The Walk-In Closet by Abdi Nazemian {Summer Reading Challenge Review}

This post is sponsored by BookSparksPR in honor of their 

4th annual Summer Reading Challenge. Check out all the details here.

Title : The Walk-In Closet

Author: Abdi Nazemian

Publisher: Curtis Brown Digital

Release Date: May 21, 2014

Summary from GoodReads:

Kara Walker has never found much glamour in her own life, especially not when compared to the life of her best friend Bobby Ebadi. Bobby, along with his sophisticated parents Leila and Hossein, is everything Kara always wanted to be. The trio provides the perfect antidote to what Kara views as the more mundane problems of her girlfriends and her divorced parents. And so when the Ebadis assume that Kara is Bobby’s girlfriend, she willingly steps into the role. She enjoys the perks of life in this closet, not only Leila’s designer hand-me-downs and free rent, but also the excitement of living life as an Ebadi.

As Kara’s 30th birthday approaches, Leila and Hossein up the pressure. They are ready for Kara to assume the mantle of the next Mrs. Ebadi, and Bobby seems prepared to give them what they want: the illusion of a traditional home and grandchildren. How far will Kara be willing to go? And will she be willing to pull the Persian rug out from under them when she discovers that her own secret is just one of many lurking inside the Ebadi closet?

My Take: While I was reading the book, I thought I was watching a TV show. You the ones that your don't want to admit you watch, your guilty pleasure shows, that you can't  miss. I liked it. It kinda reminded me of the Shahs of Sunset, anyone else watch it? It was such a fun read. 
I really enjoyed reading it mostly because of the characters. They were each intriguing, and I was wanting to know what was going to happen with them. Kara Walker gets swept off her feet by the lavish lifestyle that her friend's family live. She gets so swept up by it, that when her friend's family assumes they are boyfriend and girlfriend neither of them contradicts it. Kara likes being Bobby's "girlfriend" because she gets to go to lavish parties, and gets pricey hand-me downs from Bobby's mom. Bobby, uses the so-called relationship to his advantage, and uses it to hide one of the biggest secrets from his conservative, wealthy Persian parents. 
I really enjoyed reading it, and it's a great book for the summer. It was wit, and humor, an inside peek of cultures you might not otherwise read about, fun characters, and great plot twists. 

Rating 4 out 5 
My other Summer Reading Challenge reviews: Love and Other Foreign Words by Erin McCahan Cure for the Common Breakup by Beth Kendrick The One and Only by Emily Giffin The Witch of Belladonna Bay by Suzanne Palmeiri The Revealed by Jessica Hickman
Find my other reviews here: Book Thoughts

The Witch of Belladonna Bay by Suzanne Palmieri {Summer Reading Challenge Review}

This post is sponsored by BookSparksPR in honor of their 

4th annual Summer Reading Challenge. Check out all the details here.

Title : The Witch of Belladonna Bay

Author: Suzanne Palmieri Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin Release Date: May 13, 2014

Summary from GoodReads:

It’s the trouble you aren’t expecting that gets you. And it’s all around you, Bronwyn, it’s all around you like the air.…

Bronwyn "BitsyWyn" Whalen hasn’t set eyes on the red dirt of Magnolia Creek, Alabama, for fourteen years—not since her mama died. But with her brother, Patrick, imprisoned for the murder of her childhood best friend, and her eccentric father, Jackson, at his wits’ end while her eleven-year-old niece, Byrd, runs wild, Bronwyn finds herself once again surrounded by ancient magnolia trees and the troubled family she left behind. She becomes immersed in a whirlwind of mystery and magic as she tries to figure out what really happened that fateful night her friend died. And as her bond with Byrd deepens, Bronwyn must face the demons of her past in order to unravel her family’s uncertain future.In Suzanne Palmieri's thrilling new novel, The Witch of Belladonna Bay, readers will learn if love and magic are enough to bring a broken family back together

Quotes:

"Why do you suppose we do that push ourselves away from those we love right when we need them the most." - Wyn

