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Hello, Sunshine
Hello, Sunshine
Laura Dave | 2017 | Fiction & Poetry
6
6.0 (2 Ratings)
Book Rating
Sunshine (Sunny) Mackenzie has a great life--a hit YouTube cooking show, several published cookbooks, and the potential for a show on the Food Network. She's also happily married to her husband, Danny. But all it takes is a few Twitter posts from a hacker to destroy Sunny's life. Because, you see, she's been living a life built on lies and subterfuge. Disgraced, alone, and broke, Sunny returns to her childhood home, to a complicated relationship with her sister and a six-year-old niece she barely knows. Sunny has a plan to get her life back, but it involves a new set of lies. Is it worth it--and worth sacrificing a potential relationship with her sister?

This was an interesting novel. I must admit, I was bothered the entire time I was reading it, because it felt like a weirdly familiar story, but I could never place why. You know how something is often in the back of your mind? I don't know if I've just read too many books, have a terrible memory, or if I've truly read a book with a similar plot (disgraced chef returns home): it could be all of the above. But it did affect me sometimes as I was reading.

Sunny was a tough character. It was hard to tell if I liked her. She was terrible to lie about her entire professional life, yet she was backstabbed pretty badly by her hacker. I was willing to let those two equal out, but then after all said events, she still made a chain of pretty awful decisions. Her slow learning--and lack of sense--was a bit frustrating to me, although she did grow on me as the novel progressed. The book falls back on some plot cliches and predictable story turns, though there is one good twist. It's slightly marred by a lame reason for said twist, but still: it did take me by surprise.

The cast of characters in this one is limited, and it was refreshing to read a novel told from just one perspective (Sunny's). Sammy, her niece, is the best. I wanted more Sammy. The funny parts in this novel are just plain funny--there were pieces that made me laugh out loud. I also enjoyed the novel's message related to our society's current trend of living life based on social media. It does a good job of portraying the complicated relationship between sisters as well.

Overall, this one was a little predictable, but still interesting and often fun. A quick, breezy read.

I received a copy of this novel from the publisher and Edelweiss (thank you!); it is available everywhere as of 07/11/2017.

You can read my review of Dave's novel, EIGHT HUNDRED GRAPES, <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/23492613-eight-hundred-grapes">here</a>;.

<center><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/126296-kristy/">Goodreads</a>; ~ <a href="https://twitter.com/mwcmoto">Twitter</a>; ~ <a href="https://www.facebook.com/justacatandabook/">Facebook</a>; ~ <a href="https://plus.google.com/u/0/+KristyHamiltonbooks">Google+</a></center>;
  
Is it Just Me?
Is it Just Me?
Miranda Hart | 2013 | Biography
8
8.8 (4 Ratings)
Book Rating
(This review can also be found on my blog <a href="http://themisadventuresofatwentysomething.blogspot.co.uk">The (Mis)Adventures of a Twenty-Something Year Old Girl</a>).

If you live in the UK, then you most definitely have heard of the comedienne Miranda Hart. If you live elsewhere, there's a slim chance you may have heard of her. If you've not heard of Miranda Hart, you should look her up on YouTube as she is hilarious! Her book is also super funny, and I definitely enjoyed it!

In her book, Is It Just Me?, Miranda Hart asks her readers if they've done the embarrassing things that she's done or is it just her. She speaks to her 18 year old self, and also gives us insight into some embarrassing stories. Along the way, she gives us tips in order to have fun in life and to get through life.

I think the title of this book sums it up perfectly!! Miranda is constantly asking her reader chum if it is just her that a specific thing has happened to.

The photo of Miranda Hart on the front cover made me laugh out loud! I lover her perplexed look!! I also love the photo of Miranda on the back of the book as well as she's seen to have just fallen down, and those of us who know Miranda, know she is famous for falling down! I must say I also love the colour scheme on the front cover...Perhaps, I'm just a bit biased as I love pink.

Miranda does an excellent job in giving us insight into her embarrassing moments, most of which are indeed cringe-worthy. I don't think she could have given us any more detail into her embarrassing moments!! (Don't worry, when I say that, I don't mean that it's too much detail to make it boring, but it's enough to make it work).

The pacing of this book was, for the most, part spot on. However, it does become a bit slow in some places, and I found myself zoning out and having to re-read the sentences I had missed. But, as I said earlier, the pacing is actually really good.

There is some swearing in this book although not very much. The dialogue is fantastic and sucks you in. I love the way Miranda Hart engages her readers by referring to them as MDRC (my dear reader chum) as well as asking her readers questions. The dialogue definitely feels like a conversation between the reader and author.

I found Is It Just Me? by Miranda Hart to be well funny. There were plenty of laugh out loud moments in the book, and I was constantly having to read something out of the book to my husband because I found it too funny not to share. This book will definitely keep you in a cheerful mood.

I'd recommend this book to everyone aged 25+ although I do believe those aged 35+ will get more out of it. Nonetheless, it is still a very funny book!

Is It Just Me? by Miranda Hart gets a 4 out of 5 from me.
  
