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lilmackiereads · 9 months

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A TAXONOMY OF LOVE (2018) BY RACHAEL ALLEN - SPOILER-FILLED REVIEW

For the review WITHOUT SPOILERS, click here. To continue WITH spoilers, begin reading after the cover photo.

Overall Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

I am actually surprised with myself for giving this such a high rating as I am easily very bored with the teen romance novels. Of the few YA romance that I have read in the last year this has been my favorite which was a total surprise! I actually almost gave up reading it in the first 50 or so pages because I found the initial few chapters from Spence’s point of view unrealistic. For some reason I just didn’t feel like the dialogue and thought processes going on in this 13-year-old boy’s head felt accurate to the tween boys I’ve known growing up. There wasn’t enough swearing or boyish grossness. For instance, I feel like he needed a bit of a sprinkle of yucky (belching/ nose-picking/ farting/ name-calling) like the boys in Stephen King’s “The Body” aka Stand by Me (1986), The Sandlot (1993) or Stranger Things (2016) because many boys at this age are generally just pretty gross and obnoxious in my experience. (I grew up tween to teen between 2008-2018 and babysat lots of kids and now I work with middle school and high schoolers…)

HOWEVER, I think Allen did nail Spence’s dorkiness, which is why I ultimately kept reading because he is pretty adorable and his taxonomies are pretty funny.

Unlike John Green (The Fault in Our Stars, 2012 and Turtles All the Way Down, 2017) and Becky Albertalli (Simon vs the Homosapien Agenda, 2015) who are two of the best teen writers that can accurately display the minds of the opposite sex in my opinion, I feel like Allen struggles a bit with writing Spence’s point-of-view. I found Hope’s p-o-v more realistic (and relatable) as a female, but I think that Spence became more realistic as the book progressed from age 13 to 19. Especially once he hit puberty, I think the romantic stakes and thoughts were more accurate to a teenage boy. Haha. But what do I know? I’ve never been a teenage boy.

Hope reminded me a lot of myself because I’m generally happy-go-lucky, but I had a major emo-phase in high school that really warped my attitude at the time (and admittedly comes out to play occasionally as an adult.) I wish we had more chapters from her perspective. I was bummed out when her sister died. It's hard to lose someone so close to you, especially when they're so young. The only thing I didn't like about Hope was her last name, Birdsong. I think it was just a little too on-the-nose. If we're really going for the "girl next door" she could have just had a basic last name like Smith or Miller.

I really liked all the little parties the characters through for the holidays and the references to Hamilton (2015), Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975), Grease (1978), and Pokémon. Jayla and Spencer's Pikachu and Ash costumes sounded adorable. I feel like Hope’s transition over the story is actually a lot like Sandy’s! Also, the two girls at the Halloween party who were Sandy before and after, such a cool costume idea!

Jayla and Dean were both kind of annoying at times, but ultimately, I think they had good hearts, but were just a little too self-involved for their own good. I really appreciated after Dean went to college and grew up a little and started to stand up for Jayla and Spencer.

I also like that the book goes over some important topics like racism and the Civil War, disability awareness, bullying, mental health, and using sexual situations as a coping mechanism.

My top three favorite parts are:

The Vice Principal’s Surprise -- I mean DICK CONFETTI? How much better can it get?

2. The Tree Stand in the Rain -- My little heart at all the romance:

3. The Lightning Bugs -- Just such a sweet and magical moment.

Would I Read this Book Again?

Low key kind of want to read it again right now! I hope they make a movie of this!

#book review #spoiler review #ya novel #rhps #rocky horror picture show #tourettes syndrome #disability rights #disabled community #ya romance #teen romance #georgia #grease #pokemon #hamilton #rachael allen #a taxonomy of love

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lilmackiereads · 9 months

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A TAXONOMY OF LOVE (2018) BY RACHAEL ALLEN - SPOILER FREE REVIEW

For the review WITH SPOILERS, click here. To continue without spoilers, begin reading after the cover photo.

Overall Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

I am actually surprised with myself for giving this such a high rating as I am easily very bored with the teen romance novels. Of the few YA romance that I have read in the last year this has been my favorite which was a total surprise! I actually almost gave up reading it in the first 50 or so pages because I found the initial few chapters from Spence's point of view unrealistic. For some reason I just didn't feel like the dialogue and thought processes going on in this 13-year-old boy's head felt accurate to the tween boys I've known growing up. There wasn't enough swearing or boyish grossness. For instance, I feel like he needed a bit of a sprinkle of yucky (belching/ nose-picking/ farting/ name-calling) like the boys in Stephen King's "The Body" aka Stand by Me (1986), The Sandlot (1993) or Stranger Things (2016) because many boys at this age are generally just pretty gross and obnoxious in my experience. (I grew up tween to teen between 2008-2018 and babysat lots of kids and now I work with middle school and high schoolers...)

HOWEVER, I think Allen did nail Spence's dorkiness, which is why I ultimately kept reading because he is pretty adorable and his taxonomies are pretty funny.

Unlike John Green (The Fault in Our Stars, 2012 and Turtles All the Way Down, 2017) and Becky Albertalli (Simon vs the Homosapien Agenda, 2015) who are two of the best teen writers that can accurately display the minds of the opposite sex in my opinion, I feel like Allen struggles a bit with writing Spence's point-of-view. I found Hope's p-o-v more realistic (and relatable) as a female, but I think that Spence became more realistic as the book progressed from age 13 to 19. Especially once he hit puberty, I think the romantic stakes and thoughts were more accurate to a teenage boy. Haha. But what do I know? I've never been a teenage boy.

