After I Do by Taylor Jenkins Reid {Summer Reading Challenge Review}

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

Title : After I Do

Author: Taylor Jenkins Reid

Publisher: Washington Square Press

Release Date: July 1, 2014

Summary from GoodReads:

From the author of Forever, Interrupted—hailed by Sarah Jio as "moving, gorgeous, and at times heart-wrenching"—comes a breathtaking new novel about modern marriage, the depth of family ties, and the year that one remarkable heroine spends exploring both.

When Lauren and Ryan’s marriage reaches the breaking point, they come up with an unconventional plan. They decide to take a year off in the hopes of finding a way to fall in love again. One year apart, and only one rule: they cannot contact each other. Aside from that, anything goes.

Lauren embarks on a journey of self-discovery, quickly finding that her friends and family have their own ideas about the meaning of marriage. These influences, as well as her own healing process and the challenges of living apart from Ryan, begin to change Lauren’s ideas about monogamy and marriage. She starts to question: When you can have romance without loyalty and commitment without marriage, when love and lust are no longer tied together, what do you value? What are you willing to fight for?

This is a love story about what happens when the love fades. It’s about staying in love, seizing love, forsaking love, and committing to love with everything you’ve got. And above all, After I Do is the story of a couple caught up in an old game—and searching for a new road to happily ever after.

Quotes:

"That was always the way it was with us. The I love yous and I'm sorrys, the I'll never do that agains and the I don't know what I'd do without yous always eclipsed the thing we were fighting about in the first place. " - pg 23

"We had plenty of time to decide what we wanted. We were still young. And yet I couldn't help but feel a type of disappointment that I'd never felt before: a sense that the future might not turn out exactly the way we pictured it." - pg. 40 

My Take: I've been anticipating reading this book. The book has been all over the place, and I just couldn't wait to read it. 
And it did not disappoint. I got sucked in to the love that Lauren and Ryan had for each other. I feel in love at the same time they feel in love. I was happy when they were happy. And at in those moments when they fought and their relationship started unraveling, I was heartbroken.
In today's world, sadly the divorce rate is higher than it was generations before. And Lauren and Ryan's marriage seems to be heading toward divorce. They have been arguing over little things more often, getting mad at each other. 
Lauren and Ryan soon enough realize that their marriage was not working. They decided to separate. They wanted to use the time apart in order to find a way to fall back in love with each other. During that separation they both learn a lot about themselves and their relationship. 
I loved this book because Taylor Jenkins Reid, doesn't put a blame on one person in the relationship. Instead this book paints a realistic picture of a relationship that is real to a lot of couples a days. I loved it. It was full of emotion, good and bad. It's a book that will make you smile, laugh and maybe even tear up. I highly recommend it!!!  

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 The Walk-In Closet by Abdi Nazemian Find my other reviews here: Book Thoughts

Bless Me, Ultima {A Book Review}

Title : Bless Me, Ultima

Author: Rudolfo Anaya

Publisher: Warner Books

Release Date: first published in 1972

Summary:  from GoodReads:

Antonio Marez is six years old when Ultima enters his life. She is a curandera, one who heals with herbs and magic. 'We cannot let her live her last days in loneliness,' says Antonio's mother. 'It is not the way of our people,' agrees his father. And so Ultima comes to live with Antonio's family in New Mexico. Soon Tony will journey to the threshold of manhood. Always, Ultima watches over him. She graces him with the courage to face childhood bigotry, diabolical possession, the moral collapse of his brother, and too many violent deaths. Under her wise guidance, Tony will probe the family ties that bind him, and he will find in himself the magical secrets of the pagan past—a mythic legacy equally as palpable as the Catholicism of Latin America in which he has been schooled. At each turn in his life there is Ultima who will nurture the birth of his soul.

