 2015

I feel bad for this book. Not because I didn't enjoy it because I did. However, because of the subject matter of this novel, it gets compared to and falls a little short of other novels that I love. Love Lucy is a novel about travel and romance and a bit of self-discovery. In that vein, it gets placed in my mental library beside one of my favorites, Anna and the French Kiss, as well as a recent read, My Life Next Door. As I've mentioned already in a full review, Anna and the French Kiss is a story about travel, first loves and self discovery, while My Life Next Door (thoughts coming later this month) is a story of family and summer romances. Both were phenomenal. And however unfairly, Love Lucy just can't hold a candle to either of those novels.

That's not to say that I didn't enjoy it because I absolutely did! Linder's writing style was solid and she did a wonderful job of making the reader long for foreign places. I felt like I was 16 again (the age I traveled to Italy) awestruck by all of the Italian scenery. When I visited I really adored both Florence, which is like a European NYC, and Rome, so seeing those places again was a bit nostalgic. And I really loved the mention of the classic Roman Holiday - great movie! I also really liked the message of this novel for our main character Lucy. About following your heart both on a personal and professional level. The pressures of society and family especially can be heavy to bare so it was good to see a character struggling with some of those things and figuring them out. It made the novel interesting, although I have to admit that some parts got a little repetitive and I may have skimmed through quite a few chapters (Eep!).

For me, where Love Lucy falls short of the two novels mentioned earlier is in the love department. Although I liked the characters individually, Lucy and her Italian beau Jesse just didn't seem to have much chemistry beyond the typical "whirlwind foreign romance" variety of most travel books. Don't get me wrong, they serve a purpose in each other lives in this book. But it's a purpose that could be furthered by a friendship just as much as a relationship. That ache of loving someone? I just didn't feel it. And because of that, as one of those readers that loves shipping her characters, I couldn't really connect with the progression of the storyline.

All in all, Love Lucy was a fun read. If you're looking for a novel about travel and how it changes you, this is a decent option. Is it worth an impulsive purchase on your Kindle and a speedy read through? Probably so. Will it change you? Probably not.

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April's book is Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Sáenz.

Winner of multiple awards, including the Prince Award, Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe is a heart-warming novel about the classic tale of how polar opposites attract, about that friendship that can change the course of your life. Having heard so very much about the brilliance of this novel, I have been looking forward to reading it for over a year, so I'm very excited to jump into it this month! This would be a great month to join us! Review will be on May 5th.

Did you read Love Lucy with us this month? Got any thoughts? Or maybe some recommendations for travel, romance books? Let me know!

To Fill Up & Live | Ugly Love

Title: Ugly Love

Author: Colleen Hoover

Publication: 2014

Major Character(s): Tate and Miles

Main Plot: Tate, fresh out of university and starting grad school, has little time to dedicate to a relationship. So it seems like a blessing when she meets Miles, who is the definition of emotionally unavailable, and the two decide to engage in a purely physical relationship instead. But things are never really that simple, are they?

Favorite Lines:
"God gives us the ugliness so we don't take the beautiful things in life for granted."

"Some people they grow wiser as they grow older. Unfortunately, most people just grow older."

"She's like poetry. Like prose and love letters and lyrics, cascading down the center of a page."

My Rating: 4.7

Confession: I'm a skimmer. Well not habitually but sometimes I'll start reading a new book by skimming it first, just flipping the pages. First thing I noticed about Ugly Love was the switching of point of view between the two main characters and how Miles' chapters were set six years earlier and the prose was formatted strangely. And I groaned because I just knew I was going to hate it. Lies! It was my favorite! I loved Miles chapters. They read like a diary. No more than that. The lovely 'stream of consciousness' writing flowed like the lyrics to a song, bopping along to a melody only Miles could hear. And what makes me love it even more is that it fits his mentality and feelings perfectly, and is surely something Hoover intended and it's perfect!

So it's fair to say that I really enjoyed Hoover's writing style. I also really liked the story! Truthfully, I was surprised by the existence of a storyline - Fifty Shades of Grey really set the bar low for storylines in New Adult books for me - and that said storyline was actually laid out and executed very well. And I enjoyed the sexy times immensely. Am I allowed to say that? Does it make you completely uncomfortable to read that? Oh, well. I did! And you'd be hard-pressed (hehe, a pun!) to find someone who can say they didn't. I found that Hoover used sex as a mechanism to display how either a relationship was developing or falling apart. It never felt arbitrary and so it felt less like reading soft-core porn.

I also really loved Hoover's characters (especially Cap!). Don't get me wrong, I had issues with every single one of them and found myself getting frustrated with their decisions. But I still liked them, which to me is the true test of characters and their development. If I like a character or can really appreciate their story arch - if I care about what happens to them -, then an author has truly done her job. Hoover's characters are believable and feel very real. I get them and their motivation, despite whether I agree with their choices or not. (As my dear Kristen would say, some things were just unforgivable.) My heart felt for Miles while truly understanding Tate. I wanted happiness for them both and found myself rooting for them less than 30 pages into the novel. And most of all, I loved that they both developed throughout the story. Every character in Ugly Love ended up different and, I would argue, better people on the other side of things.

