Books [Read] By Les

4/24/2016

finding audrey // sophie kinsella

published: 2015 // pages: 286

isbn: 978-1-101-93125-7

read from: 4/17-23/2016

stars: 2

BE WARNED.
THIS WHOLE ENTIRE POST IS BASICALLY A GIGANTIC SPOILER!!!

i HATE rating systems.

mostly because i cant pick a number to save my life. obviously 1-10 means 1: you hated it 5: meh 10: i loved it. and it sounds SO EASY to pick a number but i cant. it gets me antsy.

but then i read this book and well, hence my own version of a rating system was born so i guess ill do that from now on. (i guess its just easier for you to see if i love or hate it quicker.)

so let me break it to you.

1 star: HATED IT. WTF. NO

2 stars: meh. it was okay. i could have lived without it. and

3 stars: LOVED IT!!!!!

this book is a solid 1.9 (but les! you just said you couldnt!...and you're right.)

let me tell you why...

the ONLY reason its a 3 for me: it was super funny in a lot of places. Aud's brother Frank was HIGHLARIOUS (Simpsons anyone?) if he had a book on his own, id DEFINITELY read the hell out of it.

the reason its a 2: uhm. keep reading.

the reason its a 1: so...lets jump in yea?

Audrey has this idk, depression disorder and basically it renders her unable to leave her house or see anyone eye to eye so she's always wearing these sunglasses. ALWAYS. only makes eye contact with her little brother.

basically what happened is, a bunch of little turd heads bullied her and they fucked her up real bad.

now, you all KNOW i love to give you spoilers and i will BUT not what you're used too.

ready?

i cannot tell you what the ef they did to her because, ready?
THEY NEVER FUCKEN SAY IT!!!!!!!!

she went through this traumatic experience and we never know wtf it was (i bet you're catching on to how much that ish bugged me.)

so basically this whole effin book is 3 about things.

audrey seeing her therapist and building the courage to go out again. and just her therapist in general.
frank being super into LOC (online game) and his mom being an overly gullible woman who believes EVERYTHING she reads in the daily mail so she thinks that frank is basically failing at life and let me tell you this, this woman does not know her son at all.
frank bringing his friend linus over and of course he happens to be a part of getting aud out into the world. so yes, they end up together.

and yes there is more in between but like, that's the gist of it.

want a little more detailed run down?

...some shit happens, she goes to therapy, mom freaks out over everything, dad doesn't man up, she decides to man up and meet up with the girl who fucked her up and it turns out that shes sorta cured, she goes off her meds, finally takes them again, she goes missing and shes basically gotta start over but with more self control.

yep that's it.

that's the shortest I've ever written a blog post description of a book.

look, i don't hate the book.
but if I'm being honest, the reason this book was good for me, it was because of frank.
he was super funny and as much as i hated how much of a nag the mom was, their bits were funny. (the whole computer stuff reminded me of how i want to kick my brothers ass for always being on his.)

and because i wanted to know wtf happened to aud that fucked her up so bad, i kept reading.
BUT we never find out. and that really bugged me.

in all honesty, i picked this book up because I'd seen everyone and their mom read it.
and because the cover reminded me of Where'd You Go Bernadette (that's 3 stars for SURE!)

I AM OKAY WITH HAVING READ THE BOOK BUT IF I WOULD HAVE KNOWN:
L I B R A R Y ! ! !

so yea.
have you read it? whatcha think???

thanks for reading!
#lesreads on ig
ps: sorry for all the cussin. but i should let you know thats nothing. i can probably out curse a sailor but i try to keep it pg for you guys. why? i honestly do not know but well, yea. eep!

chasing spring // r.s. grey

published: 2016 // pages: 301 (ebook)

isbn: 978-1519536617

read: 4/19/2016

I love secrets and I'm good at finding them. For the last two years, I've sat and waited and watched, I've learned to collect secrets, one by one, because secrets are flames and no place deserves to burn more than my small town.

Prologue

what a freaking prologue.

that alone got me hooked.

id seen this book all over instagram and I took a screenshot (like I do with all of the books I want to read) and I thought to myself that I'd eventually get to it.

well, as luck would have it, on the second to last day of my free kindle thingamamober thing, I saw that this book was one of the "free" options. lucky me, it's free when I don't have time to read it. I was getting ready to head to Barnes and Noble to buy it after work if I somehow didn't get to finish it on time before my trial expired....luckily....

love love love LOVE LOOOOVED it!

