The Boy next door

The Boy Next Door (Boy, #1) by Meg Cabot
Published by Avon on October 25, 2005
Pages: 379
Format: Paperback
Goodreads
four-stars

Gossip columnist and single New York City girl Mel lives in the most exciting place in the world, yet she's bored with her lovelife. But things get interesting fast when the old lady next door is nearly murdered.Mel starts paying closer attention to her neighbors—what exactly is going on with the cute boy next door?Has Mel found the love of her life—or a killer?

I recently finished reading The Boy Next Door by Meg Cabot. Over the years I have probably read a ton of Meg Cabot books and yet nearly every time I go into a bookstore I resist picking up a book from her because of the way I think people will judge me for reading her books. Granted she writes for both young adults and adults it is probably I just need to suck up and get over.

The book is an amazing read that keeps you turning pages. When I first saw the format of the book I was a little worried because it was written in all emails from the characters to one another, but after reading it I found that it was effectively used and was a refreshing change of pace. The use of email also shows you the power email an email can have and how just like in letters punctation and grammar are also important.

Movie Review: Invictus

10 / 3 / 128 / 13 / 18

This movie is several years old, but since I finally saw it all the way through I thought that I would do a review on the film. I was lucky enough to be able to see this for free since my workplace did a showing of it. It was a great movie night, even though it was slightly longer than we had originally planned.

Invictus is a movie about Nelson Mandela’s first term in office and how he got the people of South Africa to begin the road to forgiveness and begin to bond together as a country by using the World Cup of rugby as a focal point of the story. The film stars Morgan Freeman as Nelson Mandela and Matt Damon as the captain of the rugby team. If those two reasons alone don’t get you to watch the movie I’m not sure what will.

The movie is historical, but the underlining story line that was created by the script does not make the movie boring. KonaBoy was even able to come with me to the movie showing and was excited to find out that the movie was Invictus. When I say I finally made it through this movie is because the first time I watched this movie was on a plane and I honestly could not keep my eyes open for most of the movie and was very upset that I missed most of the movie.

If you haven’t seen this movie yet I definitely recommend it. If you have already seen it I would love to hear your thoughts.

Tales from the Yoga Studio

10 / 2 / 1211 / 13 / 19

Tales from the Yoga Studio by Rain Mitchell
Published by Plume Books on December 28, 2010
Pages: 279
Format: Paperback
Goodreads
three-half-stars

A sparkling new series introducing five unforgettable women who flock to yoga at turning points in their lives and find the gift of lasting friendship.

The yoga studio is where daily cares are set aside, mats are unfurled, and physical exertion leads to well-being, renewal, and friendship. An aggressively expanding chain of Los Angeles yoga "experience centers," has Lee and her extraordinary teaching abilities in its sights. They woo her with a lucrative contract, a trademarked name for her classes, and a place for her handsome musician husband. But accepting the contract means abandoning the students at the homey studio Lee runs in L.A.'s Silver Lake district- and leaving behind four women whose friendships are suddenly more important to her than retirement benefits and a salary increase.

Tales from the Yoga Studio is an insider's look at the current obsession with yoga, told with enough humor, wit, and warmth to charm and delight readers, whether or not they've ever done a Downward Dog.

I recently finished Tales from the Yoga Studio by Rain Mitchell. This is her first novel and it is the first book in the series. While admittedly I bought this book because the cover art looked intriguing and it seemed to have an interesting summary . This was another one of the books I bought a while ago and had stashed away waiting for the right moment to read. I had started this book a few times and it took me longer to read than I had actually wanted to which is slightly embarrassing because this book isn’t very long at all. The book follows the lives of 5 women just as they are meeting in a yoga studio in SilverLake California. The women are all different one is the yoga studio owner, one is the studio’s resident masseuse, one is a screenwriter, one is a dancer, and the last one is an actress.

I loved this book and highly recommend it and definitely can’t wait to see what the author does with the rest of the series. I read that the second novel in the series is out and that’s another book that I will have to put on my wish list for the next time I hit up the bookstore. I would definitely say that this is a chick lit novel, but at least give it a chance.

In other news I’ve recently discovered Good Reads. Would you want me to post what I’m currently reading in their widget and want me to add my thoughts there too? Let me know your thoughts and if you use Good Reads too!

