Now That It’s You
Author: Tawna Fenske
314 Pages in Kindle
Expected Publication Date: September 6, 2016
Dates Read: August 15-21, 2016
My Rating: 3 Stars
Book Summary from Amazon:
Talented chef Meg Delaney hasn’t spoken to her cheating ex-fiancé, Matt Midland, for two years. Ditching him at the altar after blurting out “I can’t” instead of “I do” would sour any relationship. But now, just as Meg is finally ready to bury the hatchet, she learns closure is permanently off the menu. And the kicker? Matt’s brother, Kyle, is back in her life, stirring up feelings that are equal parts guilt and lust.
Meg was the best thing that never happened to Kyle. He couldn’t make a move on his brother’s girlfriend—even if Matt didn’t value her nearly enough. The situation is even more complicated now that Meg’s bestselling aphrodisiac cookbook has spawned a legal battle with the Midlands. Maybe he should stay away. But love, like family, plays by its own rules. And the one woman he shouldn’t want might be the only one who’s perfect for him.
My Review
The premise caught my attention, so I wanted to read it. The books starts out really good. Two years after leaving her fiance at the alter by saying “I can’t”, Meg feels she can put everything aside and forgive Matt. She decides to visit him at the hospital after a minor surgery to have some closure. Then the bad news: Matt died in surgery. Here comes his brother Kyle into the picture. Kyle has been in love with Meg during her entire relationship with his brother. Then Meg’s self published cookbook all of a sudden becomes “the next 50 Shades” and a legal battle with Matt’s family begins.
Typical with “chick lit” Meg and Kyle start a relationship. Well, more like have really great sex. They are both conflicted the whole book with Matt being brought up CONSTANTLY. You have to almost think, “Would they even be together if Matt had not been around in the past”. For me, Matt was brought up way too much. He was a constant in their conversations. And their conflict on if they should be together or not because of Matt- For me it was “hurry up and make up your minds and stop talking about Matt so much!”
Another thing that was an annoyance was the constant referral to Matt’s mom as Meg’s “former-future-mother-in-law”. She was referred as this the whole novel. Did the author have a word quota she needed to reach? Why not just call Matt’s mom by his name or Mrs. Midland?
For me the best part of the novel was the cookbook and the legal battle that Meg faced. I enjoyed how all of a sudden the book became wildly popular and Meg trying to deal with the after effects of everything that entailed. That part seemed real to me.
Of course towards the end of the novel there is a surprising reveal on a secret Kyle kept. The way that Meg reacted about it and her ultimate decision at the end was not satisfying for me. She forgave him way to easily in my opinion. Books, even “chick-lit” books don’t always have to have a “Happily Ever After” ending.
The issue of grief is in the novel as well. Tawna Fenske did a good job portraying that. You could feel Matt’s family dealing with their grief in various ways.
Overall, I give this novel three stars. I don’t really recommend it. There are some humorous parts to the book. I enjoyed parts of it, but the issues I had keep me from recommending it.
**I received a copy from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
My Girl
Author: Jack Jordan
226 Pages in Kindle
Published: July 4, 2016
Dates Read: August 9- August 14, 2016
My Rating: 5 Stars
Book Summary from Amazon:
Paige Dawson: the mother of a murdered child and wife to a dead man.
She has nothing left to live for… until she finds her husband’s handgun hidden in their house.
Why did Ryan need a gun? What did he know about their daughter’s death?
Desperate for the truth, Paige begins to unearth her husband’s secrets.
But she has no idea who she is up against, or that her life isn’t hers to gamble – she belongs to me.
From the bestselling author of Anything for Her, Jack Jordan’s My Girl is the new chilling thriller that you won’t want to miss.
My Review:
When I first started reading My Girl and saw how Paige acts I thought, “Oh great, another Rachel type character from Girl on a Train: An unlikeable alcoholic with memory problems.” She is also a pill addict and resorts to an unmentionable way to get those pills. You can understand why she has these issues: Her daughter was murdered ten years earlier and her husband just killed himself. That’s enough to give anybody issues.
I was determined to see where the book was going to go despite the issues I had with Paige. And then… I get to the halfway mark of the book….. And MAJOR TWIST!!!
I can’t go into many details without revealing the twist. I would have never thought the book was going to go in the direction that it did take. It was brilliant! It is also graphic and very disturbing. This book will not be for everyone. **If you have issues with torture and sexual assault you may want to stay away from this novel. It was hard to read. But the book is worth it. I don’t give 5 star reviews out much, but it was well earned with My Girl. Well done Jack Jordan!!!
