My first book of the year always holds a special place in my heart. I am glad that it was this one.

“There is nothing on earth more beautiful to me than your smile...no sound sweeter than your laughter...no pleasure greater than holding you in my arms. I realized today that I could never live without you, stubborn little hellion that you are. In this life and the next, you’re my only hope of happiness. Tell me, Lillian, dearest love...how can you have reached so far inside my heart?"

"The next time you face a room full of strangers . . . you might tell yourself that some of them are just friends waiting to be found.” 

Whenever I rave about romance novels, one of my guy friends always seems to have to ask, "Is it like those books with the cow boys on them or something?"

For the longest time I have gotten to say, nope! I then also tell him to broaden his romance novel mind a little. This time around though...there is a cowboy. And the story is picture perfect.

Jason "Still" Waters' life looks perfect from the outside—money, fame, and the words "World Champion Bull-Rider" after his name. But Jason has a secret, one he never planned on telling anybody...until he meets Simone. She's the kinky girl of his dreams...and his conservative family's worst nightmare.

Now I should start by telling you that I pretty much will love anything that Tiffany Reisz produces in book form. Or at least, that is what it seems like as of now. If it changes, well, it will be as big of a surprise as if Tiffany actually takes up my challenge I gave her on Instagram of trying to out weird herself. A win for both of us if she does. Picture Perfect Cowboy, though not on the weird scale of my reading, it was certainly on the fantastic level that would make me give this enjoyable fun story back with the original sinners gang a five out of five stars.

Picking up with our famous side character, Simone, one of the pro for the eighth circle and Soren's submissive (which makes her a super sub), we travel back down to Kentucky where Tiffany creates all our favorite lovable men. This includes our picture perfect cowboy, Jason "still" Waters who very well may be a bit more curious than your average retired bull rider when Simone tells him what she does for a living other than taking photos for a nude charity calendar.

"I’m not going to get involved with a guy who treats women like they’ll break if you so much as breathe on them. If you want to respect women, respect the real woman in front of you, not some fake fantasy idea of what women are supposed to be like."

Full of humor, wit, emotion that never stops until you hit the last page. The characters made me never want to stop reading, savoring and devouring each moment as Jason and Simone are tangled in the sheets and also in a new sort of world filled with BDSM and love they are beginning to form together. Even if bubbly Simone isn't quite what the conservative western family values truly desired for their son who was raised to never dare even raise his voice to a woman let alone beat and punish a woman. Let alone like it.

“I need to believe I’m a good man,” he said. “I don’t know if I can be that or do that and also be a good man.”

Throughout the original sinners series, I don't think I have seen enough of Simone. She was always there in the background as a good friend and a side sub for Soren, but man am I happy to have read her. She is fun, joyfully uninhibited in what she says, and someone I could fully connect to in this world Tiffany created where everyone is a bit of a freak, but ultimately perfectly happy about it unless they are in the lab of their former dom crying about being a possibly horrible slave which made me want to laugh and cry with her.

This novel however from past characters in this S&M world challenged the idea that to be a perfect dominant as Simone views Soren in many ways, one didn't have to be super intense. Jason is hers both in her heart and in the bedroom (and anywhere else) with a playful and downright sexy humbleness that makes them perfect to bring out the best in one another's most private dreams.

“Maybe, if I have your permission, Master Jason,” she said, “maybe it would be okay if I fell in love with you?” 

Though this book is a standalone and can be read as a stand alone, if you like erotica or some steamy romance I suggest to finally jump on the Tiffany Reisz Original Sinners train. Seriously, this is technically book 10, and it wants each reader to enjoy the ride of Jason Waters.

I had read Karley Sciortino's blog for some time before I realized that she was publishing a book that closely correlated with the release of her Vice show, Slutever. The moment however that the book came across my radar via her fabulous Instagram, it was on my list for my most excited for books of the year as you may have seen here.


"Slut" is a great word. It just sounds perfect-so sharp and clear and beautiful. It's one of those satisfying four letter words, like cunt and fuck. Slut also happens to be an anagram for lust, which is one of those divine coincidences that makes you wonder if God actually exists.

We're lucky that slut is such a great word, because it's safe to say that almost every woman will be called a slut at least once in her lifetime. Despite a slowly shifting sexual double standard, it's still taboo to be a woman who's openly sexual-let alone one who sleeps around. Now Vogue columnist Karley Sciortino is on a mission to reclaim the word "slut" to represent a person who seeks out visceral experiences through sex, and who isn't ashamed about it. Sluts are special. Sluts are radical. And sluts are skilled at time management, because they can handle multiple partners on rotation, plus their jobs and their blogs and their beauty routines. Not everyone is qualified for this coveted position.

