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Rich People Problems
Rich People Problems
Kevin Kwan | 2017 | Fiction & Poetry
8
8.5 (2 Ratings)
Book Rating
In the third installment of the Crazy Rich Asians series, we find that the matriarch of the family, Su Yi Young is on her death bed and her relative will stop at nothing in order to get the most coveted prize of her estate, Tyersall Park. Tyersall Park is a sprawling compound that is the most valuable piece of real estate in all of Singapore. Will the family be able to put away their differences long enough to agree?

Thank you to NetGalley and Doubleday Books for the opportunity to read and review this book. Rich People Problems is a great way to start off my summer reading season. This book had me laughing out loud and desperate to find out how it was all going to end.

When this book starts, it has been three years, since Nick and Rachel have gotten married and they have not returned to Singapore since all of the crazy things Nick's family did to them while they were there, but Nick's Ah Ma might not make it much longer. He can't let his pride get in the way of seeing his grandmother before she leaves this earth. As he returns to Singapore, though he finds that getting to see her may not be as easy as he thought. His family is blocking him from seeing her. Since he is the only grandson with the Young name, it's only right that Tyersall Park should be his. But his cousins and Aunts have a different idea. Through trial and tribulation from each member of the family we finally get to see who Tyersall Park will belong too and who will get the rest of Su Yi Young's fortune. The same crazy characters are in this book up to their usual antics or trying on some new ones.

I have been entertained by all of the Crazy Rich Asian books, but this one had me laughing the loudest. It's amazing the things each individual will go through just to be the best or because of money or fame. There are always books with family rivalries and secrets, but none quite and unique and the Young family and their prosperous friends and relatives.

This is one series, that if you haven't started to read it, you have to jump on board. It's been a while since I have had a book make me laugh out loud while reading it. Kevin Kwan has made me want to learn more about this part of the Asian culture.
  
I have been wanting to read this book for awhile novel. I have been putting it off because I already have so many books that still need to be to read that I felt guilty spending money on any more. Finally, I broke down and bought, though, because I have been wanting to read it that badly.

Despite feeling guilty about spending money on a book, I thoroughly enjoyed it. It’s been long enough that I don’t feel confident in my abilities to compare the first in the series to the second. It’s not necessary to read the first one to enjoy the second. Everything you need to know, the author casually reminds you of during the storyline. Despite my poor memory, I can say that both novels left me with warm fuzzy feelings and I was content with the ending.

Helena’s story was much more frustrating that her older sister’s, however. There were moments I had to walk away because I wanted to scream alongside Helena. I agree that she can be impulsive and stubborn, but I found myself agreeing with her more often than not. I loved her passion and fire, and the chemistry she had with Colin was palpable. Colin was absolutely precious. I loved his playful nature, especially as it broke Helena out of her angry shell. Watching them together was adorable.

I think what I love most about this series is watching the couples grow to love each other. Despite their differences and disagreements, you can actually see and feel the love they develop for each other. The men want what is best for their lovers, but they don’t turn alpha male and try to control them. The men took and accepted their women as they were. It was a powerful message, especially in a historical romance novel.

Overall, Captive Heart was worth every penny. Helena never lost her fiery spirit and was well-matched with the playful Colin. However, I am not sure if I will read the third and final book in the trilogy which pertains to Miriel and the Shadow. I understand Miriel didn’t have that much to do in the first two novels, but she didn’t leave much of an impression on me nor am I particularly interested in her story. I probably will end up reading it for curiosity’s sake, but I don’t feel the urgency to read it as I did Helena’s story.
  
SG
She's Got a Way (Echo Lake, #3)
6
6.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
Gabi O'Brien has spent nearly her entire life at Briarwood Academy, an elite all-girls private school. She grew up there, went away to college, and then returned as a "housemother"-- living in a dorm with a group of girls who need Gabi 24/7. But when four of Gabi's girls get into major trouble, the only thing standing between them and expulsion is a four-week stay at Camp Echo. Camp Echo used to be a boy's camp for foster and needy kids, but was recently bought by Briarwood. Upon arrival, Gabi and her girls find only two employees left: its founder, the elderly Oliver, and its young handyman, Luke. The two are charged with a to-do list a mile long from Briarwood to get the camp in shape and have no interest in the plight of a group of snobby rich girls. Gabi, meanwhile, wasn't planning to spend her summer playing camp counselor and immediately finds herself in over her head, trying to care for her charges in the middle of the wilderness. Further, she realizes she's immediately attracted to Luke. The two are both fiercely independent individuals held back by their pasts. Can they get over these pasts and work together to save the four wayward girls, who desperately need them?