My Take: First, let me say that although I'm a scary cat on the surface, deep, reallly really deep down I love everything about witches, spells, magic, all the mysterious things. And this book had that and more. 
This book was magical. It pulled me in every time I read it. I felt the magic that the characters had. But the book was more than just magic, it was about finding forgiveness, finding oneself, it was about not hiding who you really were. 
The book was told in the perspective of three very powerful and unique "witches." The story started when Naomi was outcasted by her family for having powerful "strange ways." Out of fear they put Naomi in an asylum, until her aunt and a handsome man saved her from it all. But while in there, Naomi decided to run away from her strange ways, she hid her powers and turned to drugs to block them. 
While on opium, Naomi pushed everyone away including her children. Her daughter Bronwyn, needed her mother the most, and when Naomi pushed them away she was hurt the most. When Naomi overdosed, thinking it was her fault, Bronwyn ran away and never looked back. Until now.
The town is struck with a murder. And Patrick, Bronwyn's brother is in prison. Bronwyn's goes back home and is surrounded with magic and mystery and an eleven-year-old niece, Byrd, who has "strange ways" like her mother. 
While at home, Bronwyn's learns and uncovers a lot of her past that she kept buried for the fourteen years she was away. But with the help of the immense love she has for her niece Byrd, she was able to forgive her mom, and herself, and her father for everything that happened in the past. 
If you like mystery and magic, I highly recommend it. 

Rating: 4 out of 5

My other Summer Reading Challenge reviews: Love and Other Foreign Words by Erin McCahan Cure for the Common Breakup by Beth Kendrick The One and Only by Emily Giffin
Find my other reviews here: Book Thoughts

If you had a super power, what would it be and why?

The One & Only by Emily Giffin {Review + Photos}

This post is sponsored by BookSparksPR in honor of their 

4th annual Summer Reading Challenge. Check out all the details here.

Okay so this post is going to be a long one.. The first part will be all about the book review, which I highly recommend. The second part will be photos of the Book Signing I went to with Emily Giffin. Ahhhhh.. Sooo excited. And someone very special and sexy made an appearance. :)

Title : The One & Only

Author: Emily Giffin

Publisher: Ballantine Books

Release Date: May 20th, 2014

Summary from GoodReads:

Thirty-three-year-old Shea Rigsby has spent her entire life in Walker, Texas—a small college town that lives and dies by football, a passion she unabashedly shares. Raised alongside her best friend, Lucy, the daughter of Walker’s legendary head coach, Clive Carr, Shea was too devoted to her hometown team to leave. Instead she stayed in Walker for college, even taking a job in the university athletic department after graduation, where she has remained for more than a decade.

But when an unexpected tragedy strikes the tight-knit Walker community, Shea’s comfortable world is upended, and she begins to wonder if the life she’s chosen is really enough for her. As she finally gives up her safety net to set out on an unexpected path, Shea discovers unsettling truths about the people and things she has always trusted most—and is forced to confront her deepest desires, fears, and secrets.

Thoughtful, funny, and brilliantly observed, The One & Only is a luminous novel about finding your passion, following your heart, and, most of all, believing in something bigger than yourself . . . the one and only thing that truly makes life worth living

My Take: I'm loving it. I'm about 80% done with the book. And I really liked it. Yesterday at the book signing they described the book "a mix between Friday Night Lights and When Harry Met Sally". And I think it is a perfect combination. The book takes place in Texas, the capital of football. 
The book follows the life of Shea, a 33 year old, who still lives in her small hometown, where she grew up, went to college, and works. She is OBSESSED with the game of football. She lives, eats and breathes football. She grew up alongside her best friend Lucy. Lucy is the daughter of football coach Clive Carr.  But when a tragic event shakes her close-knit small town, she begins to question her relationships with men, love and even her job. 
Coach Carr has become Shea's role model and "all-time favorite person. " When Coach helps Shea get her dream job working as a sport reporter to Coach's team, she is ecstatic. But soon she realizes that she has to look deep within herself to admit things that  she never admitted before.  I love how Emily Giffin, makes her characters so relatable. Although this is slightly different than her other books like "Something Borrowed" I highly recommend it. And don't worry, if you know nothing about football. It think Emily Giffin does a good way to mesh romance with sports. :) 

Rating: 4 out of  5
My other Summer Reading Challenge reviews: Love and Other Foreign Words by Erin McCahan Cure for the Common Breakup by Beth Kendrick
Find my other reviews here: Book Thoughts

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I was so excited to go to the book signing. Although I went by myself, I did make new friends, which was really cool. Emily Giffin is so down to earth, and so sweet and hilarious. She talked about how The One & Only came about and how she thought it would be a good idea to make football a part of the story. She answered questions about all her books. She talked about how she likes the way she ends her book, "they aren't tied up in a perfect bow" but the characters are in a good place.  She did confirmed that there will be a movie adaptation for Where We Belong. And then talking about movie adaptations this cutie pops in. 