Overall, I'm so glad this was our book choice this month. It was love-related without being too lovey-dovey and it managed to be a heart-warming story despite the heavier topics it handled. It was a quick read because I constantly wanted to know what happened next as I was so invested in the story from the very beginning, only coming up for air after the final page.  If you're into contemporary reads and don't mind a little lust in the pages of your novel, definitely pick this one up!

Did you read along with us this month? Any thoughts on Ugly Love? Link up your review below and of course, let me know what you thought in the comments below.



Also, do you regularly read New Adult books? If so, I'd like some suggestions as this genre is relatively new to me.  

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March's book is Love Lucy by April Lindner. 

During her summer in Florence, Italy, Lucy finds herself falling in love with all the the city has to offer - all of it. Once she returns home, she finds out that moving on from an experience like that is easier said than done. We hope you'll read along with us and join us in reviewing Love Lucy on Tuesday, April 7th!

To Fill Up & Live | My True Love Gave To Me

Look at me, kicking off my resolutions right with my first book review! Technically, it was December's book, but po-tae-to, po-tah-to.

Title: My True Love Gave To Me
Authors: Holly Black, Ally Carter, Matt De La Peña, Gayle Forman, Jenny Han, David Levithan, Kelly Link, Myra McEntire, Stephanie Perkins, Rainbow Rowell, Laini Taylor, and Kiersten White
Editor: Stephanie Perkins
Publication: 2014

I've never reviewed a collection of short stories and I'm not sure how to do it effectively. I do know that if I wait until I've finished the entire book, I'm sure to forget what I thought of earlier stories. So here's a compilation of my thoughts for each story, recorded as I read each one. (Note: stories marked with a "*" are my favorites.)

Midnights by Rainbow Rowell *
"You're like a kaleidoscope. You change every time I look away."
"'You guys really fell asleep against Michigan.' 'I'm not actually on the football team,' Noel said. 'That's no excuse,' Mrs. Porter said." :)

LOVE. I'm obsessed with this story and the main characters Mags and Noel and their series of New Year's Eves. Especially Noel. This entirely too-short, short story made me laugh, swoon, aww and gasp all within the span of 22 pages. I hadn't read a Rainbow Rowell novel in a while, and although I knew I loved her work so much, I couldn't pinpoint why. Then I read Midnights and a page in I'm face-palming myself because, hello, she just tells such a wonderful story in such a wonderful way. Rainbow is most definitely still my homegirl. I read it again before continuing on to any of the other short stories in the book #sorrynotsorry #notatall.

Polaris Is Where You'll Find Me by Jenny Han

It was a very cute story with an interesting premise - the only little girl in the North Pole surrounded by Santa and his elves. However, it felt a bit rushed, launching into a new idea two pages before the end, so it feels like an afterthought. I did really liked her character voice, and the writing style sucks you in. It's my first Jenny Han story (although I have two of her books) and it makes me anxious to pick up her novels.

Your Temporary Santa by David Leviathan 

I'm torn about this one. I could sense there were deeper issues that got glossed over in this very short (10 pages!) short story. [I did really like how it featured a homosexual relationship in a way that was ancillary to the story and therefore, equated it with any other relationship, instead of setting it apart.]

The Lady and The Fox by Kelly Link
If I thought I was torn about the last one, than I'm being tormented by this one. In a word: Weird. Really weird. I felt like I was in a haze while I read this story, but I couldn't put it down. The premise started out really interesting, a girl who spends each Christmas with the family of her mother's close friend, but then it spins off into these paranormal aspects that I wasn't sure what to do with. Hmm.

Angels in the Snow by Matt De La Peña *
I hate to admit it but I did not expect to like this short story. I don't read many things from a male point of view and the story of a college boy, house sitting for a wealthy friend and starving over the holidays doesn't sound like something that belongs in a holiday collection of short stories. But I loved it! The protagonist's voice was real and funny, and the interactions in the story were honest and heart-warming at times. What I thought was a story about starving for the holiday turned out to be one about getting your fill.

It's A Yuletide Miracle, Charlie Brown by Stephanie Perkins *
"A thrill went through her, hearing his voice again at such a close range. Superior and aloof, but definitely with that paradoxical underpinning of friendly amusement. It probably allowed him to get away with saying all sorts of rude things. "

Eeee, all the feels! I knew Stephanie Perkins was going to bring them (of course!) but I didn't expect so much from 20 pages. North rivals Noel in crushable male characters, for sure. Perkins just knows how to write such interesting characters in the most unlikely situations and make you eat it all up. Like Midnights, I could have used about 200 more pages of this story. The Perkins "girl meets boy + adventure = the feels!" never misses!

Krampslauf by Holly Black 
Reviews says that this short story was one of the worst and they couldn't even read it. I can't figure out why for the life of me. I really, really enjoyed it! It's mostly based in reality, but there's an element of paranormal and it's a darker story for sure. The characters were great (like Wren) and the story was really intriguing and creative. Overall, cool is the best way I know to describe it.

Welcome to Christmas, CA by Kiersten White *
"The door opens with a rusted jingle, and an animatronic Santa insults my moral virtue three times. Ho, ho, ho."
"And there - when he smiles, his whole faces lights up. It's like his other expressions are placeholders."

