Category Archives: Reviews

My thoughts on books, movies, tv shows and more

Crazy Rich Asians

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I’m back with yet another book reviews. I swear that my life for the summer has turned into a whirlwind of working and non-working moments. Honestly, though I will talk about that more in my mid-year catch up on how I’m doing with this year’s resolutions and goals. Today’s post is a book review on Crazy Rich Asians.

I heard about this movie months before the movie actually premiered because Hollywood had invited nearly every Asian social media influencer to see the movie firsthand at a very special premiere. Matt said that since he hadn’t heard a word about the movie beforehand he thought it was going to be a sleeper hit. Little did we know how big this movie was actually going to be!

I had wanted to read the book before I saw the movie, but that didn’t work out because on the way to Okinawa earlier this year the movie was one of the selections on the plane, so of course I had to watch it. I LOVED it and couldn’t wait to dive into the books. It also didn’t hurt that my best friend recommend these to me because she has re-read them several times since being introduced to them. That being said this also completes a prompt in the Rachel Dawson reading challenge! Yay, just a few more books to go before I can say that I officially finished a reading challenge this year.

Back to the book review though, Rachel Chu has been dating Nicholas Young for nearly 2 years and when he invites her to his best friend’s wedding in Singapore that summer, she isn’t sure what to expect aside from a fun filled summer with her boyfriend. Once she agrees to go on the trip, Nick slowly or not so slowly begins to introduce Rachel to his real life in Singapore, meaning that his family is very wealthy and he will one day be the heir to this fortune. Rachel soon becomes overwhelmed by all this pressure and judgement that come along with Nick’s family and it almost ends their relationship. In addition, to hearing the story of Rachel & Nick you also get to read about the story of Astrid Leong and he woes with money and how it is slowly destroying her marriage.

I loved this book and it was everything I had hoped it would be. I would love to continue the series, but this is yet another group of books that my library is holding hostage since there are so many people that want to read the series and not enough copies to go around. I will definitely be getting around to reading the rest of the books soon, so there’s something for you to look forward to. I may have even loved the book more that the movie, which seems like quite a normal thing in these parts of the book community.

Let me know what you have been reading lately and if you have read this book or this series? Have you seen the movie? Do you want to? I look forward to hearing all this and more in many more posts to come.

Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants

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So I thought that after speed reading through a bunch of books to keep me busy over the long Memorial Day weekend holiday that I would finally sit down and write the reviews for you. We are going to start with the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants by Ann Brashares. One night when I needed a good feel good movie to watch on Netflix I stumbled onto the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants movie and thought that I would re-read the books.

I had loved them in my original reading when the series was first coming out back in the early 2000s or so. I found the first book, so magical that a pair of pants could fit all the friends even though they came in different shapes and sizes. Also I loved the fact that the friends spent the summer circulating the pants among themselves as they were all over the country. I loved that it genuinely felt like this could have happened to real teenagers coming of age in the 2000s. Yes, I know that Bridget’s story in the first book and in the movie ruffled a few feathers for those not wanting to read about that sort of thing, but things like that do happen to girls coming of age now. I couldn’t wait for the next book to come out and when I heard that there was a movie I bounded toward the theater at the chance to see it.

I loved the movie although I found that in someways the first movie left you wanting so much more, much like the first book. This time around I also got the chance to read the companion book to the movie called Keep in Touch. This book included all the letters, cards, and im’s that the girls talked about throughout the movie. I felt intrigued by everything I was re-learning about the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants to keep going with my re-read of the series even though my library was not making this challenge an easy one to complete. If you want to hear more about what I thought about in my re-read of this series. Stay tuned for more reviews as I re-read.

Also what have you been reading lately? What would you recommend from you summer reading list? I’m also hoping to participate in Rachel Dawson‘s summer reading challenge, but we’ll see what happens. Look forward to more posts very soon!

Catwoman: Soul Stealer

Image result for catwoman soulstealer

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I’m back with yet another book review. I know that it feels so tiring that I only post book reviews on here, but I can’t seem to wrap my head around how fast this year is going. Perhaps I’ll talk more about this in another post. Let’s get to the real reason why you are here the review of Catwoman: Soul Stealer by Sarah J. Maas. While Maas is the author of a famous for her Court of Thorns and Roses series, I simply haven’t gotten around to reading it. I have tried to read a few other books in this series before this and it hadn’t worked out too well.

A quick rundown of the book is that we meet Selina Kyle as a young teenager, who has taken charge of the care of her sister, Maggie who has been diagnosed with Cystic Fibrosis. Her father is never talked about in the book, while her mother is portrayed as a woman who cares more about her next high rather than her girls. Selina and Maggie manage to avoid social services for a few years before time catches up with them. It is around this time that Selina is taken to jail from some of her activities with the Leopards. While she is awaiting to be arraigned Selina meets one of the sisters that run the Ah-ghuls and is taken in by what they are offering her, especially if it means that Maggie is taken care of. Flash forward several years and Selina is back in her home city of Gotham with a new look and a new agenda, and all this might be sidelined by her growing interest in Luke Fox and Batwing.