Hope reminded me a lot of myself because I'm generally happy-go-lucky, but I had a major emo-phase in high school that really warped my attitude at the time (and admittedly comes out to play occasionally as an adult.) I wish we had more chapters from her perspective.

I also like that the book goes over some important topics like racism and the Civil War, disability awareness, bullying, mental health, and using sexual situations as a coping mechanism.

Without saying why (see the Spoiler Review for that!), my top three favorite parts are:

-The Vice Principal's Surprise

-The Tree Stand in the Rain

-The Lightning Bugs

Would I Read this Book Again?

Low key kind of want to read it again right now! I hope they make a movie of this!

#ya novel #ya romance #a taxonomy of love #rachael allen #spence and hope #tourettes syndrome #mental health #book review #teen romance #grease #rocky horror picture show #rhps #hamilton #pokemon #halloween #thanksgiving #georgia

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IF I HAD YOUR FACE (2020) BY FRANCES CHA - SPOILER-FILLED REVIEW

A couple months back I finished If I Had Your Face (2020) by Frances Cha. I was drawn in by the gorgeous magenta and yellow cover of a lovely Korean woman looking lost in thought. This review will discuss my thoughts on plot and characters and there WILL BE SPOILERS. For a Spoiler-Free Review click here.

Overall rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

The story relates the lives of five young Korean women in Seoul who each have their own personal and family hardships. The main ladies we receive first-person narration from are Ara, a mute hairstylist with a tragic past and a K-pop obsession, Kyuri, a room salon worker who knows all the coolest plastic surgery and fashion trends, Miho, a Korean-American artist who made her way out of an orphanage, and Wonna, a newlywed facing the uncertainty of motherhood. While there are five main storylines we hear about, one of the women, Sujin, does not get any chapter narration and thus we can only discover her story via the observation of the other women in the group. An orphan who grew up with Miho, Sujin is saving up to be like her role-model, Kyuri, in hopes to be considered rich and beautiful by South Korean standards. I like that this story brings together friendship through hardship and fun as well as talking about economic strife and the harsh standards of beauty, marriage, and motherhood expected in their society as women struggling to balance modern and traditional values.

I do not know a whole lot about Asian culture, let alone South Korean culture, so some of the cultural standards seemed very strange to me. For instance, plastic surgery is not considered taboo/ high maintenance/ unnatural in South Korea as it is in many parts of the United States. Rather, it's encouraged as a way to compete for better opportunities in romance and the workplace. Due to this, I feel like I was able to relate to Miho the most because she is Korean-born but spent a few years in the United States as a young adult and is considered the "odd" one of the group due to her American customs and opinions on individuality (American belief) vs community (Asian belief). While I liked Miho a lot, some of her decisions made me CRINGE. The biggest Miho cringe moment for me was when she kissed Ruby's boyfriend, Hanbin, at a party and then started a relationship with him after Ruby completed suicide. I do love when she gets revenge on Hanbin for cheating on her with one of Kyuri's friends, but I wish we had actually seen the revenge go down instead of hearing it from the perspective of someone other than Miho. Also, her art sounds eerily pretty. It would be cool to see if this becomes a film.

My favorite character was Ara because I feel like she had a lot of spunk and I feel like she and I have similar interests and reactions to life's challenges. I used to be super obsessed with a few rock and pop bands from the ages of about 12 to 22 and the boys in the band were allllll I could think about. Also, she and I both dye our hair bright colors which is fun. Also, we were both "edgy" teens, but luckily for me I wasn't in a gang like Ara.

The most heart-breaking story for me was Wonna. After three miscarriages and her terribly abusive past with her grandmother, her anxiety about becoming a mother was gut-wrenching.

Kyuri and Sujin were ok, but I feel like their characters revolved so heavily around working in the salon room and getting plastic surgery that there was not a lot of other interesting things happening in their lives in my opinion. Reading their sections just made me kind of sad to be honest because they were so pretty on the outside but so sad and ashamed on the inside. I do feel really bad for Kyrui though because I do think she is a really good friend and daughter by always being there emotionally and financially. It was hard seeing her trapped in a horrible job situation that keeps her in debt, constantly intoxicated, and feeling lonely. It was sad when she fell in lust (she thought it was love but I'm saying lust because he didn't reciprocate the feelings toward her) with one of her clients. It must be really hard for a woman in the sex and escort industry to find a partner who respects and values her for more than her body. :( I am proud of her for leaving the salon in the end and starting her path as a career woman, even if it is in the plastic surgery office.

This book reminds me a lot of The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, which I have not read but I have seen both films. However, I think this story relates on a lot darker topics, such as body modification, physical-emotional-and mental abuse, working in the sex and escort industry, suicide, adultery, and alcoholism.

Would I read this book again?

Probably not because I think the story ended with a lot of my questions unanswered. Also, the backstories on most of the women are pretty depressing. However, I think it is a very interesting book and is worth the read, especially if you are interested in Korean culture.

#frances cha #if i had your face #korean #korean american #south korean #female author #asian art #asian literature #book review #spoilers #spoiler book review

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lilmackiereads · 9 months

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IF I HAD YOUR FACE (2020) BY FRANCES CHA SPOILER FREE REVIEW

A couple months back I finished If I Had Your Face (2020) by Frances Cha. I was drawn in by the gorgeous magenta and yellow cover of a lovely Korean woman looking lost in thought. This review will discuss my thoughts on plot and characters without giving away spoilers. For spoilers or comparisons of your opinions to mine, check out my Spoiler-Filled Review.