SLUTEVER is a call-to-arms, a confessional memoir, a slut manifesto, as told by a sex-radical hedonist in a pink PVC mini dress. It's a thoughtful, first-person account of a modern woman, navigating sex, love, casual hookups, open relationships, bisexuality, BDSM, breakups, sex work, sex parties, and the power of sexual agency, as told from the front lines. 

It took me quite a time however, to finally chat about the book on the blog. I would like to say it is because I had too much to say to sit down and actually write this post, and to be honest, that actually is part of the reason why. It is also because I think I have a slight Carrie Bradshaw complex. This pretty much means that writing about how open and great Karley is, only makes me wish I was the sex writer in this story. That way, I could also put in cool, yet most likely embarrassing stories, about the crazy life I can only at this point in my life imagine.

Let me tell you however, Karley is no Carrie Bradshaw-- even if she does also write for Vogue for her column, Breathless. For one reason, Karley is a lot more kinker and does a lot less pining over one Mr. Big. She brings for the fun and the educational when it comes to all things sex, possible love, and becoming the slut of your dreams.

A word that, take it from Karley, gets a whole lot more slack than it should in this modern day and age where woman are able to take their own sexual beings into their own hands.


Karley seems to have converted even me on the word after reading this book and browsing the Vice series to use the world slut more in a non-horrible way while also pushing this book or information into the rest of my friends or random acquaintances hands who need to know about the big wide world of sexuality many are still sorely lacking in starting to understand.

Through her memoir I laughed at all the hilarious stories she has managed to accumulate in her life from the people she meets with the awkward situations her journey into slut empowerment, including leaving college in London to become a squatter with a tree and hopeful hooker, to seeing what sadomasochist in training had to offer once she made it to NYC.

“My greatest fear in life is being basic. (Or, perhaps more accurately, regressing back into basicness.) I have a literal recurring nightmare where I wake up one day with a husband, two kids, and a house in the suburbs and can't remember how I got there, as if it's my desitny. To avoid this becoming a reality, my strategy thus far has been to continually destroy my relationships at the first sign they're headed in that direction. So far, I have a 100 percent success rate with romantic sabotage.” 

Each chapter or section of the book felt stronger than the last making this very informative and fun book a breeze (as well as super fun to carry around from class to class with such a beautiful pinup-esque cover).

This is a book for all those who have interest in sex, kink, living life by the seat of your pants, and so much more. This book, in case you couldn't tell by now, is not for those of the faint of heart of the people who cringe at the mention of a threesome. If you do and pick up this book, prepare to cringe a lot, or maybe laugh a lot and feel as if your mind is being broadened to the big wide world you may have never known existed out of good erotica novels.

About the Author

Karley Sciortino is a writer, host, and producer, based in New York. She founded this lovely website! She also writes Vogue.com’s sex and relationships column, Breathless. Karley is the author of the upcoming book Slutever: Dispatches from an Autonomous Woman in a Post Shame World (Grand Central Publishing, Feb 2018), and executive producer and host of Slutever, a documentary series on Viceland. She is also a regular contributor to Purple.

In the glittering hotbed of turn-of-the-twentieth-century Vienna, one woman’s life would define and defy an era 

Gustav Klimt gave Alma her first kiss. Gustav Mahler fell in love with her at first sight and proposed only a few weeks later. Bauhaus founder Walter Gropius abandoned all reason to pursue her. Poet and novelist Franz Werfel described her as “one of the very few magical women that exist.” But who was this woman who brought these most eminent of men to their knees? In Ecstasy, Mary Sharratt finally gives one of the most controversial and complex women of her time the center stage. 

Coming of age in the midst of a creative and cultural whirlwind, young, beautiful Alma Schindler yearns to make her mark as a composer. A brand-new era of possibility for women is dawning and she is determined to make the most of it. But Alma loses her heart to the great composer Gustav Mahler, nearly twenty years her senior. He demands that she give up her music as a condition for their marriage. Torn by her love and in awe of his genius, how will she remain true to herself and her artistic passion?

Part cautionary tale, part triumph of the feminist spirit, Ecstasy reveals the true Alma Mahler: composer, author, daughter, sister, mother, wife, lover, and muse.