This novel contains the typical romance silliness with a somewhat crazy plot, but it's fun and enjoyable. It came at the perfect point in my reading schedule, where I needed a break from thrillers and intense fiction where all the characters hate each other. Some of it should be silly, but really Gabi and Luke (and the four girls) are endearing. There are certainly moments where Gabi's indecisiveness, fear, and bickering with Luke grow old; you find yourself needing her to just grow up a bit and control her own destiny a bit more. Still, the book is fun, even poking fun at romance novels with it's tongue-in-check rom/com allusions.

Luke and Gabi's building romance is enjoyable to watch, with added drama thrown in from their four teenage charges. As I said, Gabi can be a bit frustrating, but you can't help but feel for her plight (would you want to be trapped with four angry teens in the woods?), and Luke is rather charming. The novel does an excellent job of speaking to how the past can strongly influence one person's character, as well capturing the angst that comes with class differences (think Briarwood versus foster care). It gives the romance an added depth and surprising heart.

All in all, a fun, quick read. 3.5 stars.
  
I'm Travelling Alone
I'm Travelling Alone
Samuel Bjork | 2016 | Fiction & Poetry
6
7.7 (3 Ratings)
Book Rating
I read this novel as my BookBum Club book for November! Check out this page to find out more about my very own Book Club!

I had heard so many great things about this novel from family and online, it’s got a great average rating on Goodreads, so I thought I was going to really love it, unfortunately it didn’t do much for me. For me, this was nothing more than your standard police procedural, a sub-genre in crime that I’m not a huge fan of.

What drew me to this one other than the recommendations was the title. I really like how striking and eerie it is! This, obviously, lead me to read the synopsis and I definitely thought the plot was a unique one in a genre that’s so heavily populated. The storyline, in the end, didn’t live completely up to my expectations, but it was a great twisty and turny story. I did have my suspicions about the killer from quite early on, which turned out to be correct, so for that reason I can’t personally see why so many people are stunned by the conclusion. However, I didn’t have any theory as to why the killer was doing what they were doing so it was interesting to find out!

I liked the characters in this one, but sometimes they felt a little clunky and unbelievable, which might be down to translation issues or regional differences… I mean, do Norwegian people really wink at each other during every conversation? There was a lot of winking going on!

Personally, I felt more connected to Holger Munch in this one than I did with Mia Kruger. I understood her position in life, but sometimes I was sick of hearing how sorry for herself she felt. I really do hate the cliche police officer in these kinds of books and she really fit the part perfectly.

The writing for this one was good, but like I said earlier, maybe some of the thrill of it was lost in translation because I never got that heart-racing feeling I usually do with books about catching a killer. Some of the nail-biting conversations happening felt rushed and all bunched together at the end of a chapter which, for me, ruined any kind of atmosphere it was meant to have.

I seem to be swimming in a sea of mediocre books at the moment, and it sucks! I wish I had liked this one way more… my dad and nan will be disappointed when they see my review.
  
So in trying to read more inclusively, I had been looking at some prominent minority writers like Junot Diaz or Sherman Alexie (I actually had one of Alexie's books out from the library when I realized where I'd heard his name). When the news broke about Junot Diaz, and I remembered that Sherman Alexie also had sexual harassment accusations against him, I decided instead of reading their books, I'd look up the books of the women calling them out! The Dirty Girls Social Club is the first book of what I'm calling my "Wronged Women" list. Alisa Valdes-Rodriguez wrote an article titled "I tried to warn you about Junot Diaz" about her experience with him. Others on the list include Erika Wurth, Elissa Washuta, Zinzi Clemmons, Carmen Maria Machado, and Monica Byrne. I've built a shelf on Goodreads for my list, and I'm sure more names will wind up on it. (Unfortunately.)