Overall rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

The story relates the lives of five young Korean women in Seoul who each have their own personal and family hardships. The main ladies we receive first-person narration from are Ara, a mute hairstylist with a tragic past and a K-pop obsession, Kyuri, a room salon worker who knows all the coolest plastic surgery and fashion trends, Miho, a Korean-American artist who made her way out of an orphanage, and Wonna, a newlywed facing the uncertainty of motherhood. While there are five main storylines we hear about, one of the women, Sujin, does not get any chapter narration and thus we can only discover her story via the observation of the other women in the group. She is saving up to be like her role-model, Kyuri, in hopes to be considered rich and beautiful by South Korean standards. I like that this story brings together friendship, through hardship and fun, as well as talking about economic strife and the harsh standards of beauty, marriage, and motherhood expected in their society as women.

I do not know a whole lot about Asian culture, let alone South Korean culture so some of the cultural standards seemed very odd to me. For instance, plastic surgery is not considered taboo/ high maintenance/ unnatural in South Korea as it is in many parts of the United States but is rather encouraged as a way to compete for better opportunities in romance and the workplace. Due to this, I feel like I was able to relate to Miho the most because she is Korean born but spent a few years in the United States as a young adult and is considered the "odd" one of the group due to her American customs and opinions on individuality (American belief) vs community (Asian belief).

My favorite character was Ara because I feel like she had a lot of spunk and I feel like she and I have similar interests and reactions to life's challenges. While I like Miho a lot, some of her decisions made me CRINGE. The most heart-breaking story for me was Wonna and why she is so worried about becoming a mother. Kyuri and Sujin were ok, but I feel like their characters revolved so heavily around working in the salon room and getting plastic surgery that there was not a lot of other interesting things happening in their lives in my opinion. Reading their sections just made me kind of sad to be honest because they were so pretty on the outside but so sad and ashamed on the inside.

This book reminds me a lot of The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, which I have not read but I have seen both films. However, I think this story relates on a lot darker topics, such as body modification, physical-emotional-and mental abuse, working in the sex and service industry, suicide, adultery, and alcholism.

Would I read this book again?

Probably not because I think the story ended without a lot of the questions I had unanswered. Also, the backstories on most of the women is just pretty depressing. However, I think it is a very interesting book and is worth the read, especially if you are interested in Korean culture.

#if i had your face #spoiler free book review #frances cha #south korea #korea #korean #plastic surgery #beauty standards #kpop #tradition vs modernity #book review #books #female author

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lilmackiereads · 10 months

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HOLDING UP THE UNIVERSE (2016) BY JENNIFER NIVEN - SPOILER-FILLED REVIEW

Overall Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

The narration goes back and forth between the two lead characters, Jack – a teenage boy with prosopagnosia (a neurological disorder that makes it difficult to recognize and remember faces), and Libby — an overweight teenage girl who has been homeschooled throughout middle school due to immense weight gain from the grief of her mother’s unexpected death. This story kind-of follows the Enemies to Lovers trope, but I don’t really feel like they were ever enemies, rather they just misunderstood each other.

Beware, we now go into spoiler territory.

Character Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Libby was my favorite because she is so courageous and fun! I think Niven really nailed what a teenage girl thinks like and what anxiety feels like. I think Libby and I would get along because she loves to read and watch sci-fi/fantasy shows. I’m not much of a dancer, but I would love to join her dance club!

Jack I also like, but he would be hard for me to get along with in person with his jerk-persona he puts on to keep other people away. I mean he’s pretty handsome so maybe I could look past it and be “the one to change him” like Libby. Haha. I do love the relationship he has with his little brother, Dusty, and I think his internal monologue and notes are hilarious. I think after he sees that Libby, Dusty, and a male side character are getting bullied he becomes a much braver person and that’s when I started to genuinely like him. His transformation, cocky attitude, and incredible curly hair, reminds me a lot of Patrick Verona from 10 Things I Hate About You (1999). If they make a movie, I need Jack to be a total H-O-T-T-I-E.

I like that Libby is not your “typical” Mary Sue beauty that so many teen romance novels have. I have never read a book from the perspective of a young woman of her size (300 to 600lbs+ over the course of the book). While Eleanor and Park (2012) by Rainbow Rowell features a teen who is a little overweight and not your average beauty, Niven choosing to make Libby “America’s Fattest Teen” is really committing to showing what life is like for someone who has experienced emotional and physical grief for a big portion of her life and how society treats that person and their relationships. Also, there are not a lot of books out there that feature someone of mixed race as the lead, such as Jack who has a white dad and a black mom. I think it’s interesting how he and his brothers are described as looking very different and how their appearance somewhat influences how other characters treat them.

While I adored Dusty, and Libby’s two main friends, Bailey and Rachel, I think many of the other side characters were not super memorable. Iris and Jayvee and Libby’s dad were ok, but most of the other side characters didn’t make much of an impact in my opinion (or have a lot of growth) which perhaps is part of the point. I can’t tell if Niven did this on purpose to show that not everyone grows out of their high school phase/ is not as special and mature as Libby and Jack or if she just didn’t know how to make the side characters dimensional.

Plot Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

I had many scenes that I adored as well as others that completely horrified me.

Adored:

*Libby flaunting her body-ody-ody in her purple bikini at school and Libby’s bravery on page 310:

*Libby saying “no” to the Damsel’s dance team after they asked her to lose weight to become a member of the team... and then starting her own dance group!