Out of the two new books I purchased, Ecstasy was the first I picked up to read in my final week before Thanksgiving break. I started and easily fell into the classic feel of the early 1900s where Alma Schindler Mahler, a real famous composer, takes on a fictionalized life of her own with plenty of love and frustration as she comes to terms with who she and her dreams must be in the eyes of others in her life.

It was heartbreaking to a fellow artist I think more than anything. To live a good life, Alma fought with whether she should or shouldn't be the person to give up her dream of music to support her husbands.

"What if there are no good women or bad women? she asked herself. What if pure and impure, faithful and loose, madonna and whore were simply poisons used to reduce a healthy woman to a gibbering, nerve-sick wreck? Men make the rules and we break them so we don't go mad."

Of course, when someone gives up their dreams, there comes conflict and more than anything for Alma as she comes of age and into life which is told in a beautiful flurry of narrative events filled with art and music. It all makes me wonder how I have never heard of Sharratt's writing before. The compelling nature each page kept me going whole-heartedly through the hardship and struggle that I could oddly relate with in the sense of ear of making something worth while in life at another expense.

And though beautiful inside and out, I will not lie to you about everything in this novel. At times I couldn't help myself but want to scream at Alma though I knew it was a different time. She went into a terrible relationship getting the raw end of the deal. This issue I had almost overtook me at times, wondering what Alma was thinking and if it would ever get better as I read on, taking breaks when I needed to let irritation also have a break.

“Let’s raise our glasses to Alma Maria Schindler, Fran Zuckerandl said, who has turned the rest of us poor women emerald with envy. Not only is she the most beautiful girl in Vienna, and that’s quite bad enough, she’s also a brilliant pianist. That’s infuriating. But on top of it all, she composes!”

Overall, I felt like reading Ecstasy was the most well versed biography I have ever opened and quickly finished.

The historical detail is luxurious and transported be throughout into the world of places like Vienna and New York. Both of which I now have an extreme need to visit again or for the first time. Alma's romance and awakening into the world of artists of any form is definitely a story that more need to know when told in Sharrat's mind. Who would have thought I never knew who this passionate Alma was before coming across a version of her story on a modern day bookshelf?

Mary Sharratt is truly making her goal of writing women back into history worth while in this bittersweet novel of Ecstasy.




Mary Sharratt is an American writer who lives with her Belgian husband in the Pendle region of Lancashire, England, the setting for her acclaimed 2010 novel, DAUGHTERS OF THE WITCHING HILL, which recasts the Pendle Witches of 1612 in their historical context as cunning folk and healers.

Mary writes regular articles for Historical Novels Review and Solander on the theme of writing women back into history. When she isn't writing, she's usually riding her spirited Welsh mare through the Lancashire countryside.

I needed a YA novel in my life and I picked up this one. Or rather I was given this one late one night while at a birthday party. When it was nearly time to go home, my friend shoved it into my arms along with book of short stories. If there is any way to be very tired and slightly inebriated, it is to be so around book loving friends.

So here we are. Here I am after I read Scythe. The first in a duology I believe by Neal Shusterman who also wrote the well known YA series Unwind.


Thou shalt kill.

A world with no hunger, no disease, no war, no misery. Humanity has conquered all those things, and has even conquered death. Now scythes are the only ones who can end life—and they are commanded to do so, in order to keep the size of the population under control.

Citra and Rowan are chosen to apprentice to a scythe—a role that neither wants. These teens must master the “art” of taking life, knowing that the consequence of failure could mean losing their own.

I expected a lot from this book. In the past year I feel like I have seen it everywhere. To me this had to be the next sort of big thing in the realm of dystopian YA novels. I was pumped going into the story and the entire concept the story held of people being chosen as death to a world where humans can never really die.

I expected badass characters and action plot lines that would make me want to read and read and read until I hit the last page. Unfortunately though, my expectations might have been a bit too high as they were not met.

Though the badassery was there in moments of when we were trying to pick a villain within the book, they didn't feel quite grounded for me to even care about the outcome. I was more trying to make sure I finished the book and see what happened rather than enjoy it even though I am usually a sucker for books where the protagonists are randomly taken from their normal lives to "save the world" or at least something to that effect.

“Hope in the shadow of fear is the world's most powerful motivator.”

