"He never discomforted himself to make her comfortable. how could he possible give up his life for hers? if you cant do the little things, how can you do something so big?"
pages: 350
heard: "october" - november 8, 2022
book: 25 in 2022
THOUGHTS
uh, hmm... i dont remember much. i know it was way more action packed than the last one i just read. my memory is mush and all i remember thinking is "damn. kids are wild. having kids is wild. choosing who to have kids with is even wilder! like how do you know!"
i loved that the dad was like the "good guy" tho. like if people would have just said something, anything! maybe things could have been different between them two?
idk.
reading wise. ive tapped out and im done with it for the year so ima just leave it at this.
this one was good!
(see below for notes i took as i was reading this.....this is all i got)
NOTES
holy shit. how the fuck do i still have 2 hours to go on this damn audio!!!!!
anyway, im here because i want to take notes. jump on down if you wanna skip all this.
...so romance books are still safe with me i guess because i am loving this one even though i still have 2 hours left! ah!
- i still love books where couples are meant to be together but they're both too dumb* to be together (*dumb is the wrong word but ya know.....)
80%: diiiiiis bitch just blew my mind backtracking the way she did!!!! here i was defending here and todavia la misma mierda!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
ahhhh!!!!!! (ha! as of now, i have no idea what this means anymore)
i love Emeka! *crying face emoji* its always the ones you least expect that surprise you! (i forgot what this was also about)
88% BITCH WTF!!!!!!!!!!!! (i accidentally read further ahead when looking for a page and saw ahead of time but still) ...how the fuck did you hold onto that information for so long!? 38 fucking chapters bro!!!!!! (
...pertaining to the last note above: okay. she's right. she's 100 right as to why she didn't but damnnnnn, Gina. GO JANE IGHARO!!!!!
SPOILERS
they meet when they are kids. they fall in love but her mom threatens him and she embarrasses him at Dunni's graduation. icing on the cake seeing as how she's leaving to princeton. or yale. i dont remember.
the plan was that she was going to go first, go to school, save her allowance and then bring him on over once his visa was approved. she goes, he disappears, she tries reaching him but he never comes around.
he decides he wont come around until he makes something of himself.
it turns out she's pregnant.
she returns to her home for Tiwa's wedding, runs into him. they go thru all this shit, he sees her tattoo which says austen or jane... or jane austen. idk...and apparently that was supposed to be their child's name should they ever have one. i thought she had misscarried. turns out she had the baby and even though she spent like 45 months with him in Nigeria, she never tells him until he shows up at her door in seattle.
anyway, blah, blah, blah,.....they end up together.
the reason that the mom hated homie was because she was part of a relationship where she uplifted the man and he did her dirty and she was seeing her past "replay" in her present.
the dad (Dunni's) never knew that his granddaughters father was homeboy. when he finds out he reprimands Dunni for not having said something earlier. he stated that he would have helped them be together. (he finds out at the hospital after Jane Austen or whatever her name is is in an accident."
the reason that grama kept seeing Dunni in an accident or someshit was because she was engaged to Christopher. once she calls it off, grama stops dreaming the dreams.
"You can't hate someone free of charge. You have to pay a price- give something of yourself."
pages: 293
heard: october 21-23, 2022
book: 24 in 2022
SYNOPSIS
THOUGHTS
this one was okay.
i wasnt crazy over it
BUT LOL THE UNIVEEEEEEEEEEEERSE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
han's dad rip's and now shes off to go meet her family. and of course they are evil and in the end it all works out and thats it.
and it wasnt bad but it was missing an umph. i think the part that lost me was when Tiwa goes all crazy at the reading....if thats not how she truly felt why the bust? it makes sense but meh.
idk.
though i will say that i liked the reasoning behind homegirl automatically thinking homie was a bad dude. when all you've known is to expect the worst..., well why would that suddenly change? i do believe that part was beautifully executed.
sometimes its so obvious. but reading this - er - having this read to me shed a different type of light on it for me.
anyway. hmm....i wish it could have been spicier in the sense that i wanted more drama (lol les! really!?) yes! remember the mom from her first book! lol
onto her 3rd book! (i have heard it since posting this and !!!)
