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Sweetheart (2021)

8.0 (1 Ratings) Rate It

Movie

April Jane (Nell Barlow), or “A.J.” as she now likes to style herself, is a seventeen-year-old...

Kristy H (1252 KP) rated Moxie: A Novel in Books

Apr 4, 2019

Moxie: A Novel

Jennifer Mathieu | 2017 | Gender Studies, Young Adult (YA)

8.8

(5 Ratings)

Book Rating

This book has been on my shelf for a little while; I'd bought it as I'd heard good things. I'm working on my self-imposed #readwhatyouown challenge this year, and once I heard that Amy Poehler was going to direct an adaption of this one at Netflix, I figured it was a good time to pick it up.

MOXIE was a slow starter, but turned into a really rousing, empowering read, and I'm excited to see how it translates to the screen. It's incredibly timely and also very terrifying. The more I read it, the more horrified I was that this was reality for females in high school. So much of what Mathieu describes you know happens, but as a parent of two young girls, it's just awful to read about all these kids endure.

There's almost two plot lines in this one--the feminist saga of Moxie and a romance featuring Vivian and another boy at school. I've seen some complaints that the romance detracted from the overall plot, but I actually enjoyed it. Vivian even worries that she is distracting herself from Moxie, at times, because of her relationship. The romance also provides some comedic moments and humanizes Vivian, making her seem more like a real teen. She's a great character, and I really like her.

Overall, even though this was a little slow to begin, I really enjoyed it. It's very YA, if that makes any sense--it's a great book to have on the shelves of all high schools. I would rate it as a 3.5-star read, but I'm bumping it up to 4-stars, because it makes you laugh, cheer, and nearly cry. You'll also fall for the characters, especially Vivian and her friends. I'm looking forward to see how Poehler and crew bring this to Netflix.

Kudos

Lumos (380 KP) rated The Upside of Unrequited in Books

Jan 9, 2018 (Updated Jan 9, 2018)

Molly's internal dialogue was spot on! (0 more)

I was on such a roller coaster with this book but the ending was a little... "lack-luster" for me. (0 more)

Relatable!

I absolutely could not put this book down! The creative writing of Albertalli was well done and brought me along on a journey with her very real characters. Though slightly predictable at times, this book was everything I wanted it to be.

The main character, Molly, is a twin. Throughout this novel, we see Molly struggle with identity and the coming of age process that comes with discovering who you are through a long series of crushed until she finds one that "clicks". Molly's twin sister (Cassie) and her new girlfriend (Mina) are determined to set Molly up with Mina's best friend Will. The pair believe this will be the perfect match as then the twin set will not be separated by love. Unfortunately, things don't work out as planned and we, as readers, are suddenly caught in the whirlwind of teen romance and self-discovery.

Kudos

Felicia (44 KP) rated To All The Boys I've Loved Before (2018) in Movies

Aug 19, 2018

They story of Lara Jean and her hat box with 5 love letters is a teen romantic for the ages. This movie found on netflix is based off of the book with the same name by Jenny Han. Lara Jean writes a love letter for every boy that she has had a huge crush on, she places them in a hat box in her closet in an attempt to hide her feelings. But all that changes when the letters get sent out. Life changes for Lara Jean as she has to deal with new found male attention and her own sense of self.

This movie was really good, the cast was terrific and the storyline doesn't ever really drag as the hour and a half plays out. My only real complaint is that they left out some of my favorite plots from the books but that is to be expected.
I would totally recommend this movie to anybody who wants to watch a cute fluff romance type movie.