*Libby and Jack’s first date and dance at Clara’s pizzeria. The restaurant itself sounds fun. I would totally go there!

*References to quotations and scenes as well as plot parallels to We Have Always Lived in the Castle (1962) by Shirey Jackson, “The Crucible” (1953) by Arthur Miller and To Kill a Mockingbird (1960) by Harper Lee.

*Jack’s notes about being the kid of a parent with cancer and building robots.

*Dusty and his purse <3

*The Shitkicker robot with its OWN purse! <3 <3

Horrified:

*Jack accidentally making out with his girlfriend’s cousin... twice.

*Jack taking Libby on a date out of town. It still wasn’t 100% clear to me if he was trying to surprise her or trying to avoid being seen with her.

*The game “Fat Girl Rodeo” --- this stressed me out because I had never heard of it and I don’t really like being touched. I never really thought about how awful people make up games about peoples’ weight and that some jackass would hear about it and think that it was a good idea to copy it. That would be my fear about this book becoming a movie is that if they showed it in the trailer people would see it out of context and it could become an awful TikTok trend.

I figured at some point that Jack hiding the fact that he knows about Libby’s former title as “America’s Fattest Teen” and that he snuck into her house the day she was rescued from her home would come back to bite him. But whether it be him revealing the truth about stealing the book and magnet on purpose or accidentally I wasn’t sure. What I didn’t put together until the end is that Libby had always been curious about Jack, too, when she realized that he and his brothers were the brothers she imagined being friends with and called “Dean, Sam, and Cas” after her favorite characters from Supernatural. This threw my right back to my teenage years as I was obsessed with them in high school.

Cover Art: 5 out of 5 stars

While you should not judge a book by its cover, the cover art for this story is amazing. The blue paint schmears are very symbolic as how Jack sees people in his life while the blue marble is how he sees Libby. The marble also reminds me of Men in Black (1997) when the whole universe fits inside the keychain on the cat’s collar. When you take off this paper jacket to reveal the hard cover, the book is a beautiful baby blue with silver text and a sparkly heart. This book has a lot of love in it and is just very cute. I think I will take the paper cover off and leave it in my bookshelf with the baby blue and silver text instead because it is more eye-catching than the white book jacket with blue and black design in my opinion.

Reread-ability: Possibly!

Due to the fact that I read this book so quickly, I obviously liked it. However, it doesn’t beat my favorite three favorite teen love stories, The Fault in Our Stars (2012) and Turtles All the Way Down (2017) by John Green and Simon vs the Homosapien Agenda (2015) by Becky Albertalli, the three of which made me laugh and cry. HUTU made me laugh and get a bit sad at points, but not enough to actually cry. Perhaps if there was a film version of it then the visuals might be enough to do it for me.

I do want to keep it in my bookshelf in case I have kids, or a movie is made of it because I think it has a really good anti-bullying message and would be good for people to read to open up their world, especially for people who are prejudice against heavyset, racial, or disability differences. I don’t know if this book would lessen their prejudice, but I hope it would at least stir a little emotion.

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lilmackiereads · 10 months

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Holding Up the Universe (2016) by Jennifer Niven - Spoiler Free Review

THIS REVIEW IS SPOILER FREE. IF YOU WANT SPOILERS, READ THIS VERSION OF THE REVIEW.

Overall Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

This week I finished Holding Up the Universe (2016) by Jennifer Niven. I found it in a Little Free Library near my parents’ house and the title and dual cover art struck me as interesting. Without reading the jacket description I took it home and devoured it within a couple days. The narration goes back and forth between the two lead characters, Jack -- a teenage boy with prosopagnosia (a neurological disorder that makes it difficult to recognize and remember faces), and Libby --- an overweight teenage girl who has been homeschooled throughout middle school due to immense weight gain from the grief of her mother’s unexpected death. This story kind-of follows the Enemies to Lovers trope, but I don’t really feel like they were ever enemies, rather they just misunderstood each other.

Character Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Plot Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

For my favorite scenes, see my Spoiler-Filled Review.

Cover Art: 5 out of 5 stars

Reread-ability: Possibly!

#holding up the universe #jennifer niven #libby strout #jack masselin #you can dance if you want to #dance #anti-bullying #prosopagnosia #teen romance #young adult #ya novel #enemies to lovers #friends to lovers #book review #spoiler free book review #spoiler free review

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lilmackiereads · 10 months

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Inky paw prints presumably left by a curious kitty on a 15th century manuscript.

From National Geographic.

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One Day (2009) by David Nicholls - Spoiler Filled Review

In addition to this review, a spoiler-free review of the book will also be posted if you haven’t read the book or watched the movie. While I recommend reading the book, I didn’t like the movie. See that version of the review for why.

Overall Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

There are many parts of this story that are a bit cliche. Boy meets girl, they have crushes on each other, spend the next grand amount of time avoiding their true feelings for each other, they get together. YET, the end of the novel was very unexpected and the emotion and the humor these characters had toward each other was so moving. Nicholls said loud and clear: This. Is. A. Drama. Tragedy. NOT. A. Romantic. Comedy. The dialogue was top notch and I honestly had to look up quite a few phrases and words because I am not familiar with all of the British jargon.

Plot and Structure: 3.5 out of 5 stars

I also liked that he split the book into smaller sections based on the ages of the characters as each section was a new turning point or challenge in their lives. The bits of literature preceding each section were well-chosen and foreshadowed major events and themes. Docking points only for the cliché plot aspects that all romance novels do to make the tension last longer. I like that we see into each year of their lives, but some years not a lot happened, and I would have been okay with skipping a few extra years into the future.