SPOILERS
shit.
i did not do them right away so let me seeeeeeee......
the night before anything happens, hannah goes out with her friend to an event, ends up alone and meets LOHL (love of her life bc i 4got his name). they both get important calls and they do not exchange any information.
hannah's dad uh passes away and in his will its his wish that H travel to his home to meet the rest of his children. she goes and meets them. theyre against it. it turns out that the love of her life is homies with Tiwa and um...so the family gets along with Hannah and at first its fake but they all grow on each other and then the will is read and it turns out that Hannah gets to keep the home in Nigeria causing Tiwa to be all wtf and then H learns that they were all getting along with her because if they didn't they would not inherit anything in the will.
of course she thinks that lohl is in on it also! (because he is a huge part of the family) but in the end it all works out and everyone is happy.
also, tiwa is with her dad's homie. who is several years older than her. its on the DL, of course Hannah catches them and never says anything and then yeah, that's it.
"people dont label anything, it drives me crazy.do me a favor, both of you, think of the librarians, think of the historians & label your stuff."
pages: 304
read: Sept 29 - Oct 1, 2022
book: 23 in 2022
THOUGHTS
meh.
It started off good and then it got to that whole self discovery/I don't wanna get married/but I don't wanna lose you drama and I was over it. I liked it better when she was trying to con Matt. I liked it all before she started beating it into us that she wants to live solo. And there's nothing wrong with that because I also don't see myself wanting to have kids but 🙄
she's constantly having to mention that she doesn't want to share her space and it starts to sound repetitive after a while. even in the fucking epilogue.
I don't regret reading it but I could have done without this one I think. nothing about Laurie made me be like "iloveheriwishherthebest!".....which, I do (wish her the best but not necessarily love her) but I could go on forever not keeping up with her and whatever happens between her and nick.
Idk.
It's like a 2 part book.
The first half is tryina get the duck and the second half is "i know what I want but I'm not willing to change my views for what I want" and ugh.
It wasn't a bad read, it had several funny moments but I think overall this wasn't memorable for me.
ima be hella honest with y'all, im so over this book i dont even wanna re-read the spoilers to check for misspelled words, so please pardon. 😬
SPOILERS
Laurie's aunt Dot passes away so she goes to sort her things out. In the process she finds a wooden duck and Matt, the guy who was supposed to be helping her appraise things ends up stealing it under the pretense that it's a good fake original Carl someshit (already forgot the name). He gets a fake appraisal, buys it from under Laurie for $50 & then gives it to another crook to sell it thinking that its an og Carl someshit (when in fact it ends up NOT being an og Carl someshit in the first place! its a mess)
Anyway, Laurie sets up a scheme with her brother Ryan or someshit and they end up stealing back the duck under the pretense that a) It's fake and that b) Matt stole it from under John (the name that Ryan was going by since he was tryina steal it back). Supposedly John had a buyer who had to have it that very same hour and he was willing to split more $ with Rocky (the dude who Matt gave the duck to to sell) if he let him take it. Rocky did and they steal it back.
It turns out that Dot and Carl dated but he was married. Married to a woman who had a shit load of health problems (which leads me to wonder if Carl would have left his wife for Dot had she not been in need of so much care). They had a years long affair until they went their separate ways and in that time Carl taught Dot how to make the ducks. So the duck that Laurie found is indeed not a mothafuckin' Carl but a Dot original. She had carved that suck herself!
thats it. thats the story behind the duck.
-
Laurie dated nick when they were kids, they broke up bc of the distance when they were in college but now they're doing the damn thing again. She fights it but they end up together. Well, yes long distance but mostly cus Laarie knew she was never going to go back & that he'd never leave their hometown so hay is for horses.
And that's the basics of it.
"i believe in making your own opportunities. i believe in taking what you wanted from life, and if you had to hurt someone in the process, it had better be for a good reason because i also believed in karma."
pub:2022
pages:290
read: september 27-29, 2022
book: 22 in 2022 (oh shit! 22 in 22!😄)
THOUGHTS
I LOOOOOOOOOOOOVED THIS BOOK!!!!
Once I opened it up I could not get enough. I didn't know what to expect but it wasn't this. Ahhh!!!!
Do I believe that Kat will succeed like Meg? Part of me wants to believe that she will but I think she's starting off too big. Meg learned from Cory. Kats just guna ace it on the first try?
Idk but I looooooooved this story!
Everything that Meg does with what she achieves makes me giddy because all of me also sorta expected her to be kinda greedy about it. She just wanted to exact revenge.
I just loved this one so hard!!!!!!!
Julie Clark might just turn unto an auto buy for me!
i wish i had more to say but i think i looooved this book i want to own a copy now so that i can reread it right now speaks just about enough volumes.
