The Unhoneymooners | Book Review

The Unhoneymooners by Christina Lauren

⭐⭐⭐⭐

Goodreads Synopsis

Olive is always unlucky: in her career, in love, in…well, everything. Her identical twin sister Ami, on the other hand, is probably the luckiest person in the world. Her meet-cute with her fiancé is something out of a romantic comedy (gag) and she’s managed to finance her entire wedding by winning a series of Internet contests (double gag). Worst of all, she’s forcing Olive to spend the day with her sworn enemy, Ethan, who just happens to be the best man.

Olive braces herself to get through 24 hours of wedding hell before she can return to her comfortable, unlucky life. But when the entire wedding party gets food poisoning from eating bad shellfish, the only people who aren’t affected are Olive and Ethan. And now there’s an all-expenses-paid honeymoon in Hawaii up for grabs.

Putting their mutual hatred aside for the sake of a free vacation, Olive and Ethan head for paradise, determined to avoid each other at all costs. But when Olive runs into her future boss, the little white lie she tells him is suddenly at risk to become a whole lot bigger. She and Ethan now have to pretend to be loving newlyweds, and her luck seems worse than ever. But the weird thing is that she doesn’t mind playing pretend. In fact, she feels kind of... lucky. 

My Review

I really enjoyed this, and binge listened to the audio book. The main character is supposed to be plus-sized, but it wasn't really expounded upon in the book. I was excited that the character was a curvy girl and was disappointed that it wasn't really a good rep of that. However, I loved the relationship between the protagonists, and the story was a fun ride.

Read More

Daisy Jones and the Six | Book Review

Daisy Jones and the Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Goodreads Synopsis

Everyone knows Daisy Jones & The Six, but nobody knows the reason behind their split at the absolute height of their popularity . . . until now.

Daisy is a girl coming of age in L.A. in the late sixties, sneaking into clubs on the Sunset Strip, sleeping with rock stars, and dreaming of singing at the Whisky a Go Go. The sex and drugs are thrilling, but it’s the rock and roll she loves most. By the time she’s twenty, her voice is getting noticed, and she has the kind of heedless beauty that makes people do crazy things.

Also getting noticed is The Six, a band led by the brooding Billy Dunne. On the eve of their first tour, his girlfriend Camila finds out she’s pregnant, and with the pressure of impending fatherhood and fame, Billy goes a little wild on the road.

Daisy and Billy cross paths when a producer realizes that the key to supercharged success is to put the two together. What happens next will become the stuff of legend.

The making of that legend is chronicled in this riveting and unforgettable novel, written as an oral history of one of the biggest bands of the seventies. Taylor Jenkins Reid is a talented writer who takes her work to a new level with Daisy Jones & The Six, brilliantly capturing a place and time in an utterly distinctive voice.

UPDATE: I have now read this three times since March, and I still absolutely adore it!

Read More

The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo | Book Review

The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Goodreads Synopsis

Aging and reclusive Hollywood movie icon Evelyn Hugo is finally ready to tell the truth about her glamorous and scandalous life. But when she chooses unknown magazine reporter Monique Grant for the job, no one is more astounded than Monique herself. Why her? Why now?

Monique is not exactly on top of the world. Her husband has left her, and her professional life is going nowhere. Regardless of why Evelyn has selected her to write her biography, Monique is determined to use this opportunity to jumpstart her career.

Summoned to Evelyn's luxurious apartment, Monique listens in fascination as the actress tells her story. From making her way to Los Angeles in the 1950s to her decision to leave show business in the '80s, and, of course, the seven husbands along the way, Evelyn unspools a tale of ruthless ambition, unexpected friendship, and a great forbidden love. Monique begins to feel a very real connection to the legendary star, but as Evelyn's story near its conclusion, it becomes clear that her life intersects with Monique's own in tragic and irreversible ways.

Written with Reid's signature talent for creating "complex, likable characters" (Real Simple), this is a mesmerizing journey through the splendor of old Hollywood into the harsh realities of the present day as two women struggle with what it means—and what it costs—to face the truth.

Read More

You | Book Review!

You by Caroline Kepnes

⭐⭐⭐⭐

 Description from the Publisher

“[A] beautifully crafted thriller that will give you chills.” (People magazine)

From debut author Caroline Kepnes comes You, one of Suspense Magazine’s Best Books of 2014, and a brilliant and terrifying novel for the social media age.

When a beautiful, aspiring writer strides into the East Village bookstore where Joe Goldberg works, he does what anyone would do: he Googles the name on her credit card.

There is only one Guinevere Beck in New York City. She has a public Facebook account and Tweets incessantly, telling Joe everything he needs to know: she is simply Beck to her friends, she went to Brown University, she lives on Bank Street, and she’ll be at a bar in Brooklyn tonight—the perfect place for a “chance” meeting.

As Joe invisibly and obsessively takes control of Beck’s life, he orchestrates a series of events to ensure Beck finds herself in his waiting arms. Moving from stalker to boyfriend, Joe transforms himself into Beck’s perfect man, all while quietly removing the obstacles that stand in their way—even if it means murder.

A terrifying exploration of how vulnerable we all are to stalking and manipulation, debut author Caroline Kepnes delivers a razor-sharp novel for our hyper-connected digital age. You is a compulsively readable page-turner that’s being compared to Gone Girl, American Psycho, and Stephen King’s Misery.

My Review

Page Count: 424 pgs./11 hrs. 

Narrator: Santino Fontana

Genre: Thriller

Series: You, Book 1
CW: violence, murder, graphic language, stalking, drug abuse, sexual scenes

This book was an insane ride! Holy cow! This was an excellent novel, and the plot was very well done. Kepnes writes in a way that makes the narrator, Joe Goldberg, somewhat relatable and compels the reader to sympathize with him...at least until the reader remembers all of the awful actions Joe has done. It is tremendously thought-provoking as well as entertaining.

I listened to this audiobook through Scribd, and I highly recommend it. Listening to Joe's voice as he stalks Beck gives the reader a very visceral experience, and exacerbates the thrill. The pacing was well done, and the narrator gave me chills throughout the novel. 

Kepnes did an outstanding job of capturing Joe's psyche and stalking behaviors. Writing the novel from his perspective was a very good choice and really added to the story. It was creepy, engaging, and very disturbing. 

The only thing that kept me from giving You five stars is that I did find the story a bit predictable. However, this did not detract from my reading experience. I HIGHLY recommend listening to this on audiobook! 


If you would like a free 60 day trial to Scribd, please click on my link. You can listen to unlimited audiobooks, read unlimited ebooks, and have access to documents, sheet music, and more! 

https://www.scribd.com/g/7475t1

Read More