Part 1 - Early to Mid 20s

I really related to Emma in Part 1 of wanting to do all these amazing things for the world like protesting and volunteering and traveling and then realizing that you have bills and have to work a demeaning customer service job. Life sucks ass sometimes and I’m sad for her that she was stuck in that emotional and financial space for so long, but happy that she was brave enough to quit the restaurant and do more for herself. I was irritated with Dexter because I had to work to put myself through school and I know wealthier students who had a free pass and gap year like him that just grind my gears. On top of that, Dex getting quasi-famous for basically being hot and annoying just made it worse.

Nevertheless, I really wanted them to bang out the tension they’d had those couple of years during their trip to Greece, but alas, dreams didn’t come true for any of us. I thought the skinny-dipping scene was super fun and steammmyyy!

Part 2 - Late 20s

I think that the hardest part of this book for me to get through was Part 2 because a lot of it revolved around Dex’s grief. His downward spiral with mood-influencers like sex, drugs, and alcohol while his mom was sick was all too real for me as I am someone who has a parent with cancer (luckily, I never went down this path like Dexter, but there are a lot of people who do who can’t get out). It is hard to see him hurt himself that way because it’s already written and can’t be changed. As a reader all I could do was watch him tumble even further down the rabbit hole and it sucked.

I was excited at first when Emma branched away from Dex and started dating Ian because he’s a bit of a goober, but he’s really nice and fun (just not funny). When Dex started parading sexy Suki in front of Emma and bullying Ian I was SEETHING.

I definitely think Emma did the right thing cutting Dex out of her life because he was being an ass and so full of himself, which is sad because he was masking his grief. IF HE HAD JUST BEEN HONEST WITH HIMSELF AND HER---- ugh, I’m wasting my breath.

I was broken (again) when Emma dumped Ian. I get it, she didn’t love him, but she treated him like shit and all he ever wanted was someone who loved him just the way he was. I’m glad that Nicholls showed us that Ian got a happy ending in Part 5.

Part 3 - Early to Mid 30s

Looking back at Part 3 there was SO MUCH to unpack here. It feels like three separate parts within it because it has adultery and marriage and parenthood being added into the mix.

When I found out that Emma was working as a theater teacher (cool) and trying to become a writer (even cooler) and sleeping with the principal (not so cool) I wanted to scream: GIRL, YOU NEED SOME GIRLFRIENDS TO HYPE YOU UP AND GET AWAY FROM THIS YUCKY GUY. I could have been her Hype Girl. Oh well.

When Dex met Sylvie’s parents and played that stupid game, I had second-hand embarrassment for him. Yikes. I felt bad that he was so out of place and bullied when he was starting out with Sylvie, but at the same time he was doing that to Emma for years with her and Ian so I was somewhat satisfied that he got knocked off his high horse.

I feel like literally the worst thing that Dex could have done was getting married to Sylvie and telling Emma about it in such a public place (coward) instead of dealing with his grief and being single for a while. Adding a baby to the mix was like going from the frying pan to the fire. Oi. Boy loves himself some drama. I think he ultimately became a good husband and dad in Part 5, but Sylvie. Is. Not. His. Match. As seen with their on-again and off-again relationship with each other and Dex’s other on-again off-again relationship with alcoholism.

Ok, so I low-key was so tired of Dex’s shit that I just wanted Emma to stay in Paris with the sexy Jean-Pierre and leave Dex in the dust but nOOooOOoOoo. It’s fine. Where’s my A.U. where Emma was right about Dex and he’s fat and bald with a zillion ex-wives and she’s married to JP?

Part 4 - Late 30s to Early 40s

Something I appreciated in Part 4 was that even though Dex and Em FINALLY get together, it’s not all smooth sailing. It’s not a “happily ever after” and I think this is super important because it is so honest. Getting divorced and married is hard, and even harder with a kid (Dex), especially to someone who has never been married or had children (Em). They have known each other for almost two decades, but they had such different interests and addictions throughout their lives that they had to come to terms with (they didn’t) and never fully showed each other that dark side of themselves. I think it’s a great lesson because Nicholls is showing that even the perfect person for you is not going to be perfect all the time because we are all imperfect people with our own problems.

I wish I hadn’t seen the movie before I read the book because Emma’s death would have hit so much harder if I didn’t know it was coming. It definitely would have been a moment where I would have had to reread the passage because she is just going about her normal routine and is killed out of nowhere. The shock factor would have been devastating since they had just officially gotten together and most romance novels have the “happy” ending.

Part 5 - Mid 40s

My favorite part of the entire story was in Part 5 which seamlessly went between the night they met in 1988 and the mid 2000s when Dexter reflected on the photo of him and Emma from their hike in 1988 to Arthur’s Seat. Dexter choosing to bring his daughter, Jasmine, there was a sweet and humorous moment that Emma would have loved. An honorable mention is when Sylvie and Dex’s dad help clean him up after his drunken night trying to ease the pain of being a widower. It pulled at my heartstrings to see the kindness of Sylvie despite her jealousy of Emma and later when Dex and his dad bond over being widowers. I also liked that Sylvie got a taste of her own medicine when she found out that while cheating on Dex with Callum that Callum has been cheating on her with someone else. Ha. Ha.

Characters: 4 out of 5 stars

The way he wrote the characters made it seem like they were real people who actually did know each other for a long time. It is hard to write three-dimensional characters, so kudos to Nicholls.