If I thought I loved Noel and North, Ben might just be my soulmate. This story, about a little town named after a joyous holiday, told by a less-than-joyous teenage girl, ends up being one of the most heart-warming of the collection. White's characters are realistic and lovable, and her prose is fantastic, I love the ease with which she writes. Also, White is a whiz at dialogue, using witty, funny and charming banter to break up heavier themes. I smiled through the story, laughed out loud a few times and even teared up a little bit. After reading this short story, I only have one regret: not reading a Kiersten White story sooner.

What the Hell Have You Done, Sophie Roth? by Gayle Forman *
"Of all the things and people she missed lately, it was odd to find herself at the top of that list."

Oh. This. Was. Good. And so relatable for me. Sophie Roth is a Brooklyn girl attending college in the middle of west bumble, where her classmates call her "big city" and she has to clearly indicate when she being sarcastic which is most of the time. Hello, Kari circa 2006! I smiled, giggled and laughed my way through this entire story. So much banter! And mixed in with a few tender moments and another male of the crushable variety. Six foot five, tall, dark and handsome male lead? Yes, please. (Clearly, this collection has made me boy crazy.)

Beer Buckets and Baby Jesus by Myra McEntire

This is a very cute story told from the point of view of the boy who ruined the Pastor's Christmas pageant and is covertly pining after the Pastor's daughter. Classic bad boy likes the good girl but a cute read nonetheless.

The Girl Who Woke The Dreamer by Laini Taylor
After reading the first few pages, I wanted to put this one down, which is ironic because I've heard it takes a few chapters to get into Taylor's phenomenal novel Daughter of Smoke Bone as well. The story was just a bit strange and kind of uncomfortable. Not that it was bad or boring, but it just didn't feel like a story that belonged in a holiday collection. And after completing it, it still doesn't feel like it belongs, but it's less weird and more wonderful. I kind of wish I'd read it separately because expecting it to be cheery and bright is what stopped me from fully appreciating it. One thing was clear: Laini Taylor's writing is wonderful. It's full and luscious and a blend between the easy writing of most YA authors and the complexity of classic novelists.

Star of Bethlehem by Ally Carter
I feel bad. This was the last short story I read, and I feel like by the time I got to it, I was all burnt out on cutesy holiday stories and ready to plunge into the novels of the authors I'd just discovered. Something about the story felt rushed and like a network Christmas movie to me. It kind of felt like a whirlwind of unlikely, followed by impossible, succeeded by no-freaking-way.   

The skaters on the front cover represent the couples in all 12 stories, which proved to be way too exciting for me as I flipped to the cover after every story to i.d. them. I was almost right - I was so sure  the "Laini" couple was Mags & Noel from Rainbow's story because they're dancing :)

Here's my rating for the collection as a whole. (Btw, I'm rating with bows now. Not that it's particularly significant to books or my blog. I just really like bows!)

4.5!

This collection may have been the perfect way to end the new year with. Now, I have new authors I'm excited to read! What did you think of My True Love Gave To Me? Got a favorite short story of the bunch? If you reviewed the book along with us, please link up below!

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Note to self: deceptively short stories = long reviews :)

With a new year comes new books for our book club! And a new genre of books as well. Kay suggested this month's book and I'm glad she did because we've never read a non-fiction novel. January's book of the month is: Orange Is The New Black by Piper Kerman.

Buy this novel!

If the novel is anywhere near as hilarious as season 1 of the show, we are all in for a treat! A ten year old decision becomes Piper Kerman worst nightmare when it lands her in jail for a year and a half. Pick up this memoir to find out what landed her there and all the hilarious and heartbreaking stories she has to share about it. As you read, you can take a look at these discussion questions to get you thinking about the book. I hope you'll be joining us this month, and sharing what you thought come Tuesday, February 3rd in a review!

Happy Reading!

To Fill Up & Live | Anna & The French Kiss

First, a huge THANK YOU! to everyone that has continued to read and comment by blog posts in the rare occasion that I blogged last month. I will be back consistently this month! I truly, truly appreciate you, and will be showing your blogs lots of love very shortly <3

I feel like a total stranger. It feels like NaNoWriMo, which ended on Sunday night, has drained all creativity out of me. I've been binge-watching episodes of Reign every free moment I get for the past 24 hours because it requires little brain power and I am a girl obsessed. A wrap-up post will be coming shortly for anyone interested in NaNoWriMo or writing related topics.

But today is "Book Review Day." The book club's November book, and the only book I read this month, was a re-read for me, Anna and The French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins. And seeing as I feel the same way about it now as I did then, I've reproduced my review of it from last year.

I'd love to hear your thoughts in the comments below if you read it too! Also, if you've reviewed it, please do link-up with Kay and I below :)

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Title: Anna and The French Kiss

Author: Stephanie Perkins

Publication: 2010

Major Characters: Anna, St. Clair, Meredith, Rashmi, Josh

Main Plot: When Anna gets shipped off to The School of America in Paris leaving a best friend and an almost-boyfriend back home in Atlanta, she expects it to be miserable. But when she falls into step with a friendly foursome, one of which is a super attractive boy with an adorable accent, she wonders if maybe she could belong to the City of Light as well.

Favorite Line(s):
"Girl scouts didn't teach me what to do with emotionally unstable drunk boys."

""Soap?"
"School of America in Paris" he explains. "SOAP".
Nice. My father sent me here to be cleansed."

"And, suddenly, I want to touch him. Not a push, or a shove, or even a friendly hug. I want to feel the creases in his skin, connect his freckly with invisible lines, brush my fingers across the inside of his wrists."

