Month: July 2019

Review: I’ll Be There For You: The One about Friends

Title: I’ll Be There For You: The One about Friends
Author: Kelsey Miller
Genre: Non-Fiction
Publisher: Hanover Square Press
Source: Purchased
Format: Hardcover
Release Date: October 23, 2018
Rating: ★★★★★

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Goodreads Synopsis:

This definitive retrospective of Friends incorporates interviews, history and behind-the-scenes anecdotes to offer a critical analysis of how a sitcom about six twentysomethings changed television forever

When Friends debuted in 1994, no one expected it to become a mainstay of NBC’s Must See TV lineup, let alone a global phenomenon. In the years since, Friends has gone through many phases of cultural relevancy, from prime-time hit to 90s novelty item to certified classic. Ross, Rachel, Monica, Chandler, Joey, and Phoebe have entered the pantheon of great television characters, and millions of people around the globe continue to tune in or stream their stories every day.

I‘ll Be There for You is the definitive retrospective of Friends, exploring all aspects of the show from its unlikely origins to the elusive reasons why we still watch it. Journalist and pop culture expert Kelsey Miller relives the show’s most iconic moments, analyzes the ways in which Friends is occasionally problematic and examines the many trends it inspired, from the rise of coffee-shop culture to Friendsgivings to the ultimate 90s haircut, the Rachel.

Weaving incisive commentary, revelatory interviews and behind-the-scenes anecdotes involving high-profile guest stars, I’ll Be There for You is the most comprehensive take on Friends, and the ultimate book for fans everywhere. 

Review:

I loved this book!

I’ve been a fan of friends for as long as I can remember. I always had to be home from my dance classes on time on Thursday nights so I could watch the new episodes. It was a huge part of my life, and it’s still a comforting show to watch.

This book had so many fun facts of the show, including how the actors were cast. I loved all of these little anecdotes.

I don’t read a lot of non-fiction, but I’m so glad I read this book. I flew through it, because it was so entertaining. I highly recommend this book for fans of the show!

What to read next:

Big Girl: How I Gave Up Dieting and Got a Life by Kelsey Miller

Too Fat, Too Slutty, Too Loud: The Rise and Reign of the Unruly Woman by Anne Helen Petersen

Have you read I’ll Be There For You: The One about Friends? What did you think of it?

‘Waiting on’ Wednesday – July 17

This is a weekly meme hosted by Breaking the Spine. In this post we highlight a book that’s highly anticipated.

The book that I’m waiting on this Wednesday is How to Hack a Heartbreak  by Kristin Rockaway. The expected publication date is July 30, 2019.

Goodreads Synopsis:

Swipe right for love. Swipe left for disaster.

By day, Mel Strickland is an underemployed helpdesk tech at a startup incubator, Hatch, where she helps entitled brogrammers—”Hatchlings”—who can’t even fix their own laptops, but are apparently the next wave of startup geniuses. And by night, she goes on bad dates with misbehaving dudes she’s matched with on the ubiquitous dating app, Fluttr.

But after one dick pic too many, Mel has had it. Using her brilliant coding skills, she designs an app of her own, one that allows users to log harrassers and abusers in online dating space. It’s called JerkAlert, and it goes viral overnight.

Mel is suddenly in way over her head. Worse still, her almost-boyfriend, the dreamy Alex Hernandez—the only non-douchey guy at Hatch—has no idea she’s the brains behind the app. Soon, Mel is faced with a terrible choice: one that could destroy her career, love life, and friendships, or change her life forever.

What books are you waiting on this week?

Review: Moth and Whisper Vol. 1

Title: Moth and Whisper Vol. 1
Author: Ted Anderson and Jen Hickman
Genre: LGBT, Graphic Novel
Publisher: Aftershock Comics
Source: Publisher via NetGalley
Format: Ebook
Release Date: April 16, 2019
Rating: ★★★★★

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Goodreads Synopsis:

Everyone knows that the two greatest thieves in the city are the Moth and the Whisper. Very few know that the Moth and the Whisper disappeared six months ago. And what nobody knows is that the new Moth and Whisper are actually one person pretending to be both of them. One supremely skilled but uncertain young genderfluid thief: Niki, the child of the Moth and the Whisper.