Yes that is Colin Egglesfield aka Dex from the movie Something Borrowed. He is so gorgeous. He even read an excerpt from The One & Only. And yes it was one of the sexy scenes in the book, his favorite. Also, Something Blue will be made into a movie.. Ahhh.. She didn't say when... but it will be done.

It was my first author book sign, and I had so much fun. :) 

What's your favorite Emily Giffin book?

Cure for the Common Breakup by Beth Kendrick {Summer Reading Challenge Review}

This post is sponsored by BookSparksPR in honor of their 

4th annual Summer Reading Challenge. Check out all the details here.

Hi everyone. I'm bringing you another awesome book today. I hope you enjoy the review. 

Title : Cure for the Common Breakup

Author: Beth Kendrick

Publisher: NAL Trade

Release Date: May 6, 2014

Summary from GoodReads:

Welcome to Black Dog Bay, a tiny seaside town in Delaware known as "the best place in America to bounce back from your breakup." Home to Better Off Bed-and-Breakfast, the Eat Your Heart Out bakery, and the Whinery bar, Black Dog Bay offers a haven for the suddenly single.

Flight attendant Summer Benson lives by two rules: Don’t stay with the same man for too long and never stay in one place. She’s about to break rule number one by considering accepting her boyfriend’s proposal—then disaster strikes and her world is shattered in an instant.

Summer heads to Black Dog Bay, where the locals welcome her. Even Hattie Huntington, the town’s oldest, richest, and meanest resident, likes her enough to give her a job. Then there’s Dutch Jansen, the rugged, stoic mayor, who’s the opposite of her type. She probably shouldn't be kissing him. She definitely shouldn't be falling in love.

After a lifetime of globe-trotting, Summer has finally found a home. But Hattie has old scores to settle and a hidden agenda for her newest employee. Summer finds herself faced with an impossible choice: Leave Black Dog Bay behind forever, or stay with the ones she loves and cost them everything

Quotes:

"You know how everyone around here is always saying, 'Don't be bitter - be better'?" "Well, when I first got here, I thought that was bull. I wanted to be bitter. I aspired to it. Because I thought that would protect me. I'd never get my heart broken again, because I'd never be stupid enough to get close to anyone again."

My Take: This book was such a great book. I recommend it to anyone who loves chick lit,  fun summer reads, anyone who loves a good, funny story. Basically everyone. I could not put it down. 
I fell in love with Dutch the moment that Summer ran over his roses. I loved the little sister, Ingrid. I wished I could be friends with the whole town of Black Dog Bay. And as for Summer, I wish that she was my best friend, or that I could be her. 
Summer is a sassy, gorgeous, outspoken, and stubborn. She gets what she wants. For the most part I loved her outspoken personality. But at other times I just wanted to slap her out of her bitterness and make her realize that love does exist. 
Call me naive, but I'm a hopeless romantic at heart, and Summer is anything but that. This beautiful, world traveling flight attendant, has not been able to keep a boyfriend for too long. And she admits to being bitter as a way to protect not only herself but her heart. She has been hurt in the past and she will do anything to protect her self from "real" love. 
But when the last flight she worked on, has to make an emergency landing and catches on fire, it scars her for life. She heads to Black Dog Bay, known as best place to recuperate from a breakup, not really knowing what to expect from the tiny town. She never expected that she would fall in love with the town, the residents and Dutch. Summer taught Dutch to have fun  and to let go and Dutch taught her to believe in love. Will he be the one that actually makes her settle down. 
The book was a fun, light read. Perfect for a summer read. I highly recommend it. :)

Rating: 4 out of 5

My other Summer Reading Challenge reviews: Thank you BookSparks for letting me a part of this Summer Reading Challenge Book tour. Love and Other Foreign Words by Erin McCahan
Find my other reviews here: Book Thoughts

Love and Other Foreign Words by Erin McCahan {A Book Review - Summer Reading Challenge}

This post is sponsored by BookSparksPR in honor of their 

4th annual Summer Reading Challenge. Check out all the details here.

