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Kristy H (1252 KP) rated One to Watch in Books
Nov 12, 2020
With more than half a million Instagram followers and a popular blog, Bea Schumacher has a great life. But she doesn't have love--she's still pining after her best friend, who broke her heart. Bea also loves the reality romance juggernaut, Main Squeeze, where men vie for the affections of a beautiful women. When Bea's critique of Main Squeeze goes viral--why doesn't the show feature any diversity of size in its cast--the show comes to her. They want Bea to be the next star. Bea agrees, but she's adamant: she won't fall in love. This is just for her career. But once on set, Bea realizes this might not be as easy as she thinks.
"Life isn’t often a fairy tale, even on a show that aims to create one.”
I've never seen "The Bachelor" (Main Squeeze's equivalent) before in my life, but I found this book fascinating. (Probably more enjoyable than the actual show, ha.) It's frothy and entertaining but also tackles serious topics like body issues and racism. Once on the show, Bea meets a host of men: some truly awful, some quite lovely. It's quite the ride to watch her have her choice of eligible and handsome men.
I found Bea a little frustrating in her absolute unwillingness to open up, leading her to wallow in self-pity and a complete inability to even consider love. But, she had her reasons. The body positivity in the book was excellent and frequent. Bea is fearful of opening up and revealing herself and her body after being hurt. But she's also a successful and strong businesswoman (and now a celebrity!). The book draws you in to the episodes of Main Squeeze--it's honestly quite addictive. It sprinkles in excepts from Twitter, chats, publications, and more to tell the story--a very effective format. And there's true humor, romance, and heartbreak involved as well.
Overall, this was probably 3.75 stars for me--bumping up due to its strong coverage of serious and important topics. Oh and for Bea's stepdad! I loved him so much. Worth a read, for sure.
"Life isn’t often a fairy tale, even on a show that aims to create one.”
I've never seen "The Bachelor" (Main Squeeze's equivalent) before in my life, but I found this book fascinating. (Probably more enjoyable than the actual show, ha.) It's frothy and entertaining but also tackles serious topics like body issues and racism. Once on the show, Bea meets a host of men: some truly awful, some quite lovely. It's quite the ride to watch her have her choice of eligible and handsome men.
I found Bea a little frustrating in her absolute unwillingness to open up, leading her to wallow in self-pity and a complete inability to even consider love. But, she had her reasons. The body positivity in the book was excellent and frequent. Bea is fearful of opening up and revealing herself and her body after being hurt. But she's also a successful and strong businesswoman (and now a celebrity!). The book draws you in to the episodes of Main Squeeze--it's honestly quite addictive. It sprinkles in excepts from Twitter, chats, publications, and more to tell the story--a very effective format. And there's true humor, romance, and heartbreak involved as well.
Overall, this was probably 3.75 stars for me--bumping up due to its strong coverage of serious and important topics. Oh and for Bea's stepdad! I loved him so much. Worth a read, for sure.
LoganCrews (2861 KP) rated The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008) in Movies
Sep 20, 2020 (Updated Nov 29, 2020)
Every so often I think something along the lines of: "There's no way this literal-as-possible, mostly one-note, kind of cringe, and honestly really derivative Oscar bait should work". And that's true, I do have my reservations about this - mainly, the choice to make the titular character this, like Bagger Vance-esque sage wanderer who only speaks in 'wise narrator' tropes (starts every other sentence with "we", seemingly omniscient even though there's no reason for him to be, etc.) and emotes on only one or two levels restricts a lot of the emotional palpability here imo. But Fincher and Pitt sell the absolute *hell* out of it - this looks and sounds all kinds of incredible, and thankfully never goes overboard with the period elements (they're used just right, a rarity with these types of films). Pitt is flat-out exceptional, and so is Blanchett - and oddly enough the makeup effects look less convincing when Pitt's supposed to be a 50-something year old man as opposed to an elderly child lmao, but they still look superb. I can't even act like I'm being objective to a point anymore, the cry porn just inexplicably works hardcore for me here - had a lump in my throat practically the entire runtime (which, by the way, flows together each vignette flawlessly and doesn't sag for a second). For the (minor) gripes listed above I think it works best when you look at it as a classical epic fairy tail as opposed to the human drama it could have perhaps succeeded even more in; and if there's any nuance at all I would say it's the way this works as a treatise towards appreciating 'the good times' while you're actually still in them ("I wanna remember us just as we are now") and the way it shows how we slowly become more and more desensitized towards death, even as we come closer to our own. As full of magnetic imagery and waterworks moments as this is I honestly can't act like I didn't adore it, but I fully understand why so many people are averse to it.
Kara Skinner (332 KP) rated Same Time Next Year in Books
Sep 10, 2019
Contains spoilers, click to show
Genre: Contemporary
Word Count: 4,560
Average Goodreads Rating: 3.27/5 stars
My rating: 4.5/5 stars
It’s not often a book can surprise me. But Same Time Next Year totally took me off guard.
Every year, for the past either years, Regina White and Tyler Harrison meet at the same hotel, in two connecting rooms for one night.
The receptionist, Elizabeth, thinks she has the whole situation figured out. But she doesn’t know what this night means to the mysterious couple. And somehow she can’t stop thinking about them anyway.
You can read Same Time Next Year for free on Smashwords.
At first I thought I wasn’t going to like this story. I thought it was about two people leaving their depressing and dull lives to have one night of infidelity and debauchery a year, like some sort of modern day fairy tale. On top of that, the “good” character, Elizabeth, is kind of a bitch who is quick to condemn and judge Regina, but smile and admire Tyler.
It’s one thing to disapprove of adultery, it’s another thing to have double standards about it.
But despite my misgivings at first, I got sucked into the very hot sex scene quickly.