Even though I prefer first person, I think his choice of third person limited made quite a wonderful story to go back and forth between not only Em and Dex, but also Ian, Sylvie and a few one-scene characters. At times I LOATHED Emma and Dexter when they were whining or making terrible choices, like dating the wrong person to avoid loneliness, drinking to drown out the sadness, staying in the wrong job because they’re unconfident, and lying to each other. At other times I wanted to give them a hug and a kiss and tell them I was proud of them, especially at the end of the story when Dex FINALLY got his shit together.

I think my favorite character was actually Ian Whitehead, who is Emma’s partner for a time. I admired his desire to go for his dreams even if they were a long shot, his loyalty to Emma, and his choice to take the high road in the end. There was one point that I didn’t like his character when he and Emma were fighting about the breakup, but to be honest, if I was in his position, I probably would have felt the same way if my significant other was in love with their best friend and not me.

Themes, Motifs, & Symbols: 3.5 out of 5 stars

St. Swithin’s Day:

I wasn’t familiar with St. Swithin’s day on July 15th other than the fact that it’s also my mother’s birthday, so I will now use it as more of a marker for the year ahead. While the mythos is more in regard to summer weather, I considered it more of a symbolic reasoning of whether or not Dexter and Emma were going to have a good or bad year. For instance, many of the rainy days it seems that the whole next year that they had terrible experiences while on the sunny days their lives seemed to be getting better. For instance, it was raining on the day Emma died and then Dex had a rough year ahead while other years that it was sunny were years where on the sunny days where when Emma and Dex had lots of love in their lives, whether it be with each other or others. One of the best examples of this is when they go on holiday together in Greece and get very flirtatious with each other but are too coy to do anything but skinny-dip.

Yin and Yang:

Toward the beginning of the book, Dexter gets a yin and yang tattoo while on holiday. In my opinion, it greatly resembles their differences and similarities to each other. Not only does it represent their personalities and how they complement each other, but it also seems to foreshadow that when one of their lives was great, the other’s was terrible. Together they are strong. Apart, not so much. They were two halves of a whole and they needed each other to balance.

Making a difference:

The first lines of the novel are these quips between Em and Dex:

E: “I suppose the important thing is to make some sort of difference… you know, actually change something.”

D: “What, like ‘change the world,’ you mean?”

E: “Not the whole entire world. Just the little bit around you.”

This theme is super important throughout the whole story as they both take on the world in their own ways and I had to go back and re-read the first page again after finishing the book to really understand and enjoy the impact of the theme.

I think both Emma and Dex made an impact on the “little bit around” them, but just not in the ways they expected. Dex wanted to be a famous media professional and life-long womanizing bachelor, yet he ends up becoming a divorcee (and widower), has-been tv-presenter, and a single dad. Emma, on the other hand, became a children’s author instead of an activist or journalist and never got to have her own biological child despite becoming interested in motherhood toward the end of her life. She didn’t publish anything Nobel Prize winning or Earth-shattering like she wanted to, but she did shatter Dexter’s life for better and for worse.

Re-readability:

Would I read this book again? Probably not because it is a very emotional book and rather long as it is single spaced and over four hundred pages. On the plus side, this is the best romance novel that I have ever read. I appreciate that is not super lovey-dovey gooey and gets into the real issues of cheating, drinking, family, self-esteem, depression, loneliness, and loss. It’s raw and real and isn’t unrealistic like those Fabio-model romance novels your naughty housewives read and war romance novels (ie: Nicholas Sparks).

#one day #St Swithins #David Nicholls #British Literature #British Novel #british book #anne hathway #life is short #love exists #existentialism #existence #jim sturgess #tragedy #drama #book review #spoiler book review #spoiler review

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YOU LOVE ME (2020) BY CAROLINE KEPNES SPOILER BOOK REVIEW:

I have been meaning to do this for a month now so bear with me! I wanted to finish it in time for the fourth installment to come out and I’m SO REEAAADYY FOR MORE JOE GOLDBERG CONTENT <3

SPOILER-FREE REVIEW HERE

My Score Chart:

0 Stars = Hate it/ Regret reading it

1 Star = Meh, not for me

2 Stars = Ok/ neutral

3 Stars = I liked it

4 Stars = I loved it

5 Stars = One of my favorite books ever!

Overall Rating and Basic Summary: 3.5 Stars

Out of the three You books I have read [as the fourth installment, For You and Only You (2023) just came out in April and I haven’t had a chance to start it yet] this is my second favorite. My favorite is the first book in the series, You (2014) [4 stars], and my least favorite so far is Hidden Bodies (2016) [3 stars]. If you are a fan of the first two books or the tv show I would recommend reading it, however, book 3 and season 3 are completely different in almost every way possible, so make sure you can separate them. I read You Love Me after completing season 3 so I was able to keep them apart. However, if I had read the book first, I may have been nitpicking the series for diverging so much from the text. YET, in the show’s defense, season 3 was filmed before book 3 came out, hence the major differences of the storylines and character arcs.

Similarities and Differences to season 3 of the tv series:

While the tv show follows the first two books pretty closely, season 3 takes place in California in a small suburban town where Joe and Love are married and raising their newborn son, Henry. Love just opened a bakery (Sweeney Todd vibes) and Joe is working at the local library. Murder ensues and lots of cheating and scandal yada yada. His main love interest outside of Love is a librarian named Marienne Bellamy who has a past of substance/ drug abuse and is doing her best to remain clean to gain custody of her elementary-school aged daughter. Something that I appreciated about the casting of Marienne in the television show is that she is played by Tati Gabrielle. I first saw Tati Gabrielle in The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina and really liked her in that because she was very sassy and beautiful. She is a black actress and is the first person of color that we have seen Joe be interested in which is nice to add some diversity to the story and the screen.