Hi okay. So I'm really excited to bring you this post. So summer is coming. And I get most of my reading during the summer. So when I heard about BookSparksPR Summer Reading Challenge I knew I had to join in. I will be participating as a reviewer of 13 amazing books, from today all the way to August. So excited, it's my first time. And you know me, I love books, and I especially love to recommend books. So here is the first one up. 

Title : Love and Other Foreign Words

Author: Erin McCahan

Publisher: Dial

Release Date: May 1, 2014

Summary from GoodReads:

Perfect for fans of John Green and Rainbow Rowell, Love and Other Foreign Words is equal parts comedy and coming of age--a whip-smart, big-hearted, laugh-out-loud love story about sisters, friends, and what it means to love at all.

Can anyone be truly herself--or truly in love--in a language that's not her own?

Sixteen-year-old Josie lives her life in translation. She speaks High School, College, Friends, Boyfriends, Break-ups, and even the language of Beautiful Girls. But none of these is her native tongue--the only people who speak that are her best friend Stu and her sister Kate. So when Kate gets engaged to an epically insufferable guy, how can Josie see it as anything but the mistake of a lifetime? Kate is determined to bend Josie to her will for the wedding; Josie is determined to break Kate and her fiancé up. As battles are waged over secrets and semantics, Josie is forced to examine her feelings for the boyfriend who says he loves her, the sister she loves but doesn't always like, and the best friend who hasn't said a word--at least not in a language Josie understands

Quotes:

So what is love...? It is a connection, almost like a private language between two people, or an invisible dance. It is an invincible force that binds us to one another and can never be broken.  Stretched and tested, even worried about, but never temporary, never fleeting, never broken.

My Take: I really enjoyed the book. And I think it was mostly because of Josie. Josie is funny, witty, smart, sarcastic and she had me giggling throughout the book. 
The book follows a very smart high school student who is also a sophomore in college. Her family calls her the "gifted" because she is very smart, and pretty much questions everything about life, and knows everything about life, well almost everything. Except about one thing.. Love. 
When her closest sister, falls in love and gets engaged, Josie freaks out and sets out a plan to break her sisters engagement apart. She didn't understand that her sister was really in love, all she saw was that her sisters fiancee, a guy names Geoff, whom Josie cannot stand, was taking her confidante away from her. 
When her sister tells her she knows nothing about love, Josie sets out to try to find out what love is. She goes out with a boy named Stefan but fails to fall in love with him and ends up breaking his heart. She then has this out of body connection with Ethan, which she claims was love at first sight, but realizes that it is not so.    Josie realizes that everyone has their own language. And she has become a pro at translating different modes of speaking when she is with different groups of people, from her Volleyball friends, to her best friend Stu, to the language of high school and college, to her home's language. She has been able to translate all of them to her own language, Josie. But the one language she fails to translate is that of Love. She has a hard time grasping it. But who doesn't, I know I have had and still have a hard time grasping the idea of Love and I'm 24. 
At the end, this over-thinking, witty, sarcastic teenager, realizes that Love is a language on its own. Love has multiple meanings. But most of all it is a language between two people. She admits, which by reading the books you will know that Josie will hardly admit that she is wrong, that she doesn't understand what love is, but is open to explore it. 
I liked  the book. Like I said it was witty and smart, and funny. Sometimes Josie frustrated me by being a little selfish, and other times I sided with Josie and agreed with everything she said. I think this book would be a great for Summer Reading. 

4 out of 5

Find my other reviews here: Book Thoughts Thank you again to BookSparks for letting me be a part of this Book Blog Tour for amazing books. 

What does love mean to you?

Wild {A Book Review}

Title : Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail

Author: Cheryl Strayed

Publisher: Knopf

Release Date: March 20th, 2012

Summary from GoodReads:

A powerful, blazingly honest memoir: the story of an eleven-hundred-mile solo hike that broke down a young woman reeling from catastrophe—and built her back up again.

