The Shippers – Katherine Center

The Shippers – 3.5/5 ✩

The Shippers by Katherine Center follows JoJo as she tries to follow through on a plan to get her childhood crush to fall in love with her. What she doesn’t anticipate is her childhood best friend to help her on the journey… Or, does he actually hinder her?

JoJo is such a fun protagonist and as an avid cruiser, I loved reading a novel set on a cruise ship.

Something that I think is so special about this book is the family dynamics that are at play.

JoJo’s relationship with her relatives is critical to the novel. Her relationships highlight who she is as a person, her flaws, and her growth as a young woman. What also stands out is how the presence of her found family, her childhood neighbors, helps to juxtapose the child she once was with the woman that she’s become.

I also think Katherine Center wrote such a strong male lead. The way that Cooper, JoJo’s childhood best friend, talks to her and about her is something some people can only dream of. While their relationship is filled with miscommunication, its chaos and maturation is a joy on the page.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the digital galley in exchange for an honest review!

Game Changers Series – Rachel Reid

Like most women in our generation, the show Heated Rivalry has taken over my world this winter. Truly, 10000/10 ✩, cannot say enough good things. And because I’m me and I love to read (and also because I couldn’t get enough of the world Jacob Tierney built) I knew I needed to go back to the OG source material and pick up Rachel’s books.

Overall, I really loved the series. I wasn’t sure if I would. Because I love the show so much and we don’t meet all of the books’ characters in the series, I didn’t really think I’d have an interest in many of the books – but boy was I WRONG. And I’ve never been happier to be wrong (and if you know me, you know I hate being wrong!).

I tore through Game Changer, then Heated Rivalry and the Long Game.

Maybe I’m biased because I loved the show so much, but I genuinely feel like Heated Rivalry is a masterpiece. The yearning, the POV shifts, the love Shane and Ilya share.. . It’s masterful. I would re-read this book 100 times over if that wouldn’t be frowned upon by the outside world (although, I think my fellow fans would understand). I also am so blown away by how faithful the adaptation is. I think I’d trust Jacob Tierney with every adaptation going forward. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a page to screen project so faithful.

When I started reading, I chose to read the series completely out of order (going from Game Changer to Heated Rivalry to The Long Game, then to Role Model, Tough Guy, and Common Goal).

What surprised me most about the series though was Role Model. We don’t meet Troy or Harris in the tv series, so to be honest, my interest in this book was almost non-existent when I picked it up.

But I was roped into Troy and Harris’ story from the very first page – I just couldn’t put the book down. I loved Troy’s growth throughout the book and I loved how much his and Harris’ characters juxtaposed each other, while also bringing out the best in each other. I read the majority of the book on a plane, and I remember thinking to myself ‘Wow, these people around me are really missing out’. I had BUTTERFLIES reading this book and I had to resist the urge to sit there and kick my feet smiling the entire time I read. If anyone was watching me, they were probably wondering why I was smiling so big and for so long on our mid-day, six hour flight.

Now that I’ve finished the whole series, I think a ranking is in order. I do plan on re-reading the series, but after my first read through..

My Ranking of The Game Changers books

  1. Heated Rivalry
  2. Role Model
  3. The Long Game
  4. Tough Guy
  5. Common Goal
  6. Game Changer

Now, I KNOW this is a hot take and most people will disagree, but let me justify a little bit.

#1 – Heated Rivalry will forever take the number one spot. I love how fun this book is. Like I said, I love the yearning and I think there’s a sense of joy and a type of character growth in this book that you don’t see in the others. Even though we don’t see Shane and Ilya together as an official couple until the very, very end of this book, I loved the build up and I loved being along with them on their journey as they fell in love and learned how to accept and embrace this love they share.

#2 – I loved the overlaps between The Long Game and Role Model, but I put Role Model above The Long Game because as much as I love Shane and Ilya, I felt happier reading Role Model. Like I said, I loved Troy and Harris and seeing their innocent love blossom into something real was so special. Which leads us into #3…

#3 – The Long Game falls in at #3 because I love the happy moments between Shane and Ilya. There are so many moments I just had to pause and smile. I can’t wait to see so many of these scenes on the screen (especially the wedding with Ruby and Jade and the trophy room scene, OBVIOUSLY). And I understand why this book wasn’t all fluffy and fun and I empathize with Shane and Ilya because I understand why they can’t just come out and be happy. I also understand Ilya’s struggles and I love watching him come to grips with his emotions and not only get to a place where he knows he needs help, but actually acting on it. And I don’t blame Shane for not seeing how much he was struggling, but I also don’t love that Shane could be so blind to what Ilya was going through at times. But that’s not to say I didn’t love the book, because I did. I think I was just hoping some of the story could be happier, but I do understand why it couldn’t be and that’s why it falls at #3 instead of #1 where people usually put it.

#4 – I loved getting inside Ryan’s head in this book. We met him so briefly in Heated Rivalry, so I loved getting more background on his character to fully understand why he was so scared on the plane with Ilya in HR and then seeing him grow with Fabian. Because I read Role Model and The Long Game first, I remember reading how proud Ryan was to see Fabian on stage at his show, and I really enjoyed seeing how they actually came together on the page.

#5 – Seeing Kyle back in this book was a joy and I loved getting into the nitty gritty of Eric’s life. I really enjoyed how these two created a safe space amongst themselves and I loved the yearning.

#6 – This is the other Hot Take… I KNOW people don’t usually put Game Changer as last on their list, but I do have a very specific reason for doing so. Scott and Kip’s love is so crucial to the entire arc in this series and I love them together, but I was SAD during so much of this book. I felt like some parts of it dragged a little too long, and I just wanted Scott and Kip to be able to be together and be HAPPY. And of course, I do understand why they couldn’t be and I really feel for Scott in particular. I never felt like he was trying to string Kip along, in fact, I felt like he was very open and honest with him in terms of what he could give. What I dislike is that he was in a position where he felt like he couldn’t give more, even though he wanted to. The fact that he couldn’t openly be with the person he loves made me sad, and on the flip side, I was sad for Kip because he also deserved to be with someone who could love him openly and honestly. I really do hate to put Game Changer in the bottom spot because I adore Scott and Kip, and contrary to this ranking, they are actually high up there on my list of favorite couples. I just wish they could have been together sooner, but I do love seeing them happy in Common Goal.

