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"I know now that what is tragic isn't the moment. it's the memory."
published: 2016
pages: 192read: 6/25/2020
book: 50 in 2020
book: 50 in 2020
Running into a long-ago friend sets memories from the 1970s in motion for August, transporting her to a time and a place where friendship was everything—until it wasn’t. For August and her girls, sharing confidences as they ambled through neighborhood streets, Brooklyn was a place where they believed that they were beautiful, talented, brilliant—a part of a future that belonged to them.
But beneath the hopeful veneer, there was another Brooklyn, a dangerous place where grown men reached for innocent girls in dark hallways, where ghosts haunted the night, where mothers disappeared. A world where madness was just a sunset away and fathers found hope in religion
But beneath the hopeful veneer, there was another Brooklyn, a dangerous place where grown men reached for innocent girls in dark hallways, where ghosts haunted the night, where mothers disappeared. A world where madness was just a sunset away and fathers found hope in religion
I knew I was lost to inside the world, watching it and trying to understand why too often I felt like I was standing just beside the frame - of everything.
THOUGHTS
oooooooh this book.
oooooooh this book.
this book fucked me up.
thb, i might, no i will be rereading this one. simply for the fact that while one story is being told, there are several other stories going on in this one and I wanna get a better grasp of all of that.
August comes back home to bury her father when she runs into Sylvia (woah, what a choice!) and then it kicks back to several memories of her growing up.
just like her last book that i read, this one has more going on than what you're reading on the surface.
i dont really want to talk about it here because its so short that anything i say might be a spoiler but I will say that I loved what was done with this story.
Its about Agust dealing (or lack thereof) with her mothers death but it's also about her group of friends and how life happens.
It's a rather short story and I was so into it that once it ended I was completely blindsided because it ended out of nowhere. Though after rereading the last paragraph, I could see how it ends the way it does. I didnt really read the synopsis and I didnt read reviews so I honestly had no idea what to expect but i loved everything i got. The way Woodson weaves all of the itty bitty stories into the main one is amazing. Actually, that's unfair, they're all the main story!
Ahhh! I loved this one.
I'll leave it at that and leave cus I'm making no sense.
I wont do spoilers for this one because I'm a bit backwards on it. I wanna re-read it and I'll do em then.
“Being brave isn’t the same as being okay.”
pages: 328
read: 6/20-22/2020
book: 49 in 2020
"We all know heartbreak. We just have to learn to live with it.”
Queenie Jenkins is a 25-year-old Jamaican British woman living in London, straddling two cultures and slotting neatly into neither. She works at a national newspaper, where she’s constantly forced to compare herself to her white middle class peers. After a messy break up from her long-term white boyfriend, Queenie seeks comfort in all the wrong places…including several hazardous men who do a good job of occupying brain space and a bad job of affirming self-worth.
As Queenie careens from one questionable decision to another, she finds herself wondering, “What are you doing? Why are you doing it? Who do you want to be?”—all of the questions today’s woman must face in a world trying to answer them for her.
With “fresh and honest” (Jojo Moyes) prose, Queenie is a remarkably relatable exploration of what it means to be a modern woman searching for meaning in today’s world.
THOUGHTS
"I guess karma was here for me; I could hardly fight back."
what an honor it was to go on that ride that you call life with you.
I wouldn't say this was another "Instagram made me do it" read but I have seen it there and I ran across it at target and just as I was getting ready to take it home, I saw Scribd had it so I read it there instead. (I should note I had no idea what this was about & I just read the synopsis as I was linking it. and i will be buying a copy for myself eventually.)
tbh, i read the first 10 pages in target and i decided to continue reading it cause i got a bit invested in her story and I'm so glad i kept going. The first half was kinda hard to, not get into but maybe read through. After her break up with Tom she goes through this sexual phase with several men that just werent good to her or for her and all of me wanted to shake her and tell her to leave and run away from them.
of course it's never that easy.
It's just one bad decision after another. Bad decisions and bad men.
....and then she's left without her job....
It's kinda like a catch 22.
If it weren't for all those men, she wouldnt have gone to the clinic where she wouldnt have met Elspeth who then led her to Janet.
Its honestly a rollercoaster of human emotions watching Queenie break apart just to see exactly what broke her in the first place so that we then get to see her build herself back up to the Queen that she is meant to be.
Emotionally I was there with her and I felt her hurt and all of me wished to lift that from her.
....and that ending! just perfect. Not too neat but not at all sloppy; just enough to leave you knowing that she will rise to her name.
everything about Queenie's journey albeit hard at times was just as it was meant to be; it was perfect.
As for the rest of the cast!: LOVED IT!
Cassandra can suck a D....but I guess she redeems herself even if she is still a bitch.
Darcy was the best.
Queenie's grandparents were something else and I loved em. Especially grandpa. I was so happy she he stood up for Queenie.
Aunt Maggie and Diana: LOL! ♡ loved them.
Q's mom. Ya dont get a lot of her but when she's there, shes there.
The horrible cast of guys: UGH!
But my personal favorite: *drum roll please!*, Kyazike. I fucking L O V E D her and I would do anything to be her friend / keep her safe.
She was so fucking funny. But she was also brutally honest and she always had Queenie's back. I'd read a book on her alone!