The Dirty Girls Social Club is the story of six college friends who decide to meet every six months for the rest of their lives, no matter what. The book covers one six month period, from one meeting to the next. It took me a few chapters to sort out who was who, and throughout the book I occasionally had to flip back to the first chapter, where Lauren gives a rundown of names and professions. All six are Hispanic of some flavor, whether that's Dominican, Puerto Rican, Colombian, Spanish, or Southwestern Native American. That's why they banded together in college. Each one has her own storyline - dealing with an abusive marriage, leaving a loveless marriage, being forcibly outed as a lesbian and learning to adjust to her new visibility, or becoming a rock star. I enjoyed how each of the six had a very individual story; they have interesting jobs and complicated love lives and unique problems.

Each of the women reflects on her Hispanic heritage in some form, whether that's taking lessons in how to love from their parents, or fighting for recognition for their minority, or writing columns about their lives for the local newspaper. The book both shows and tells us about the differences in various Hispanic cultures.

I especially enjoyed Amber/Cuicatl (the rock star) and Elizabeth (the lesbian). The rest of the book was a little slow going at times, but I think that's largely because I'm not a fan of contemporary fiction. I did enjoy it, though, and I'll probably check out more of the author's books.

You can find all my reviews at http://goddessinthestacks.wordpress.com
  
FB
10
10.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
For Better or Worse is the second of three in the Wedding Belles series and so far has been my favourite (though only 2 have been released) I loved Josh Tanner from the get go – as soon as his character popped up he was the one for me.

We meet Heather Fowler briefly in To Have and To Hold and her character in that book appears to be very blasé about love – she’s all about the wedding planning – which isn’t a bad thing until For Better or Worse.

Heather is a one track mind kinda gal and wedding planning is it. Her big dream and her reasoning behind that is due to the endless string of “The One” from her mother; I don’t – in all honesty the first few times we hear from Heather’s mother – like her, she gives me a bad vibe. But my opinion of her improves greatly the further the story progresses.

My all time favourite character in this book was Josh Tanner. He had the YOLO kind of attitude and the way he spent his life before Heather moved in next door was a “what I want when I want” mentality. He was very funny and kept me smiling throughout the book even when things were getting hard for him he still managed to retain his sense of humour.

It also felt a little like Josh was going through a mid – life crisis and wasn’t 100% sure on where he was going in life. After a battle with cancer he’d taken to the “what I want when I want” mentality quite quickly but had also begun to feel like it wasn’t enough.

His friendship with Heather was awesome – 4c and 4a were the nicknames floating around during almost every conversation – and their friendship didn’t start off all that well but it turned into a budding friendship with benefits that ultimately (despite their refusals) led to love.

The book had just the right amount of seriousness and was – in my opinion – overpowered the great humourous relationship between Heather and Josh; despite their differences and the difficult times they managed to retain the great sense of humour throughout the story.

I really enjoy Lauren Layne’s writing style and she’s definitely my favourite “chicklit ” author which considering I don’t really like it an amazing feat. Her books have always got humour and great characters with witty banter and good back stories. The plots are quite unique as well and I can’t wait until the next Wedding Belles book is out and the next Oxford one for that matter.
  
HA
How A Good Person Can Really Win
6
6.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
I have received ‘’How A Good Person Can Really Win’’ through Goodreads, in exchange for an honest review. I will honestly have to say that I had a very hard time finishing this book, and even that took me months, while I was reading other books inbetween. My full rating is 3 out of 5 stars and here is why:

About the book:

How a Good Person Can Really Win is a self-help book that is supposed to help the good people to win in life. It is a book that is designed to show you how you can be one of those people that isn’t bad, but still be successful and prosper in life. The book is split into three parts, and it focused on both the bad and the good persona, comparing both sides and pointing out the differences between them.

The Good and the Bad

The thing that put me off this book a lot was the focus of the bad person. Yes – I do realise that the book is split into a half bad / half good part, and yes – I do realise that we need to see the difference. But when you consider yourself a good person, and have this book in your hands, that is supposedly made to make you realise how you can win, all you read is about how bad the bad person is, and the response (solution) to this is an advice for the bad man to change.