My Rating: 5

To start off, it's not this classic monster of a book. It's not going to make you stop and think about your decisions or bring your morals into question. It's not going to change your life. It's not a Pride & Prejudice, Of Mice & Men, The Catcher In The Rye. It doesn't bring you to an alternate world that's been forever changed by our rampant consumerism like The Hunger Games or Divergent. Yet, it's still one of my favorites. Because it is such a charming, feel good book.

Stephanie Perkins perfectly encapsulates what it feels like to fall in love. That feeling of not knowing whether you're friends or more than friends, and feeling like your heart might just pop right out of your chest when he gets a little too close. The electricity of a first touch or the moment when flirtatious banter is capped by a look that makes the ground fall from beneath your feet. When I read this book, both times I found myself giddily smiling into its binding and kicking my feet into the air, vicariously living through Anna and her Parisian experiences. There are particular scenes I reread multiple times before continuing because of how endearing they are to read.

Sometimes, when you read a romance-y type of novel, especially one with teenage characters (most of the characters are seniors in high school), you expect to feel "over it" because the romance is so unrealistic and the characters are so naive. This novel didn't feel that way. Aside from the typical teen-angst moment here or there, the problems they faced felt real and the situations they found themselves in weren't so far removed from the drama of adults my age. It ran the gamut from family issues, to loss, to discovering a new place, to being scared to ask "hey, are you into me?", and none of it felt tired or old. And surprisingly, the way Perkins develops relationships and friendships in the novel is great on timing. It isn't rushed. A quote from Pride & Prejudice is actually perfect to illustrate this point: "I was in the middle before I knew it had begun." There aren't "insta-best friends" or "I love you's at first sight". You feel the relationships growing and stretching to fill the page and in the process, you fall in love as well.

I really enjoyed the simplicity with which the novel was written. As someone who struggles with using too many words in her writing and making things sound too complicated, the straight-forward, conversational writing of the novel was refreshing and easy to read. Plus, the way Stephanie Perkins explains Paris with such beautiful descriptions kind of transports you from your bedroom right into the City Of Love - if only until the final page is read. Or if you're like me, you go right back to the beginning and fall in love all over again.

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Feel free to link-up below, and of course, join us next month!

If you've never read along with us before, you may want to start now. And if you usually do, then (1) we love you, and (2) you don't want to quit on us now. The book-of-the-month for December is a novel I've been looking forward to reading! 

My True Love Gave To Me 

by Various Authors

It's a collection of twelve holiday stories written by various authors but all edited by the wonderful Stephanie Perkins, and I'm sure it is going to delight. We hope you'll join us and post a review on Tuesday, January 6th!  

Cheers to being back!  

To Fill Up & Live | Wuthering Heights

It's nearly Halloween, but I'm not done with the Fall-O-Ween posts just yet! I've got a few more up this sleeve of mine, starting with today's dark and spooky book review.

Title: Wuthering Heights

Author: Emily Brontë

Publication: Originally 1847

Character(s): Heathcliff, Catherine Earnshaw, The Earnshaws, The Lintons

Favorite Quote(s):
"She burned too bright for this world."

"...he's more myself than I am. Whatever our souls are made of, his and mine are the same."

"It is for God to punish wicked people; we should learn to forgive."

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So quick disclaimer: It's a very rare case that I don't love a classic novel. From what I can remember I've given every classic I've ever read at least a 4 star rating. I even loved Tess of the d'Ubervilles if that gives you an incite here. So take it with a grain of salt when I say I loved this story yet again.

My Rating: 5 stars

Before I begin my review of the story, I have to note - this was Emily Brontë's first and only novel. A year later, she died of consumption. It is also rumored that she was kind of reclusive and didn't see much of the world. Yet with her novice talents and limited experiences stacked against her, she still managed to write a staggering novel that wakes the reader up and comments brilliantly on the world around her. It makes me wonder what she would've been capable of writing had she had the opportunity. Those Brontë sisters, man. Literary geniuses.

Why was Wuthering Heights so brilliant, even the second time around? For one, and I think most significantly, the characters. Through all of my writing research, I've been advised of one thing: characters drive the story. It has been suggested time and time again that if the characters are robust, if you can make the reader like and care about them, you have the basic and most important element to a story. Brontë proves this advice wrong, wrong, wrong. I don't like these characters. They're monsters. I don't particularly like Heathcliff, although I sympathize with him in some ways, and I certainly don't like Catherine. Not at all. (Think Daisy from The Great Gatsby.) Yet still, against my better judgment and in the midst of semi-hating some of them (cough, Catherine), I really care about what happens to them. When that certain spoiler-y thing happens to that certain character in the middle of the book, my brain told me I didn't care but my heart cried out. Because I cared. Damn me for caring! And when an author can do that, make me give a damn in spite of myself? Hats off, bow down b!*&he$.

Also, call me crazy, but I really love the tone of this novel. Maybe it's just the Fall-O-Ween spirit peeking through, but the novel is haunting, violent and deliciously dark and I eat it all up. The descriptions in the book drive the lonely and dreary theme home perfectly. I can see the fog-laden moorland and can envision Heathcliff's vengeful desires so well that I can almost smell them radiating from his every action. Even the romance in this novel takes on a uniquely dark and passionate tone. Again, against my better judgment, I long for a relationship like the main one in this novel. How messed up is that? To desire a love that under any other circumstances would be totally undesirable and unhealthy. Damn you, fated, twisty, magnetic, passionate love, for making me want you!