I’m curious to see if these rankings will change at all when I re-read. I plan on doing a tandem read and reading the series as it takes place chronologically – so if something changes, loons, I’ll report back!

First and Forever – Lynn Painter

First and Forever – 5/5 ✩

First and Forever by Lynn Painter is about football super fan Duffy Distefano and tight end Connor Cunningham who meet in the midst of a PR nightmare. They instantly hit it off, yet they end up entangled in a fake dating scheme. So, where does the scheme end and where do real feelings begin?

I think it’s safe to say, that much like how Duffy is a football super fan, I am a Lynn Painter super fan. I’ve read each and every Lynn Painter book and I sat down and read this one in one sitting. I simply could not put it down.

If you love banter, then this is the book for you. Very few authors can do banter like Lynn Painter and I sat there laughing the entire time I was reading. I couldn’t wipe the grin off my face (except for those couple scenes where I couldn’t keep the tears at bay, iykyk).

Something else Lynn does really well is write men who fall first and fall HARD and this book was no exception. I loved how goofy Connor could be, but also how much he was willing to work to win Duffy’s heart and how the two of them together were able to match each other’s snark and affection.

Truly, I loved every moment of this book. It ranged from scenes with light banter to conversations that really tugged at the heartstrings. I also thought it was very special how important both of their families were to them and how they were able to share that with each other.

My ONLY piece of criticism is that I wish we got to see a little more of their relationship on the page without their families being there too. It’s clear how much these two care about each other and it’s clear when their relationship progressed, but I also wanted to see just more of them on the page together.

Regardless, I LOVED this book and it’s easily a 5/5 ✩ novel for me. I truly can’t wait for this book to hit shelves and for the world to become engrossed in Duffy and Connor’s love story.

Thank you to NetGalley and Berkley Publishing Group for the uncorrected ebook file in exchange for an honest review!


Stranger Things Have Happened – Katie West

Stranger Things Have Happened – 5/5 ✩

Stranger Things Have Happened is a rom com by Kasie West that follows Sutton and Elijah, a pair of strangers who begin going to couples therapy as part of a bet. Throughout the novel, the lines between what’s fake and what’s real get blurred and both Sutton and Elijah have to determine what means the most to them, the life they thought they had to live or the life they’re realizing they want to live.

Sutton and Elijah couldn’t be more opposite, but they bring out qualities in each other that each one has always wanted to bring to the surface. The chemistry between the pair is off the charts, but that’s not the only thing that jumps off the page. The beauty of this novel lies in the growth Sutton and Elijah undergo together.

When we meet Sutton, she’s uptight, she’s struggling to figure out how, or if she wants, to maintain a relationship with either of her parents, and there’s a part of her that worries if she can even be fun. Similarly, Elijah is a people pleaser and he feels indebted to his father, locking him into a career he doesn’t have a passion for.

When these two begrudgingly come together, it makes them realize not only how much they need each other, but also how much they want to be in each other’s lives. Sutton even makes a comment about how safe she feels with him and notes how she’s never felt this sort of all consuming nature of a relationship before.

This novel is more than a fun, fluffy romance. It’s beauty, it’s growth, and of course, it’s a love story. I laughed with Sutton and Elijah and I cried with them. I loved this novel and I truly can’t recommend it enough.

Also, this cover is STUNNING!

Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press | Saturday Books for the Digital Galley in exchange for an honest review!

P.S. – Elijah is officially added to my ever-growing list of Perfect Book Boyfriends. Read the book, and he’ll be on yours too! ❤

Tell Me Lies

It is with the happiest heart that I finally say goodbye to Hulu’s Tell Me Lies.

I feel like with how negative this post is going to become, I have to start by saying that I love the cast of this show. I think this group of actors are so spectacular, so talented, and truly seem like they’re all such wonderful people. They seem so different from their characters and I’m happy for the success they’re getting from this show.

With that being said, my issues begin with the fact that this series strays so far from the text it’s based on. Tell Me Lies by Carola Lovering is one of the most incredible novels I’ve ever read. I could write essays upon essays about the novel and why it’s one of the best books I have ever read, but for now, I’ll point you in the direction of a piece I did write about Tell Me Lies – click here.

I understand that changes have to be made when you’re adapting something for the screen, I do. One of my favorite shows in the world is The Vampire Diaries and that show strayed so far from the books it’s not even funny. And still, that show was fantastic. But I don’t think Tell Me Lies was. I don’t understand the point in creating an adaptation where you’re going to change just about everything humanly possible about the storyline AND its characters. It can be done well, I suppose, but I don’t think Tell Me Lies was.

I’ve been doing some reading about the series as a whole since I watched the finale and the consensus is that season one is pretty true to the book and seasons two and three diverge. I don’t even agree with this. The Macy/Stephen storyline is so important to Lucy’s story in the novel, and it’s important in the show in the sense that it impacts Lucy’s experience at college, but it doesn’t even hold the same weight. It’s not even in the same ballpark.

Beyond that, the essence of the story isn’t even the same in the show. The novel is a poignant story about how having a relationship with a narcissist can affect your life. How family dynamics can impact your actions, even outside of your family. The characters are morally grey, particularly Lucy’s character, and yet, you see so much growth in her and you understand why she behaves the way she does. You ache with her. You empathize with her. You grow with her.

The Lucy of the Hulu adaptation… I don’t hate her, I usually even try to defend her. I think more than anything, she’s a victim of her circumstances and I don’t think she’s a bad person. But she is not the same Lucy on the page, not by a long shot. And often times, her actions are hard to even defend.

Hulu’s Stephen is infuriating, despicable, never held accountable for his actions. Pretty similar to the book in those respects. But in the book, he feels dynamic, he feels like a real human, he feels like the text book embodiment of a narcissist. In the show, it feels like he exists simply to spite and hurt and manipulate other people. He feels like he’s set up to be the villain that you hate and only hate. In the book, you never like him, but you get inside his head, you see why he behaves the way he does. He feels like a human. Albeit a horrible, despicable human, but a human nonetheless. In the show, I only view him as a villain. He enrages me, much like the other characters in the show.

Throughout much of the series, but this last season in particular, I watched with a scowl, hating – despising even – most of these characters.

Warning: Major spoilers ahead.