Quotes:

“It is because good is always stronger than evil. Always remember that, Antonio. The smallest bit of good can stand against all the powers of evil in the world and it will emerge triumphant.” - Ultima

 “Understanding comes with life. As a man grows he sees life and death, he is happy and sad, he works, plays, meets people - sometimes it takes a lifetime to acquire understanding, because in the end understanding simply means having sympathy for people. ”

My Take: Being of  Mexican American decent, I can't believe that I hadn't read this before. But I'm glad that I did pick it up, because Bless Me, Ultima has become one of my favorite books so far. The book is a coming of age book, for Antonio Marez. He seems to be stuck in following the dreams of his mother's people or the beliefs of his father's people. 
On his journey to find who he really is, this six year old, sees a lot of horrible things. Death, evil, and superstitions lay deep in his small town. But when these horrible things happen, there is one woman who the townspeople turn to, Ultima. Ultima is the towns curandera, they call her La Grande, and she has delivered hundreds of babies, has lifted curses and evil things. 
Ultima is getting old, and Antonio's family takes her in to live with them. Instantly, Antionio and Ultima form a bond that seem to have started ever since Ultima delivered Antonio. Ultima takes him under her wing, and Antonio takes care of the old woman. 
Ultima's presence in his house, takes Antonio to various places where evil looms. He begins to question his beliefs, his dreams that have been set for him, and even his religion. But with Ultima by his side, he realizes that even the smallest of Good always defeat the greatest of Evil. 
I really enjoyed this book. Anaya is an amazing story teller. His words captivated me, and although at times I got goosebumps it sucked me back in every time. 

Rating: 5 out of 5
Want to see what I've been reading, check out my other reviews: Book Thoughts 

The Book Thief {A Book Review}

Title: The Book thief Author: Markus Zusak Publisher: Knopf Books 
Release Date: March 14, 2006

Summary: from Goodreads
The extraordinary #1 New York Times bestseller that will be in movie theaters on November 15, 2013, Markus Zusak's unforgettable story is about the ability of books to feed the soul.

It is 1939. Nazi Germany. The country is holding its breath. Death has never been busier, and will become busier still.

Liesel Meminger is a foster girl living outside of Munich, who scratches out a meager existence for herself by stealing when she encounters something she can’t resist–books. With the help of her accordion-playing foster father, she learns to read and shares her stolen books with her neighbors during bombing raids as well as with the Jewish man hidden in her basement. 

In superbly crafted writing that burns with intensity, award-winning author Markus Zusak, author of I Am the Messenger, has given us one of the most enduring stories of our time 

Quotes:

“I wanted to tell the book thief many things, about beauty and brutality. But what could I tell her about those things that she didn't already know? I wanted to explain that I am constantly overestimating and underestimating the human race-that rarely do I ever simply estimate it. I wanted to ask her how the same thing could be so ugly and so glorious, and its words and stories so damning and brilliant.”  - The Book Thief

 My Take:

Have you ever finished a book, and after you closed that last page, you didn't know how you were going to recuperate? Like a book hungover? This book did that to me. 

I found myself not able to put this book down. I thought it was brilliant. The way that Markus Zusak wrote it was amazing. For me the book was heart warming and heart wrenching. I went through a rollercoaster of emotions. 

This little girl, Liesel went through so much in her childhood. And a lot of people went through so much in that world. It's crazy to imagine that Nazi Germany happened less than 80 years ago. All that pain, hurt, death, I can't even wrap my head around it. 

In the years of turmoil, this little girl kept it together, and kept her family together, kept her whole street together. I loved how that fascination of words and books created such a strong bond with her Papa. Reading and stealing those books was what kept Max alive. And eventually she spread that fascination throughout some of the people living on her street. The words she read kept them sane in a world where bombings came down and had seconds to find shelter. 

The basement became a part of Liesel life. She learned to read there. Her bond with her Papa grew there. Secrets were made there. She made a best friend there. She wrote her story there. 

I loved reading this book. I love that the narrator was death itself. My heart stopped everytime there heart stopped. Liesel became like my friend, and Rudy too. At times I wanted to go back in time and just try to rescue those people living in that cruel world. 

A must-read. 

I'm excited to watch the movie soon!!

Looking for more reviews, check out my reviews here: Book Thoughts