In the book, Joe is living without Love and Henry in Washington state and he is working at a library. Of course, he soon becomes interested in his librarian boss named Mary Kay DiMarco. In the book, the only diversity Mary Kay really has is a rocker aesthetic which I’m guessing is because they are near the Seattle grunge scene. Perhaps these women are personifications of the places they are from as Love is glamorous Los Angeles and Beck is preppy New York.

Other than Marienne and Mary Kay both working in libraries, being mothers, and having names that start with “M,” they are completely different characters. All of the annoying neighbors and cheating storylines from season 3 don’t exist in the book which I am grateful for since I couldn’t stand those aspects. Regardless, I really enjoyed the first couple episodes and last episode of the season 3 of the tv show. Season 3 had a lot of boring filler plotlines, but Love murdering again right out of the gate and Joe ultimately killing Love and faking his own death were very tense, fun scenes to watch. I enjoyed his Peter Petigrew moment of leaving a digit behind for the police to find.

In the novel, we have a bunch of new characters for Joe to interact with. Mary Kay has two toxic friends, Melanda and Seamus aka “Shortus,” plus a has-been rock n’roll husband with infidelity issues, Phil. Of course, Joe doesn’t approve of any of these people in her life and tries to remove them. He sees himself as a soon-to-be step-dad who is making life better for Mary Kay and her teenage daughter, Nomi whom he calls “Meerkat.” In this version, Love and baby Henry are in and out of Joe’s life as well as the Quinn’s kinda-sorta-hit-man, Oliver.

All of these new characters rubbed me the wrong way and I think that’s exactly what Kepnes intended to do. Melanda was such a fake feminist and a fake friend. Her lies and manipulation toward Mary Kay were hurtful and were so immature that I was somewhat relieved when Joe kidnapped her just to give Mary Kay a break. When Melanda killed herself while trapped in Joe’s house that was where the story first got interesting for me. Seamus also annoyed me immediately because he felt like a huge incel. I definitely agreed with Joe and thought he was hanging around Mary Kay the whole time because he was jealous of Joe for getting Mary Kay’s attention. When they revealed that he was sleeping with Nomi I. WAS. SHOCKED. I didn’t really have an opinion on Nomi until the end. Her obsessions with Columbine and Woody Allen kinda freaked me out. Am I the only one who didn’t see her coming onto Joe until the end? Oliver was kinda funny, but I did not like him blackmailing Joe. The feelings I have toward Joe.... maybe I should check on that. Haha. Phil was the worst. From his narcissism to his drug addiction and gaslighting toward Mary Kay... He was so yucky.

I thought that the build-up of the plot was a bit slow until about 100-150 pages which felt very heavy on the exposition of what happened between books two and three. The strength of this book was absolutely the climax. The last 100 pages were an absolute WILD ride and I felt like I was truly on a rollercoaster with the back-to-back twists. It’s really hard to surprise me with a twist, so this was excellent! I did not see Love trying to kill Joe and herself. That scene was super terrifying. I knew he would survive since there was another book coming out, but I wasn’t sure if Love would die or not --- she did --- since it is so different from the show. That coupled with Seamus kidnapping Joe and torturing him was not something I saw coming. It reminded me of The Most Dangerous Game. I was glad that Oliver saved him, even if it was just to keep Joe under his thumb. Lastly, I figured that Mary Kay would die at some point, but not until the next novel. Her death was surprising since I didn’t see it being an accident, especially not one caused by her own daughter!

Me after I finished book 3:

Would I recommend reading this book?

YES, but only if you read the other two first. I don’t think you have to watch the show to enjoy the books, but Joe references past characters often and I think it’s important to read the prior two books to understand his psyche. There are some fun references to Hannibal and American Psycho.

Would I read this book again?

Honestly, I sort of want to re-read it already because I just finished season 4 of the series and I just can’t get enough of Joe. Perhaps after I finish book 4 I’ll read them all again.

#Spoiler Review #spoiler book #book review #joe goldberg #caroline kepnes #you #you series #you love me #hidden bodies #Book Recommendations #for you and only you #murder novel #horror novel #thriller novel #mystery novel #you netflix #you season 3 #penn badgley

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YOU LOVE ME (2021) BY CAROLINE KEPNES SPOILER FREE BOOK REVIEW:

I have been meaning to do this for a month now so bear with me! I wanted to finish it in time for the fourth installment to come out and I’m SO REEAAADYY FOR MORE JOE GOLDBERG CONTENT <3

SPOILER REVIEW HERE

My Score Chart:

0 Stars = Hate it/ Regret reading it

1 Star = Meh, not for me

2 Stars = Ok/ neutral

3 Stars = I liked it

4 Stars = I loved it

5 Stars = One of my favorite books ever!

Overall Rating and Basic Summary: 3.5 Stars

Similarities and Differences to the season 3 of the tv series (sans major spoilers other than basic plot and character definition):

While the tv show follows the first two books pretty closely, season 3 takes place in California in a small suburban town where Joe and Love are married and raising their newborn son, Henry. Love just opened a bakery and Joe is working at the local library. Murder ensues and lots of cheating and scandal yada yada. His main love interest outside of Love is a librarian named Marienne who has a past of substance/ drug abuse and is doing her best to remain clean to gain custody of her elementary-school aged daughter. Instead, in the book, Joe is living without Love and Henry in Washington state and he is working at a library. Of course, he soon becomes interested in his librarian boss named Mary Kay DiMarco.