And when that didn't happen, I was at least hoping for some fantastic characters that I could find myself really getting into and going on this slightly played out adventure with. But alas, instead of strong companionship between the characters that in the first pages seemed to have so much in common with each other, a romance was attempted even though the two characters did not even talk to one another to an extend throughout the entire novel which spanned months.

I love romance in all books, and if it was played out right, I have a feeling I would have really loved it in this one two. Instead all I felt was confusion and myself rooting less and less for these characters to even see each other again, let alone get together and live happily ever after under the immortal earth's sky.

I have a lot to say I feel negatively about Scythe, but I will not say that I didn't like it. Though the story did not immerse me and make me happy to be reading it, it was an overall ok and pleasant read that didn't frustrate me to the point of no end. I think the problem was that the tone of this book lost its mark without the necessary tension, and the pace felt very slow with not much happening that wasn't already outside of our main character's hands.

I am a character driven girl, and sadly these characters of Cita and Rowan all in all did not make me want to keep reading on to the second book, Thunderhead.

I forget who read these books first. Me, or the girl who sat nearby in my geometry class freshman year of high school. Sadie was a senior, and both of us sucked at math, but none of that matter as we both raved about this new fantastic book, Throne of Glass. We talked about how badass our favorite new YA heroine, Celena Sardothian was. We gave recommendations and set up goodreads accounts so that we could continue to give recommendations to one another long after she graduated. Everyday though one thing we always managed to sneak into conversation? We couldn't wait for the next book to come out.

Aelin has risked everything to save her people―but at a tremendous cost. Locked within an iron coffin by the Queen of the Fae, Aelin must draw upon her fiery will as she endures months of torture. Aware that yielding to Maeve will doom those she loves keeps her from breaking, though her resolve begins to unravel with each passing day…
With Aelin captured, Aedion and Lysandra remain the last line of defense to protect Terrasen from utter destruction. Yet they soon realize that the many allies they’ve gathered to battle Erawan’s hordes might not be enough to save them. Scattered across the continent and racing against time, Chaol, Manon, and Dorian are forced to forge their own paths to meet their fates. Hanging in the balance is any hope of salvation―and a better world.
And across the sea, his companions unwavering beside him, Rowan hunts to find his captured wife and queen―before she is lost to him forever.
As the threads of fate weave together at last, all must fight, if they are to have a chance at a future. Some bonds will grow even deeper, while others will be severed forever in the explosive final chapter of the Throne of Glass series. 

I read and reread and each time after I got over the perpetual fear that I would never write a book of my own as grand, SJ Maas, little did she know, through the years of her Live Journal blog (that has since been edited to only show blogposts since 2012-ish) encouraged me forward into my writing. Encouraged me to write a world I could escape into much as she did when she first started writing herself. It is amazing what a single book can do, and Crown of Midnight was the first book I ever pre-ordered.

Now it has been about seven or so years and in my hands I now hold the final book in the Throne of Glass series. I have read everything that SJ Maas has written and published, perhaps even loved her other series of A Court of Thorns and Roses just as much as Throne of Glass, if not more. Yet holding Kingdom of Ash feels different. It feel like a grand journey that I started was finally coming to an end. And I was ready when I opened up to the first page.

And I also wasn't.

“Once upon a time, in a land long since burned to ash, there lived a young princess who loved her kingdom …” 

But once I picked up Kingdom of Ash there was no way to stop it or set the book down. Scene by scene with some of my favorite characters I knew so well, I had to know what happened next.

The characters per usual were wonderful. I may even have a new favorite character within these books, Fenrys, which I honestly did not see coming. We all apparently need a good hearted person to stand by us Fenrys I feel like. In the moments of darkness and sorrow, somehow he managed to bring me back to whatever book reality in the same way he connects Aelin to being true to herself in all ways past, present, and hopeful future.



Each character and story line played out toyed with my emotions until my stomach was weighed down by dread, frustration, happiness, sadness, and of course, simple amazement. They are flawed in all the confusing sorts of ways, yet even in the darkest moments that they face in this final book I still found myself rooting for them whether it be in their battles of war, love, or believing in a better world.

A better world which I couldn't help but think by the end we all need a little piece of these days, even if it is only captured between the covers of hardback.

“To whatever end,” he whispered.Silver lined her eyes. “To whatever end.”A reminder—and a vow, more sacred than the wedding oaths they’d sworn on that ship.To walk this path together, back from the darkness of the iron coffin. To face what waited in Terrasen, ancient promises to the gods be damned.”