**I received a copy from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
[Top]The Happiness Effect
The Happiness Effect: How Social Media is Driving a Generation to Appear Perfect at Any Cost
Author: Donna Freitas
368 Pages in Kindle
Expected Publication Date: February 1, 2017
Dates Read: June 12-26, 2016
My Rating: 5 Stars
Book Summary from Amazon:
Sexting. Cyberbullying. Narcissism. Social media has become the dominant force in young people’s lives, and each day seems to bring another shocking tale of private pictures getting into the wrong hands, or a lament that young people feel compelled to share their each and every thought with the entire world. Have smartphones and social media created a generation of self-obsessed egomaniacs?
Absolutely not, Donna Freitas argues in this provocative book. And, she says, these alarmist fears are drawing attention away from the real issues that young adults are facing.
Drawing on a large-scale survey and interviews with students on thirteen college campuses, Freitas finds that what young people are overwhelmingly concerned with–what they really want to talk about–is happiness. They face enormous pressure to look perfect online–not just happy, but blissful, ecstatic, and fabulously successful. Unable to achieve this impossible standard, they are anxious about letting the less-than-perfect parts of themselves become public. Far from wanting to share everything, they are brutally selective when it comes to curating their personal profiles, and worry obsessively that they might unwittingly post something that could come back to haunt them later in life. Through candid conversations with young people from diverse backgrounds, Freitas reveals how even the most well-adjusted individuals can be stricken by self-doubt when they compare their experiences with the vast collective utopia that they see online. And sometimes, as on anonymous platforms like Yik Yak, what they see instead is a depressing cesspool of racism and misogyny. Yet young people are also extremely attached to their smartphones and apps, which sometimes bring them great pleasure. It is very much a love-hate relationship.
While much of the public’s attention has been focused on headline-grabbing stories, the everyday struggles and joys of young people have remained under the radar. Freitas brings their feelings to the fore, in the words of young people themselves. The Happiness Effect is an eye-opening window into their first-hand experiences of social media and its impact on them.
My review:
Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, Yik Yak, and ChatRoulette… (The last two I have never heard of until this book)…. There are so many social media tools out there and it can be overwhelming. And it is overwhelming for Millennials and younger.
Donna Freitas interviews various college students all over the country to get their opinions on social media. Reading what they thought in their own words was something! I learned so much while reading The Happiness Effect: How Social Media Is Driving a Generation to Appear Perfect at Any Cost. I realized how much I didn’t know was out there. That was a wake up call for me. I told my husband if we have children one day that he will have to stay up to date on all the social media tools that are out there. (He knew about the social media tools that I did not know about. He is much more familiar with all of that than I).
I found it hard to comprehend how much Millennials think about social media: What to post, who can see what they post (They make groups so they can decide what that group will or won’t see!), how many friends do I have and does so and so have more?. The number of friends is apparently very important too. And most importantly: Never post anything that could be considered bad or negative; that looks bad on your “online image”. You MUST appear happy. That was hard to believe how they feel everything has to be happy even if you aren’t. It was hard to comprehend what how much some think before they post. “If it won’t get a like then I won’t post it!”, Or if they post it and don’t get likes, they remove it! Some spend hours thinking about what they will post!! And they won’t post controversial as they could be looked upon as negative and they can’t have that.
I also found it interesting that college students in fraternities/sororites are monitored and if a post is/ or appears possibly negative for that fraternity/sorority, they will be forced to remove it.
Even before they are in college they think about what they post in case a college admissions person looks at their social media, which could affect their future enrollment. And college students are careful to what they post so they aren’t affected by future employment. (I do this myself- I also do not list where I work on my social media).
Also interesting was how often Millennials think about getting rid of social media- for a short amount of time or longer. Some can’t even put their phones down for two minutes, they have to constantly check their social media for that ever important post. It was interesting to learn how they feel that they must be available 24-7.
Granted, not every Millennial is like this. There are some Millennials that do not use social media at all. They are the minority.
As I read this book, it got me thinking about how I use social media, specifically Facebook. I hope to not use it as much in the future.
This was a good read and again, I learned so much. I recommend everyone to read The Happiness Effect: How Social Media Is Driving a Generation to Appear Perfect at Any Cost. It could be an eye opening read.
****I received a copy from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
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