Secrets in Summer by Nancy Thayer REVIEW

After the harrowing experience yesterday, I was very hesitant to continue with my 'to-be-reviewed' books. However, I needed to exercise and finishing these books while exercising has become my motivation lately. I read half of this already at the hospital while my dad was getting surgery but I know all too well that books can go downhill fast. Not that that's what happened yesterday because that whole book was a mess but when a story goes down. It goes down. I really need to find which genre is my palette cleanser.

Anyway, I really enjoyed this. I enjoyed it more towards the end but the whole book had this calming effect. The way it was written was just very relaxing to me, I don't know why. There are some funny parts but they're more towards the later half of the book as things are winding down. That doesn't mean that the beginning of the book wasn't entertaining, it just means that the later half was more entertaining than the first.

The one thing that really bothered me was the three chapters used for flashbacks, they were quite boring but I think it's because I'm not  fan of complete flashbacks in books. Especially since the topics covered in the flashbacks were continuously covered throughout the book. So it was an unnecessary three chapters. As if she had to have a certain page count and just decided to throw it in.

Darcy is a nice little character, she's a librarian and a little bit over-dramatic. She makes friends with her summer neighbors. But only half-way through the book. I think that was the biggest problem was that the bulk of the story happened in the second half and it left for really nothing in the first half. She took the first half to set up the location and characters. Other than that the book is great. It's barely 300 pages so it's a pretty quick read and I even had a few laugh out loud moments.

I struggled what to tag this as. Though, after some googling I figured out that women's fiction is an umbrella genre so I tagged with both chick lit and women's fiction because it's definitely chick lit.

Just the Essentials: How Essential Oils Can Heal Your Skin, Improve Your Health, and Detox Your Life by Adina Grigore REVIEW

Some self-help books come off as really boring and judgmental. However, there are some that realize that sometimes humor and approachable language may be a better way to reach people. In general. Reading this, you now know that I reject that in my review writing but prefer it in books. All that being said, I liked this book on an information level and a reading level.

Adina is very passionate about her craft and it shows through this book. It's a lot about Essential Oils and she makes it very easy to understand.

For me, I never really thought about Essential Oils or anything like that, I just like things that smell nice. Very basic stuff over here but after I read this I really felt interested in trying some of this out. Though, probably not until I live on my own and feel secure enough to practice this stuff. Similarly to how I only practice cooking when the parents are working. To avoid unwanted attention. That being said, I think a lot of crafty people could enjoy this.

I was more interested in the recipes in the beginning but then I read the introduction and was just drawn in by Adina's writing style. Evidently, Adina can make awesome products and write well, The envy!

There isn't much to say about the book, it's enjoyable and informative without being too tedious to read. It's nice.

Bad Girls of Fashion: Style Rebels from Cleopatra to Lady Gaga by Jennifer Croll

Very slowly, I am making it through my netgalley list. Given the fact that the majority of my weekly reading is done on netgalley (the weekends is reserved for physical books) if I do not particularly enjoy a book and it makes me disinterested in reading, it really inhibits my ability to review objectively.

I'll be blunt, I chose to read this book for three very specific reasons; Cleopatra, Lady Gaga, and the title. There were some other things I was interested in; Marie Antoinette, Coco Chanel, Elizabeth I, Nicki Minaj, Marilyn Monroe... There were some people that I just plainly don't like at all, like Rihanna and Madonna but other than that I was just not interested in most of the other people in the book.

The evolution of fashion could not occur without these women that pushed the boundaries and I'm grateful but most of the time if they're not a person in history that I am interested in personally, then I just get bored. I've recently acquired a new boat of confidence after watching Jordan Peele's movie, Get Out, and don't feel the need to feel ashamed about being disinterested about certain things. Of course, with books like this, most people will have the same problems I did but with different people, it's a matter of preference.

I do think that it's a bit wordy, there was definitely some text in there that wasn't needed. In some nonfiction books, there's boxes that are off to the side that has interesting facts that would be otherwise inappropriate to put into the main text, the problem was that none of them were interesting and I found myself skipping over them.

The one thing that I do like about this is that I finally got some base knowledge on Frida Kahlo. I often hear other people gush about her and I never quite understood the hype until I saw her paintings in this book and then I understood. So there's that.

Overall, I enjoyed this. I didn't enjoy it  too much because some parts did bore me to the point where I was struggling with sleep but other than that I have no major complaints. Do recommend, would buy.