I can do my fair share of hating on Stephen but really, what it boils down to is he is a spiteful, narcissistic, jealous little boy who needs to tear everybody else down in order to ATTEMPT to make himself feel good. And I say attempt because I don’t think Stephen is ever actually happy. The way that he just gathers things to use against people when he feels angry at them is disgusting (i.e. Lucy’s tape, Diana’s nudes, Evan confessing to sleeping with Lucy… The list goes on.) The fact that he feels no remorse for Macy, or did we forget about that? I think the only time I actually enjoyed seeing Stephen on my TV screen throughout the entirety of this series was his speech at the wedding. I actually was smiling and laughing so hard because goddamn it, finally everything is just out in the fucking open. And it’s funny how he’s so much of a child that he has to throw this little temper tantrum because he thinks he’s lost to Bree.

Pippa shifted into a hatable, irredeemable woman throughout the show. To cheat on Wrigley is just criminal behavior. To cheat on anyone is horrible in my book, but to cheat on sweet Wrigley… CRIMINAL. And I never liked the way she treated Lucy on the show, but especially this last season… I can’t speak to this personally because I’ve never been involved in a SA case, but what kills me is that Pippa lets Lucy take the fall for everything. I can understand that Pippa doesn’t want to talk about what happened to her, but what I can’t understand is how she couldn’t come forward when she saw how Lucy was being treated and the consequences of taking the fall. How she couldn’t even tell their friends, even Wrigley, what happened. Then, for her to absolutely EXPLODE on Lucy in the series finale when she found out Lucy and Evan had hooked up… Pippa may not be deceptive and evil like Stephen is, but she is NOT a good person and I will stand by that.

Evan morphed into a mini Stephen and it was repulsive. To watch the way he manipulated Bree this season – after going to OLIVER of all fucking people for advice – was just awful. I hated the way he was still friends with Stephen, the way he told Stephen Diana was pregnant, the way he took Bree’s mom to the bar then lied about it, the way he treated Molly (even though I also hate Molly)… Then still got the girl until the wedding? Fuck that shit, man.

Although they’re not main characters, Oliver and Marianne sent me on a downward spiral and they have to be included in my list of grievances. Let’s start by saying this: the way Oliver pries on younger women is sickening. The way he then gaslights them is disgusting. And the way that Marianne is just in on it is icing on the cake. Not only would I have expected Marianne to be a girls girl, but to knowingly allow your HUSBAND to behave this way with young, female students makes you just as bad. I thought Marianne had been on the path to redeeming herself after Bree showed up at their home in the middle of the night, but they way she lured Bree’s mom to campus and got Amanda to turn on Bree… Unbelievable.

I want to hate Bree, but I don’t. I don’t think she’s perfect, but I do think that she has a good heart. I think she’s misguided and I think she can be rash (like sharing Lucy’s tape), but I don’t think Bree is a bad person. To be honest, I feel for her in a lot of ways. Growing up in the foster system couldn’t have been easy. Being gaslit and pried upon by a professor is something I wouldn’t wish upon anybody. Being manipulated by her boyfriend, then feeling like she has to stay in the relationship with the man she doesn’t love and not be in one with the one she does love… I really do feel for her. But could she have been a better friend? Yes. Could she have communicated with Wrigley better and not cheated on Evan? Also yes.

And Diana, as much as I want to hate her, I actually think she’s pretty brilliant. Would I go as far as to say I like her? Probably not, but she’s one of the characters I’m the closest to saying I like. She knows how to stand up to Stephen, she became a friend to Lucy, you could tell she genuinely cared about her friends. But I don’t have much respect for her knowingly cheating with Pippa, nor do I really have respect for her being with Pippa in general because I don’t think Pippa is a good person. It has to say a lot about her character if she’s willing to commit herself to someone with a heart and a personality like Pippa’s.

As for Lucy, I hate seeing how much she changed from when she started college to the person she became when she got kicked out of college. To see her mental state just completely shatter because of Stephen (and because of her “friends”) broke my heart. That being said, she made her fair share of mistakes. I hated how she treated Max, I think she messed up in saying that she was the one with Chris instead of Pippa, I don’t like that she manipulated Stephen in season one (this felt very uncharacteristic of Lucy to me), but I do not think she’s a bad person in the same way that Stephen or Evan or Pippa are. I haven’t watched seasons one or two in awhile, but from everything I can recall, while I think she’s made mistakes, I think every problem she tried to solve and mistake she made came from a good place in her heart. That being said, I disrespect Lucy so much for going with Stephen after the wedding. I think if I really take a step back, she’s probably trying to follow Diana’s advice in making Stephen think everything is his idea, BUT the ending of the novel was so powerful and even though the circumstances in the end of the show weren’t the same as the book, I DO believe that their interaction at the wedding could’ve been the same and Lucy could’ve walked away from him without giving him the time of day and I would’ve felt a similar sense of gratification in her actions in the show as the book.

Lastly, sweet Wrigley. Was he perfect? No. Do I wish he didn’t cheat with Bree? Yes. But do I want them to be together? Also yes. I wish I could understand how Wrigley stayed friends with all of these horrible people with a heart like his. He’s just so sweet and so kind and somehow, always the one who ends up hurt. I respect him and I empathize with him. He gets treated like shit when he’s the only one who is actually kind out of all of these people. We could probably argue Bree is a close runner up, but I’m not willing to defend her just yet. Wrigley gets used and abused by everyone, but he’s the only one who will actually stand up for other people and the fact that he is the reason Stephen didn’t go to Yale (at least, I think he’s the one who made the call) makes me love him even more.

Wrigley aside, these people all treat each other so horribly. They lie. They deceive. They gaslight. No one’s ever held accountable. The way they act doesn’t even feel real. I’ve never loved a Stephen, so I won’t speak to the relatability of his character in that way. But I’m a girl, I have girlfriends, and I would never treat my girlfriends this way nor would I allow myself to be treated this way. If only these goddamn people would just communicate and treat each other with a little grace, it would’ve solved so many of their problems.

I don’t think the point of this show was to showcase good people, but I can’t sit here and say I liked a show where I hated almost every single character.

I REALLY loved this show at the beginning and this post isn’t meant to be a dig at the actors or even the writers. It’s not their fault I didn’t like the storylines. But genuinely, I feel like this whole series was a waste of my time. And to be honest, I feel like there are just so many loose ends still – like how these people still remained friends, the Bree and Wrigley storyline and really not seeing it play out, the Macy story and the lack of accountability, just dropping a quick, rushed comment about how Stephen and Lydia got together… I don’t want to beg for more from a show I very clearly stated I don’t like, but the ending was incredibly rushed and I feel like it did the series as a whole a total disservice. I don’t know if I necessarily believe this was the ending that was always planned as they’re saying – again, it feels too rushed – but please don’t let this become a trend where we announce just hours before the series finale drops that it’s the series finale.