"maybe you judge me for holding him close instead of casting him out. but if you take a look at where cory is now, i think its pretty obvious that holding your enemy close makes it much easier to slip the knife back into their back."
SPOILERS
but i will say that go MEG!
i thought she was being the bad guy to be the bad guy because she could but homegirl was taking names, kicking ass and giving back like she was oprah with dem cars!
ahh!!!!!
i fucking loved this book.
read the last few pages. maybe the last few chapters and itll walk ya thru it.
or ask!
ill try and remember!
ugh - okay.
meg lived in her home with her mother that was passed down to her by her parents (passed down to megs mom). mom dates Ron (the politician dude) and he manages to swipe the house out from underneath her and then proceeds to kick them out.
in school Kate, a popular girl, is the only one that ever defends Meg when others tease because girls gotta stick together.
later on it emerges that Kate had been sleeping with Cory. meg had seen Kate getting out of places after being with Cory but she never said anything. then Kate stops showing up and Cory is no longer a teacher.
now its been years and megs been doing the living in your car life when she acknowledges that she needs to start dating someone who can give her more so she changes the age settings in her dating profile (she'd use this to get free meals) to older so she can find a dude with a home.
BOOM!
Cory.
she creates a fake profile pretending to be this Amelia chick and feeds Cory everything he wants to hear to win him over, sets up a date to meet up and then stands him up. she shows up pretending to also have been stood up and then boom! she cons him into a relationship and much more; she ends up living with him.
anyway, one day, she's looking for a bulb when she finds pictures of Kate (her name is actually Kristen now that i think about it but were too far in) in sexual positions that Cory had saved from their time.
she is disgusted and wants to leave (she had no idea about any of this prior to this moment and what she had known before so when she roped him, she was just tryina survive for reals) but decides to stay and get revenge for homegirl because girls stick together.
yada, yada, yada, a lot happens, she ends up clearing Corys bank account, ruining his friendship with Nate (was that his name? idk but it is now) and releasing all the information about his relation with Kate.
this is where Kat comes in. she's in journalism and long story short, when Meg was conning Cory, Meg called idk where and said that if they wanted more insight into the cory/student story to go to this place and meet with Nate. after a few drinks, he'd be loose. so Kat goes, talks to homie, gets a call in the middle of the conversation and leaves her drink behind only to come back to Nates apartment the next day i wanna say?
he date raped her.
so now Kat is out to get Meg because she thinks that she intentionally sent her out to Nates KNOWING he would rape her because she (meg) had previously claimed attempted rape by nate (she did but he had not tried. he was just calling her out because he knew she was up to something in regards to Cory....which she completely was by the time he started accusing her. she needed to buy time....)
so kat becomes homies with meg under the impression that she was interested in buying a house but meg sees right thru her.
anyway, the entire time, Meg is focused on Ron, the dude who stole her house and screwing him over.
which she does.
she manages to sell him on the idea that because he is running for politics he needs to buy a bigger and better home and now with the elections, its the perfect time. she finally sells him on a house and theyre all set to go but in reality she showed him an empty home and stole all of his money.
she got him to sell his (her) home to a nice elderly couple. she didnt want it for herself, she wanted it out of his hands in the same manner that he took it.
as for the money for the mansion that he thought he bought, she kept a chunk and another portion was donated to a Homeless Organization which looked very bad on Ron because what rich people want to donate money to help the less fortunate?
in the end, she tells Kat to meet her at her house and when Kat shows up all she finds is a note and some notebooks that meg left for her. (the notebooks part is the hardest part for me to believe because why would you continuously carry a paper trail? i understand that she might not keep them on her at all times but iduno.....anyway....) in the notebooks she details everything about Cory and all of the other people that she has conned and why. everyone that she conned was conned because they deserved it and she, i believe, always did good with what she took.
anyway, Kat was trying to be a journalist to appease her mother when in reality she wants to be an author. with meg's permission, she can turn the notebooks into her first book.
theres obviously a lot more, like Scott! LOVED that shady son of a bitch! that i left out but thats mostly the gist of it.
....or how i remember it week's later.
thx!
lv u!
byee!
"cover up whatever you please for the world, but in intimacy? hide nothing. in intimacy, everything is beautiful."
pub: 2022
pages: 399
heard: september 1-15, 2022
book: 21 in 2022
THOUGHTS
the banter is definitely better than Henry's but I think that just in general this kinda romance isn't for me. And it's not that it's not for me because Nina Hill! Half her story felt like 😑🤨 but I still loved it. with this one, idk. I don't hate it I'm just indifferent to it. Like I could've been okay without it.