Other than Marienne and Mary Kay both working in libraries, being mothers, and having names that start with “M,” they are completely different characters. Also, all the annoying neighbors and cheating storylines from season 3 don’t exist in the book which I am grateful for since I couldn’t stand those aspects. Regardless, the last episode of the season 3 of the tv show was wild and I enjoyed it.

In the novel, we have a bunch of new characters for Joe to interact with. Mary Kay has two toxic friends, Melanda and Seamus aka “Shortus” plus a has-been rock n’roll husband with infidelity issues, Phil. Of course, Joe doesn’t approve of any of these people in her life and makes moves to remove them. He sees himself as a soon-to-be step-dad who is making life better for Mary Kay and her teenage daughter, Nomi whom he calls “Meerkat.” In this version, Love and baby Henry are in and out of Joe’s life as well as the Quinn’s kinda-sorta-hit-man, Oliver.

Without giving spoilers as to who lives and who dies, I thought that the build-up of the plot was a bit slow until about 100-150 pages which felt very heavy on the exposition of what happened between books two and three. Once the first character is in Joe’s grasp, I began to get interested. The strength of this book was absolutely the climax. The last 100 pages were an absolute WILD ride and I felt like I was truly on a rollercoaster with the back-to-back twists. It’s really hard to surprise me with a twist, so this was excellent!

I feel like I can’t really give the book characters reviews out of 5 because Joe’s perspective of everyone is so skewed. I disliked most of the new characters, but I am not sure how much of that is due to their actual personalities or Joe’s extreme loathing of them. Either way, making a reader feel those emotions is an indicator of good writing since it shows realistic, flawed characters.

Would I recommend reading this book?

Would I read this book again?

Honestly, I sort of want to re-read it already because I just finished season 4 of the series and I just can’t get enough of Joe. Perhaps after I finish book 4 I’ll read them all again.

#spoiler free book review #you #joe goldberg #you love me #netflix #penn badgley #joe and love #love quinn #you series #caroline kepnes #Book Recommendations #book review #murder novel #thriller novel #mystery novel #horror novel #you netflix #you season 3

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wanted to paint these owls

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Hieu Minh Nguyen, from “Nguyen”, Not Here

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One Day (2009) by David Nicholls - Spoiler Free Review

This morning I finished a lovely, bittersweet romance novel by David Nicholls called One Day. Despite the fact that it was published nearly 15 years ago, this is a spoiler free review in case you haven’t read the book or seen the film. I have only seen the film once and it was before I read the book. I didn’t actually enjoy the film very much because it felt like it was lacking. What was it lacking? I’m not sure. It just felt like it was missing something. While I swoon over Jim Sturgess as Dex (because I’ve had a crush on him since Across the Universe in 2007), I didn’t really like Anne Hathaway in the role of Emma because I hated her British accent. However, I decided to give the book a try as I tend to believe that books are better than films since they hold so much more content. I’m very happy that I did because I really enjoyed the original text. In addition to this review, a spoiler-filled review of the book will also be posted if you want to compare your opinions to mine after you complete the story.

Overall Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

There are many parts of this story that are a bit cliche. Boy meets girl, they have crushes on each other, spend the next grand amount of time avoiding their true feelings for each other, they (may or may not) get together. YET, the emotion and the humor these characters had toward each other was so moving. The dialogue was top notch and I honestly had to look up quite a few phrases and words because I am not familiar with all of the British jargon.

Plot and Structure: 3.5 out of 5 stars

Nicholls’ choice to revolve a story around one day a year was a bit refreshing because it allows so much more growth for the characters. Instead of the story being crammed into a few short years, it spans over twenty years and the characters have many ups and downs from their twenties to their forties. I also enjoyed that the story was mostly chronological except for Part Five which seamlessly went between 1988 and the mid 2000s.

Docking points only for the cliche plot aspects that all romance novels do to make the tension last longer.

Characters: 4 out of 5 stars

Even though I prefer first person, I think his choice of third person limited made quite a wonderful story to go back and forth between not only Em and Dex, but also Ian, Slyvie and a few one scene characters. At times I LOATHED Emma and Dexter when they were whining or making terrible choices, like dating the wrong person to avoid loneliness, drinking to drown out the sadness, staying in the wrong job because they’re unconfident, and lying to each other. At other times I wanted to give them a hug and a kiss and tell them I was proud of them, especially at the end of the story.

I think my favorite character was actually Ian Whitehead, who is Emma’s partner for a time. I admired his desire to go for his dreams even if they were a long shot, his loyalty to Emma, and his choice to take the high road in the end. There was one point that I didn’t like his character when he and Emma were fighting, but to be honest, if I was in his position, I probably would have felt the same way!

Themes, Motifs, & Symbols: 3.5 out of 5 stars

St. Swithin’s Day:

Yin and Yang:

Making a difference:

The first lines of the novel are these quips between Em and Dex:

E: “I suppose the important thing is to make some sort of difference... you know, actually change something.”

D: “What, like ‘change the world,’ you mean?”

E: “Not the whole entire world. Just the little bit around you.”

This theme is super important throughout the whole story as they both take on the world in their own ways. It is very heart-wrenching when it comes full circle at the end. I think they did both make an impact on the “little bit around” them, but just not in the ways they expected.

Re-readability:

#one day #david nicholls #romance novels #book review #spoiler free review #spoiler free book review #anne hathway #jim sturgess #british novel #british literature #british book #book to movie #st swithins

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