At twenty-two, Cheryl Strayed thought she had lost everything. In the wake of her mother's death, her family scattered and her own marriage was soon destroyed. Four years later, with nothing more to lose, she made the most impulsive decision of her life: to hike the Pacific Crest Trail from the Mojave Desert through California and Oregon to Washington State—and to do it alone. She had no experience as a long-distance hiker, and the trail was little more than “an idea, vague and outlandish and full of promise.” But it was a promise of piecing back together a life that had come undone. 

Strayed faces down rattlesnakes and black bears, intense heat and record snowfalls, and both the beauty and loneliness of the trail. Told with great suspense and style, sparkling with warmth and humor, Wild vividly captures the terrors and pleasures of one young woman forging ahead against all odds on a journey that maddened, strengthened, and ultimately healed her.

Quotes:

“I knew that if I allowed fear to overtake me, my journey was doomed. Fear, to a great extent, is born of a story we tell ourselves, and so I chose to tell myself a different story from the one women are told. I decided I was safe. I was strong. I was brave. Nothing could vanquish me.”

My Take: Ever since the book was on Oprah's Book Club and then when it won an award on GoodReads this year, I was so antsy to read it. It had been on my TBR list for a while, but I never picked it up. When I got chosen to give this book for World Book Night I knew it was meant to be. 
I read it and loved it. It came at a perfect time, with my quarter-life crisis, and after reading Cheryl's story I knew it was going to be okay. There has been mixed reviews about it, but I think it was so good. It was inspirational. 
Cheryl's life turned upside down when she found out her mother was dying. And when her mother passed, Cheryl's life spiraled down, along with her marriage and what was left of her family (her brother and sister). She got into drugs, she got into unhealthy relationships, she missed her mom, and wished to have her family back, she divorced her husband. 
Four years after she felt she lost everything when her mom passed, she decides to go on a three month trail. It was her first hiking experience, and who on Earth decided to hike two states without experience is beyond me. But Cheryl went in confident, not really knowing what was it she was supposed to reveal about herself at the beginning. But soon she realized that she was not prepared at all, she saw numerous snakes, and bears, and a fox. She hiked through the scorching desert, and one of the harshest cold and snow,  and even hiked through the rain.  
This woman was a trooper. I felt the cold when she was freezing. And felt hopeless when she ran out of water and money. Was happy when she found the water, and when she got her new boots. This book was about Cheryl's adventure to find some part of her that was lost. She was the true Queen of the Trail. And after reading this, it made me want to have the courage to go on a soul searching, three month, 1,100 mile hike or to, just have a slight thought about doing something like this.  

4 out of  5 pendants

Find my other reviews here: Book Thoughts Have you ever wished to go out into the world to find the piece you think is missing? Or to just explore the world?

Between The Devil and the Deep Blue Sea {A Book Review}

Title : Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea

Author: April Genevieve Tucholke

Publisher: Dial Books

Release Date: August 15th, 2013

Summary from GoodReads:

You stop fearing the devil when you’re holding his hand…

Nothing much exciting rolls through Violet White’s sleepy, seaside town… until River West comes along. River rents the guest house behind Violet’s crumbling estate, and as eerie, grim things start to happen, Violet begins to wonder about the boy living in her backyard. 

Is River just a crooked-smiling liar with pretty eyes and a mysterious past? Or could he be something more?

Violet’s grandmother always warned her about the Devil, but she never said he could be a dark-haired boy who takes naps in the sun, who likes coffee, who kisses you in a cemetery... who makes you want to kiss back. 

Violet’s already so knee-deep in love, she can’t see straight. And that’s just how River likes it.

Blending faded decadence and the thrilling dread of gothic horror, April Genevieve Tucholke weaves a dreamy, twisting contemporary romance, as gorgeously told as it is terrifying—a debut to watch

Quotes:

“Freddie often told me that you've got to be happy when you can, because life won't wait for you to take the time. And she was right.” 