Yes stories can be farfetched but I think we decide internally just how much shit we can believe and my threshold for this one was broken pretty early on.
I think my beef with this book is that Sawanee is super anti love (who can blame her?) But then outa well, not nowhere but, ya know,....., she has 2 dicks to chose from (not really) and for someone who doesn't believe, she's like super into both of them never questioning how anti all of it she was 2 seconds prior.
Idk idk idk. I feel like she gave in too easy for someone who was so against romance (audio but anyway....)
Idk.
It wasn't a bad listen to (audio route) but meh. maybe im still in a funk and no book is safe. idk. for me Nick was perfect and then they got in a fight and i was like okay spicy and then it gets resolved quicker than over night oats and idk. it wasn't that bad but i did zone out thru a lot of this book because i was kinda over it.
i honestly dont know?
SPOILERS
sawanee was on track to become a huge movie star but while on set she decided to go celebrate with her best friend A by jumping out a plane. originally her chute wasn't working but last minute it did and to celebrate that idk wtf she did but she ended up getting her eye taken out. Now it's been years and she's always rocking an eye patch.
because of her actions, there went her movie career and instead A is the huge movie star.
Sawanee is an audio narrator who goes by Sarah some shit who would read Audiobooks for a Jane something.
Ever since the accident she doesn't do romantic audio anymore. Jane has now passed and her last request is for Sarah and Brock McStorm or someshit to do the audio of her last book.
Long story short Sawanee is in Vegas to celebrate A for her success in idk what. They're at a club when A gets called to go back to LA for an audition so she goes leaving S alone and boom. Here comes Nick.
They have one of those nights, connections, that's just once in a blue moon.
They go their separate ways and that's it.
Later, S gets the email about the audiobook request Jane left. She's still missing nick but now had moved on to chit chats with Brock McMuffin. (by this point they chat all the time about the project)
They decided to finally meet (as sarah & mcmuffin) and of course it's on the night they both unbeknownst to each other, are both presenting and receiving an award for Jane (nick is Jane's nephew).
Except that Sawanee had no idea that, yes. NICK IS BROCK MCMUFFIN!!!!
In the end Sawanee learns that she needs to accept her shit so that other people can hurry up and accept her and her and mcmuffin end up together.
That's the generality of it. I don't remember exactly how it ends.
"I'm not sure which is worse, losing someone suddenly, or after a prolonged illness."
pgs: 366
heard: june 30 to july 5, 2022
book: 20 in 2022
SYNOPSIS
THOUGHTS
well, well, well.
THOUGHTS
well, well, well.
isnt life funny.
i cant say that this is my fave CL story BUT what i can say is that this story might just be cemented into me for life.
here is Lily dealing with her dad's shit after his passing. (LOL! )
and of course there is more but well, its cemented into me for a reason.
i would have finished this sooner but i was saving this to listen to it as i worked at work and then shit hit the fan and then well, you gota handle your shit you know. (sorry dad)!
.....i think the best way that i can describe this to you would be to tell you to watch The Lost City movie. these two (both in the book and the movie) get into some unbelievable shit but its lol and you get into it if you don't pay too close attention. (i appreciate the way the authors acknowledged this at the beginning - somethings are out there. it helped me a lot to know that even the authors knew they were pushing it a little. lol.)
i appreciated that homie was chill and calm, the way everything was connected was - lol i guess.
i couldnt with brad? what was his name? lol you know who im talking about.
idk. i currently dont have the mental capability to be more detailed so ill leave it at this but yeah, i guess this one was cool.
but honestly, if you dont want to read this but wanna experience it, just watch the movie. i love the movie. lol
SPOILERS
Lily and Leo date when they were teens and he was working at her ranch. they were going to end up together but there was an accident and leo had to leave. originally he was going to help his mom but she ended up passing away so he needed to stay to take care of his sister. he did call her back but her dad answered and he never passed the message down. so they lose contact. (thats why Leo never came back but she doesnt learn this until after they reconnect.)
fast forward to today. ...and because i wana be quick about it...
leo's roomate B (i forgot his name ) was in cahoots with the motherfucker that went over the cliff (i think his name is John) and the whole point of the set up was to I guess trap Lily into somehow getting them to Dukes massive fortune that was hidden but never found.
In the end, Lili and Leo find it on their own and the horrible homie gets caught. Idk.
It's been a while.