Niki has been trained by their parents in the arts of stealth and infiltration, but they’re still just a teenager, and now they’re alone, searching for their parents in a hostile cyberpunk dystopia. Corporations run the streets while crime lords like Ambrose Wolfe run the alleys-identity is a commodity and privacy is impossible. The truth about Niki’s parents and their disappearance is out there, but can Niki survive long enough to find it?

A YA cyberpunk thriller starring a genderqueer super-thief, MOTH & WHISPER is the brainchild of Ted Anderson (My Little Pony, Adventure Time) and Jen Hickman (Jem and the Holograms, The Dead), that just HAD to be told at AfterShock!

Review:

This is an amazing new graphic novel with a genderqueer main character.

I was hooked on this story right from the beginning. It started with Niki pulling off some stealth thefts by changing their identity. It was so exciting to see them change their entire look with a special mask that draws on make-up. The plot was very exciting and the book was hard to put down!

It is so important to see genderqueer characters in books so that readers can relate to the characters. Niki’s genre idenity is only a small part of their story, but it helps out when they can change their look into either a man or a woman. It made the thefts more intense when they could disappear into a crowd by changing their identity in that way.

I loved this story!

Thank you Aftershock Comics for providing a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

What to read next:

The Umbrella Academy, Vol. 1: Apocalypse Suite by Gerard Way and Gabriel Bá

Have you read Moth and Whisper Vol. 1? What did you think of it?

Top Ten Tuesday – Auto-Buy Authors

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme created by The Broke and the Bookish and it is now hosted by The Artsy Reader Girl. This week’s theme is Auto-Buy Authors. Here’s my list:

1. V.E./Victoria Schwab

2. J.K. Rowling

3. Leigh Bardugo

4. Meg Cabot

5. Karen M. McManus

6. Shari Lapena

7. Laura Sebastian

8. Tahereh Mafi

9. Kristen Ciccarelli

10. Sandhya Menon

Who are your auto-buy authors?

Review: Please Send Help (I Hate Everyone But You #2)

Title: Please Send Help (I Hate Everyone But You #2)
Author: Gaby Dunn and Allison Raskin
Genre: Fiction, Contemporary
Publisher: St. Martin’s Press
Source: Publisher via NetGalley
Format: Ebook
Release Date: July 16, 2019
Rating: ★★★★★

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Goodreads Synopsis:

In this hilarious follow-up novel to the New York Times bestseller I Hate Everyone But You, long distance best friends Ava and Gen have finally made it to the same time zone (although they’re still over a thousand miles apart).

Through their hilarious, sometimes emotional, but always relatable conversations, Ava and Gen are each other’s support systems through internships, relationship troubles, questionable roommates, undercover reporting, and whether or not it’s a good idea to take in a feral cat. Please Send Help perfectly captures the voice of young adults looking to find their place in the world and how no matter how desperate things seem, you always have your best friend to tell it like it is and pick you back up.

Review:

This story follows Ava and Gen during their first jobs/internships. They finally live in the same time zone, but different ends of the country. Neither of their lives really work out in the way they had hoped, with one getting fired and the other getting an STD.

I love the two voices of Ava and Gen in this story. They’re both hilarious and relatable. Unlike other stories about two best friends, these ones have fights and hurt each other’s feelings. They’re realistic, which makes them relatable.

I loved this fun story! I hope they write another book in this series.

Thank you St. Martin’s Press for providing a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

What to read next:

Giant Days by Non Pratt

The Twitter Diaries by Georgie Thompson and Imogen Lloyd Webber

Have you read Please Send Help? What did you think of it?

It’s Monday, What Are You Reading? – July 15

This blog meme is hosted by Book Date. It is a place to meet up and share what you have been, are and about to be reading over the week.  It’s a great post to organize yourself. It’s an opportunity to visit and comment, and er… add to that ever growing TBR pile!

What I just finished:

This weekend I finished Please Send Help (I Hate Everyone But You #2) by Gaby Dunn and Allison Raskin.

What I’m currently reading:

I’m currently reading I’ll Be There For You: The One about Friends by Kelsey Miller.