This book tackles mental health, getting therapy, the importance of Black lives matter, the importance of friendship and self discovery/worth.
This book was worth the read.
jump over for spoilers
Guess that’s where the tears came from, knowing that there’s so much in this great big world that you don’t have a single ounce of control over. Guess the sooner you learn that, the sooner you’ll have one less heartbreak in your life. Oh Lord. Some evenings I don’t know where the old pains end and the new ones begin. Feels like the older you get the more they run into one long, deep aching.
pages: 196
read: 6/17-18/2020
book: 48 in 2020
As the book opens in 2001, it is the evening of sixteen-year-old Melody's coming of age ceremony in her grandparents' Brooklyn brownstone. Watched lovingly by her relatives and friends, making her entrance to the music of Prince, she wears a special custom-made dress. But the event is not without poignancy. Sixteen years earlier, that very dress was measured and sewn for a different wearer: Melody's mother, for her own ceremony-- a celebration that ultimately never took place.
Unfurling the history of Melody's parents and grandparents to show how they all arrived at this moment, Woodson considers not just their ambitions and successes but also the costs, the tolls they've paid for striving to overcome expectations and escape the pull of history. As it explores sexual desire and identity, ambition, gentrification, education, class and status, and the life-altering facts of parenthood, Red at the Bone most strikingly looks at the ways in which young people must so often make long-lasting decisions about their lives--even before they have begun to figure out who they are and what they want to be.
Unfurling the history of Melody's parents and grandparents to show how they all arrived at this moment, Woodson considers not just their ambitions and successes but also the costs, the tolls they've paid for striving to overcome expectations and escape the pull of history. As it explores sexual desire and identity, ambition, gentrification, education, class and status, and the life-altering facts of parenthood, Red at the Bone most strikingly looks at the ways in which young people must so often make long-lasting decisions about their lives--even before they have begun to figure out who they are and what they want to be.
THOUGHTS
wow wow wooooowowowowowoow.
oof.
i had wanted to read this one since maybe last year...not sure why i put it off but i requested it at my library and dove in once it got approved.
i didn't read the synopsis (other than the first time last year...and i'd already forgotten), i didn't read any reviews on this (a lot are good but i didn't even delve into those because i wanted to have a clear mind going into this one) and most importantly! i did not look for spoilers (ya know that's major on my end!) so i wasnt really sure what to expect.
i really truly liked this read.
i feel like no matter what i say, i will not do it the justice it deserves.
i will say this: while i did not see any of it coming, i did see that ONE thing though...the thing that happens on page 181 (i think that's the page on the kindle app anyway) i don't know how, i just did. i was surprised to be right.
but anyway, what i love about this book: for lack of better phrasing, this book is one big juxtaposition.
there are issues that happen to one person that the other doesn't care about that later on comes back to face the person who did not care in the first round.
idk, idk how to describe it and i dont want to say much because i dont want to spoil it here. i truly believe this is a book everyone should read.
the story goes back and forth between Aubrey & Iris and her parents. there are chapters in there that include Melody as well as Aubrey's mom.
the contrast between Iris and Aubrey was so well done.
the things that they went through, the things that deep down inside he knew but knew better not to ask....the things that Iris learned later on....ahh!!! its so freaking much!
and that ending! that's some full circle shit. (again, i dont want to say because i dont want to spoil it!) SO GOOD!
there was so much that i highlighted, so many things and passages and quotes that i loved that i want to own a copy of this and re-read it soon. loved this read.
i know i wont be able to properly give this book the justice it deserves so ill end it here but i will say Jacqueline has this way with words and her story that you get sucked in. i cannot wait to read more of her stuff.
ill do quick spoilers so jump on over if ya wanna know.
thanks for reading!
#bookslesreads on IG
nothing worth doing or having is ever easy.
pages: 192
read: 6/15-16/2020
book: 47 in 2020
SYNOPSIS
When I moved back to my hometown of Foxe Hill, I knew a few things for certain:
First, I needed to overcome the world’s worst case of writer’s block. My first documentary film might have won some big awards, but that doesn’t cement a career. Second, this move must remain temporary. After ten years away, I don’t plan on staying. Third, and most importantly, I cannot, under any circumstances, fall back in love with my brother’s best friend, Keaton Marks.
Easier said than done in Foxe Hill.
When I’m around Keaton, I feel less like an award-winning filmmaker and more like the teenager I was when I first fell for him. He’s still the gorgeous, quiet, and way out-of-my-league man, now complete with biceps and a beard—have mercy on my soul—and I’m still his best friend’s little sister.
Keaton wouldn’t notice me even if I wanted him to, so it’s just business as usual when I keep running into him—completely innocent up until the day he pulls me into the most earth-shattering, world-changing, is-this-really-happening kiss.
With my film career on the line, I can’t afford any distractions. But the way he’s looking at me now, with his eyes wandering as far as I’d always hoped they would? It’s the biggest distraction I can think of.
Welcome home, Violet.
THOUGHTS
short version
tbh, i was stoned as fuck when i wrote out my thoughts for the long version which is why now that i am sober, i am back to write the short version all just to tell you that i liked it and am excited that there are more JO book's to come!
LOL
my favorite part of this book is not even the love story itself but the supporting cast. i loved everyone else. Kayla especially. especially Kayla & Joey and whenever they were all over each other because honestly!, who doesn't want that kind of love!!!
long version
said it before, will say it again" surprise releases by Julie Olivia are the best ever!