My Take: Gothic, dark, suspenseful, mysterious, edgy, are all perfect adjectives to describe this book.  From the first page you read you sense something a bad is going to happen, but the title does that to you, and just the word devil does that to you.
River West, is evil, close to what you expect the devil to be. At least that is what Violet thinks of him, when she finds out the bad things that he has done around her quite town. Yes River is evil, but deep inside he is a good guy. We find ourselves, along with Violet justifying the things that River does. The people River hurt, had it coming, they were bad people. But you just couldn't help but like him. But at the same time, I found myself screaming at Violet and sometimes at myself for falling for River even after his evil-ish actions. 
But the book is more than River and evil, its about history, control, love and family. After her grandmother dies and her parents leave for Europe, Violet feels the need to hang on to anything that reminds her of her grandmother and her family. She fights with her brother all the time, but he is the most important person in her life. River struggles with his evil power and is losing control of it. But when an unexpected visitor comes, their idea of evil that is River is nothing compared to what they encounter. This new evil is seems to be stronger and madder (crazy) and does causes more destruction that River ever did.
It was great suspenseful book, and I can't wait to read the second book of the series Between the Spark and the Burn

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Check out my other book reviews: Book Thoughts and my Book Challenges.

Everything is Illuminated {A Book Review}

Today's A-Z Letter: E is for.... 

Title : Everything is Illuminated

Author: Jonathan Safran Foer

Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

Release Date: September 3rd, 2013 (ebook)

Summary from GoodReads:

With only a yellowing photograph in hand, a young man - also named Jonathan Safran Foer - sets out to find the woman who might or might not have saved his grandfather from the Nazis. Accompanied by an old man haunted by memories of the war, an amorous dog named Sammy Davis, Junior, Junior, and the unforgettable Alex, a young Ukrainian translator who speaks in a sublimely butchered English, Jonathan is led on a quixotic journey over a devastated landscape and into an unexpected past.

As their adventure unfolds, Jonathan imagines the history of his grandfather's village, conjuring a magical fable of startling symmetries that unite generations across time. Lit by passion, fear, guilt, memory, and hope, the characters in Everything Is Illuminated mine the black holes of history. As the search moves back in time, the fantastical history moves forward, until reality collides with fiction in a heart-stopping scene of extraordinary power.

An arresting blend of high comedy and great tragedy, this is a story about searching for people and places that no longer exist, for the hidden truths that haunt every family, and for the delicate but necessary tales that link past and future. Exuberant and wise, hysterically funny and deeply moving, EVERYTHING IS ILLUMINATED is an astonishing debut

Quotes:

“This is love, she thought, isn't it? When you notice someone's absence and hate that absence more than anything? More, even, than you love his presence?” 

My Take: Okay first I must tell you that the book contains adult language and content. 
But I think it is a great addition to the story. What I got from the book was a story of love in unconventional times, and an adventure to find something, someplace and someone to link between the past and the present. 
After his grandfather dies a couple years ago, Jonathan Safran Foer (the same name as the author but it is not an autobiography), sets out to Ukraine to find the woman who saved his grandfather, Safran, from the Nazis. Jonathan is accompanied by a Ukrainian translator, Alex and his grandfather that are hired as his tour guides to help him find the woman in one of his grandfather's photographs. 
He get the story of Jonathan's journey to find his grandfather's savior through Alex's perspective, as he is writing a book about their journey. 
But there is a parallel story being told throughout the book. Jonathan (the character) is writing this semi-biographical, semi-fictional book that starts with the life of his great-great-great-great-great grandmother Bron and ends with the invasion of the Nazi's in the town of Trachimbron and his grandfather's escape. Through the span of six generations we get stories of hurt, death, life, dreams, parenthood, marriage, passion, friendship, betrayal but most importantly Love and Memories. I think in this book Illumination means clarity and understanding of the past or at least trying to understand the past. Both Jonathan and Alex are finding new information about their family's history throughout their journey
It's a novel about a book about stories, told by letters exchanged by the characters. Confusing right? For me it took me a while to get it together in my mind, but once I did I was immersed in Bron's life and her experiences, and later in Safran's life. It left me wanting to know more about the stories and for the book to not end.
I love the way that Foer writes, I've read Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, and it was amazing. His style is different, and weird, and unique, and pretty amazing, and it all works perfectly together. 

Rating: 4 out of 5

What would you want to know most about your family's history? Have you ever read any Jonathan Safran Foer books?