Let's move on.
"but you'll discover for yourself soon enough the things that devastate us most in the moment are always the things we look back on with such gratitude."
pgs: 291
read: July 3, 2022
book: 19 in 2022
THOUGHTS
summer 2022 is doing nothing but giving me Halloween vibes and I am here for it. the world's going to shit, im putting up my Halloween stuff soon.
anyway, I walked into the library to pick up one book, I scour the new section and pick this one up based solely on the cover....and because the synopsis gave me major Halloween vibes and everyone on goodreads loves this one but i haven't seen it around?
I genuinely thought I was going to check this book out and return it without opening it up. I thought I was guna renew it so much that i miiiight just make it to the 26 week audio hold because I'm not in a reading mood. But I got my book, I went to the grams (my gramas house) and given the circumstances, I was not expecting to make it all the way thru. but i diiiiid!
I LOVED THIS BOOOOOOOK!!!!!
its exactly what my little Halloween loving heart needed at the moment.
its not at all scary but because im a huge chicken shit this was good enough for me 😂.
---------
sorry dudes.
this was the last book i read before shit hit the fan in my life and so this is all i got. seeing the date i read this book makes me laugh now because of everything that has followed since.
i feel like this looks so bad on the book but trust me; the book, i loved. im just pooped and wanna move on. its not you, it really is me.
this is a cute one.
read it!
get ready for the best season!
love ya!
SPOILERS
uhm she moves to this tiny town after her break up and she ends up meeting other homegirl and it turns out that its witch vibes and im here for it.
longer-ish version.
she moves because she was getting over a breakup with her ex and a position and better living arrangements came up so she leaves and she meets Sophie and then it turns out to be this whole witch vibes and all this and so then in the end, Annie lets her ex Sam convince her into letting him go over to her place and they start making out but she realizes shes not about it anymore. and it turns out that he was still with his already months old, annie knew about, girlfriend. so she does some bitch vibes moves on him (lol *nervous laugh*) and he's like wtf and then he leaves.
many, years later she runs into Maddison. who is now an adult and basically you get the vibes that the coven grows. (mads was one of her students when she first moved into town. she a whole as hot mess of an adult now).
i love this book.
"All rumors have at least a kernel of truth. But I won’t tell you which kernel.”
pub: 2021
pages: 219
read: june 15-19, 2022
book: 18 in 2022
SYNOPSIS
THOUGHTS
THOUGHTS
ooooh! i liked this one!
i dont want to say that im in a reading funk but i guess i will say that im being a bit picky about what im reading? i have not had any interest in picking anything up and then this one pops up and !
maybe im all about timing right now.
anywho!
i like this story!
I wish I would have have taken better notes (why lol) but alas, I am who I yams.
I liked the adventures these 3 got into because LOL!
also, before I forget, ladies and gentlemen should this ever be a movie or something, please let me introduce to you TROY!!!!! (If cast otherwise, I'd still watch. but begrudgingly 😂)
okay but back to the point.
I truly enjoyed this story about 3 women celebrating the life of their very good friend especially given that you know, life happens and they grew apart. coming home must feel amazing.
each woman is going thru something in her life and while I don't remember the story 100% and I can't relate to them 100% myself (I'm not married (never even been proposed to) nor do I have kids) I feel like I saw myself in little bits of each woman's story. from G dealing with her father and his illness to Kate and her passion for work (im not tryina get fired so I'll keep it pg about my job but let's just say I'm not passionate about working like she is) and C! I'm happy she finally grew a pair. deciding to leave someone who is utter trash is such an amazing relief. THE RELIEF! let me tell you, cutting someone off who no longer never respected you is *chef's kiss*
ANYWAY!
they get into everything!
I loved this story. I wish I had better memory but I know I'm going to love rereading this one a couple of years from now.
this one hit the perfect spot for me. ❤️ ...and i also did spoilers ahead of time so let's go!
SPOILERS
KATE
her and her husband separate because she wants to do her work more. well its not that she wants that more its just that no shame its what matters to her. her and her husband dont share the same views about family. in the end she ends up dating that vet dude that she met in new mexico (cool cool cool!)
KATE
her and her husband separate because she wants to do her work more. well its not that she wants that more its just that no shame its what matters to her. her and her husband dont share the same views about family. in the end she ends up dating that vet dude that she met in new mexico (cool cool cool!)