Keep scrolling to see the text I sent my best friend as soon as I finished the show. I know I can be dramatic, but I couldn’t believe how enraged I was at how much they butchered this story.

so I take back every positive thing I’ve ever said about tell me lies (the tv show) they just dropped the series finale and I genuinely am so fucking enraged. every bit of this show was a waste of my time.
from the structure, to the characters, to the story… fuck every moment. this was such an incredible book and incredible story of what it’s like to date a narcissist and the toll it takes on your life and your body and self growth and they ruined that. every bit of it. and they had a chance at the end where it would’ve made sense (despite all the changes from the book, because truly nothing was the same beyond the very beginning) to end it the same way (I am not exaggerating when I say I cried proud tears at the end of the book because of the character growth and that I truly felt so proud and so lucky to have been part of Lucy’s story) and they did not end it the show in that way whatsoever. in fact, I disrespect Lucy so very much because of her actions. they turned this story into a show about deception, lies, gaslighting, and creating the WORST humans they possibly could and took every good thing away from this story. this is one of the most special, most beautifully raw books I have ever read. and it was destroyed as a tv show. and even if I try to look at these two as separate mediums, I can’t even speak positively about it because I did not enjoy this last season in the slightest and I have never hated characters the way I hate these characters. there is ONE single character who maintained goodness throughout the entirety of the show, and even in the end, he’s morally grey. I am so distraught.

Back to the book I go… I need to restore what this story once was in my head.

People We Meet on Vacation

I, like most twenty somethings who love romance novels, have been counting down to the release of the People We Meet on Vacation movie that dropped on Netflix this past Friday.

People We Meet On Vacation follows Poppy and Alex, two best friends who vacation together every summer. Unfortunately, something happens on one of their summer trips, and they not only stop vacationing together, but they stop talking all together. Now, Poppy’s trying to fix whatever it was that went so wrong. 

This is arguably Emily Henry’s most slept on novel, and for me, it’s pretty high up there on my ranking of Emily Henry’s books. 

I could be a little bit biased because let’s face it, I love traveling. There’s very little I like more than hopping on a plane and trotting across a new part of the globe, so a story about traveling really speaks to me (iykyk). But beyond that, I think this novel in particular shows just how incredible a writer Emily Henry is.

A couple of my favorites things in this novel are when Poppy says she rarely notices how different she and Alex are in size because he so often brings himself down to her level or pulls her up to his (Chapter 15). I’m short, but I’ve never really thought of this before, and this line made stop and give a nod to Emily because props to her for this one. I also love when Poppy describes love as being imprinted on her palms , something that’s burned and scorched as proof it was once there (Chapter 23) and I remember everything (Chapter 31, I’m a SUCKER for an “I Remember Everything”, thank you very much, Pacey Witter). And in general, I loved the exploration of what vacation means and appreciating the places you travel and the person that you are in those places and the person you are when you’re with someone else and in love.

I think Emily Henry has a super power in that she’s able to really take a look at the human experience, leave you feeling open and raw and vulnerable, but still give you a love story at the same time. Her books don’t stick with you just because of their characters, but also because of how they make you feel.

I had my popcorn ready and Netflix open on my TV on Friday night, eagerly waiting to press play on the movie, and I tried to remind myself beforehand that I needed to make sure I was looking at these two pieces of art as two separate projects. 

I love this novel, and quite honestly, I think I did myself a bit of a disservice by rereading it the day before the movie came out because I could remember all the little tiny details that I wanted to make it into the film and I was genuinely opening myself up to be disappointed because it’s simply not possible to include everything from a book in its movie. 

I literally took a class on this in college – not everything can translate from page to screen! It’s impossible! And yet, I knew I was going to miss certain things from the pages of the book.

So let me start by saying this – I think this movie is tremendous. I think the writers did an incredible job crafting this film (shoutout to Yulin Kuang, you’re amazing!) and I think Emily Bader and Tom Blyth absolutely killed these roles. Emily is so Poppy it hurts and Tom is so charismatic and brings Alex to life like no other actor could. 

Truly, I think this casting was perfect. I think Emily and Tom have such great chemistry. Watching them laugh together, poke fun at each other, yearn for each other… It was a privilege and I don’t think there are two people better suited for these roles. 

The scenes while they were camping and in New Orleans brought me such great joy and I laughed harder than I’ve laughed watching a movie in well… I don’t know. That’s how long it’s been since a movie made me smile and laugh the way this one did. And I know I said it already, but Emily seriously took on the role of Poppy so, so well. I don’t know anything about Emily Bader, I’ve never seen her in any other projects, but she was meant to play Poppy and you will never convince me otherwise.

So, objectively speaking, this movie is lovely. For a romcom lover, some might even say this movie is perfect. Really, I loved it. 

But as a reader and a lover of the book, I can’t lie and say I didn’t have my issues. No matter how hard I try to remind myself that these are separate entities!!! I do still have my qualms, and honestly, I hate that I’m playing a comparison game.

So let’s play a version of the Hot and Cold Game to try to make it a little more palatable. Some things I was like YES THIS IS PERFECT, some things were kind of lukewarm but I still appreciated because I saw the intent, and some things just made me a liiiitle frustrated and didn’t hit for me.

Here’s where it’s hot for me….

