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Say you Swear
8
8.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
24 of 235
Kindle
Say you Swear
By Meagan Brandy
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
🌶️🌶️

If she isn't mine in the end, I'll still be hers.
It's torture, but it's true...

My brothers best friend broke my heart, but what happens when his new teammate wants to put it back together?

For years, I've dreamt of what college life could bring and while some things changed, there was always one constant.
It didn't matter how wild I allowed my imagination to run, it always led me to the same place in the end.

It led me to him.
My future was clear, and he was it.

Until suddenly, he wasn't.

Now there's a new man in my life, one who isn't afraid to go after what he wants, and what he wants ... is me.

They say first loves last forever.
What about the second?

I don’t normally really enjoy the college romance books unless there is some sort of supernatural element. But this is definitely a book I think I needed to read it was just such a well written enjoyable read it’s definitely one I don’t regret picking up. The characters were likeable the story was decent. I’m an emotional reader to so this made me feel good while reading.
  
Dancer in the Dark (2000)
Dancer in the Dark (2000)
2000 | Drama, Musical
Selma is a simple woman leading a simple life. She lives with her only son in a trailer on the property of her friends the nice cop and his wife. She works at a metal factory making sinks and basins. She doesn't make a lot of money, so she holds on to almost every penny she earns for something secret. She can't even buy her son a present for his birthday, so her friends and landlords buy the boy the used bicycle he has been yearning for. Selma also enjoys musicals. She loves them. Especially The Sound of Music, She is actually cast in a local production and gets to play Maria. She can even hear rhythm through the common sounds of life like a train on its tracks or even the sounds of people walking. She creates melodies in her head to distract from the mundane events of life. Sometimes these melodies turn into full production numbers only visible in the confines of her cerebrum.

Now the problem.

Selma is going blind. She knows she is. She is trying to set her plans and set up her son for a better life than she is able before her illness runs its course. Out of nowhere, tragedy strikes from an unexpected source. She is petrified and acts in haste with dreadful results. Now she must deal with the consequences of her actions and let the pieces fall where they must.

Controversial writer/director Lars von Trier finds an unexpected leading lady in Icelandic alternative pop singer Björk. I guess maybe not so unexpected considering all the singing in the film which she also wrote. I was surprised to read only one of the songs was nominated for Best Song in 2000 and no nomination for her acting prowess. Her emotional turmoil is the spine of the film and her simple, yet powerful demeanor holds the film together through its humorous and tense, gripping melodrama. All Selma wants is to give a good life to her son and is content with a meager existence, which, unfortunately is ripped from her.

The songs are brilliant as most of the them begin with the random noises of life in Selma's brain and become a glorious, choreographed splendor which I found myself really loving. These events make the 2nd half of the film such a tragedy as her spirit is resilient always sees the lighter side of life.

Unlike a lot of Von Trier's other work, no sex scenes and only one scene of violence in the film. The actions of the "normal" people here are the true horror.

  
True story (5 more)
Quick read
Very humorous
Mark Sonna
Heart-warming anecdotes
"Where are they now" section
A true tale of how an American mom made a life in Mexico
Contains spoilers, click to show
A true tale of how an American mom moves from Illinois to Mexico with her two youngest sons in tow.
Lois Sonna (aka Batman) is tired of trying to be the kind of wife her husband expects her to be. She realizes this is not who she is and wishes to be free from the antiquated views of marriage and wifedom that her husband has.
She leaves her 4 children with her mother and heads for Mexico on Easter weekend and ends up securing a job and housing in Irapuato, Mexico.
She returns to the US to get her two youngest children and promptly heads back to Irapuato to move into their new apartment and report to work.
She soon discovers how different things are in Mexico from the battle to maintain more than 5 minutes of hot water, issues with plumbing, and the lack of American food choices to struggling to imbed some semblance of American culture in her childrens upbringing and making everything work out happily ever after in the end.
Due to unforseen (and not very well thought out) circumstances, she learns the Mexican ways of bribery and upcharging as well as taking advantage of the machismo culture of Mexico. This leads Lois to consider entering the world of smuggling goods from the US back into Mexico in order to make ends meet.
The memoir was written by Lois's oldest and only daughter, Linda Sonna, who recieved letters every week from her mother. The original manuscript was presented in letter form, but later changed to flow more like a story, with much of the writing taken verbatim directly from the letters.
This is a heart-warming, laugh out loud, and sometimes ridiculous story that can only be made sense of because it really happened.
  
I’m obsessed with true crime novels. There, I said it. I just find them so fascinating, especially when you find a book about a crime / criminal you’ve never heard of before… Introducing Jean-Claude Romand. A narcissistic liar and cheater who swindled his family out of all their money, lied to them about who he really was for 18 years and then murdered them. This sounds like something out of a fictional novel, but ladies & gents, this is all 100% real.

Maybe my 5 star rating is a little bias because I love true crime so much, but this book ticked all the boxes for me. Firstly, it was about such a bizarre and extraordinary crime, I was enthralled by every part of it, and secondly Carrère writes in such a simple and beautiful way that you forget you’re reading fact.

What astounds me so much about this novel is its subject. Jean-Claude Romand lived 18 years of his life (that’s only 2 years younger than I am right now) living a lie. How does a person get away with lying about everything for 18 years without getting caught? I can’t go into much detail in this review, otherwise I’m just going to spoil the whole thing, and once I get talking about it, I’ll never stop. But I mean really, how his friends & family trusted this man so much as to believe everything he said… amazes me. However, it’s also made me very aware that you don’t question the people you trust, I’m sure people could get away with so much before anyone noticed!

This book is incredible, shocking and mind-boggling. It reads like poetry but it packs a very real punch. I loved it! If you’re a true crime fan, like myself, pick this one up quick!

<i>Thank you to Penguin Random House UK & Vintage for sending me an arc copy for review.</i>