This has occurred on so many occasions, that made the book feel useless for me.

Even though I have to agree that the ending is focused on the good persona and there are actually a few tips on how you can win over the bad guys – most of the advices were for the bad people to not do those nasty things they keep doing.

So my question to the author here is: Who would be the target audience in the book? The logic answer is – the people that claim themselves as good-makers and believe in a better tomorrow. But what the book says is – a book that tells bad people what they are doing and how that is wrong in 100 different ways. Too bad that those people are not the ones reading the book.

On the other side though, I have to admit that there were many excellent examples of real life, and many situations that were realistic and relatable. There were a few very excellent advice as well, and I am sure that I have learned a few things from this book.
  
Geostorm (2017)
Geostorm (2017)
2017 | Action, Mystery, Sci-Fi
I have written many times in the past how the Disaster movie has long been a staple of Hollywood. We had the Irwin Allen classics of the 70s that were loaded with stars and in recent years, we had Volcano and Asteroids to contend with along with a new wave of monsters and alien invasions.

In the new movie “Geostorm” we are given a threat lifted directly from the headlines, the weather. It is revealed that a series of natural disasters ranging from flooding, heat waves, and climate change have left humanity in serious peril. As such the leaders of the world agree on a costly and ambitious plan to save humanity.

The resulting program is called “Dutch Boy” and it is the brainchild of Jake Lawson (Gerard Butler), and his team of international scientists and technicians.

The project is a global satellite system that controls the weather, and when a threat is detected, it is able to stop it in its tracks.

All has gone well for years under the program and humanity is now safe from weather related threats and continues on as usual. Jake has run afoul of the politicians overseeing the project and is removed from it by his brother Max (Jim Sturgess), who is tasked as his replacement.

Years later as the U.S. prepares to hand over control of Duty Boy to the international community, a series of odd things happen from unexplained weather incidents to an accident on the space station overseeing the system.

With the clock ticking before the handoff and Election Year politics playing a factor, Jake is tasked with going to the space station and getting to the bottom of the system issues.

The film cleverly switches gears at this point as it soon becomes clear there is a conspiracy at work that wants the system to fail and when it is learned that this may result in a mega-storm called a Geostorm, Jake and Max must put aside their differences and find out who is turning the salvation of humanity into a weapon of ultimate destruction.

The film has some really good effects and the weather disasters bring out some impressive visuals as do the scenes set in space.

The film does take some serious leaps of logic and science that requires the audience to simply follow along for the good of the story, but the strong cast and winning effects make the film more enjoyable than I expected it to be and I was entertained from start to finish.

http://sknr.net/2017/10/20/geostorm/
  
The Complete Persepolis
The Complete Persepolis
Marjane Satrapi | 2003 | Biography, Comics & Graphic Novels
6
8.8 (5 Ratings)
Book Rating
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<b><i>The Complete Persepolis is a graphic novel written by Marjane Satrapi that covers her life. This is a memoir of growing up as a girl in revolutionary Iran.</i></b>

This is a story of Satrap's childhood; growing up in a loving family in Tehran during the Islamic Revolution. We also follow Marjane in her high school years in Vienna. It is an interesting journey of a young girl becoming an independent woman. 

<b><i>My Thoughts:</i></b>

I enjoyed the graphic novel style. It is an interesting concept of telling a story and I really liked it. It was easy to read and quick to engage with.

Even though I liked Marjane’s story, I didn’t like Marjane as a character. She seems a bit too arrogant. She seemed to always need to prove to the world who she is and what she is about. I have met a few people like that in my life and found them annoying. 

It was really interesting to read about the culture and history of Iran and I loved the places in the book where they showed us the major differences in culture and beliefs. Growing up in Macedonia, I am no stranger to this culture, nor the beliefs, as Macedonia is a country with many different nationalities and religions living together. I have seen things, and I have heard things. 

The writing was very humorous and the story plot was quite interesting. I didn't really feel any emotions during the book, but the sad ending really got me. What a way to finish a book.

<b><i>In conclusion, I have mixed feelings about The Complete Persepolis, only due to the way the character was set up and her attributes. However, I loved the representation of Iran, the way we are thrown into the culture and mindset, and how this book made me think twice.</i></b>

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