  • Of course, I have to start with the Emily Henry cameo. One thing I will ALWAYS love in an adaptation is when the author makes a cameo in the project. I was grinning from ear to ear when I saw her
  • I LOVED the mimicry of the cover images
    • At the beginning of the movie, you see Poppy sitting on the beach alone reading a book and I was like ‘huh, this is interesting. I’ve seen the picture of Poppy and Alex on the beach like the cover of the book so where is he?!’ and I kind of just brushed it off. BUT WHEN IT CAME BACK AROUND AT THE END and we saw the scene of Alex and Poppy reading on the beach that juxtaposed the scene of her alone on the beach earlier in the movie… GENIUS!
  • I also loved the ending credits. I don’t know if this was the intent, but this is what I saw in my head and I’m sticking with it – the credits reminded me of the You and Me on Vacation cover and I thought this was another stroke of genius
  • I loved the inclusion of Theme Matters
  • I thought the soundtrack to this movie was perfection, minus the Taylor Swift song (yes, I know this will get me some hate. But personally, I felt like the song was out of place and it felt to me like a Summer I Turned Pretty wannabe moment and these two projects are both so special, but they are both very much their own)
  • I liked how even though the apartment Poppy booked in the movie was much nicer than in the book, they still included the tarps lining the doors and windows. Ripping the tarps during the rainstorm then finally kissing Alex was so important for Poppy in the book and I’m glad a version of that made it into the movie.
  • The scene in the bar in new Orleans. Where do I even begin?
    • Let’s start with the wardrobe. It. Was. Incredible. Poppy’s outfit was sheer perfection (if I could go out like that every day (and pull the outfit off as good as Emily did) I WOULD! No one would ever see my real hair again and I’d be pretending I was Donna from Donna & the Dynamos for more than One Night and One Night Only!)
    • This scene was also hilarious. I was grinning and laughing throughout this entire scene. No notes. Absolutely perfect scene.
      • Poppy’s accent, her crazy story, and the DANCE! The. Dance. I loved every moment of this.
  • The scene where they’re camping and Alex comes back naked… This was actually moment #1 where I couldn’t control my laughter. I feel like this scene perfectly captured the young, YOLO energy that college students have – I remember this feeling in my BONES – and the amusement on Poppy’s face and Alex’s mortification turned amusement had be kicking my feet laughing. 
  • I LOVED that Alex got Poppy to run at the end of the movie. An excellent example of SET UP AND PAY OFF! THANK YOU FILM CLASS!

Here’s where it gets warm for me…

  • Keeping lines from the book, but in a different context or edited a little
    • The line “It speaks to me.” – This was big in the book and it was funny because it was a ridiculous thing someone said to Poppy and Alex and they ran with it and turned it into an inside joke. While it was funny in the movie in that Alex ended up carrying the gigantic bear sculpture after saying he wouldn’t (trust me, this got SO many laughs out of me as he struggled to carry that ridiculous piece of woodwork), the fact that it’s Poppy who ultimately said it out of the blue felt too sudden and took the comedy out of the line for me, but I understand why it’s there.
    • In New Orleans, Poppy says, “Too many alcohol”, but in the book, she says, “too many wine.”
      • I KNOW I’m being a stickler, but I love the nod to the book with this line and WHY COULDN’T IT HAVE JUST BEEN THE SAME
  • The back spasm… It worked so well in the book because this is something Alex has faced before, He knows he unfortunately gets back spasms here and there and he knows how to deal with it. The spasms in the book show his stubbornness in not wanting to let someone help him heal, and also shows that he and Poppy have grown up. They’ve been going on vacation together for a decade, they’re not kids anymore. This is just another thing that exemplifies how different these two people are from the kids that became friends. I’m happy that the spasm stayed in the movie, but I don’t think the way it was framed served the story the best it could.
  • Sarah
    • Sarah is interesting for me because I really don’t care about her. I’m pretty neutral on this girl (sorry, just being honest). It’s clear she and Alex don’t belong together, yet there’s something that keeps pulling them together (a little strange that in the movie they’re on again / off again, but I’ll let that part slide). Sarah is not the character I need, but she works in the story because she provides conflict in Alex and Poppy’s story. 
    • She ended up being critical to the story because of the conversation she and Poppy had at the end of the book when they spoke outside of school and she told Poppy where she might be able to find Alex. This conversation humanized her in a way Poppy’s narration hadn’t yet been able to and I liked that. So I do think that even though the film didn’t end with Poppy trying to track down Alex at school and finding Sarah instead, I do like that the two women were still able to have their final 1:1 conversation in the airport.
    • It also was interesting to me that in the film, they chose to make Sarah and Alex high school sweethearts. I’m neutral either way (I think my stance on Sarah is clear), but I did like the idea of her being separate from their home life and I’m curious why they chose to have her from Linfield. 
  • I liked in the book that Alex had plans to potentially move to New York for Poppy before they began rekindling their relationship. It felt sweet and showed how much he loved her. It wasn’t imperative to the story, but I liked it and I missed it in the movie.
  • I also missed Poppy pouring her heart out to Alex in front of her old teachers. Poppy worked so hard to run and run and keep running away from Linfield and for her to go back there for Alex was monumental for her character. Add that onto the fact that she was confessing everything to Alex in front of people who are from the very environment that made Poppy want to leave to begin with made her character arc feel that much bigger. I like that she still had to return to Linfield to talk to Alex in the movie, but the extra layer of doing this in a public setting around people Alex is close to would’ve added another layer to the movie.
  • THEY CUT THE SCENE WHERE ALEX AND POPPY LOOK AT EACH OTHER’S TINDER PROFILES AND ADMIT THEY WOULD SWIPE ON EACH OTHER – this scene was so cute and so fun (and funny) and the all caps may suggest this point belongs in the cold category, I’m not sure. I really did miss this scene, even if it wasn’t necessarily imperative to the story.