We see it all in this book and all the questions I may have ever had were finally answered in Kingdom of Ash in a delightfully terrifying and magical way (along with a bit of sass as anyone could imagine would happen with Aelin around).

There simply is so much to say and so much not to say as I take it how far this story has come and how far I have come with them.

Oh, I love these books. My heart aches in a strange way to say the end. These books have been a journey I will not forget and will be sure to reread throughout the rest of my reading years to come to remind me where I have been and what inspired me to keep moving forward.

The Author

“Let’s make this a fight worthy of a song.” 

Four young ladies at the side of the ballroom make a pact to help each other find husbands . . . no matter what it takes

Proud and beautiful Annabelle Peyton could have her pick of suitors—if only she had a dowry. Her family is on the brink of disaster, and the only way Annabelle can save them is to marry a wealthy man. Unfortunately her most persistent admirer is the brash Simon Hunt, a handsome and ambitious entrepreneur who wants her as his mistress.

Annabelle is determined to resist Simon's wicked propositions, but she can't deny her attraction to the boldly seductive rogue, any more than he can resist the challenge she presents. As they try to outmaneuver each other, they find themselves surrendering to a love more powerful than they could have ever imagined. But fate may have other plans—and it will take all of Annabelle's courage to face a peril that could destroy everything she holds dear.

After reading my first book by Lisa Kleypas I knew that I had to continue this reading endevour. So onward with the wallflowers! And by onward, I mean that I need to get all the rest of Lisa Kleypas books because I think she is my new reading obsession. Who knew I could be a historical romance girl? I didn't. Learn something new every day.

Like I also learned that one may not only like a character at the beginning, but may love them by the end. Usually for me this kind of character is the antagonist that I always hate to love. Love to hate? Yes, definitely that one. In this lovely book however, Annabelle was the character that made me want to sigh and roll my eyes in the most polite of manners. In the beginning after all, it was as if I could feel her pretentious feelings towards herself and that of the peer society seeping off the page. If I could have leaped into them and told her get over herself at some points I would have. There is a hot man who obviously has the hots for her after all and she was ignoring him!

“You…you mustn’t stare at me like that.” Soft as the murmur was, he caught it. “With you here, nothing else is worth looking at.”



From the first pages it was obvious, if darling Annabelle wanted to find herself a pleasing husband to her in all ways (wink wink) she need look no further than Simon Hunt. Though of course not a peer, but rather a wealthy climber in the ranks of society being born a butcher's son, he still makes a rather dashing impression even if he is rough around the edges. The chemistry between these two however is undeniable and makes for fun games from chess to compromising sort.

“Let me spoil you,” he whispered. “Let me take care of you. You’ve never had anyone to lean on, have you? I’ve got strong shoulders, Annabelle.”

I couldn't help myself but read and read and read this book until I finished it in record time for me recently coming from a book slump, or rather a feeling like I have no time to read between classes sort of slump. Silly me. There will always now be time for Lisa Kleypas historical romances to keep me smiling and on my toes from the moments of swoon worthy romance to tragedy and humor to keep me a fan forever. Yep, I was hooked and will continue to be happily.
Soon I will be reading onto the next book to see which wallflower has some romance in store for her next? Will it be on the American friends of Annabelle? Or perhaps precious stuttering Evie that for some reason I absolutely love. Can't wait to see what comes next...obviously I need more books, and quickly.

Ever since I read one of my favorite books, The Hating Game by Sally Thorne, I have been searching for the next romcom to make me excited to read and read and read. Honestly, I figured that I would have to wait until her next book came out, stranded in a reading desert wasteland until then, but then came along The Kiss Quotient.

Stella Lane thinks math is the only thing that unites the universe. She comes up with algorithms to predict customer purchases--a job that has given her more money than she knows what to do with, and way less experience in the dating department than the average thirty-year-old.

It doesn't help that Stella has Asperger's and French kissing reminds her of a shark getting its teeth cleaned by pilot fish. Her conclusion: she needs lots of practice--with a professional. Which is why she hires escort Michael Phan. The Vietnamese and Swedish stunner can't afford to turn down Stella's offer, and agrees to help her check off all the boxes on her lesson plan--from foreplay to more-than-missionary position...

Before long, Stella not only learns to appreciate his kisses, but to crave all the other things he's making her feel. Soon, their no-nonsense partnership starts making a strange kind of sense. And the pattern that emerges will convince Stella that love is the best kind of logic... 