“No, I don’t want champagne. I want you. Naked. And wet. And begging.”
Gotta love good dirty talk. Unfortunately the scene ends abruptly and before the couple gets to the really good part, if you know what I mean. 😉
For such a short story there is actually a lot of character development. We learn that Tyler and Regina met at a conference years ago, when they had those two hotel rooms by coincidence. Tyler loves how Regina’s strong and confident in public, but a little submissive in the bedroom. Regina loves how Tyler still wants her, and how he’s always willing to please her. They have great chemistry together and I love how they’re still attracted to each other after all those years, and always come back to the same hotel.
My only complaint, aside from the abrupt end to the sex scene, is Elizabeth. I get why she’s necessary to the story, but she’s undeveloped and unlikeable, and I wish she was gone.
Word Count: 4,560
Average Goodreads Rating: 3.27/5 stars
My rating: 4.5/5 stars
It’s not often a book can surprise me. But Same Time Next Year totally took me off guard.
Every year, for the past either years, Regina White and Tyler Harrison meet at the same hotel, in two connecting rooms for one night.
The receptionist, Elizabeth, thinks she has the whole situation figured out. But she doesn’t know what this night means to the mysterious couple. And somehow she can’t stop thinking about them anyway.
You can read Same Time Next Year for free on Smashwords.
At first I thought I wasn’t going to like this story. I thought it was about two people leaving their depressing and dull lives to have one night of infidelity and debauchery a year, like some sort of modern day fairy tale. On top of that, the “good” character, Elizabeth, is kind of a bitch who is quick to condemn and judge Regina, but smile and admire Tyler.
It’s one thing to disapprove of adultery, it’s another thing to have double standards about it.
But despite my misgivings at first, I got sucked into the very hot sex scene quickly.
“No, I don’t want champagne. I want you. Naked. And wet. And begging.”
Gotta love good dirty talk. Unfortunately the scene ends abruptly and before the couple gets to the really good part, if you know what I mean. 😉
For such a short story there is actually a lot of character development. We learn that Tyler and Regina met at a conference years ago, when they had those two hotel rooms by coincidence. Tyler loves how Regina’s strong and confident in public, but a little submissive in the bedroom. Regina loves how Tyler still wants her, and how he’s always willing to please her. They have great chemistry together and I love how they’re still attracted to each other after all those years, and always come back to the same hotel.
My only complaint, aside from the abrupt end to the sex scene, is Elizabeth. I get why she’s necessary to the story, but she’s undeveloped and unlikeable, and I wish she was gone.
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Debbiereadsbook (1449 KP) rated Elias in Books
May 12, 2020
wonderfully warm and fuzzy and too stinking cute read
Independent reviewer for Gay Romance Reviews, I was gifted my copy of this book.
Elias is plodding along, not particularly happy, as such, but getting by. He has a good job, and will be making VP shortly. Then he meets Ty and all bets are off. Ty brings something out in Elias, and Elias in Ty, and they just have to get past their *initial* thoughts about each others jobs.
SO!
I am ALL about my books feelings and this book right, hits a whole damn lot of them! I have not had such a cute story, that left me with so much warm and fuzzies in a long damn time! And I really REALLY enjoyed it!
Both Elias and Ty have a say, in the third person. So we get all the things Elias was thinking about when he meets Ty and Ty tells him off for putting his rubbish in the wrong bin. We get all of Ty's emotions when he realises how much more than friends he wants to be with Elias. We get it all.
It's not especially explicit, but damn, it's hot! There is chemistry, right from the start, between these two and it burns bright and hot the whole way through.
It's a bit emotional in places, when Elias is talking about his family and his past, and I was tearful at that point. Ty's family is great at taking Elias in as one of there own though.
There is no violence, no nutty ex, no major break up. And THAT, my book friends, is what I LOVED most about this book. The fact that; yes they fall out; but it's such a minor, silly thing, and it's resolved pretty quickly, but it's not relationship-break-up material, you know? It's a falling out over the choice of words one of them used, and everyone is happy after they talked it out.
They get their Happy Ever After in a very, almost fairy-tale like way, and I really REALLY enjoyed it!
4 wonderful stars (Can't quite stretch to 5 and most of the webistes don't do halves!)
**same worded review will appear elsewhere**
Elias is plodding along, not particularly happy, as such, but getting by. He has a good job, and will be making VP shortly. Then he meets Ty and all bets are off. Ty brings something out in Elias, and Elias in Ty, and they just have to get past their *initial* thoughts about each others jobs.
SO!
I am ALL about my books feelings and this book right, hits a whole damn lot of them! I have not had such a cute story, that left me with so much warm and fuzzies in a long damn time! And I really REALLY enjoyed it!
Both Elias and Ty have a say, in the third person. So we get all the things Elias was thinking about when he meets Ty and Ty tells him off for putting his rubbish in the wrong bin. We get all of Ty's emotions when he realises how much more than friends he wants to be with Elias. We get it all.
It's not especially explicit, but damn, it's hot! There is chemistry, right from the start, between these two and it burns bright and hot the whole way through.
It's a bit emotional in places, when Elias is talking about his family and his past, and I was tearful at that point. Ty's family is great at taking Elias in as one of there own though.
There is no violence, no nutty ex, no major break up. And THAT, my book friends, is what I LOVED most about this book. The fact that; yes they fall out; but it's such a minor, silly thing, and it's resolved pretty quickly, but it's not relationship-break-up material, you know? It's a falling out over the choice of words one of them used, and everyone is happy after they talked it out.
They get their Happy Ever After in a very, almost fairy-tale like way, and I really REALLY enjoyed it!
4 wonderful stars (Can't quite stretch to 5 and most of the webistes don't do halves!)
**same worded review will appear elsewhere**
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