Here’s where it gets (very) cold for me…

  • I didn’t feel Poppy’s discontent with her life early enough in the story. I think it’s sort of clear she’s in a little bit of a rut at the beginning of the movie (maybe…), but I think her discontent was SO pivotal to the story and I think the movie lost a lot of depth by not showing that more until after the wedding.
    • That being said, the wedding itself didn’t work for me. Poppy planned this whole trip to Palm Springs in the book in order to mend her relationship with Alex and in the movie, it felt like luck that somehow, hers and Alex’s paths were crossing again. With Poppy being invited to the wedding, it snatched Poppy’s growth away from her. It wasn’t her own desire and maturity and sadness over missing Alex that made her mend the relationship and I think that’s a tremendous loss for the film’s arc and for Poppy’s arc.
    • I like that you do see her discontent in the movie after the wedding, but I really think you needed more of it when the movie began.
  • The movie didn’t take place in Palm Springs
    • It’s not like I was particularly attached to Palm Springs as a backdrop to the story, but I do think location in general is important to the story as a whole. By not having Poppy and Alex embark on another trip together, it took away the opportunity for them to be forced into the same space and forced to come face to face with their issues, literally. (My forced proximity girlies, you get the vibe we were after here)
      • Yes, Alex ended up staying one of the nights in her condo because of the lack of AC and because of the back spasm (props to the writers for keeping these little bits) but those moments didn’t hold as much weight as they could have if Poppy and Alex were staying together and planning to stay together. 
    • I also think the conflict and the banter with the landlord Nikolai gave some comedic relief to the novel, and while it definitely wasn’t imperative to the story, it added something to it that I think was missed in the movie. You so desperately wanted Poppy and Alex to break the tension and Nikolai did that, even in the moments when Poppy and Alex couldn’t with each other.
  • I WANTED (NO, NEEDED) MORE OF THEIR PNEUMONIA TRIP (aka, the cancelled Norway trip). These bits from the book were so meaningful and beautiful and yes, Alex still came to New York to take care of her in the movie, but go back and read Chapter 25 and try to tell me the movie didn’t need more.
  • Their trips to Tuscany and Croatia are combined. This sounds like such a little thing, but two Very Important things happened on each trip and combining them into one RUINS both of those things (in my opinion)
  • This next one is BIG FOR ME and it is the scene where Poppy thinks she could be pregnant. This is one of, if not THE most important scene in the book to me, and I can’t say the same for the movie.
    • #1– It was impossible for this scene to hold as much weight in the movie because it seems that Alex’s mom passed away while he was young, but not during childbirth.
      • This is important because having Alex’s mom pass away when he was so young in the book forced him to grow up. It forced him to be the one who always had it together. It is the reason, or one of the reasons, why Alex hates accepting help so much, and this is a big point of contention and confusion for Poppy and Alex. 
      • It also reframes the way Alex looks at pregnancy. In the movie, his friend could be pregnant with a man’s baby whom she knows she will not last longterm with and he hates that. In the book, Poppy being pregnant could mean Poppy dies. To Alex. He knows firsthand that there can be fatal complications during pregnancy.
        • He is viewing her potential pregnancy in the movie and in the book from two completely different lenses and this did not sit well with me. 
    • #2 – Tied into #1 but deserves its own bullet point, this moment held so much weight to Alex that he literally got a vasectomy after he thought Poppy could be pregnant… Think about that.
      • The way Poppy’s potential pregnancy played out in the book made Alex literally stop in his tracks, quickly revaluate his life, and act on it. He even cried in the moment, which for Alex, is very big. This is not how it felt in the movie.
    • #3 – The aftermath of the pregnancy scare.
      • Starting with Poppy kissing Alex…. Like HUUUUUH??? THEN saying she didn’t mean?! Turning into a ‘what am I to you?!’
        • Poppy, my girl, I love you. But this was bitchy, and you are not bitchy. 
    • #4 – The story devolves even more when Alex. Fucking. Proposes.
      • After you think your best friend could be pregnant, after you kiss, THEN you decide it’s time to propose to your on again / off again girlfriend? Brother, take a second to reevaluate your choices.
        • Here’s why I take particular issue with this:
          • Alex proposes on one of HIS AND POPPY’S VACATIONS. This one is different because it’s a couples trip, yes. But at its heart, it’s still a Poppy and Alex vacation and I think it’s extremely shortsighted and disrespectful to his relationship with Poppy to propose on one of their trips. It does not feel like something Alex would do. To me, proposing on a vacation feels like it goes against Alex’s entire character. 
          • I wanted Sarah to make the marriage comment while she, Alex, Poppy, and Poppy’s boyfriend were together. Because this was the moment in the book that Poppy realized ‘Oh shit, this could actually be serious.’ Instead, Poppy realizes they’re serious about each other because ALEX PROPOSED. It’s truly not a big deal that Sarah’s comment was omitted, but I liked it for the simple reason that it was a moment of realization and growth and a total gut punch for Poppy that I think she needed. And I think she needed it to come from Sarah. Alex proposing emphasizes how much of a different page she and her best friend are on, but hearing it from Sarah shows that yes, maybe they could be on different pages, or maybe, he just doesn’t want to talk about his relationship to Poppy because it doesn’t feel right to him either. If Alex proposes, it solidifies that Alex really is in a different place. If Sarah makes the comment, it still allows Poppy to hope and dream of a future with him.
      • #5 – It felt very unrealistic to me that Alex would ghost Poppy. In the book, it felt more like mutual awkwardness and miscommunication, but it feels like it goes completely against Alex’s Type-A character to simply ghost his best friend whom he clearly cares a great deal about.
  • Some lines that really irked me
    • “Love has never been our problem.” – I would argue that yes, love has actually always been their problem? Granted, they had never spoken those words aloud to each other, but the reason their miscommunications began is because they love each other and they fear that if they say it, they’ll lose each other, no?
    • “As long as I’m with you, I don’t care.” – If this is true, Alex, then why couldn’t you and Poppy work it out in Spain? Why couldn’t you figure out a compromise with Poppy like you were soooo willing to do with Sarah before? (Yes, I realize Alex was settling for Sarah and it wasn’t so much a compromise as it would be settling, but it’s the principle)
    • “I think this is our last trip together.” – This felt out of the blue to me and out of character. I also think that bluntly stating that they wouldn’t be taking anymore trips together made the situation a little too black and white. It might be because we didn’t know what happened between them until late in the book, but it felt more nuanced in the novel than a conversation that explicitly states their traveling days are over.
    • “Since when? / Probably Always.” –– I don’t like Poppy’s indecision and her inability to tell Alex when she fell for him because it just reiterates to Alex how she doesn’t know what she wants. And I think Poppy’s kind of always known the loved Alex, so I don’t know why she can’t just tell him that. They aren’t in a situationship where accidentally telling the other person you have feelings is going to ruin everything; he wanted to know she cared.
    • “I was waiting for you (in Linfield).” – Alex, HUUUH? Maybe you wanted to see that Poppy could grow up, but she made it so clear that she never wanted to stay in Ohio, so why would you wait for her there? I’m all for you waiting for Poppy, but waiting in Linfield feels unrealistic.
  • I missed Poppy describing Alex as Naked Alex. I know this was only said through narration (through correct me if I’m wrong), so it would be hard to include that in the movie without a voice over, but I loved it. I thought it was such a unique way to describe someone you care about and who you really see, and I wish it could’ve made it into the movie. (See chapter 5 where she describes him as Naked Alex for the first time, then continues to do so throughout chapters 7, 18, 27, 31, and the epilogue).