From the first page I started reading one late late night, which was a very bad bad idea, I was hooked. Right off the bat, the characters were so perfect and sweet. Our main character, Stella Lane was perfectly unique and held a voice that I had yet not heard when it comes to a perfect romance such as this as she attempts to teach herself all she needs to know about relationships and sex. Since at age 30, at this point practice is what's going to make perfect, right? Thus, brings in our heroic Michael who also happens to be the occasional escort who is propositioned to help her out.




Of course, these lessons that Stella has in mind aren't all that simple. As they begin, a friendship and love interest quickly forms between the two that felt tangible to my the moment they were introduced, and only increased from there, making me root for Stella and Michael no matter how many cringe filled moments came by. Sometimes so cringey that I had to put the book down and take a deep breath for my secondhand embarrassment to subside.

In the end though, through the cringes and the laughs and all the emotions that brought this book together in a way I absolutely needed in this point and time; this book was about love and acceptance and I loved it.

I cannot wait to see what Helen Hoang writes next. Bring on the romance and the fluff and all the goodness.

...and the sweet Michael Phans of the world.

About the Author

If there is ever a memoir to read, this might be it. For the writing, for the story...I realize now why so many people in school years ago said it was one of the only books they read out of the class library. What I don't understand is, why didn't I?

Jeannette Walls grew up with parents whose ideals and stubborn nonconformity were both their curse and their salvation. Rex and Rose Mary Walls had four children. In the beginning, they lived like nomads, moving among Southwest desert towns, camping in the mountains. Rex was a charismatic, brilliant man who, when sober, captured his children's imagination, teaching them physics, geology, and above all, how to embrace life fearlessly. Rose Mary, who painted and wrote and couldn't stand the responsibility of providing for her family, called herself an "excitement addict." Cooking a meal that would be consumed in fifteen minutes had no appeal when she could make a painting that might last forever. Later, when the money ran out, or the romance of the wandering life faded, the Walls retreated to the dismal West Virginia mining town -- and the family -- Rex Walls had done everything he could to escape. He drank. He stole the grocery money and disappeared for days. As the dysfunction of the family escalated, Jeannette and her brother and sisters had to fend for themselves, supporting one another as they weathered their parents' betrayals and, finally, found the resources and will to leave home. 

Maybe it wasn't meant to come into my life until this moment. Maybe a lot of things I suppose, but after reading The Glass Castle, I am so very glad I was able to read this memoir that felt like a sort of real life fairy tale and nightmare all fixed into one big bowl of life.

This book no matter how beautiful though, this book is anything but a simple easy sort of story. Starting within Jeannette's childhood moments from when she was three years old and boiling hot dogs on the stove to staring up at the sky and claiming a star for her own, with the beauty came moments of rage from her drunken father who loved the family none the less and a mother who had the saying that art was worth more time than eating or getting food for the same family.

I breezed page by page of this life set before me in ink, no stopping until I reached the end.



By Jeannette's later childhood, set in Virginia where quite a bit of the book takes place near where the father grew up, along with her brother's and sisters this memoir turns into almost a survival story for a different sort of life not tangled in running from tax collectors and going hungry. Jeannette became determined to stay where she was. Determined to become successful, the kids banned together and forth even more memories and hope of a life they believed they deserved to live. I cheered them on through each step forward and back on their journey to New York City where the story continues on and on...

It is hard I think to review a memoir sometimes when you can or can't relate. It is not your life, but it is a moment to be glad you got a beautifully fractured glimpse into it.

I am glad to have gotten a glimpse into this story.





Recently a film came out based on the book. While I will admit to enjoying the memoir a whole lot better than the film, since I thought they took too romanticizing the life situations a little too much, the trailer is pretty great.

The Bloggess has been serving up the best in comedic blog posts since blogging was a real sort of thing to do with your life. In her first memoir, Let's Pretend it Never Happened (A mostly true memoir) the realness of life and comedy within it does not stop on a computer screen. Nope, you can now read the hilarious Jenny Lawson in print.

Taxidermy animals and adorable marriage goals included.

photo credit: the bloggess

Recently I have been on a memoir kick and I don't think that my love for them will stop after reading this book that I picked up from the free book shelf within my study abroad school. Someone like me it seemed could just not fit this wonderful paperback back into their carry-on.