I must have if I managed to finish it in 6.5 hrs!

typical YA love story kind of book but I loved it!

you don't know from the get go what the premise is about and when you sorta think you have it figured out, it twists another way.

and just then when you do think you have it figured out (once again), BAM! switches again!

(at least it did for me.)

----------------------

so, here's Amazon for you and then ill spill the beans!

I thought I'd left Blackwater, Texas behind for good. I didn't belong in the small town, but my dad wouldn't listen. He dragged me back home in his beat-up truck and dropped a bomb along the way: Chase Matthews was moving in with us. He was the golden boy of my high school, my former best friend, and the last person I wanted sleeping across the hall. His presence was too great a reminder of the ghosts I was trying to forget.

I didn't ask for a hero. I don't want to be saved.

To me, Lilah Calloway meant late nights sneakin' out, moonlit hair, and sparklers in July. She was my best friend until the day she left and I'd assumed Blackwater had seen the last of her. Then, like a tempest, she rolled back into town for the final half of senior year. The chopped hair and dark devil-may-care attitude warned most people away, but I knew if I fought hard enough, I could find the lost girl.

I didn't want to be her hero. Some girls don't need to be saved.

----------------------

****SPOILERS****

Lilah returns home after running away from her problems only to have Chase, who was a huge part of her past, living right across the hall from her.

They both know each other because their mothers were best of friends.

except that their friendship was a toxic one. (the mothers not the kids)

Growing up Lilah's mom, Elaine, was a witness to her own mother being abused by her father. so when any of that happened, her mother would send her over to Hannah's house to spare her. ever since they were kids, they've been attached to each other. from both being pregnant together to eventually "ending" each other.

Elaine grew up to have a drug and alcohol problem leading her to leave Lilah and her husband behind. (even though she did want to be a part of Lilah's life) and she only really had Hannah to always back her up.

to not make this long, lets me just spill it for you. so stop here for sure.

Elaine owes big time drug dealers money (I'm talking like 20k) and because she had no money, she stoops low enough to suggest that they rob Hannah's home. it won't complete it all but it's something better than nothing; giving her another day to live.

except that the night they went, Hannah was home (she was supposed to be at a fair) and ultimately, that ended up costing her her life. so Elaine, trying to save herself the night before ended up costing her her own "guardian angel" as she used to call Hannah.

that's basically the big secret.

her mother ended up costing them his mother's life.

Lilah ran away because even though her mother had abandoned her at a young age, she still felt that by "denying it all" she could hold on to her own version of her mother. and if no one was there to make her face it, then she'd be fine.

that why she stops talking to Chase. 1) because he can't make her see it if she avoids him and 2) because as much as she wants to be with him and love him, she's afraid to turn in to her mother and damage him as well.

throughout the whole book she wants to learn as many secrets as she can so that she can I guess burn everyone in her town for always giving her so much shit.

and if I'm being honest, that bugged the crap out of me but I mean, I guess I can understand.

eventually, yes. they do end up together but it's after trial and error and after he leaves her so she can learn that maybe she isn't like her mother and she can in fact end up being happy.

and in-between there's a bunch of other drama. Like Trent (!) and Kimberly and Chases' father and whatnot.

****SPOILERS OVER****

overall, I really did enjoy this book. I mean I must have if I read it in a few hours.

I read a couple of comments on goodreads saying that this was one of her least readable books but I loved it and if I loved this one, I can't wait to dive in to her other books.

as always (at this point I feel like I sound like a broken record x's 10) there is a bunch more stuff I left out.

if you can, pick up the book, and if you already have, let me know what you think.

and with that, I leave you with 2 of my favorite quotes in the book.