Commencement {A Book Review}

Title : Commencement

Author: J. Courtney Sullivan

Publisher: Knopf

Release Date: June 16, 2009

Summary from GoodReads:

A sparkling debut novel: a tender story of friendship, a witty take on liberal arts colleges, and a fascinating portrait of the first generation of women who have all the opportunities in the world, but no clear idea about what to choose.

Assigned to the same dorm their first year at Smith College, Celia, Bree, Sally, and April couldn’t have less in common. Celia, a lapsed Catholic, arrives with her grandmother’s rosary beads in hand and a bottle of vodka in her suitcase; beautiful Bree pines for the fiancé she left behind in Savannah; Sally, pristinely dressed in Lilly Pulitzer, is reeling from the loss of her mother; and April, a radical, redheaded feminist wearing a “Riot: Don’t Diet” T-shirt, wants a room transfer immediately.

Together they experience the ecstatic highs and painful lows of early adulthood: Celia’s trust in men is demolished in one terrible evening, Bree falls in love with someone she could never bring home to her traditional family, Sally seeks solace in her English professor, and April realizes that, for the first time in her life, she has friends she can actually confide in.

When they reunite for Sally’s wedding four years after graduation, their friendships have changed, but they remain fiercely devoted to one another. Schooled in the ideals of feminism, they have to figure out how it applies to their real lives in matters of love, work, family, and sex. For Celia, Bree, and Sally, this means grappling with one-night stands, maiden names, and parental disapproval—along with occasional loneliness and heartbreak. But for April, whose activism has become her life’s work, it means something far more dangerous.

Written with radiant style and a wicked sense of humor, Commencementnot only captures the intensity of college friendships and first loves, but also explores with great candor the complicated and contradictory landscape facing young women today

Quotes:

“These fucking women really piss me off,' April said. 'Because instead of being elated by the thought of making their own happiness and chasing some crazy dream, all they want to do is narrow their options and do something safe.” 
“Every woman needs secrets,' her mother said with a smile then, her eyes meeting Sally's in the rearview mirror. 'Remember that when you're old like me, pumpkin, because the world has a way of making a woman's life everyone else's business--you have to dig out a little place that's only yours.” 

My Take: I enjoy reading books that revolve around friendship. I'm the type of person who would do anything for her friends. My friends especially my college friends have seen me at my worst. And I am so grateful  that they came into my life when they did. Sometimes I wonder what our friendship would become once we get older, have our careers and get married, start a family. It is scary, to think we might not be that close. 
I love reading book about friendships, especially friendships later on in life, because it makes me realize although it is fiction, that friends will always be there. 
Commencement was one of those books. I immediately related to it, because the characters seemed to real. They are just starting their lives after graduating, each of them struggling with something different, something that as a "recent" grad am struggling to.  I also liked that author wrote the story in each of the characters perspective, making it that much more real. The women were witty and smart and crazy, sometimes for their own good, which made the story that much better. They dealt with all kinds of things in their life. 
Their friendship reminded me of the friendship that I have with my friends, and I guess what I want our friendship to look like. The four of them, Celia, Bree, Sally and April became the bestest of friends those first few months of college. They have shared tears, laughs, drunken nights, dreams, beliefs, disagreements, and secrets with each other. They practically know each other like as if they were sisters. 
I liked reading each of their chapters and catching a glimpse of what they were like individually and with each other. When their story takes a crazy turning point, I cried. The pod was breaking. But that sadness quickly turned into hurt and anger the very last chapter.  I just couldn't believe something like that would happen. 
It was fun, and witty, and crazy and smart. I enjoyed it, except for the last part. Please, don't be a curious monkey and skip to the last part.. hehe I promise you, you will love it even more if you read it from beginning to end.

Do you have a group of friends/family members/people that you can't imagine living without?

The Stastistical Probability of Love at First Sight {A Book Review}

Title : The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight

Author: Jennifer E. Smith

Publisher: Poppy/ Little Brown

Release Date: January 2, 2012

Summary from GoodReads:

Who would have guessed that four minutes could change everything?

Today should be one of the worst days of seventeen-year-old Hadley Sullivan's life. Having missed her flight, she's stuck at JFK airport and late to her father's second wedding, which is taking place in London and involves a soon-to-be stepmother Hadley's never even met. Then she meets the perfect boy in the airport's cramped waiting area. His name is Oliver, he's British, and he's sitting in her row.