Lunarbaboon: the Daily Life of Parenthood by Christopher Grady REVIEW

I'm delighted to say that something that was meant to be humorous actually made me laugh today.

Lunarbaboon is simplistically drawn but makes up for it with great content. We're essentially following the author on his journey through parenthood through the good and bad. As not a parent it's very nice to live vicariously through these people that are parents.

The family in this book is very imaginative. Which is great. I live in a family that's more accomplishment based (which is also okay) and so I've never seen what an imaginative family is like.  They all have fun together and enjoy each other's company but not to the point where it's unrealistic. The author shows that sometimes there's an ulterior motive to what a parent does and this is true.

The book is a collection of comics, so I assume that there's somewhere you can go to get more information on this guy and see more comics but I will not link it here, as I am lazy.

What Waits Beneath by Thomas M. Malafarina REVIEW

I love scary stories. I really do.

What Waits Beneath was decent, it had a somewhat creative plot but the execution was greatly lacking. The ending was pretty bad, as if it was rushed for some odd reason. I know some authors are pushed to write, I just don't think that this author had that problem. The ending wasn't good.

The pieces didn't really fit together in the right way either but I think that's just me being picky about it. There was some time hopping but not enough to bother me that much. I just didn't like the story that much? I think I've read so many better stories like this that in order for me to really enjoy this sort of horror story it has to be really good and this was really meh at best.

There was a portion where there was a point where a demon was talking in a snake voice and even when I took the time to pronounce out what the author typed it came out as something laughable rather than intimidating but maybe that's because I tend to pronounce things in an odd way. Who knows?

The characters were flat and stupid. Like, for some reason, they all talked so much that they're stupid. It was as if the characters were talking or they were staring at the person talking. And it seems like I'm being picky but when the book is nothing but a character talking and someone else looking at them it gets boring. The first chapter is the most interesting part of the book.

All I know is that this book was okay. It wasn't so bad where I didn't finish it but it also wasn't really good, at all. It was meh.

Stitched Volume One by Mariah Huehner REVIEW

Here I am again with the graphic novels. Well, more like there I go again with netgalley even though I have plenty of books to read and have been slacking. It's my goal this week to finish all the books I have in Bluefire.

So Stitched is about a girl name Crimson. She woke up in assumption's cemetery one day nor knowing who she was or where she came from. In reality she looks like a purple little Frankenstein's Monster. It's cute. She meets a small group of friends in this volume, a werewolf, a witch, a vampire, a hedgehog dog thing, and a monster from the blue lagoon? Something like that.

I was instantly pulled in, which is rare since I started delving deep into new books because I read a lot of various things and not everything is immeaduately attention grabbing. I wanted to know about Crimson just like she wanted to know about herself but it's just a first volume so I'm going to have to wait. Please don't keep me waiting long!

The art style is very cute, it reminds me of Invader Zim in a way, in fact, the whole thing kind of had Invader Zim vibes in my opinion.

It's not text heavy so a person could read it pretty quickly, I'd say give it a try.

Unrequited Alice by Sarah Louise Smith REVIEW

As I struggle to get through all of the ebooks that are leeching away at my phone memory, I went with the logical route and decided to start with the books that I have been granted access to read before they came out. Unrequited Alice is one of them, thanks netgalley! I want to point out my huge failure in life when it comes to this and that I have had this for over a month and just read it. The book comes out in two weeks. FML.

So, I haven't read from this author yet but if all of her books are as charming as Unrequited Alice, I might just want all of them.

There's very specific feelings that come with unrequited love. It's really painful and bitter and it's kind of like 'I need to get over this' but then it's like you can't because you're so smitten with this person that will never like you back. I read the title and I was just like 'is this my autobiography?' The answer is no because my name is Hope and Unrequited Hope just sounds super depressing.

The book is charming in it's delivery, we watch two people that are in love pretend that they're not in love. It's that frustration that makes you want to throw your phone out the window. Sarah does this kind of angst well with very subtle humor. The way she writes it makes it seem very true to life. Like, it seems like shit like this could actually happen and I have no doubts that they did. This will probably happen to me one day without the romance aspect.

It was the realism that made me like this. The characters weren't perfect. They were people that have been hurt and act like people that have been hurt. This is how life goes. Of course, the only thing is that a lot of relationships like this don't end in romance and while I was reading in the beginning I dreaded that Sarah was going to go super into the real life aspect and they weren't going to end up together. I wasn't disappointed.