This novel is messy. Emily Brontë uses her story as a mirror, forcing the reader to visualize the worst part of ourselves, of our humanity. The characters, the setting, the conflicts that arise and the resolutions that come from them. It's monstrous. It's a mess. But it's life.

Did you read along with the book club this month? Have you read Wuthering Heights before? Let me know what you think in the comments and link up below if you've reviewed it.


We haven't decided on the book for November, but I will update either on twitter or in a post as soon as I know!

Also, enter my final Fall-O-Ween giveaway if you haven't already! I'm giving away a $25 Fandango gift card. That's enough for two (2) tickets to one fantastically spooky movie :)

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To Fill Up & Live | The Darkest Minds

I haven't blogged in week. Because I've been reading. I know, I know. Crappy excuse. But true, so I get points for that, yes? I got sucked into the world that is Sarah J. Maas' Crown of Midnight and then I had to bury myself in The Darkest Minds so I'd have a review for our bookclub book of the month. So in a way, I've been such a bad blogger last week so I can be a good blogger now :) So, about this book review...

Title: The Darkest Minds

Author: Alexandra Bracken

Publication: Hyperion 2012

Character(s): Ruby, Liam, Chubs, Zu

Main Plot: Ruby thought she was lucky to survive IAAN, the disease that killed most of America's children. Having spent 6 years in a treatment camp, she soon realizes that there are fates far worse than death. And Ruby's lethal, and she's looking for a safe haven. But what is "safe" anymore?

Favorite Quote:
"Well, we'll just have to try to make better mistakes tomorrow."

"Let's carpe the hell out of this diem."

"Try to imagine where we'd be without you, darlin', and then maybe you'll see just how lucky we got."

"Did you know... you make me so happy that sometimes I actually forget to breath?"

My Rating: 4.5

I need to note that I really dislike writing full reviews right after I've finished a novel. Sure, I'll jot down a thought or two, but I never feel like my thoughts are coherent enough for a review directly after. I'm left without a choice here as I just flipped the final page of The Darkest Minds less than an hour ago. So bare with me.

And trust me when I say, this needs to be read. By you. Was it perfect? Nope. But overall, it's a must read. Why? Well, because not only is it a fast, action packed novel akin to a car chase (pun intended), but something about it just feels important. After a disease wipes out a large portion of America's teenage population, surviving children are rounded up and placed in a treatment camp, where they are classified into colors based on mental abilities. Ruby, our protagonist, is masquerading as a harmless color for years, but really she's one of the dangerous ones. This novel sucks you in and swallows you up, in the best way possible. Bracken handled the complicated world-building in an expert way, keeping us on the edge of our seats but not in the dark. She utilizes flashback brilliantly to do this. She let me know just enough about what was going on without info-dumping everything on me, yet still maintaining suspense. There were quite a few WTF moments. Which reminds me, while Bracken doesn't use slang terms like "wtf" in her novel, I really love her use of a more casual tone in her writing. It made me smile and made me love certain characters even more.
   
The only downside? I love pretty much all the characters, even those that weren't around very long. But, Kari, that's not a bad thing. Well... except the protagonist. Ruby is, she's a bit of a mystery to me in so far as her character is concerned, which, believe me, is an improvement from how I felt about her in the very beginning. Up until about a third of the way through the novel, Ruby frustrated me. Although I understood her position (being locked up in a camp for most of your adolescence does little to make you a fierce, super hero), I found myself angry with her at times. I warmed up to her eventually, but, basically, the jury is out for the moment regarding the feels towards Ruby. Bracken did an excellent job with her character development throughout this first novel. But despite how far she's come and how strong she is (seriously at the end, homegirl is stronger than I could ever be), I still feel like I don't know her well enough, something I'm not use to feeling when a novel is written from the first person point of view aka Ruby's own head. (I mean, hello? If I still don't know you after swimming in your head for 500 some odd pages, will I ever?) The Darkest Minds was a great story. It just seems like it wasn't organically her story. Ruby as a narrator feels lackadaisical for quite a bit of the story and I found myself wishing Liam or bloody mouth boy from the beginning were telling it instead. 

With that said, I know, why would you want to read it? Oh, but you do! This adventurous novel is a perfect fall read. It's dark and captivating and just the book to lead me into the season - and the series :)

Have you read The Darkest Minds? If so, link up with us down below!


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Our September book of the month is - TA DA! - Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë, a masterpiece about the all-consuming power of love, passion and revenge. It's a welcome reread for me, and I hope you'll join us to rediscover the magic of this one! This gothic-romance classic is the perfect read for October.

How fantastically creepy is this cover?! [Source]

Speaking of October, tomorrow marks the start of my favorite time of year, and I can't wait! Tune it tomorrow to see what all the fuss is about!

To Fill Up & Live | Big Little Lies

A week later than expected but here we are, reviewing the book of the month on the first Thursday instead of the last. It's our third month and I say we're 3-for-3 on choosing pretty good novels. Click here for more information or check out the 'Books' link in my navigation bar up there. There's a lot going on in this post, so hold on.