I loved at how fast paced and twist and turny this book was. Sarah J Maas really knows how to draw the reader into the story as well as bringing the story of Selina Kyle and Catwoman to a new audience with a few different takes. It was also interesting to see how Batwing and Gotham stood on their own in the story. It would have been nice to see a more developed relationship between Selina Kyle and Harley Quinn and Poison Ivy, though I did enjoy the camaraderie and girl power in their moments together. It would be interesting to revisit Gotham in a later book following the story of Poison Ivy or Harley Quinn within this world that Selina Kyle also lives in.

Have you read Catwoman: Soul Stealer or any of the other books in the DC Icons series? Now that my interest has been piqued with Catwoman, I can’t wait to read a few more books in the series.

Escape to Book Island books

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I recently participated in the Creating & Co Escape to Book Island Readathon. Here are some of the books I read during the week along with a short review on each.

I found that I actually read quite a few books this week, both more and less than I had hoped. The first book I started and read this week was Everything Nice by Ellen Shanman. This book fulfilled the Beach Read prompt challenge. I had previously read this book over 9 years ago, when I would randomly browse Borders and find books on my lunch break from my retail job at the time. I enjoyed the book and definitely thought it was worth keeping. While I enjoyed the book again this time, I don’t feel the need to keep it on my shelves forever. The short synopsis of this is that Michaela Edwards, a hot shot ad executive is rifted from her job and finds that her life is quickly spiraling down the tubes along with the fact that she has become untouchable in the advertising world. She ends up moving back in with her dad and getting a tip on a job tip from her dad’s girlfriend. While Michaela might not know anything about teaching, she does know a few things about staying safe on the streets of New York and how to make it on her own. The twists and turns of the story will have you hoping that everything turns out just as it should be and it will tug at your heart strings just a bit.

The second book I finished this week was Mera: Tidebreaker by Danielle Paige. This book fulfilled the prompts for matching the colors of the kit and an adventure book. This was the first comic book that I had read in a long time. Probably since two years ago, when I read two comic books in a row for the first Rest in Peace Readathon. I loved at how fast paced and easy to read comic books are. The quick synopsis on the book is that this is the prequel to Aquaman. Mera is teenager trying to prove herself to her father and goes to the surface to kill Arthur. It isn’t long before she falls for him and realizes that things might not be so bad after all. I would definitely recommend this book and any of the other books in the reimagined DC icon series.

Ahhh! This was the last and final book that I read this week. I will admit that I wasn’t able to finish the book during the readathon, but did manage to finish this right after. Daisy Jones & the Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid is my first book of hers that I’ve read. I love that it is written in an autobiographical style making you believe that the band is real and that you are sometimes, so sucked into the world that you have a hard time believing that the band isn’t real. This was a majorly hyped book that has been featured nearly everywhere since its release date earlier in April. A quick synopsis of the book is that is an autobiographical fictional piece on a band called Daisy Jones & The Six focusing on the rise and fall of the band during the 1970s. It’s an extremely well written time period piece that draws you into the world of the 1970s.

I love that I’m back into reading again after having such a hard reading slump in the past couple of weeks. I hope to continue to keep reading since I’m also participating in Books_and_planners Finish a Series Readathon for the month of May and the next Creating & Co Readathon in June. It’s definitely going to be a busy summer reading and hopefully I will be able to get in a few more lifestyle post here for you.

Let me know what you have been reading lately and if you have ever participated in a readathon. Until next time.

The Bright Hour

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It’s been a while since I have been here. Life has gotten quite a bit hectic and it is taking me WAY too long to get through books lately. I also have been caught up in the #100dayproject, which you can catch in more details on my instagram.

Let’s get back to the real reason you are here. Today’s post is about The Bright Hour by Nina Riggs. Last year when the Paper&Glam book club read When Breath becomes Air and the members found out that the 2 spouses of the authors were now dating, I knew that at some point I would need to read this book! I was finally able to pick up the book this year, not only that it fulfilled the requirement for the Rachel Dawson’s reading challenge of Memoir.

Nina Riggs’ book is written in a series of essays that seem to be written in chronological order and slowly get more introspective as the book progresses. Throughout the book Riggs talks candidly about her dealing with breast cancer, which soon spreads to other parts of her body. She also mentions her conversations with other cancer patients including her mother and her best friend Ginny. Riggs also quotes Ralph Waldo Emerson and other notable writers throughout the book showing off her MFA degree with some air of knowledge, but not in a haughty sense.

I loved that Nina Riggs’ is able to talk so candidly about her battle with cancer and share her thoughts on losing her mother during her battle, as well as a few interactions with her doctors and nurses throughout the ordeal. I would definitely recommend this book for its thoughtful introspective nature. I would not recommend this book for people who have recently lost a loved one to cancer or are currently battling cancer. I was in tears toward the end of the book, even though I knew what was going to happen. I also thought that it was sweet that her husband included an end note regarding many of the people we were introduced to throughout the book as to tie the ends together.

Let me know what you have been reading lately and if you have read this book also.