.....and not only that B U T word is, one more release at the end of the year (the ending to the into you series bk 1 / bk 2 ) & one in February; book 2 in this series!
a release and 2 new book dates: sign me up!
this is JO doing what she does best; giving us a slow yet quick burn.
this one was rather short but it packed a little punch.
Vi comes home after years away and the attraction between her and Keaton is there, heating up. it takes a bit but they finally act on it.
Tbh, I wanted to shake both of them and yell at them that they're adults and they can do as they please and fuck whoever doesnt agree! But of course what kinda story would it be if it were that "easy"? it ends up being a bit easy but theres so much more to fall in love with than just the love story of these two.
their romance story was okay for me. I wasnt super crazy about it maybe because while there is a back story to them it wasnt so much a story on how much they wanted each other back then (which IS included) but more so how they just saw each other as....well, Asher's best friend / Asher's sister (obvs Asher is Violets brother & Keatons best friend).
...before I jump to my fave parts I do want to note something: I glanced at a review on goodreads real quick saying something about being over the whole "over protective brother/she's my sister I'll fucking kill you if you look at her because she is my property" type of deal which you do get in this book but I should note that this isnt even perpetuated by Asher himself but actually by both Vi & Keaton themselves. all because Ash beat Peter back when they were in high school. (There's a SUPER logical explanation which I won't spoil here.)
Usually I've seen alot of these type of tropes that are never explained as to why a male relative feels he has proprietary ownership over a female and we're just sposed to accept it but in this case, JO explained it pretty well (and so simple) in the story as to why Asher did what he did. As soon as I read his reasoning I was like "💡! Well why the fuck did I not think of that!?" (which led me to think "well what the fuck is wrong with me that I fucking didn't!?")
and so yea.....tbh, that might probably be my most fave part of the book. because it was so simple as to why he was such a "dick" in that moment.
Another fave part of mine has to be the friendship that Vi builds with Kayla and Lily. Shes back in town and invited to a friday night bonfire at Kay's. Violets first instinct is "why tf havent these people grown up? Why are you still partying so long after high scool like if we were still in high school." maybe I interpreted this incorrectly and Vi wasnt being stuck up about it likes shes better than everyone in Foxe Hill but I feel that she was and that's why I love their ending that much better.
Kayla ended up having more sustenance than Violet ever gave her credit for.
Kayla was probably my favorite character here.
I honestly thought that book 2 was going to be a bout Violet and her new movie but in the epilogue you learn that STOP HERE CUS SPOILER. A TINY ONE I THINK, BUT ITS STILL A SPOILER!: she shot it, produced it, released it, moved in with Keaton, .....and I forgot what else.)
(OKAY SPOILER OVER)
I mean, if you read the synopsis to book 2 you learn it's about Asher which is cool cus he deserves to have it all too! but I wish we'd've gotten more of a story between Violet and Keaton.
...maybe the point of this one is that we get to see how Violet grows.
either way, I cannot wait to read book 2!!!!
what even is the concept of time!? hurry up, February!!!!
Jump over for spoilers!
said it before, will say it again" surprise releases by Julie Olivia are the best ever!
.....and not only that B U T word is, one more release at the end of the year (the ending to the into you series bk 1 / bk 2 ) & one in February; book 2 in this series!
a release and 2 new book dates: sign me up!
this is JO doing what she does best; giving us a slow yet quick burn.
this one was rather short but it packed a little punch.
Vi comes home after years away and the attraction between her and Keaton is there, heating up. it takes a bit but they finally act on it.
Tbh, I wanted to shake both of them and yell at them that they're adults and they can do as they please and fuck whoever doesnt agree! But of course what kinda story would it be if it were that "easy"? it ends up being a bit easy but theres so much more to fall in love with than just the love story of these two.
their romance story was okay for me. I wasnt super crazy about it maybe because while there is a back story to them it wasnt so much a story on how much they wanted each other back then (which IS included) but more so how they just saw each other as....well, Asher's best friend / Asher's sister (obvs Asher is Violets brother & Keatons best friend).
...before I jump to my fave parts I do want to note something: I glanced at a review on goodreads real quick saying something about being over the whole "over protective brother/she's my sister I'll fucking kill you if you look at her because she is my property" type of deal which you do get in this book but I should note that this isnt even perpetuated by Asher himself but actually by both Vi & Keaton themselves. all because Ash beat Peter back when they were in high school. (There's a SUPER logical explanation which I won't spoil here.)
Usually I've seen alot of these type of tropes that are never explained as to why a male relative feels he has proprietary ownership over a female and we're just sposed to accept it but in this case, JO explained it pretty well (and so simple) in the story as to why Asher did what he did. As soon as I read his reasoning I was like "💡! Well why the fuck did I not think of that!?" (which led me to think "well what the fuck is wrong with me that I fucking didn't!?")
and so yea.....tbh, that might probably be my most fave part of the book. because it was so simple as to why he was such a "dick" in that moment.
Another fave part of mine has to be the friendship that Vi builds with Kayla and Lily. Shes back in town and invited to a friday night bonfire at Kay's. Violets first instinct is "why tf havent these people grown up? Why are you still partying so long after high scool like if we were still in high school." maybe I interpreted this incorrectly and Vi wasnt being stuck up about it likes shes better than everyone in Foxe Hill but I feel that she was and that's why I love their ending that much better.