Title: Big Little Lies

Author: Liane Moriarty

Publication: Putnam Books, 2014

Major Characters: Madeline, Jane and Celeste

Main Plot: Meet Madeline, Jane and Celeste. The only thing the three have in common is that they each have children who attend the Pirrewee Public School, where a murder has taken place on Trivia Night. Between ex-husbands, terrible twins, single mothers, absentee fathers and the 100 attendees, it's a mystery as to who's dead, who did it, and who saw.

Favorite Quote(s):
"You had to register the existence of evil, do the little that you could, and then close your mind and think about new shoes."

My Rating: 4 stars (maaybbeee 3.8)

I'm going to refrain from saying too much because, like most mystery-laden novels, the element of surprise is key. But I will express a few key thoughts about what I think worked and what didn't.

There were so many great things about this novel. Starting with the obvious, it continually had me guessing. From the first five pages, we know that someone died during Trivia Night at Pirrewee Public School, and then we are thrust back 6 months in the timeline, to get to know all the players involved. Every other chapter I found myself yelling at the book, "____ died! No, it was _____! OMG, it was _____, I know it!". For the record, I was always wrong :) I really loved the three main characters, specifically Madeline and Celeste. Strangely in fact, I disliked Madeline in the beginning. Then, I realized how much she reminds me of, surprise, me. She's talkative, inappropriate, very nosy inquisitive, easy to excite and even easier to anger. I'm making myself sound incredibly unattractive right now, but she's also fashionable, lively, emotional, a fierce friend and hilarious! Not only was I basically cry-laughing during her chapters but I read a line or two to my boyfriend one night. "Yeah, that sounds like you," he responded, it was insta-love. I was very appreciative of Celeste and her character. The way Moriarty wrote from Celeste's point of view was perfectly done. I understood Celeste's thought process and felt connected to it, and I could imagine how someone in her position would think the way she does. Each woman in the novel had a specific "cross to bear" and I really loved Moriarty's characterization of the way Celeste carries hers.

Although the novel started out a tad slow, despite the death in the first chapter, it picked up speed at around 100 pages and never let up. The pacing from then on was perfect, and after finishing the novel, I understand that the slower pacing at the start was necessary to set the stage, so to speak. I really enjoyed Moriarty's writing and her sass which displayed through a variety of her characters. She's excellent at creating characters with distinct voices. Most chapters are capped with a short dialogue about the murder investigation between an officer and community members. By the middle of the novel, I could tell who was speaking without reading the tag because the voices were that strong.

I had two "issues" so to say with this novel. Nothing huge as I still gave the novel four (ish) stars, but enough to knock it down a star without question. First (it's definitely a personal problem) it was difficult for me to relate to completely. I'm not a mother or a wife. It was difficult for me to fully appreciate the drama of a political kindergarten classroom or the horror of having an ex-husband you can't stand. Many of the interactions were hilarious, but some of the nuances went over my head. Again, it doesn't detract from the quality of the book, just my enjoyment of it. Secondly, I have to say it - I hated the ending. I really did. Trust me, I'm wincing as I say this because I really don't want to hate it. It was such a wonderful, funny book otherwise. But, sigh, I do. It's just... I won't give too much away (skip the rest of this paragraph if you want to go in completely blind), but I thought it was really cliché and damn frustrating. It felt like Moriarty ran out of creativity, and it felt totally forced. I didn't see it coming because it came out of nowhere, literally and in a bad way, and it made it not only unbelievable but implausible. I screamed my way through the last 50 or so pages, especially the last chapter.

Have you read Big Little Lies? It's definitely worth a read. What did you think of it? If you wrote a review, link it down below!

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The September book of the month is The Darkest Minds by Alexandra Bracken, a young adult book that proves super powers aren't so super when they can get you killed. I've been wanting to read this for so long and the final book of the series comes out this month! I hope you'll join us :) Click the book to find out more!

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And lastly, I bought a lot of books and I wanted so share them with you! Embedded below is a book haul video that I recorded. It's my first ever video so be nice :) But I wanted to show you all the books & didn't want to write a post because who wants to read a book haul? Grab a snack if you end up watching, it's a long one!

To Fill Up & Live BookClub | Attachments

On the last Thursday of the month, we review books :) Only the second month in and I'm seriously loving it. Click here for more information or check out the link in my navigation bar.

Let's talk about this book, shall we? We shall.

Title: Attachments

Author: Rainbow Rowell

Publication: 2011

Major Characters: Lincoln O'Neill, Beth Fremont, Jennifer Scribner-Snyder

Main Plot: Lincoln never saw himself as an "internet security guard", reading other people's emails and looking for prohibited, personal content. Beth and Jennifer's emails always get flagged as they chat back and forth about their lives, and Lincoln always reads them without reporting it. Soon, he finds himself mesmerized by both their emails and one of the women as well. But how do you tell the woman you stalk on the internet that you love her?

Favorite Quote(s):
"I'd know you in the dark. From a thousand miles away. There's nothing you could become that I haven't already fallen in love with."

"I was born in February, but I come alive in October."

"I think I missed my window... My get-a-life window. I think I was supposed to figure all the stuff out somewhere between twenty-two and twenty-six, and now it's too late."

"It's so easy for someone else to say, 'Don't worry. Everything's going's going to be all right.' Why not say it? It doesn't cost anything. It doesn't mean anything. No one will hold you to it if you're wrong."