What does fit however, is the awkward memories of me laughing in public while reading this book of adventures told by an anxiety afflicted woman who I felt like I understood very well already just by finding out that alone. In unfiltered detail, she tells about the moments throughout her life. This goes from being a poor kid in a town no one really knows of in Texas, having a dad who I wouldn't ever want to say had something really cool he wanted to show me (see back to "taxidermy included"), and finally arriving at the point of her life now where Jenny has a family and very kind husband of her own who will totally fight her on if Jesus could be considered a zombie or not.

Again, goals.

The stories at times are as crazy as possibly Jenny may call herself, but overall they are great in that weird "no, seriously, you cannot make this stuff up" sort of way. Each story also only managed to increase my admiration and appreciation for Jenny Lawson page by page, both for her view of the world and for her ease of writing, even if it isn't always showing her life in the best of lights as we like to usually let others see out in the open. Especially on the internet. But in the end, she is right. Bloggers write because they want to be heard and usually are too awkward and antisocial to actually shout.

And thank goodness The Bloggess was.

Be prepared to laugh and cringe and do all the sorts of things you need a memoir to do, especially if you will be reading it as I was, sitting in an airport waiting for my perpetually delayed flight. My fellow passengers didn't think I was strange at all...

About the Author

When I came to Europe I thought, yeah, I am good. I am not going to buy any books.

I was wrong.

No one’s ever told Eleanor that life should be better than fine.
Meet Eleanor Oliphant: She struggles with appropriate social skills and tends to say exactly what she’s thinking. Nothing is missing in her carefully timetabled life of avoiding social interactions, where weekends are punctuated by frozen pizza, vodka, and phone chats with Mummy.
But everything changes when Eleanor meets Raymond, the bumbling and deeply unhygienic IT guy from her office. When she and Raymond together save Sammy, an elderly gentleman who has fallen on the sidewalk, the three become the kinds of friends who rescue one another from the lives of isolation they have each been living. And it is Raymond’s big heart that will ultimately help Eleanor find the way to repair her own profoundly damaged one.

This was book number one. I went into Book in Bar, the cutest little mainly English bookstore in Aix-en-Provence and saw it lying on the table- but no. No, Kendra, I told myself. You are not going to let one of your first purchases in France be a book. You buy too many books already. 

So I put poor lonely Eleanor back down.

Very few days later I went back, and it was gone. Eleanor Oliphant in the EU cover, paperback edition that we did not have in the US was gone! My eyes widened to where The Lesser Bohemians took its place, searching just be to be sure it wasn't covered up by another novel. It was only after hyping myself up for a few moments, I went towards the counter.

"Bonjour."

"Bonjour," the woman at the desk responded, stopping her typing. She waited for me.

Deep breathes. I had this. "Tu parles anglais?"

At least I had enough words to hopefully switch to English. After all how was I supposed to ask if they had Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine, otherwise? Tu a Eleanor Oliphant est ca va? No. I am pretty sure that is wrong on a number of levels.




She smiled and said yes to the first question. No, to the second.

"But we are ordering a new shipment. It should be in on Wednesday or Thursday if you don't mind. I can put your name down."

"Ah, ok. Oui. C'est bon." And by this I meant awesome, now I can come into Book in Bar everyday to just be around the books and annoy the staff by pleasantly asking if the book came in early. Score!

By Thursday though, right on the day they said. Eleanor was in. That evening back home instead of doing my art history homework, I set to reading.

Right away I was struck by the epigraph that begins the novel written by Olivia Laing in The Lonely City.

"...loneliness is hallmarked by an intense desire to bring the experience to a close; something which cannot be achieved by sheer willpower or by simply getting out more, but only by developing intimate connections. This is far easier said than done, especially for people whose loneliness arises from a state of loss or exile or prejudice, who have reason to fear or mistrust as well as long for the society of others.
Loneliness is accretive, extending and perpetuating itself. Once it becomes impacted, it is by no means easy to dislodge."

First of all, I rarely read epigraphs but this one was something else, completely summing up the story as well as how I was beginning to feel myself as a person alone in a new country for the next so many weeks.




As if I needed anymore incentive, I read one for hours into the night, falling into the critical yet utterly unique voice that Eleanor brings forth as she begins to step out from her self-isolation and into a new sort of social interaction she had not experienced before.

“People don’t like these facts, but I can’t help that. If someone asks you how you are, you are meant to say FINE. You are not meant to say that you cried yourself to sleep last night because you hadn’t spoken to another person for two consecutive days. FINE is what you say.”