Kayla ended up having more sustenance than Violet ever gave her credit for.
Kayla was probably my favorite character here.
I honestly thought that book 2 was going to be a bout Violet and her new movie but in the epilogue you learn that STOP HERE CUS SPOILER. A TINY ONE I THINK, BUT ITS STILL A SPOILER!: she shot it, produced it, released it, moved in with Keaton, .....and I forgot what else.)
(OKAY SPOILER OVER)
I mean, if you read the synopsis to book 2 you learn it's about Asher which is cool cus he deserves to have it all too! but I wish we'd've gotten more of a story between Violet and Keaton.
...maybe the point of this one is that we get to see how Violet grows.
either way, I cannot wait to read book 2!!!!
what even is the concept of time!? hurry up, February!!!!
Jump over for spoilers!
thanks for reading!
#bookslesreads on IG
"Why is it so easy to forgive the people we have feelings for?"
published: 2020
pages: 282read: 6/12-14/2020
book: 46 in 2020
SYNOPSIS
High school senior Keely Collins takes on firsts, lasts, and everything in between in this sweet, sex-positive rom-com for fans of Meg Cabot and Jenny Han.
It seemed like a good plan at first.
When the only other virgin in her group of friends loses it at Keely's own eighteenth birthday party, she's inspired to take things into her own hands. She wants to have that experience too (well, not exactly like that--but with someone she trusts and actually likes), so she's going to need to find the guy, and fast. Problem is, she's known all the boys in her small high school forever, and it's kinda hard to be into a guy when you watched him eat crayons in kindergarten.
So she can't believe her luck when she meets a ridiculously hot new guy named Dean. Not only does he look like he's fallen out of a classic movie poster, but he drives a motorcycle, flirts with ease, and might actually be into her.
But Dean's already in college, and Keely is convinced he'll drop her if he finds out how inexperienced she is. That's when she talks herself into a new plan: her lifelong best friend, Andrew, would never hurt or betray her, and he's clearly been with enough girls that he can show her the ropes before she goes all the way with Dean. Of course, the plan only works if Andrew and Keely stay friends--just friends--so things are about to get complicated.
THOUGHTS
another "IG made me do it" read. ...well I'd seen it all over ig and then I saw it was on sale as an ebook for $2.99 so i jumped on it.
I FINALLY GOT TO USE MY NOOK!!!!
(okay i have lots of books on there but you know what i mean!)
I think the most important thing I took away from this read is that: I'm so fucking thankful I am not in high school anymore, that my high school experience was nothing like this, that there were more than 6 students in my class (although I did do a year stint in private school where there were like 40 in total for all 4 years of high school!), and that sex and virginity wasnt such a big deal then like it is in this story. (I know how that sounds, that's not how I mean it.)
This was a funny, cute-ish read. In the end, I'm cool having read it and I did highlight a lot of stuff and these kids, some of these kids, mostly Hannah, kinda had their shit together, they weren't all that dumb.
I think the most important thing I took away from this read is that: I'm so fucking thankful I am not in high school anymore, that my high school experience was nothing like this, that there were more than 6 students in my class (although I did do a year stint in private school where there were like 40 in total for all 4 years of high school!), and that sex and virginity wasnt such a big deal then like it is in this story. (I know how that sounds, that's not how I mean it.)
This was a funny, cute-ish read. In the end, I'm cool having read it and I did highlight a lot of stuff and these kids, some of these kids, mostly Hannah, kinda had their shit together, they weren't all that dumb.
I agree with Andrew in the end what he says about Keely* and even though I wanted to strangle Danielle like 90% of the time, I liked her ending with Keely. Keeping it real, 100.
Also, the thing with the notes.....I was pretty surprised to see who it was. I thought it was D herself trying to idk, toughen her image up or some shit.
I'm glad it all worked out in the end the way it was sposed to and i'm hoping that there is no sequel or that it doesn't turn into a trilogy; they graduated, let them live their nonexistent afterlife life.
I think the only think that irked me a bit was James Dean and not so much him but the fact that he was 20 and going to (sorry - little spoiler) prom with Keely and her friends....It just seemed a bit weird to me. Yea K was 18 but idk....couldn't they just have made him a kid from some other school or a new kid? or idk anything but the college guy. if i sit and think about it even though Keely is of age its still a bit creepy for me.
Anyway, this was a quick read. definitely a one sitting read that I read in between driving all over the place and for $2.99 ya cant be mad at it.
Also, the thing with the notes.....I was pretty surprised to see who it was. I thought it was D herself trying to idk, toughen her image up or some shit.
I'm glad it all worked out in the end the way it was sposed to and i'm hoping that there is no sequel or that it doesn't turn into a trilogy; they graduated, let them live their nonexistent afterlife life.
I think the only think that irked me a bit was James Dean and not so much him but the fact that he was 20 and going to (sorry - little spoiler) prom with Keely and her friends....It just seemed a bit weird to me. Yea K was 18 but idk....couldn't they just have made him a kid from some other school or a new kid? or idk anything but the college guy. if i sit and think about it even though Keely is of age its still a bit creepy for me.