GENIE
her dad was a major dick and high key hated her. she lived her life by his rules and did nothing that he would not approve of even though the things he did approve of, he still did not. he has dementia so he's in a home and she does visit but if he rarely cared then you think he does now?
he never let her have anything.
so much so that for 40 years shes done everything by him and the one time she finally decides to take a trip, he up and RIP's on her while she's far away from him.
in the end she ends up with Troy (FUCK YES!!!!!) and she moves with him to flagstaff if i remember him living there correctly.
CICI
shes been with brent since high school and everyone in town knows that hes been cheating on her since forever. even she knew but denial denial, denial. she ends up setting his shit on fire and finally leaving him. in the end she ends up dating Wade (FUCK YES!) and yea.
oh yeah! when they were kids the girls (minus laurie) found out that Cici's parents and half of the parents where ever they live all slept together. Swingers parrrrtiesss!!!!!
-------
Laurie, the 4th friend of the group passes away at a time when all the women are kinda falling apart.
they all get together and decide to go on a road trip to vegas in Gennies dads car (that they later purposefully decide to vandalize) and get into all sorts of shit.
The purpose of the trip is to go see the reunion show of their fave back in the days boy band in honor of L.
kate adopts a little unwanted pup, they almost get their ass kicked for "stealing" a bathroom key, Troy comes into the picture!!!!, they get a flat and troy rescues them and stands up for Gennie and it was hot as fuck! and the stripper show! and when they get to vegas and Cici gets arrested with the man from the boy band they were there to see that kate bails out. *catches breath*
a lot of things happen here and there that im leaving out but the breakdown of the women is the gist of the story!
Loved this one!
"sometimes, even when you start with the last page and think you know everything, a book finds a way to surprise you."
pub: 2022
pgs:377
heard: may 15 - 20, 2022
book: 17 in 2022
THOUGHTS
I dont have the energy so lets just say that i liked this one more than her other two.
like a lot more.
like this one makes sense and i dont understand how everyone loves all others more than this one.
this one has a decent guy in the story.
CHARLIE!!!!
omg! he was, well, he was Charlie but it was refreshing to have a main dude not be such a turd.
anyway.
also - LOL 😆 the way Henry beat it into us that Nora's mom REPEATEDLY told her that her "unmentionables" should always be cute and matching because you never know, so that when Charlie finally gets to take em off we know why she's in exotic undies while they're in the middle of pic'n save getting it on in the middle of nowhere.
theres a lot more to this story (like the sister plot) that completely went over my head (well it didnt but because i still live with my sister, meh - ya know? lol. i love her but i see her every day) because thats not where my focus was if that makes sense, so i would like to listen to this one again and see it from that point of view.
im not sure when buuuut maybe in a few years.
so uh yeah.
liked this one. i had to do it audio cause i dont have the mentality to deal with reading but it was a nice switch for me from Henry. i can get behind this one. and it irks me to no end that everyone is like "I don't like this one because Charlie was bland." Okay fucking liking your toxic ass men. ....anyway, I'll behave.
okay next.
SPOILERS
Nora can't let anyone in because she's been in charge since her mom RIP'd and it's been basically survive ever since.
Nora can't let anyone in because she's been in charge since her mom RIP'd and it's been basically survive ever since.
she's tryina promote or publish or get her writer to do some shit and she somehow lands in the town where the story takes place. (Her sister pushed her into it). This happens after she fails at selling Charlie the book she's dealing with. It just so happens that Charlie is also from that same town.
AND he also happens to be there at the same time.
She's dealing with her mommy issues
Charles has his shit but he's still the fucking fluffiest pancake you eva had (or whatever you like to eat). And in the end they end up together.
obvs theres a lot more but meh.
I'll probably do another listen since I own the audio and do a better post then but until then good'ay ladybugs and gentle germs, this is all I gots to give right now. 💙
"again and again he told me that i wasnt myself. but he was wrong. i was the same me i'd always been. i'd just stop trying to glow in the dark for him or anyone else."
pub: 2020
pgs: we move on without pgs or we never move forward
heard: 1/22-26/2021
book: 5 in 2021
THOUGHTS
I liked it in the end overall but I didn't love it?
(might be a bit spoilery from here on our but not really. just warning y'all.)
January irked me.
I feel like she felt like she was entitled to everything upfront even when she herself wasn't being 100% open from the get go. (Liana, anyone?)