Lastly, some random thoughts…

  • It makes me sad that the movie didn’t take place at the Desert Rose because the Out of Print t-shirt and hat are SO CUTE (I also love the vacation tote bag and t-shirt, but they’re not Desert Rose)
  • I love that they have a dachshund at the end of the movie…
  • This is SO random but IT CONSUMED ME WHILE I WATCHED – the piano music that was playing throughout scenes in the movie… IT SOUNDED JUST LIKE OUT OF THE BLUE BY DEBBIE GIBSON?? LIKE… WAS IT?! I could be so off base here, I have been known to cling onto little rhythms in tv shows and start singing to them, but this sounded way too close to me to NOT be Out of the Blue

So, to summarize, I guess my biggest takeaways are these: I loved the movie and I think it was fun and it if you’re looking for a romcom with old romcom vibes, then this is your movie. I think the acting was spectacular, I love the music, love the wardrobe, and I don’t think anyone could’ve played Alex and Poppy better than Tom and Emily. It made me laugh, it got me teary, and it was a fun romcom. But, I needed to feel Poppy’s unhappiness more than I did for this film to really move me. I also don’t like that Alex’s brother’s wedding was just a wedding – I liked in the book that Alex and Poppy were together to rekindle something, a friendship or more, and then they went to the wedding together. In the movie, the wedding was convenient, but in the book, the act of being together was intentional and that was missed in the movie. Their choice of being together in the book emphasized their growth, maturity, and aging in a way the movie simply wasn’t able to do.

My Overall Rating: 7 / 10

The Odds of You – Kate Dramis

The Odds of You – 4/5 ✩

The Odds of You by Kate Dramis is a beautiful novel about love and self-growth. This is the first book I’ve read by Kate Dramis and it was such a special read.

The cover is what drew me in – it’s STUNNING – and from it, I expected a light and fluffy romance, but in addition to the romance, this is a book that looks at what it means to love yourself as much as you love someone else.

Though there are moments of miscommunication between the characters, at its heart, the book shows you the journey that you can take to reach and maintain a healthy relationship. It’s not always easy, and sometimes, two people simply aren’t ready to jump into a relationship, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t meant to find their way back together. It’s refreshing to see a relationship like this flourish on the page, to see that romance isn’t always fun and easy. It’s a journey, and I’m grateful to have been part of Theo’s and Sage’s.

Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press | St. Martin’s Giffin for the digital galley!

Thirty, Flirty, and Forever Alone – Christine Riccio

Thirty, Flirty, and Forever Alone – 5/5 ✩

Thirty, Flirty, and Forever Alone felt like a masterclass in how to write a romance novel. Genuinely, I feel like I want to study this book — to learn from it, to learn how to write romance and how to write it well. 

There was wit and humor, heartache and heartbreak in these pages and I fell in love with these characters. I just finished the book last night and I’m already craving a re-read.

The characters in this novel feel so real – their flaws are real, their fears are real, and the way they speak about love and what they deserve, and desire, and fear felt so natural and like everything I’ve never known how to put into words. These characters also had such strong backstories that added an incredible depth to the story you don’t always get to see in romance.

I’m a longtime fan of Christine’s novels and I feel like this is a novel where I could see Christine’s voice and her writing style change. She’s matured and grown as a writer, and with it, you see her characters grow in new ways as well. I felt so proud as a reader, of both her and her characters’ arcs. A beautiful novel overall.

Congrats on your adult debut, Christine!

PS. If my man future man doesn’t talk about me the way Reed Tyler talks about Rikki Romona… Then truly, I don’t want him. Let me swoon over Reed a little longer.

The Happy Place Effect … Again?

I’ve been doing a lot of reflecting in the latter of the year. To be honest, this has been the hardest year of my life. I’ve dealt with loneliness, with loss, and with my mental health in a way I never have before.

I referenced this last year when I first wrote about Emily Henry’s novel Happy Place. You can read that here. The reason I wrote about this before is because I was having a tough week, and to try to help with that, I picked up Happy Place. Yes, I already knew the book wasn’t all happy. But I also knew it was going to help me think. And it did.

I was able to really reflect on the place I was at in my life and I was in a better position to go after what I wanted after reading the book.

So when I started struggling again this year, I tried to fix it with the knowledge I gained, but it didn’t help. To be honest, I started spiraling even more. I was feeling so sad, every day. I was feeling like I was doing things out of obligation, not out of desire. There were days I didn’t want to talk to people and there were days when I leaned on people in ways I never have before. I’m not a good leaner, but I realized I needed to be.

I have so many people – I don’t think we realize how much people love us until we need them. And as much as I wish it didn’t take struggle or strife for us to realize this, I’m happy to know how many people I have in my corner and how many people I would be there for in a heartbeat if they needed me.

Even so, I was feeling this crippling sense of loneliness. A type of loneliness I’ve never experienced. When I wrote about Happy Place last year, I wrote about how I thrive being on my own. And suddenly, I wasn’t just on my own, but I was feeling alone. There’s a difference. In the right situation, I’m content in solitude. But what I’m not content with is feeling alone. I know I have all of these wonderful, beautiful, special people in my life, and even when I was physically with them, I felt this crippling loneliness I’ve never felt before.

The loneliness, coupled with my deep-rooted sadness… I didn’t know what to do.

And then, my boyfriend at the time lost someone very close to him. And now, it wasn’t just my world I wanted to fix, it was his.

I have this notorious habit, thinking everything is just always going to be okay. That even if someone gets sick, it’s fine, they’re going to be fine. And this year taught me that that’s not the case.

I should point out, I always knew that it wasn’t the case, but I guess I was lucky enough in my life to let myself keep believing it was.

But suddenly, here I was, being forced to understand and accept that things don’t always work out the way we want. That we experience loss and it’s not okay, but it has to be. The world’s going to keep moving. It’s like that quote from Tuesdays With Morrie – “My old professor, meanwhile, was stunned by the normalcy of the day around him. Shouldn’t the world stop? Don’t they know what has happened to me?”

And shouldn’t it have? But it never does stop.

So here I was. I needed to figure out how to put the pieces of my life back together. And I felt like it was my job now to put his world back together too. It was a task I never could have accomplished, but I still tried.