A Total Waste of Makeup

9 / 18 / 1211 / 13 / 19

A Total Waste of Makeup (Charlize Edwards, #1) by Kim Gruenenfelder
Published by Griffin on December 27, 2005
Pages: 359
Format: Paperback
Goodreads
three-stars

Charlize "Charlie" Edwards certainly knows, in theory, what it takes to lead a successful and happy life. She owns a nice house in Silverlake, LA's trendiest neighborhood. She has glamorous and loyal friends who accompany her to the hottest clubs in town. And she works as the personal assistant to Drew Stanton, Hollywood's sexiest movie star. But she's also turning 30, chronically single, and faced with serving as maid of honor at her younger sister's wedding. Charlie finds herself struggling to juggle the chaos of wedding planning (while wondering if she'll ever wear the white dress herself), her all-consuming job for lunatic boss Stanton, and a serious crush on Jordan, a photographer on the set of Drew's latest feature--a man who might actually return her feelings. A page-turner from start to finish, A Total Waste of Makeup puts a fresh face on women's fiction.

I apologize that this review is late and that I’ve been slacking on reviews lately. There are quite a few posts that I need to put together for you, but I’ve just been slacking lately. Now I’m motivated to write and put up posts so let’s get into this review.

I found this book in the bargain book section of Barnes & Noble. Yes, I quite often frequent that section when I’m in that store, but that besides the point. I found the title intriguing so I picked up the book along with some other and it sat neglected in a pile for at least a year. I do apologize to all the books I haven’t read yet, I am getting to you and trying not to attract more books!

At the end of the book Charlie finishes the letter by writing:
“I was never Jennifer Aniston. I never cooked as well as Julia Child, wrote as well as Leo Tolstoy, was as funny as Lucille Ball, or as rich as Oprah Winfrey. I was never as beautiful as Beyonce, as famous as Princess Diana, as good of an actress as Meryl Streep, as driven for a cause as Elizabeth Cady Stanton. I’m pretty sure I never learned physics, or how to speak chinese. and I can almost guarantee you I never figured out new math. but I got to go through this life, and this century as me. and that’s a hell of a lot more than I ever dreamed.
Well, great-granddaughter, I hope reading my book has inspired you to write a book of your own, for your great-granddaughter. I only wish I could ask you this question because I’m dying to know: what will you write?”

I loved this book because it was open and honest. It took a hard look at single women everywhere and put it bluntly into a hilariously funny book that I think every women could relate to and enjoy. I think a lot of us have been there and can relate to what Charlie Edwards is going through. I highly recommend that you read this book. I often had a hard time putting it down at night. I’ll definitely be checking out a few of Kim Gruenenfelder’s other books

Movie Review: Brave

8 / 27 / 128 / 13 / 18

KonaBoy and I saw this movie in July, so I apologize for the delayed review on this. I was definitely excited to see this movie because the animation looked amazing and I’m always interested to see a new Disney princess in the mix. To be honest I have seen this more than once in theaters, but let’s keep that just between us 😉

At the beginning of the movie Merida is on a trip with her family when her father encounters a bear that tears off his leg. Fast forward a couple of years and Merida now is 16 years old and has a triplet younger brothers who are the darlings of her parents eyes. Her father reminisces about the story of the loss of his leg and what he would do to the bear if he ever saw it again. Merida is now at the age to be betrothed only she does not want to be married or to be a princess. She fights it tooth and nail and even to the point where she embarrasses her parents in front of the other leaders and their sons.

Merida runs away and meets a witch in the forest who grants her wish to change her fate. Merida uses the witch’s potion on her mother changing her mother into a bear. Merida does not understand what happened because she simply asked the witch to change her mother’s mind . Merida and her mother go to hunt down the witch and find that she has left the cottage where Merida found her. She did leave Merida instruction that if she did not figure out how to fix the spell by the third sunrise the spell would become permanent.

I’m going to graciously not spoil the majority of the movie for those who have not seen it. If you have ever seen any Disney movie in your life you can predict what happens in the end. I’ll admit that the movie was much shorter and cleaned up far too nicely for a Disney movie. The graphics in the movie were incredible. As much as I liked watching the movie I do not think that this is a movie that I would own. Sorry Disney and Pixar.