A long night on the plane passes in the blink of an eye, and Hadley and Oliver lose track of each other in the airport chaos upon arrival. Can fate intervene to bring them together once more?

Quirks of timing play out in this romantic and cinematic novel about family connections, second chances, and first loves. Set over a twenty-four-hour-period, Hadley and Oliver's story will make you believe that true love finds you when you're least expecting it. 

Quotes: “What are you really studying?"
He leans back to look at her. "The statistical probability of love at first sight."
"Very funny," she says. "What is it really?"
"I'm serious."
"I don't believe you."
He laughs, then lowers his mouth so that it's close to her ear. "People who meet in airports are seventy-two percent more likely too fall for each other than people who meet anywhere else.”
My Take: I loved this book let me tell you why.
The characters seemed real and the story line was not to far-fetched. I really did see this happening in real life. Two strangers, each going through hard times in their life, met in an airport and fell in love in 8 hours. Okay okay, it might sound crazy and maybe creepy, but its not impossible. They really did fall in love at first sight.
Sometimes I hate to admit it, but I'm hopeless romantic, and this book appealed to that side of me. I think I feel in love the moment that Oliver offered to help Hadley watch her luggage. It's crazy to think that you can tell someone your whole story on the course of an airplane trip. And I thought it was cute that Oliver, knowing that Hadley was claustrophobic and had mini anxiety attacks distracted her. 
The relationship that Hadley and her father had broke my heart at times. She just felt this anger towards him for leaving them and now remarrying another woman. But at the end, I was so happy that they both came around. 
It also broke my heart when he found out why Oliver was flying back home, and when Hadley left the wedding to go find him was so heart warming. 
Its crazy how a few minutes or an action or a decision can change the course of life. If Hadley wouldn't have been four minutes late to her first flight, she wouldn't have missed it, and never would've met Oliver. Oliver would have never have helped her reconcile with her dad. 

4 out 5 ratings

Have you ever wondered how your life would've turned out if you weren't late/early, so if had gone to this place rather than that one?

An Abundance of Katherines {A Book Review}

Title : An Abundance of Katherines

Author: John Green

Publisher: Penguin Books

Release Date: January 1st, 2006

 Summary from Goodreads:

When it comes to relationships, Colin Singleton's type is girls named Katherine. And when it comes to girls named Katherine, Colin is always getting dumped. Nineteen times, to be exact. On a road trip miles from home, this anagram-happy, washed-up child prodigy has ten thousand dollars in his pocket, a bloodthirsty feral hog on his trail, and an overweight, Judge Judy-loving best friend riding shotgun - but no Katherines. Colin is on a mission to prove The Theorem of Underlying Katherine Predictability, which he hopes will predict the future of any relationship, avenge Dumpees everywhere, and finally win him the girl.

Quotes:

“What matters to you defines your mattering.”  

My Take: I liked the book. It was okay, and it was a pretty fast read. The book followed Colin after he got dumped for the 19 time by the eighteen girl named Katherine. Colin, a child prodigy had his first girlfriend at age 5 got dumped a few seconds later. This little girl was named Katherine, and the Katherines' kept on coming and with them the heartbreaks. After his latest Katherine he and his best friend set out on a road trip in search to get over his recent heartbreak. 
During their roadtrip, they come to a small town where they meet Lindsey and her mom, Hollis. While helping Hollis with a special project, Hassan, is best friend breaks out of his shell; while Colin sets out to prove his Theorem of Underlying Katherine Predictability, of how long the next relationship will last. 
This Theorem was too confusing for, although no real numbers were needed. But I did love the use of footnotes. I love reading footnotes, it gives us an extra push to read between the lines. And I think it worked for this book. The footnotes along with the whole book was written a quirky and weird way, but it worked beacuse the characters were quirky and weird. 
At the end and with the help of Lindsey, Colin learned that the future is unpredictable. Which I was like really, this big conclusion coming from a child prodigy. He gets his first Lindsey and she gets her second Colin. 
Again, I liked it. Its quirky and fun. It is my first John Green book ever, so I'm looking forward to reading his other novels.

4 out of 5 pendants
Have you ever dated more than one person with the same name?Have you read this book, what did you think?