Anyway, this was a quick read. definitely a one sitting read that I read in between driving all over the place and for $2.99 ya cant be mad at it.
i'll leave you with this little passage that made me LOL out loud and is probably somehow my most favorite thing of this book: Keely is walking over to the movie store when she slips on ice and some douche is speed racing through the parking lot and he almost basically runs her over:
"this is a parking lot you dumb bitch! what are you doing? making snow angels?"
i fucking dieeeeeddd!!!!!!!
im not on the dude's side at all. its just that i love cussing and this reply is such a fucking joke that i can't help but love it.
thanks for reading!
#bookslesreads on IG
maybe we "experts" should be the last ones to judge.
pages: 288
read: 6/7-10/2020
book: 45 in 2020
SYNOPSIS
On June 3rd, 2017, Alex Honnold became the first person to free solo Yosemite's El Capitan—to scale the wall without rope, a partner, or any protective gear—completing what was described as "the greatest feat of pure rock climbing in the history of the sport" (National Geographic) and "one of the great athletic feats of any kind, ever" (New York Times). Already one of the most famous adventure athletes in the world, Honnold has now been hailed as "the greatest climber of all time" (Vertical magazine).
Alone on the Wall recounts the most astonishing achievements of Honnold’s extraordinary life and career, brimming with lessons on living fearlessly, taking risks, and maintaining focus even in the face of extreme danger. Now Honnold tells, for the first time and in his own words, the story of his 3 hours and 56 minutes on the sheer face of El Cap, which Outside called "the moon landing of free soloing…a generation-defining climb. Bad ass and beyond words…one of the pinnacle sporting moments of all time."
THOUGHTS
On June 3rd, 2017, Alex Honnold became the first person to free solo Yosemite's El Capitan—to scale the wall without rope, a partner, or any protective gear—completing what was described as "the greatest feat of pure rock climbing in the history of the sport" (National Geographic) and "one of the great athletic feats of any kind, ever" (New York Times). Already one of the most famous adventure athletes in the world, Honnold has now been hailed as "the greatest climber of all time" (Vertical magazine).
Alone on the Wall recounts the most astonishing achievements of Honnold’s extraordinary life and career, brimming with lessons on living fearlessly, taking risks, and maintaining focus even in the face of extreme danger. Now Honnold tells, for the first time and in his own words, the story of his 3 hours and 56 minutes on the sheer face of El Cap, which Outside called "the moon landing of free soloing…a generation-defining climb. Bad ass and beyond words…one of the pinnacle sporting moments of all time."
THOUGHTS
have you seen free solo?
no?
pfft. you should! that shit is nuts!
Alex is nuts! that man is insane and i mean that with the utmost respect because what he does not only takes guts but great determination. to condition not only yourself but your mind to do what he does....phew. i wish i had just an ounce.
one day for some reason my mom wanted to watch FS cause it popped up on Disney+ and i was like "YES! WATCH IT NOW!". that somehow led to me realizing there was a book out there by him so i went online and bought it right away (i should note that i was preeeettty buzzed when i made this purchase lol) and like always, i didn't read a blurb or anything so i thought i was buying a book that had to do with his free solo climb of El Cap in Yosemite....turns out this book is about prior climbs to that but this new version has 2 new chapters that have to do with his climb of El Capitan.
i did watch the documentary (i'm bummed i didn't catch it in theaters) but having those 2 extra chapters did help paint a broader picture because things in the movie were displayed one way, where as in the book he describes the back story to what was going on in the movie.
tbh, if there was a book on just this climb, i'd read it. (is there?)
aside from that, this book also talks about a lot of his other climbs.
there's also a lot of climbing talk, pitches and grades and all this other stuff that a lot of the time i was like WTF am i reading!? (only because i am not from the climbing world). i think if you have even a general idea of what climbing entails then this is a good book for you to read. and even if you don't, its still a good book, but you'll probably be a little bit lost just like me.
i learned about a lot of the places he's traveled to as well as other climbers and such that he's crossed paths with. there are a lot of mentions of other climbers so i was googling just as much as i was reading. even if i had no idea what i reading i was still learning a lot about this sport and its players. one thing that did shock me was the amount of climbers that have passed away due to climbing. if you look at my google history rn, you'd probably find lots of these climbers mentioned.
i have not been to Yosemite since a little bit before the blair witch project came out but man, from what i remember that place was beautiful. i'd really love to go back one day and stare at the beauty that El Cap is (plus lots of other places).
anyway, if you liked the documentary and want to read about his other climbs and the beginning of his foundation, i'd definitely recommend this book. just beware that if climbing is not your thing, you might be lost a little bit. but hey! you learn lots of new things.
no spoilers cause...what would i even spoil?
thanks for reading!
#bookslesreads on IG
“I know I’m gonna be the bad guy here. I’ve accepted that. It’s just the way it is, right?....But shit, man, since when is it a crime to want to be happy?”
pages: 270
read: 6/4/2020
book: 44 in 2020
SYNOPSIS
The Core Four have been friends since college: four men, four women, four couples. They got married around the same time, had kids around the same time, and now, fifteen years later, they’ve started getting divorced around the same time, too. With three of the Core Four unions crumbling to dust around them, Jessica and Mitch Butler take a long, hard look at their own marriage. Can it be saved? Or is divorce, like some fortysomething zombie virus, simply inescapable?