Along with that social interaction I can firmly say that I have not read a book like this ever before with easy frankness and a distinct narrative that does not shy away from everything Eleanor is from someone who is interesting, quirky, awkward, and completely emotional overall. She is after all, a woman who in the beginning of the novel tells you straight up that on Friday she goes home from work with a frozen margarita pizza and two bottles of vodka to make it to Monday.

Most of all I feel like in this day in age where social interaction is no longer a strict requirement, Eleanor's story is all too relatable.

By the end of this novel however, I was floored with how much I felt that I had lived through with Eleanor even though there were not a whole lot of different events taking place in the book. More like, realizations. We are show almost all the sorts of kindness and forms of love there is in the world to ultimately bring forth the idea that it is never to late to make a change in one's life for the better. A lesson that Eleanor learns and I personally think I still need to at times.

Eleanor's character definitely grew on me the more I read to definitely make this thought provoking and emotionally trying novel one of my favorites of the year, simply by the fact that I haven't stopped thinking about Eleanor, Glen the cat, Raymond, and the entire story itself since I have put it down.

T'is a rare strange novel this one.

These characters are very few which feel like coming home to when I open the pages. The characters of the Night Court are a few of them.

"Feyre, Rhys, and their close-knit circle of friends are still busy rebuilding the Night Court and the vastly-changed world beyond. But Winter Solstice is finally near, and with it, a hard-earned reprieve.   

Yet even the festive atmosphere can't keep the shadows of the past from looming. As Feyre navigates her first Winter Solstice as High Lady, she finds that those dearest to her have more wounds than she anticipated--scars that will have far-reaching impact on the future of their Court."

The entire novella is bound and covered just like the others within the series, which I loved. Plus, it made it extra easy to find on the Target shelf when me and two others took a last minute trip to there and Dunkin' Donuts. Something different about this book however I realized right away was that it is told from multiple POVs.

Going in, I did expect this. Of course, I really thought that from the announcement of ACOFAS that it was going to be dual POVs between Feyre and Ryhsand. It would be our one last send off to how cute the couple has become now that all the drama has left them in the plot. A plot that with not only Rhysand and Feyre telling the story, but many more third point of views, we didn't really get to even though somehow a whole lot happens.

I understand that the plot was the emotional journey moving forward and Feyre being able to find herself as high lady in a sense, but this novella did read like I could have read it as a holiday blog post a la SJ Maas. I would have enjoyed it just as much if not more. Less pressure is put on a reader's shoulders after all when they are reading free pleasure stories.

"But it had been a long, brutal winter that had brought me so deep into the woods that day nearly two years ago. A long, brutal winter that had made me desperate enough to kill a wolf, that had eventually led me here—to this life, this … happiness."

So yes, I had issues with the novella, but also loved it the way I feel I will always love Sarah's novels. These books are full of heart and strength that I feel bleed into me when I read them.

The light hearted moments really make this book though and made it go by quickly. The message I also love is the necessity of art and love to heal. I need some of that artistic muse that Feyre begins to be re-inspired by as the Winter Solstice approached.

Though this book may not have been action packed and "necessary," it was definitely a welcomed continuation of stories I have held dear to my heart ever since I first heard the name Rhysand. My heart with him always manages to give a flutter!

”To the stars who listen, Feyre. To the dreams that are answered, Rhys."

There simply will never be enough of the Night Court to read. I am excited to see what the rest of the continuations of the ACOTAR stories will have in store.

The Year of Magical Thinking has been everywhere for the past so long. I feel like everyone has read it. So, recently in my mindful thrift books haul, I picked it up. And I read it. And it was kind of sad. No wonder the last guy who had the book inscribed it with sharpie as a gift with, "To make you cry. Love, Andy."

Way to pick a gift book, Andy.

“Life changes in the instant. The ordinary instant.” 

“Grief turns out to be a place none of us know until we reach it. We anticipate (we know) that someone close to us could die, but we do not look beyond the few days or weeks that immediately follow such an imagined death. We misconstrue the nature of even those few days or weeks. We might expect if the death is sudden to feel shock. We do not expect this shock to be obliterative, dislocating to both body and mind. We might expect that we will be prostrate, inconsolable, crazy with loss. We do not expect to be literally crazy, cool customers who believe their husband is about to return and need his shoes.”

This is a book for those who don't want to feel alone. Those who have lost someone and need to simple, yet beautiful words, and definitions of medical jargon to fully understand and come to terms with how life is changed.

This book acts a journal for Didion, I believe.

A memory.

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