"I'm larking through the Baby Gap... And I get totally sucked in by this ridiculous, tiny fur coat. The kind of coat a baby might need to go to the ballet. In Moscow. In 1918. To match her tiny pearls."

"Everything has been a disaster since I decided my life as it was wasn't good enough."

My Rating: 4.8

To begin, let me clarify the incessant number of quotes listed above. That's the edited version. I had to cut like half of the ones I had originally. There are so many quotes from this novel that I just really connected with. Which brings me to my next point, I just really connected with this novel and it's protagonist. The only other character that 'got me' in a way that made me wanna scream it from the rooftops was another one of Rainbow Rowell's characters, Cath from Fangirl. (You don't want to get me started on that book! OMG. A review is coming for that one, believe me! Just know one thing, Fangirl is the reason I can't give Attachments 5 full stars.) I'm convinced that Rainbow and I are just on the same wavelength. Yes. We are on a first name basis. No. She doesn't know it. But she favorited 2 (TWO) of my tweets, so that's basically best friend status, know what I'm sayin'?

Back to Attachments. Lincoln, our protagonist, is 28 years old and feels like he has no real direction. I can relate to that. Not only is he struggling to figure out what he wants to do, he feels so trapped by his age and what he's currently doing, that he has trouble figuring out what he really wants to be doing. (Hello? Is Rainbow trying to tell me something?!) On top of that, Lincoln is dealing with his family members' expectations, unsure as to whether they match his own. The only part of Lincoln that I couldn't grasp at first was how he derived happiness from reading the emails of two women he'd never met or even seen before. After thinking about it, I realized - isn't that what we're doing right now? If you're reading this right now and are one of my readers (and I hope you are!), aren't you doing so because reading about my life intrigues you and brings you a bit of happiness, although you've never met me? It's an interesting thought, and when put in that way, the whole internet creeping doesn't seem so bad.

The novel was hilarious in such a real life way. I laughed my way through at least a dozen Beth-Jennifer emails. (Small spoiler: 4th quote is from an email and said by a very not-pregnant woman.) The snark was off the charts and their friendship played out in such a real way. I connected with so many of the characters and they carried the story straight through to the end. I felt for each of them when they went through difficult situations and I found myself rooting for them. Rainbow created characters that I wanted to see happy regardless of what I personally felt or how toxic I thought a situation was, which is not something that normally happens for me. I found myself saying "well, so long as she/he's happy" frequently. Even the characters, who I clearly wasn't suppose to like, were portrayed in a way that made me understand them. When I didn't agree with their decisions, I still understood how they could feel a particular way.

Without question, I recommend this book. Rainbow combines humor with reality in a way that makes you feel like you are part of her world, cheering the characters on as they deal with many of the same dilemmas you encounter everyday.

Have you read Attachments? What did you think? We didn't promote it much (we will next month), but if you wrote a review, link to it below!

An InLinkz Link-up

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After much deliberation (Kay & I are quite indecisive!), the August book of the month is a new release, Big Little Lies by Liane Moriarty - an adult book about lies, kindergarten, murder and parenthood. How do those things go together? Join us in reading the novel to find out! Click the book to find out more!

This cover!

To Fill Up & Live BookClub | The Fault In Our Stars

I've mentioned it a bagillion times, but it's finally here. The last Thursday of the month, a.k.a. the day I (and Kay!) review the book of the month. If you haven't seen my 76 plugs over the last month, click here for all the info (there will also be a page on my blog shortly). Also if you've reviewed this book, link your post in the comments below. And so, as I ramble a bit in this review, we're cutting this introduction short: Join the bookclub, please :)

Title: The Fault In Our Stars

Author: John Green

Publication: 2012

Main Plot:
For Hazel, her cancer diagnosis might as well have been her death sentence, but after a miracle treatment, she has much more time on her hands than she'd expected. Little did she know, that time would be filled with people and adventures she'd never forget. Little did she know it'd be infinite.

Favorite Quote(s):
"You're so busy being you that you have no idea how utterly unprecedented you are."

"Come quickly, I am tasting the stars." (what Dom Pérignon said after inventing champagne)

"What am I at war with? ... My cancer is me. The tumors are made of me. They're made of me as surely as my brain and my heart are made of me. It's a civil war [...], with a predetermined winner."

"So dawn goes down to day. Nothing gold can stay."

"Hazel is different. She walks lightly, old man. She walks lightly upon the earth."

Basically, the last 4 pages of the damn novel!

My Rating: 5 or infinity.

How do I even write a review of this book? I'm searching for the words to describe what I'm feeling but nothing feels right beneath my fingertips. Instead, my hands have been hanging over the keyboard, not unlike Tyrannosaurus Rex hands, as I search for something to say. So instead of trying to write a review worthy of this novel, I'm just going to write, and hope like hell it's not a total fail and that most of you don't quit reading 1/4 of the way in.

It's been a little over 3 weeks since I finished this book, 2 weeks since I saw the movie, which gave me plenty of time to think about what I feel and plenty of time to forget the story in a way. Yet, still, after plowing through five Mortal Instruments books, I haven't forgotten it at all. Everything is still vivid in my mind, including the fact that the day after seeing the movie, I figured out how I feel about this novel. I hate it. I hate it because it was beautiful and it ended.