To maximize their chance at immunity, Jessica and Mitch try something radical. Their friends’ divorces mostly had to do with sex—having it, not having it, wanting to have it with other people—so they decide to relax a few things. Terms are discussed, conditions are made, and together the Butlers embark on the great experiment of taking their otherwise happy, functional marriage and breaking some very serious rules.
Jessica and Mitch are convinced they’ve hit upon the next evolution of marriage. But as lines are crossed and hot bartenders pursued, they each start to wonder if they’ve made a huge mistake. What follows is sexy, fun, painful, messy, and completely surprising to them both. Because sometimes doing something bad is the only way to get to the heart of what’s really good.
THOUGHTS
I saw this one on IG and I liked the cover. the premise seemed pretty good too.
I guess I ordered it as an ebook through my library (and forgot about it) because I woke up to an email that it was ready for me to read. so even though I was still asleep, I downloaded it and started reading it.
At first I though it was going to be about all 4 couples so I was rushing to take notes because that's a lot of people but in the end it's just a story about Mitch & Jessica and their fight to save their marriage. ....and the hiccups along the way.
At first this was just an okay read. Like I was into it but I wasn't nuts over it. I've never been married. I can't say that I know the work it takes to make it work so I was like....mmmkkkay...but then it picks up and man does it get good. (i mean, obvs i've been in long term relationships but i personally don't think they match up anywhere near the same...especially given that i am currently single. so, ya know!)
I once read an article and this person said something along the lines of "If a reader can guess what's going to happen next, that means it's good. It means your story is believable." I gotta say, I saw alot of the things that were going to happen before they happened. ....but I loved it because I just had a shit grin on face and I kept saying "no shiiiiit" every single time. 😂😂😂
to know me is to know that I NEVER see it. I saw at least 3 of them and it felt so good to see that i was right. I agree. It was a good story. Norman does a good job of making this a believable (to me. I'm not over thinking it), funny story.
The penultimate chapter fucking killed me. I could not stop laughing!!!! Suuuuure some of it was a little unbelievable but I loved the fuck out of it!!! The culmination of the entire story laid out like that for you to take in was just so fucking hilarious.
I LOVED IT!!!!!!
i should note though that given the story in its entirety, Jessica can suck it.
i didn't like the way she manipulated this to go her way but it made for a good story so hey.
Overall, it was a good read. A quick 1 sitting read.
I'm kinda bummed I don't a physical copy but now that just means i get to hunt one down.
I dont really care for oreos but now whenever I see them, the golden ones anyway, I'll always think of these two.
Overall, it was a good read. A quick 1 sitting read.
I'm kinda bummed I don't a physical copy but now that just means i get to hunt one down.
I dont really care for oreos but now whenever I see them, the golden ones anyway, I'll always think of these two.
thanks for reading!
#bookslesreads on IG
"You mistake love. You think it has to have a future in order to matter, but it doesn't. It's the only thing that does not need to become at all. It only matters insofar as it exists. Here. Now. Love doesn't require a future."
pages: 251
read: 6/2-3/2020
book: 43 in 2020
SYNOPSIS
When Type-A Manhattan lawyer Dannie Cohan is asked this question at the most important interview of her career, she has a meticulously crafted answer at the ready. Later, after nailing her interview and accepting her boyfriend's marriage proposal, Dannie goes to sleep knowing she is right on track to achieve her five-year plan.
But when she wakes up, she’s suddenly in a different apartment, with a different ring on her finger, and beside a very different man. The television news is on in the background, and she can just make out the scrolling date. It’s the same night—December 15—but 2025, five years in the future.
After a very intense, shocking hour, Dannie wakes again, at the brink of midnight, back in 2020. She can’t shake what has happened. It certainly felt much more than merely a dream, but she isn’t the kind of person who believes in visions. That nonsense is only charming coming from free-spirited types, like her lifelong best friend, Bella. Determined to ignore the odd experience, she files it away in the back of her mind.
That is, until four-and-a-half years later, when by chance Dannie meets the very same man from her long-ago vision.
THOUGHTS
I LOVED The Dinner List when i read it last year, easily my top fave so of course when this one came out I had to have it. in 1 book Rebecca Serle became an auto buy/read author.
the synopsis does a good job breaking down this book for you. the only thing I would disagree with a little bit would be the "she files it for 4.5 years." but other than that, pretty close.
for once, I kinda knew what i was getting myself into.
sorta.
and everyone on bookstagram either loves it or thinks it's okay so while I knew, I also didn't really know. and I avoided spoilers, er, well I didnt look for them so I knew a bit but I went in completely blind
and O M G !!!!
I truly, truly liked this story.
easily a one sitting read and I would've kept going had I not needed to go to bed cus work. I'm not sure why I waited so long to read it but I'm guessing maybe it's just down to me waiting for it to call me to it. I'm glad I waited.
I thought this was, I dont know actually. I didnt really see how this story was going to play out. I knew what it was about but i didn't see how it would evolve into an actual story.
I've got to say, the end result: ðŸ˜ðŸ˜ðŸ˜
"If there's a clock ticking towards anything, it should be your happiness."
yes it's her waking up in the future, 5 years from the day but it's also so much more. Its....ahh!!!....I don't even know how to word it.
