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Life or Death
Life or Death
Michael Robotham | 2015 | Fiction & Poetry
8
8.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
Life or Death started out super exciting, then it died for about a half a chapter and I had a really hard time getting back into it. That’s not to say it was exciting, but the characters felt a little distant at first. I couldn’t figure out what was going on in Audie’s head, so I didn’t connect with him very well at first. Once I got past that rough part, and as the story grew I learned more and more what was going on, I was totally addicted.

The story follows Audie Palmer, an unlikely criminal who turns out to be much more than expected. He is fighting very hard for something that doesn’t make sense on the surface… it’s not until you dive deeper with him that you realize just how much more there is to the story. So much love, so much hate, so much deceit.

I loved the way the story came together at the end. As I said, there were some chapters I had trouble getting into at first, but when the story ended, I wanted to applaud.
  
The Love Curse of Melody McIntyre
The Love Curse of Melody McIntyre
Robin Talley | 2020 | Fiction & Poetry, Humor & Comedy, LGBTQ+, Young Adult (YA)
8
8.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
A sweet and diverse YA theater romance
Melody McIntyre loves theater with all her heart. She puts everything she has into her role as stage manager for her high school's productions. But when Mel's love life affects her latest show, she realizes that maybe her romances and the success of the shows go hand in hand. After all, it's pretty well known that their theater is cursed. So Mel swears off love for their current spring production of Les Miserables. Then she meets Odile Rose, a rising actor, who has a role in their spring show. Odile seems as invested in the show in Mel, and she's also kind and funny. Mel can't fall in love, but what if she has no choice?

"Our theater's cursed. That's the rumor, anyway. Strange things have been happening here for years. Unexplainable things."

This book wins the award for one of the most stressful openings ever, as Mel's love life falls apart during an actual show. I was sweating bullets on her behalf. It's a very theater-oriented book and if you like drama or Les Mis, you will adore reading it. Robin Talley writes in her very sweet author's note that she took inspiration for the plot from her wife, who is involved in the theater--totally adorable.

"All right. So be it. If I fall in love, the musical's doomed."

As with nearly any Talley YA read, LOVE CURSE is filled with wonderful diverse representation, cute high school kids, and a sweet love story. There's some high school drama, of course. Here there's much ado about a curse--sometimes too much for this adult--but I could completely see my theater friends in high school being completely into something like this in high school.

As for Melody and Odile, I adored them. Mel put theater first above all and Odile felt pressured as her acting career took off. I would have liked a little more buildup to their love story, but their romance was really touching. I love how Talley always makes it okay to be queer, especially for teens, in her books and works through coming of age and/or coming out in approachable and realistic ways.

Overall this is a cute theater-themed read filled with diverse characters and a touching love story. 3.75 stars, rounded up.
  
The Secret Life of Bees
The Secret Life of Bees
Sue Monk Kidd | 2017 | Fiction & Poetry
10
8.4 (68 Ratings)
Book Rating
Well my streak continues...that would be the streak where I enjoy a book much more than I do the movie adaption. I don't usually see a movie & then read the book, but in this case I did just that. I saw this movie ages ago & enjoyed it, but damn the real story has so much more color & life to it than the movie. It really makes you think about life, love, & forgiveness. What an amazing story on the power of love & how your perspective on things changes throughout your life. Your experiences shape the way you see things & you just may be surprised & how drastically those experiences can shift your whole view of a situation.
I adore this book! It is very easy to get lost in.
  
Everything, Everything
Everything, Everything
Nicola Yoon | 2015 | Fiction & Poetry
8
9.3 (3 Ratings)
Book Rating
Enjoyable Love Story
This book follows Maddy; a teenage girl who suffers from a rare disease that prevents her from leaving her house. Her uneventful daily like is shaken up when a new boy moves in next door.
Maddy reminds me of a princess trapped in a tower, but the tower is her own body. She understands that Olly isn't going to come save the day. She actually afraid of letting him into her life. The best part of this book is seeing Maddy decide what risks are worth taking. Once she decides to let Olly be a part of her life her view on the world starts to change. Overall this was a great book, and Maddy's love story proves that the best things in life come with a little risk.
  
A Room With a View (1985)
A Room With a View (1985)
1985 | Classics, Comedy, International
9.0 (1 Ratings)
Movie Favorite

"That to me is the most romantic film of all time, and it makes me cry whenever I watch it. I think that I can credit that film for my hairstyle on Seinfeld back in the day, because I thought Helena Bonham Carter was so exquisite – because she was. And those costumes and that love story, which was so restrained, which made it feel so much more romantic. It’s a very moving story about the love between two people, and I just adored it. And Daniel Day-Lewis gave the most remarkably comedic performance. If you go back and watch that film, which I encourage you to do because it truly holds up – I watched it recently and I was bawling my eyes out – but Daniel Day-Lewis is so f–king funny."

Source
  
Lion's Share (Wildcats #1)
Lion's Share (Wildcats #1)
6
6.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
Its been many years since I read the Shifters series and I've forgotten a lot of characters and the stuff that happened. I only really remember Faythe, Marc and Jace and the love triangle thing they had going on--and that I was very much Team Mace.

So for this to be Jace's story I was looking forward to reading his HAE. However, I was a little disappointed with the story. It didn't pull me in and make me desperate to know more about Jace and Abby and their relationship. And the love declarations seemed to come a little out of the blue, whether they'd been lusting after each other for years or not. Oh, I don't know. It just didn't work for me but it did make me cry a little at the end.
  
A Dog's Way Home (2019)
A Dog's Way Home (2019)
2019 | Adventure, Drama, Family
Pretty much everything (0 more)
Time jumps (0 more)
Homeward bound
Chilled out for the night, myself and my girlfriend decided to route through Netflix and being a dog lover she wanted to watch this...

A dogs way home is a genuine piece of art in the form of a dogs survival from it's own perspective.
The story follows Bella, an illegal breed of dog with a heart of Gold, who after being temporarily rehomed for her safety, runs away and decides to make her way home...
Through danger and panic, love and loss.

A beautiful story of love and loyalty between man and dog that manages to pull on every heart string, playing an orchestra of the soul, showing that animal's are intelligent and often misunderstood creatures that just want to be loved.
  
The Storied Life of AJ Fikry
The Storied Life of AJ Fikry
Gabrielle Zevin | 2017 | Fiction & Poetry
10
8.6 (27 Ratings)
Book Rating
If you need something sweet and uplifting in your life at any point, I strongly suggest you pick up this wonderful little book. While the plot follows the titular bookstore owner over the course of many years of his life, it is really about love above all else. Given the title and the main character's occupation, it is unsurprisingly about a love of reading and writing, but more than that it is about our capacity to love each other, how we can discover it in the most unexpected ways, and the impact that love can have on the lives of those around us. By the end of this book you'll find that you too have fallen in love with the fictional Island Books shop and its accompanying characters, with your sadness at it being over assuaged only by the knowledge that you can restart the story and revisit the shop whenever you want.