The novel opens perfectly. "Late in the winter of my seventeen year, my mother decided I was depressed, presumably because I rarely left the house, spent quite a lot of time in bed, read the same book over and over, ate infrequently, and devoted quite a bit of my abundant free time to thinking about death. Whenever you read a cancer booklet or website or whatever, they always list depression among the side effects of cancer. But, in fact, depression is not a side effect of cancer. Depression is a side effect of dying." From the first three sentences, I knew everything I needed to know about our narrator, Hazel Grace Lancaster, and I absolutely loved her. It was clear that despite the fact that having cancer sucked, she was going to narrate this story how she saw it: a inevitable, unchangeable state of being that she had accepted and was going to live with for as long as her lungs decided to carry her.

In the past, I commented that I was jealous of the writing of a few authors. But, holy shit, I wish I wrote like John Green. There is just something about the way his sentences are crafted; they aren't overwrought or over-thought or over- anything. They aren't under- anything, either. It's fluid, but simple and complex at the same time. Conversational yet descriptive and poetic all at once. I never had to reread a sentence or paragraph to understand it, unless of course I wanted to, which I frequently did. There is an ease to his writing that I cannot explain. I adore it the way that I adore Jane Austen's prose. I sound like the biggest Nerdfighter right now, and there are probably some people out there groaning over my John Green praise, but I can't help it. He's become an auto-buy author for me. In the words of Hazel Grace, I'd read his grocery list.

It has been criticized that Hazel and Augustus are "too mature for their age" based on the way they speak throughout the novel. I reread a few passages to see why I didn't sense this "too mature" thing while I was reading. I think it's because Hazel's narrating voice, the one in her head, isn't like that. She describes her lungs as "suck[ing] at being lungs" and tells them to "keep [their] shit together". Her support group blows and is "depressing as hell". And in the first chapter, she thinks Augustus is "dead sexy" (I'm inclined to agree). It was only in the dialogue that I noticed a maturity in their voices that seemed beyond their years, which didn't strike me as an error in character development as much as a smart teenager trying to sound even smarter. I'm not so far removed from high school that I don't remember using big words and trying to sound sophisticated. So for me, this adds to the "normalcy" of these characters.  

I didn't relate directly to this book. I'm cancer-free, which I now realize is something worth thinking about and thanking my stars for everyday instead of complaining about my everyday life. (Not that I wasn't thankful for everything in my life before but still...) Yet in some ways, I envy the characters in this book. Many reviewers consider this novel to be a sad one, and while, they're not wrong I can't label it that. Sure, there were sad moments. Admittedly, I cried for 1/3 of both the book and the movie, and when I say cry, I mean uncontrollable-tears-I-forgot-tissues-thank-goodness-I-wasn't-wearing-makeup sobbing. In fact, this novel broke my heart. But it also made me feel good. I laughed until my stomach muscles spazzed, until I cried from the laughter; I smiled so hard my cheeks hurt; and I longed for the relationships the characters had with each other - well, all but one (I'm looking at you, Van Houten!).

Overall, for me, the message of The Fault In Our Stars was this: It could be so much worse, and even so, it's not actually that bad at all; it's actually kind of beautiful.

Have you read the book? If so, talk to me in the comments below.

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Oh & the book for July is: Attachments by Rainbow Rowell. There will be an update on the Goodreads page and I'll probably mention it again at the beginning of the month, but there you have it! 

Faulty Stars & Cheek Prosthetics?

If you've noticed, there have been quite a few book-related posts on this little blog of mine lately. For one, I'm a big reader, and secondly, I've read so many great novels that I've wanted to review and recommend them. (In fact, there should be another review coming next week. #bookworm) And even though I love posting *spoiler-free* book reviews (I seriously hate being accidentally spoiled, booo!), I also kind of wanna gush over them sometimes too. 

I mentioned on twitter a few weeks ago that I wanted to start a book club, and when my girl Kay responded, an unofficial book club was born. I don't know the details or how it will work just yet, and I'm not even sure if it will be some legit book club with a Goodreads page and link up and all that. But if anyone is interested, we've decided to read The Fault In Our Stars by John Green for the month of June. More to come about this impromptu book club in the future! (Of course, comment below if you are interested. Mae, I'm glaring at you!)  

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Now, onto the weekend links!

I died laughing through most of this segment because Jennifer Lawrence + Jimmy Fallon = hilarious. How is she so attractive and so funny at the same damn time? Life is not fair!!

Another video of J Law because, for real, why not? She could seriously relay the experience of a root canal and I would be entertained. Oh & the myspace post her best friend wrote about going to the Oscars with her.

Mean Tweets are back and Sofia Vergara totally takes the cake for best reaction.

Creating the perfection that is the evil beauty of Maleficent. Holy, cheek prosthetics.

Childhood fairytales ruined. The Little Mermaid... Really? There's gotta be more to life.

Big 10 as Game of Thrones characters. Ohio State? Accurate. And for once in my life, I'm jealous of Indie, but still... "WE ARE!" I mean, Brienne of Tarth is pretty badass.

Cuando Cuando Es by J-King & Maximan. It's a few years old, but popped up on Pandora during a workout last week and had me elliptical-ing faster. The video's really corny (seriously, don't look it up), but you can still back that azz up.

1-mine;2; 3&4.