It's that, it's the vision. But it's also the growth Dannie goes through. It's about the friendship between her and Bella. It's the way you can plan shit down to a T but life will happen. Its growth, its pain, its love, its realization, it's so, so much.
I loved this story and I'm so glad I read it.
It's short and quick but it packed a punch for me and I ended up crying towards the end because 💔
But augh!!!! I liked it so much!
"I love you, but I'm sick of being the person who fits in your life but not your...fuck it, your heart."
ahhhh!!!!!
honestly, i didn't do that great of a job on here explaining why i loved it so much but just know that i did.
RS has a way with her words....and i wouldn't even say that. its more like she knows how to take a story and make it so much more than you could ever expect.
i am forever reading whatever she puts out there in the universe.
love, love, LOVED this story!
jump over for spoilers
kthxbyyee!
pages: 354
read: 5/31 to 6/1/2020*
book: 42 in 2020
*really, a few hours
Everyone in Cedar Creek, Texas, knows Jack McNight is an arrogant devil. Physically, I get it: he’s tan and fit, with coal-black hair that’s clearly been scorched by hellfire. Oh, and his personality? It burns just as hot.
When I show up on the doorstep of Blue Stone Ranch, I’m run-down and rockin’ my last pair of underwear. I’m hoping for a savior, but instead, I find him.
My opinion of Jack is marred by a dismal first impression, but his opinion of me is tainted even before I arrive. He’s heard I’m a spoiled princess there to take advantage of his goodwill. To him, I’m more trouble than I’m worth.
Our button-pushing banter should get under my skin. His arrogance should be a major turn-off. Problem is, devils are known to offer their own form of temptation.
Every one of his steely glares sends a shiver down my spine.
Every steamy encounter leaves me reeling.
Sure, it could be the Texas heat messing with my head, but there’s no way I’ll survive the summer without silencing him with a kiss and wrestling him out of those Wranglers.
Who knows…going to bed with the devil might just be the salvation I’ve been looking for all along.
THOUGHTS
i thought i could squeeze one last one in for May and I would have been able to had i started Saturday night or even just a few hours early but alas....i read about 79% before it became June. (this is just me being annoying)
anyway!
I LOVED THIS STORY!!!!!!!!!
this is what i mean, her older stories have more umph in them.
this one had me crying and cheesing all in one. i absolutely loved this story.
tbh, its kinda similar to cold hearted boss. actually its the same story in the sense that its a woman working for a man, trying to get her shit together, living on the land they work on, surrounded by dudes that are all about her.
its the exact same thing basically. but i loved CHB so of course i was going to love this one.
the only difference with this one is that in CHB is that Taylor is just down on her luck cause life where in this one Meredith has left her husband to build a better life for her. he was such a POS and it was a bit rocky with Jack at first but it gets better (as it always does with these stories) and it made my heart just so happy to read this story.
i wont go into too much detail on this one but i will say that i loved it and that i am glad i randomly picked this one up.
jump over for spoilers
kthxbyyee!
#bookslesreads on IG
"I don't think you can pretend your way through anything. Closing your eyes wont stop the bad things from finding you."
pages: 387
read/heard: 5/29-30/2020
book: 41 in 2020
SYNOPSIS
Lizzie Kitsakis is working late when she gets the call. Grueling hours are standard at elite law firms like Young & Crane, but they’d be easier to swallow if Lizzie was there voluntarily. Until recently, she’d been a happily underpaid federal prosecutor. That job and her brilliant, devoted husband Sam—she had everything she’d ever wanted. And then, suddenly, it all fell apart.
No. That’s a lie. It wasn’t sudden, was it? Long ago the cracks in Lizzie’s marriage had started to show. She was just good at averting her eyes.
The last thing Lizzie needs right now is a call from an inmate at Rikers asking for help—even if Zach Grayson is an old friend. But Zach is desperate: his wife, Amanda, has been found dead at the bottom of the stairs in their Brooklyn brownstone. And Zach’s the primary suspect.
As Lizzie is drawn into the dark heart of idyllic Park Slope, she learns that Zach and Amanda weren’t what they seemed—and that their friends, a close-knit group of fellow parents at the exclusive Grace Hall private school, might be protecting troubling secrets of their own. In the end, she’s left wondering not only whether her own marriage can be saved, but what it means to have a good marriage in the first place.
THOUGHTS
if I'm being 100,000% honest with yall, I only picked this book because I didnt care for any other of BOTM's May picks. ...but I'm trying to score the free tote when you hit a year, and the free bday book thing so i was like "fuck it, I'll do a good marriage. it seems intriguing enough." (My year is in December and my bday is January. 😅)
So I opened it up and easily knocked out 160 pages before I started falling asleep. I was planning to read a few more pages on Saturday and finish it Sunday before June started. buuuut then I made the mistake of jumping to the penultimate chapter and well, I done learnt who done did it.
And while I looooove spoilers and they NEVER kill anything for me, I think in this case knowing who'd done it kinda took out the last little flame i had going for this book. I think because the end result just takes a lot of work. BUT i can definitely appreciate the way the author twists it in the end as far as who did it.
I know the point of stories told is to have them be woven intricately so that they work out and do their job but in this case I felt like the story contained TOO much. and that TOO much relied too much on the other half of the story to work.