We’d been dating over a year at this point. We dated for almost six months before we made things official. But the label didn’t matter to me, I loved him before we defined anything about the relationship, and the irony is that I never even told him. And it turns out, at the end of the relationship, the label didn’t really matter either. Before we broke up, I was already starting to have to accept that we weren’t really in much of a relationship anymore. While he was coming to grips with the end of a relationship of his, I was starting to come to terms with the end of mine, silently.

As I tried to figure myself out this summer and bleeding into this fall, I was feeling this sadness over not being able to not feel sad. And I was also grieving this person I had never met. I was crying day in and day out, over a person I didn’t know. And I didn’t feel entitled to any of my grief.

I didn’t think it was fair that this loss was hitting me so hard and I didn’t think it was fair to share any of those feelings with my boyfriend. Why would the loss be affecting me so much when I didn’t even know the person, and how could I ask him to comfort me, when he was dealing with so much worse?

I just put on a good face whenever I could. Sometimes, I surprised even myself with how good I was at it. And other times, I felt like my broken pieces would never be able to fit back together.

So that’s when I picked up Happy Place again. I remembered how much reflecting I did last year when I read it, so what would make this year different? I’d probably get more out of it, right?

Kind of. Just not how I thought.

The book hit way too close to home this time. In the novel, the main character Harriet is coming off a breakup. For simplicity’s sake, I’m going to say that the reason Harriet and Wyn broke up is because when Wyn was dealing with the loss of his father, Harriet felt like she needed to be the one who kept it all together. She felt like she needed to let Wyn feel his emotions, that she needed to be supportive, but not needy. To be okay when he wasn’t. To not ask too much, or to ask anything of him. She knew he was dealing with something much larger than she was and how could she let her emotions take precedence?

This was eye opening for me last year because I firmly stated I never wanted to be like Harriet when it came to dealing with loss and grief and relationships. I wanted to put my best foot forward and go after what I wanted and tell my boyfriend (who wasn’t yet my boyfriend) how I felt. And I did. We started officially dating two days after I posted The Happy Place Effect. And I was so proud of myself for initiating the conversation and really putting out there what I wanted.

But when I read the book this summer, I realized that yes, I did that. But I didn’t keep doing it. In fact, I actually did exactly what I said I didn’t want to do. I reverted back to the chill, go-with-the-flow type of girl in our relationship. And when dealing with grief, I did exactly what Harriet did. I put his emotions above my own (to be honest though, I still stand by that), but I also didn’t ask for too much, I tried to talk about my emotions as little as possible, I tried to need as little as possible. But I wasn’t being fair to myself, and if I’m really honest, it wasn’t that fair to him either.

We’ve broken up since, and I’ve realized one big, big thing: no matter how fast and how far I run, I’m still there. My struggles and my emotions, they’re still there. Okay, I didn’t just realize this, I stole the quote from Love, Rosie by Cecelia Ahern. The actual quote is this: You can run and run as fast and as far as you like, but the truth is, wherever you run, there you are.

I read this quote for the first time over a decade ago, it’s from my favorite book. I bookmarked it because I liked it, but it didn’t resonate until now. Now, I can see just how true it is and how strongly I’ve felt it this fall.

My problems from this spring are still here. I’m still trying to figure out why I’m not finding fulfillment in my job or my daily life the way I used to. I’m still feeling lonely, even when I’m not alone. Only difference now is that I’m facing all of this as a single woman, but a boyfriend isn’t supposed to fix those things. Those are things that I need to fix inside of myself before I can ever imagine sharing my life with someone else.

I’ve been keeping myself so busy this fall – I traveled to Hawaii by myself, something I’ve wanted to do for years. It’s the farthest I’ve been from home, and I did it alone, and I was happy to. I visited my college roommate on the island, one of my dearest friends in the world, but I flew alone, and I had most days to myself while she worked. I’m proud of the journey and I’m grateful for the time I was able to spend with my friend. We haven’t time together like that since college. I’ve also been writing, I’m actually within reach of finishing a workable manuscript for a novel I’ve been writing for years. I’ve taken myself to concerts. I got my ear pierced, something I’ve been saying I wanted to do since before college. My cousin, one of my favorite people in the world, visited a couple weeks ago.

I’m doing things for myself, things that are making me happy and things I should be proud of (and I am proud of them), but I’m still here, wondering why it doesn’t feel like it’s enough, wondering why I still feel empty. I keep running – I’m keeping myself so busy, and yet, the second I stop, I remember everything I left behind. I feel it all.

I still have things to figure out. I realize this. I don’t know what the solutions are. I don’t know how to make every single day a good one. But I do know the type of happiness I’m striving for, the type of bone deep happiness you can only feel when you’re fulfilled by yourself, not by any external stimuli.

I might not be there yet, but I do think I’m on the right track. And if I’m not, then I’ll figure it out. I trust myself and I trust that the people I’ve surrounded myself with will continue to support me.

Why link any of this to Happy Place? Because I love this book. I love this story and these characters. I love fiction and I especially love when fiction can help me look at my own life and see where I need to improve. Even if I don’t actually succeed at making and maintaining the change on my first try.

And the bigger point: if you’re struggling, you don’t have to face it alone. You have an army standing behind you, even if it doesn’t always feel that way. At the end of the day, YOU have to be the one to solve your problems, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t people who can help guide you ♡

We Fell Apart – E. Lockhart

We Fell Apart – 4/5 ✩

We Fell Apart by E. Lockhart is a stunning addition to the world of We Were Liars. It follows Matilda, a teenager who’s never met her father. When an invitation to visit him arrives out of the blue, she jumps at the chance and jumps on a plane across the country. When she gets there, though, nothing is as she expected and her father’s not even there. Instead, she meets Meer, Brock, Tatum, and June, all of whom help and hinder her journey to discover her roots.

E. Lockhart is, hands down, one of the most talented writers. She writes with a simplicity I can only strive to achieve, yet, nothing about her writing is simple. Her work is detailed and multi-leveled, her characters original and filled with such a depth that they feel real on the page, as do their struggles.

As someone who loved We Were Liars or Family of Liars, I thought this was a beautiful addition to the Sinclair’s story. It was fun to explore new characters and step into their stories, but still see the connection to Beechwood Island. The tone of the novel is much like the two that came before it – mysterious and nostalgic and I was continuously grasping for more as I read. I also thought that the connection to Beechwood Island was wonderful. I wasn’t sure how the novels would tie together, but I think it was so well done.

Absolutely would recommend!

Thank you to Random House Children’s Books and NetGalley for the ARC!