What I’m reading next:

Next I will be reading Heartwood Box by Ann Aguirre.

What are you guys reading this week? Have you read any of these books?

Jill’s Weekly Wrap-Up – July 14

Here are my reviews for the week with my ratings:

I did 9 weekly blogging memes:

How was your week? What did you guys read?

Sundays in Bed With… Hideaway

The meme that dares to ask what book has been in your bed this morning? Come share what book you’ve spent time curled up reading in bed, or which book you wish you had time to read today! This meme is hosted by Midnight Book Girl.

This Sunday I’m reading Hideaway by Nicole Lundrigan.

Goodreads Synopsis:

What if home is the most dangerous place you can be? For fans of Room and readers of Shari Lapena. 

Gloria Janes appears to be a doting suburban mother and loving wife. But beyond her canary-yellow door, Gloria controls her husband, Telly, as well as seven-year-old Maisy and her older brother Rowan, through a disorienting cycle of adoration and banishment. 

When Telly leaves, Gloria turns on Rowan. He runs away, finding unlikely refuge with a homeless man named Carl, with whom he forms the kind of bond he has never found with his parents. After they are menaced by strangers, Rowan follows Carl to an isolated cottage, where he accidentally sets off a burst of heightened paranoia in Carl, and their adventure takes a dark turn. 

Gloria is publicly desperate for the safe return of her son while privately plotting ever wilder ways to lure Telly home for good. Her behaviour grows more erratic and her manipulation of Maisy begins to seem dedicated toward an outcome that only she can see. The two storylines drive relentlessly toward a climax that is both shocking and emotionally riveting.

Suspenseful, unsettling, and masterful, Hideaway explores the secrets of a troubled family and illuminates an unlikely hero and a source of unexpected strength.

What book are you in bed with today?

Six for Sunday – Books on My Summer TBR

This meme is hosted by Steph at A little but a lot. The weekly prompts for 2019 can be found here.

This week’s prompt is Books on My Summer TBR. Here’s my list:

1. Spin the Dawn by Elizabeth Lim

2. Tidelands by Philippa Gregory

3. The Turn of the Key by Ruth Ware

4. How to Hack a Heartbreak by Kristin Rockaway

5. My Ideal Boyfriend is a Croissant by Laura Dockrill

6. The Unhoneymooners by Christina Lauren

Did you write a #SixforSunday post? What was your list of Books on My Summer TBR?

Review: Royals (Royals #1)

Title: Royals (Royals #1)
Author: Rachel Hawkins
Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary
Publisher: G.P. Putnam’s Sons Books
Source: Purchased
Format: Hardcover
Release Date: May 1, 2018
Rating: ★★★★★

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Goodreads Synopsis:

Meet Daisy Winters. She’s an offbeat sixteen-year-old Floridian with mermaid-red hair; a part time job at a bootleg Walmart, and a perfect older sister who’s nearly engaged to the Crown Prince of Scotland. Daisy has no desire to live in the spotlight, but relentless tabloid attention forces her to join Ellie at the relative seclusion of the castle across the pond. 

While the dashing young Miles has been appointed to teach Daisy the ropes of being regal, the prince’s roguish younger brother kicks up scandal wherever he goes, and tries his best to take Daisy along for the ride. The crown–and the intriguing Miles–might be trying to make Daisy into a lady . . . but Daisy may just rewrite the royal rulebook to suit herself.

Review:

I’m so glad I finally read this book! It was everything I thought it would be and more!

I loved the plot. Daisy is suddenly thrown into the spotlight when her sister becomes engaged to the Prince of Scotland. She had to deal with this new fame, which led to many scandalous photos in the British press and damage control by the royal family’s press secretary.

The story had some examples of the press stories throughout the book. There were more of these at the beginning, and I loved them. They were a funny little break in the main story that showed how the royal family was described to the rest of the world. These stories tapered off towards the end, and the stories were just described by Daisy. I wish there had been more of these press stories, because they were very entertaining.

I loved this book! I can’t wait to read the next one in the series!

What to read next:

Her Royal Highness (Royals #2) by Rachel Hawkins

The Royal We by Heather Cocks and Jessica Morgan

Have you read Royals? What did you think of it?