I felt she was very whiny about life and I get it, her dad had just passed a year ealier and there's a lot of other shit involved but.....to me she was too whiny....
like she clearly didn't hurt that hard over the end of her relationship with Jaque*** but she kept bringing him up. and I get it; you're still allowed to feel hurt when something ends even if you knew deep down in your core that it was never going to be for you in the first place but I just felt like she didn't even bother to feel that. she was just detached when it came to them. maybe because she was drowning under everything else that this being the least of her worries was obviously the easiest to go? Idk. (but if that's what Henry wanted us to feel then FUCK ME!)
but anyway, this would have been better had she been made to be strong, not because women are only always strong and have no other emotions or choice but because she understands the complexities of all of the emotions so she knows how to cope and speak her emotions, all of them, properly....when she's upset, she speaks on that instead of getting drunk and waiting for the liquid courage to kick in. I feel like at the end of it all she was too 😬 for the strength this role requires.
It's as if someone wrote the beauty that is Evelyn Hugo but replaced it with the 😶 story that is the unraveling of Cassidy Holmes. Knowing what Evelyn entails and requires, anything less than that just doen't work.
this version of January didn't not work but it just wasnt right.
[***(which by the way, should this ever be made into anything and they need a Jaques, please hire Julien. omg!!!! (watch him on holidate and you'll see what I mean. 🤤)]
And gus!, his little quiet side was cool but duuuuudeeeee!!!!!
like the whole disappearing thing and not saying anything to Jan was 🤯. not just once but every single time. and the biggest one is at the end where Jan ends up home solo and he doesn't even bother to give a fuck to contact her and see if she's any type of okay. just, *cricket noise.*
He'd just disappear to process and then reappear and expect it to be okay without explanation just because.
and just because he wasn't crying every 3 seconds like January was doesn't make him any less problematic. he's been dealt a shitty hand but he was not without love, he wasn't alone, he had a team, just not the one he wanted. he was afraid and scared to trust and it's understandable. But the whole disappearing act was just.......thats just another way that emotions and speaking words/time/space is wasted.
And also, that scene in the tent (you know, the one) really? Like really? That was kinda 😬. Yall were a few yards away from....and y'all were hooking up!?
They both did a lot of talking without doing a lot of taking but at the same time they weren't saying shit.....does that make sense?
For a lot of this book I was like 🙄 and then that shit with her dad pops up on page 316 and on and I was like fuck yea!
It finally picked up a bit for me there.
and if im being honest, the only character I'm sympathizing with is Sonya.
she was the only one who had her head on straight I think. I love the way she snapped at January to get her shit together about her dad. "You have pieces of him. You're the last person on earth with pieces of him, and if you don't want to look at them, that's your call. But don't pretend he left you with nothing."
she respected her space and left when they ran across each other but that last interaction they had!,
*chef's kiss*
Sonya might be the other woman but she's my #1.
not even Jan's mom was upfront about shit (which I get because she was the one being cheated on but still ya know)
Its a good story I just personally wasn't enamored with it. But I can definitely see why lots of people like it and maybe if I reread it another time I might vibe with it more but for now, its an okay read.
If both characters had just been upfront with each other and spoken with their chest instead of waiting for shit to fall over like a jenga tower so that they could then say what they were thinking then I think I wouldve loved it more because I loooove when people are upfront and honest about feelings, truths, everything!
I love Henry & will forever read whatever she writes because despite this not being a fave of mine she still has a way with words and she truly does have talent but my heart lies in her magical realism books (minus hello girls).
Anyway, yea. It was cool but not wow.
everyone in this town needs to grow balls.
Thanks for reading! 😄
Jump over for spoilers.
S P O I L E R S
January gets the house in Michigan and she can do with it as she pleases but she decides to sell it because who wants to keep their dad's fuck house.
But of course, right next door her arch nemesis, Augustus Everett, lives.
She thinks he's a dick but he's been in love with her since day -71627 he just didn't know how to tell her.
Blah blah blah.
They agree to each write about about what the other writes and whoever pubs it first, the other will endorse it left and right.
They end up hooking up even though she knows gus is a one time dude.
But it turns out that he's not, he's just used to people being dicks to him so he acts accordingly.
And it actually turns out he's married (going thru a divorce).
anyway, Jan's parents split up and when they did her dad went back to Michigan and ran into an old love of his life and they hook up but then mom gets cancer so he goes back but still kept hooking up with Sonja I guess (their affair is never really fully discussed) and then the dad passes away and Sonja shows up at the funeral to give Jan a letter and the key to the house. And the only reason Sonja did that was because SHE WAS THE ONLY ONE IN THIS ENTIRE STORY WHO HAD A BIG ENOUGH BACKBONE TO DO ANYTHING ABOUT ANYTHING!!!!
the dad had told his lawyer to leave that stuff to Sonja so that she could then deliver it to Jan because he knew that her mom would never be able to do that.