If you pull one little thread out of this story, it would not have worked at all. ....and once again, I cant really jump into the why because it's a bit of a spoiler...gah!
It was just all too easy and connected and for fucks sake 400 pages too long! 😧
If this would have been at least 300 pages long then okay. But again, in order for that to happen, a lot of the connections that were made would have needed to be cut or removed.
I made it up to page 266 before I gave up and decide to go the audio route. I let someone else do the work; i went outside to water the plants and I'm not a plant person at all so I'll let you do the math on that one.
I ALSO knew somehow that that one piece of evidence WAS THEEEEE piece of evidence (won't spoil that here). I never fucking see it so maybe that's when I should just given up. I mean, i don't regret reading/hearing it but 100% tbh, I wouldve been okay never having read this.
If I ever do decide to get myself a little free library for my house, it looks like ima have lots o' books to add to it.
Anyway, jump over for spoilah's.
(but if you want a quick to the point, faster than i'll ever do it version of the spoilers!, see here. im surprised i didn't read them before hand.
thanks for reading! .
#bookslesreads on IG
SPOILERS
S P O I L E R
S P O I L E R
S P O I L E R
S P O I L E R
S P O I L E R
All in all it was Kerry who killed Amanda....even if it was "an accident."
Maude was hiding in the closet in Zach's office when she heard shit happen which is why her prints were on the golf club and on the wall with Amanda's blood. And how she saw that foos red basketball shoes.
Apparently Kerry was a creep.
He used to work for the same firm that lizzie now works for and he was fired for pornography and harassing other female coworkers. He went as far as miraculously appearing at their front steps offering help like he just happened to be there and as far as photographing colleagues naked.
Lizzie's current boss couldn't stand it and had him fired.
Maude was in Zach's office because she had figured out that it was Zach that was behind the current school hack which just so happens to be the same hackers who were harassing her underage, 15 year old daughter into performing sex acts/recording them and if she didn't comply, they'd release her images to the world. (it wasnt Zach himself but it was a dude he'd hire to help with this mess.) She was looking for the emails that Amanda told her she had found in his office. Maude knew this was evidence.
Lizzie's husband is an alcoholic.
He is in a basketball team that happens to also include Kerry (see how neat that is?) The night of the murder was also the night of Maude's & Sabe's sex party. Sarah (Kerry's wife) had asked him to go but he had a game. Except the game didnt go thru because there weren't enough players so he had the idea to go to the party but he was stuck with Sam (lizzie's husband) who was ridiculously drunk. He somehow finds out that Amanda went upstairs with Sabe (at this party, if you go upstairs it means your up there for sex. Partners know, everyone knows. It's all "discreet") and automatically thinks that they're hooking up when in reality, Sabe went after her because she was freaking out.
So Kerry texted her over and over telling her to leave Sabe alone....she panics and runs away. (she thinks its her father that has been harassing her)
In Kerry's mind he thought he would scare her a bit and then show up to save the day....except she fought him and ended up killing herself falling down the stairs.
The reason Zach hired Lizzie was because he was broke as fuck but also because he knew that she wouldnt stop until she proved he was innocent. The spyware he installed in the school parents computer, he also installed it in hers.
That's how he knew she was no longer at her dream job, how her husband was an alcoholic and how she lied on her application about the amount of debt they were in.
Lizzie starts piecing this all together as the story goes along but in the end ends up fucking him over because yes she cleared him out of jail for murder but she buries him with the whole scam thing he was doing.
Lizzie's "secret" is that her mother died and her father is in jail. Except everyone shes met, shes told them that both her parents are dead.
In reality her mother passed away but her dad was a piece of shit who cared about social status. They had a restaurant, he thought he was tough shit and he drilled it into lizzie that status was all that mattered. One day some dude tells the dad that he can idk invest money for him or some dumb shit but the guy ends up being a scammer.
The dad gets pissed and ends up breaking into the dudes home to "look for evidence", kills him and then goes back home to eat like he didnt just kill someone and ask lizzie to provide and alibi for him to which she says no to.
She never told anyone. Her own hudsband doesnt know. The only person who knows is Millie who used to be her mothers friend.
Who happens to be a private investigator who happens to help lizzie out with a lot of this shit (see how easy it is?) And who also happens to have breast cancer, which....why? That story goes nowhere....
And lastly, i wouldnt say Amanda was crazy but she wasn't all there.
Growing up, her mother dies and tells her to run.
Turns out her dad had been raping her. And junior prom night, she catches her dad raping her best friend, Carolyn who he also happened to have killed (I think I was over it by the time this was being revealed)...so Amanda kills him.
But of course, she had repressed this so she thought her dad was actually the one stalking her when it turns out that it had been Kerry all along. She'd repressed it so hard she forgot she'd already killed her own father until later on in the story.
"scare them enough so they can learn that they need you."
The earring. That was the one thing that had me like "this is it" and I was right. The night she dies, Kerry runs away and realizes he has her earring stuck in his sweater....he places it in Sam's shirt and smears some blood on his shoes. When Lizzie talks to Sarah she mentions her mans is in a basketball team and hes the idiot with the red shoes. That's how lizzie pieces it all together.
I'm sure theres some other stuff I left out but that's the gist of it.
Everything is neatly tied to something else in the story do yea.
I'm over it.
KTHXBYYEE
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