"think about it. Does the ending even matter? shouldn't the middle be the happy part? it's the biggest chunk of our life, and yet no one ever asks if two people had a happy middle. they care too much about the ending." -Chase.

we have grand visions of our lives because we assume we are the center of the universe while in reality, the universe doesn't even realize we're there. - Lilah

thanks for reading <3

Vegas!

just wanted to share some snaps from our weekend trip to Vegas last week.

this time last week, we were i think getting out of the pool (rain) and getting ready to conquer the strip. with eric on a motorized scooter. my fitbit had "died" and i was sooo sad. (first world problems for sure.)

we met up with our friends from AZ (thanks Alyssa for picking a date and making us stick to it!) and had a blast.

i had written a post but i decided to forgo it and just share some pictures.

im off work now and about to head home and do nothing.

i can not wait!

hope you have a good weekend.

you, me & other people // fionnuala kearney

published: 2/26/2015 // pages: 346 (e book)

isbn: 9780007593989
read from: 3/18 to 4/8 2016

march was a slow month for me reading wise

i think i burned myself out and i just needed a break. hence this book taking me this long to read, which it shouldn't have.

i heard about this book while on goodreads trying to log another book.

i bought it on my nook since it was only $2. and i can honestly say it was worth the two bucks.

from amazon:

THEY SAY EVERY FAMILY HAS SKELETONS IN THEIR CLOSET . . .

But what happens when you open the door and they won’t stop tumbling out?

For Adam and Beth the first secret wasn’t the last, it was just the beginning.

You think you can imagine the worst thing that could happen to your family, but there are some secrets that change everything.

And then the question is, how can you piece together a future when your past is being rewritten?

--------------------

I'm not exactly sure what i was expecting the secret to be.

and then you find out. and its pretty simple.

and then you get slapped with 4 more and you're like whaaaat the ef.

basic run down:

Adam cheats. Beth finds out. their family is torn apart.

want the details?

****SPOILERS****

lets make this as short as possible. (ha!)

Adam and Beth have been married for about 20 something years.

he has an affair that she finds out about. they manage to make it work if that's what you want to call it but you know its never the same.

10 years later he cheats again.

except this time she leaves.

so that's the secret. he's cheated. T W I C E ! ! !

okay that's not thaaat bad (im talking about the secret not the act.)

the book starts with the second cheating story so i had no idea that was the second cheat....until there is mention of Kiera.

in the beginning of the book there's talks about driving by with a gift and wanting to get off but never doing it. honestly, it JUST hit me right now why he was driving by. (hey! i started it a while ago and left it alone for a good period of time! don't judge!)

anyways, the 2nd woman Adam's cheated with is Emma so when Kiera comes along, specially after seeing how broken Beth is, you're thinking holy shiz! (even though Beth knew about Kiera) but its when you find out that Adam has a child with Kiera that you're like holy crap! (the kid Noah, is the second secret.)

he has an almost 10/11 year old kid with the first woman he cheated on his wife with and hes never told her a thing until he absolutely needed too.

if Beth thought they were broken before, they're beyond repair now. how do you even think of cheating on your wife,then actually do it and THEN have a freaking kid with another woman while you're married in the first place and then hide said child for years from the woman you are married to while you're supposedly trying to "work it out"?!!?!?!?!

jesus! (did that make sense?)

its a hot mess.

eventually Adam realizes that he majorly effed up but by then Beth is miss independent and isn't taking any of his crap.

Noah, Adam & Kiera's kid, has leukemia and a turn for the worse leaves him needing a transplant. so of course they both don't match and their best bet is a sibling. enter Adam & Beth's daughter Meg. so he has to tell her and while she does do what she needs to do, it comes at a price. he eventually tells Beth before Meg does and that's when it seals the deal for her.

it is over and done.

from there on, Adam loses his shit, goes crazy (figuratively speaking) checks in to a rehab....checks out, decides that he does indeed love his wife but that means letting go and he ends up moving to NYC (and boy did Beth call that one!)

Beth finds success in her music writing career, has her own home now and ends up finding someone.

secrets 3 & 4 are 3: his parents death and 4: his brothers truth (i wont give it all away)

****SPOILERS OVER****

as always, there is A LOT i left out.

I'm on a slump right now and it sucks cause i have a lot of books to read.

but anyways, this book was a quick read. several reviews on amazon are kinda over it but i wasn't expecting the world so it was good for me.

and i wont lie, the secrets kinda got me. i wasn't expecting them. maaaaaybe the parents one but i kiiinda figured that's what was going to happen.

anyhow, sorry for the meh report.

ill kick ass in the next one.

promise!!!