The dad might have cheated but can we talk about the emotional abuse he put Sonja through!???
UGH! 💔
So yeah....she's had the letter for a year, doesn't ever open it and it's not until one night that Gus' soon to be ex wife comes to one of their book reading things and she runs away and gus never follows up with her that she gets cornered by Sonja that she decides to read the letter and it turns out there's one for every birthday but there's also a boat in the marina with her name on it waiting for her (which by the way, who the fuck took care of it all this time?)
Dad explains the story but never mentions even being in love with Sonja,it was more like he wanted to see what his life could have been like (ugh, Sonja!) and so yea.
Blah blah blah.
Shadi finally comes over they clean, eat and breakdown and the next day gus blasts her with music and they dance in the rain. (Turns out his ex wife, Naomi wanted him back. ....this was after she left him for his best friend. 🙄😒😑). He tells her he wants to be with her norther if they don't get a happily ever after.
Jan sells the house, a year passes and gus ends up proposing to her infront of fam by giving her a piece of paper that said Marry Me.
(When they were writing they would write notes to each other about sorts of dumb shit so....ya know)
And yea, das it.
The mom still never said shit.
They do have a call one night but nothing is talked about in the book.
Oh well.
🦀
"I’m a miserable cynic (a newer development) and a dreamy romantic (always have been), and it’s such a terrible combination that I don’t know how to tolerate myself."
pub: 2020
pgs: 285
read: april 21 to may 11, 2022
book: 16 in 2022
THOUGHTS
i forgot i read this book.
i forgot i read this book.
i was dreading writing the next review but i gotta do it so i log into goodreads and boom.
anyway. uh - i liked this book. it was just maybe uhm read at the wrong time. it wasn't a fave of mine but it wasn't bad. It's actually pretty funny in lots of places.
i appreciate that Nick stuck around with Naomi throughout everything even though she was annoying as fuck. its explained and understandable. i think i was just over it because it was made bigger than it should have been? idk. is this book like about borderline depression or something? did i read this wrong? im not saying that her feelings werent valid...i think i would have just liked to have known where how or why they started falling apart? Did I miss the how and when of when it happened? I can't really remember.
(In no way am I saying that depression is not a serious thing! what I'm doing a horrible job at trying to say is that I don't understand how they got to where they got and so she was kinda grinding my gears because she would never speak up. But honestly maybe we were never sposed to read that part? - the how they got there part.)
i know she was feeling like shit because of work and school and stuff which valid because hello am I there in this point of my life.... but her and nick were always golden right? so why did they stop? where? how?
why was nick all "why arent you on my side about my mom!" once we're in the book but what about before? i think he mentions it but idk? Bro like if you needed help tag teaming your mom why didn't you let Naomi in? (bahahaha)
idk.
i didn't hate it.
i think having Nicks POV would have been icing on the cake tho.
overall, this one is a thinker (it was for me) and maybe it goes deep in different levels for different people. Honestly, maybe I read this wrong? or read it at the wrong time? Idk.
life right now is a mess.
I know I always say ill re-read a book and then never do but if the audio exists i would like to. I think maybe I'd grab more the second time around? Idk.
File this one under idk.
SPOILERS
oof it's been a while so sorry thanks for understanding.
Naomi and nick date, get engaged and then realize maybe they're not the one so now she's tryina get him to dump her because she can't afford to be stuck with the wedding bill.
They live in a town so small, Naomi just lost her job and Nick is tethered to a low paying position (I think) bc Naomi refused to let them move to another city.
Idk.
They fight, argue, nick buys Leon's (I think thats his name but in case it ain't he's Naomi's old coworker) old house in the woods, he buys a canoe, an suv type of car, and Naomi gets mad and buys Leon's old clunker of a car even though it's stick shift and she cant drive it only to leave it dumped in the streets on her way to dinner with Nick and his parents.
In the end i forget what happens, they make up and eventually tell nicks mom to eat a dick.
But Naomi's thing is that she's I guess you can say freaking/stressing out about life in general like no job, no college degree, the love of your life isn't who you thought he was.....and all in all I think she's kinds lost in herself which in turn led to her not letting nick in.
Shitty breakdown but you know they all end the same.
If I ever reread, I'll update then.
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