The Incredible Adventures of Cinnamon Girl
The Incredible Adventures of Cinnamon Girl
Melissa Keil | 2014 | Young Adult (YA)
8
6.7 (3 Ratings)
Book Rating
**I received a copy of this book from the publishers and Netgalley in exchange for an honest review**

The Incredible adventures of Cinnamon girl takes place in a small town in Australia, nothing ever happens in Eden Valley until one day a YouTube video goes viral. Ned Zebidiah has predicted an apocalypse and the only safe haven is the one and only Eden Valley.

17-year-old Alba loves her little town in Australia where nothing much happens, however she is at a stage in her life when she needs to make decisions, life changing ones. Alba wishes everything could remain the way it is, her friends and family all in one place as she likes it. Her friends on the other hand have different ideas, the majority of them cannot wait to say goodbye to Eden Valley and see more of the world. With an impending apocalypse, the return of an old friend and decisions to be made, can Alba keep it together?

I really like Alba's character, she is artistic, witty and loveable. She is at the stage of her life when she has just finished school and she has to make decisions about what to do with her life, should she go to college? work? travel? Alba also has curves and a healthy figure which is portrayed in this story really well, there is no self-consciousness with the way she looks, she is confident and it's so refreshing to see this in a YA book especially as the younger audience are so impressionable. Alba also loves to draw and Cinnamon girl is her creation, drawing frame after frame trying to get her image right or the background just so. I have recently started being interested in comics and I loved the idea of someone creating them and the illustrators thought processes. Alba was a great strong protagonist and very relatable.

Grady is Alba's best friend in the whole wide world they have grown up and done everything together. Grady has his flaws like most of the characters in this book but he is such a nice boy, knowing what he wants to do with his life and being there for Alba giving her encouragement with her drawings of Cinnamon girl.

One character I didn't like was Daniel, he just appeared to be egotistical, very self-conscious and a bit of a sleaze. With masses of people flocking to the safe have of Eden Valley, Daniel returns years after moving away and has become a bit of star in TV and is stirring a lot of emotions within Alba and Grady.

This book is so cute, it has a slow burn romance with no love triangle, the writing style is amazing and loved that it was set in Australia. I really like that the book incorporated comics and a few famous comics/names were mentioned such as Fiona Staples and Persepolis. This was my first Melissa Keil novel and have been recommended life in outer space

I recommend this book to anyone who reads YA with a slow burn romance, art/comic content.

Overall I rated this 4 out f 5 stars.
  
The Lost Causes of Bleak Creek
The Lost Causes of Bleak Creek
Rhett McLaughlin, Link Neal | 2019 | Mystery, Thriller
10
10.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
Likable characters (1 more)
Great storyline
The overuse of 'said' (0 more)
If your best friend was sent away to a reform school, what would you do? You'd either let them do their 'time,' or you would come up with a plan to help them escape, and with a pinch of the supernatural, this is what 'The Lost Causes of Bleak Creek' is all about.

When you read this novel by two of the most well-known YouTube personalities (Rhett and Link of Good Mythical Morning), be sure you have plenty of time to spare because this is a book you won't want to put down. The novel follows three best friends of a small town in North Carolina in the early 1990's, when one of them gets sent to a infamous reform school for an accident, they start to uncover mysterious deaths that have taken place there, and begin to fear that their friend is going to be a victim of one.

In 'The Lost Causes of Bleak Creek,' the main characters, Rex, Leif and Alicia, make their debut at a pig roasting to raise funds for a church, whose copper organ pipes had been stolen days before. It's here we learn that the three are making a film called PolterDog, which leads to Alicia getting sent away after a near-deadly accident with the owner and headmaster of the local Whitewood Reform School.

Soon after, Rex and Leif run into an escapee from the school (Ben), who tells them that their friend's life is in danger while she's at Whitewood. While the three come up with a plan to rescue Alicia, a woman who's visiting the town of Bleak Creek, who is trying to film a documentary about kidney stones, becomes a valuable part of their rescue mission.

Not only do we get to see from Rex and Leif's point of view, but we also get to see from inside the Whitewood Reform School from Alicia's view. This view point is much needed to help readers experience the abuse that goes on inside the school (and to realize that Ben was telling the truth) and also to help readers root for the main characters' success in their rescue mission. Even though the majority of the story is the main characters getting everything together for this mission, the writing was done so well that all of it makes sense leading up to the end.

To not give too much away about this book, I have to cut my review short of it. The writing is really good, with the pace continuously keeping the reader going and wanting more.This story also encompasses everything that makes a great novel: best friends trying to save another, small town mysteries, well-placed humor and murder. I found all of the characters likable, and the situations they found themselves in made complete sense in the story. This will be one that readers can pick up more than once and enjoy it each time they read it. As a horror book, this story is high on my scale with scenarios happening that I couldn't see coming.
  
    Westwing Home &amp; Living

    Westwing Home & Living

    Shopping and Lifestyle

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    Handpicked furniture and home accessories from great brands at discounted prices – this is...