Book Review: "Writers & Lovers" by Lily King

This is the story of Casey Peabody, a 31-year-old woman who has lost her mother and has been through a breakup recently. Casey has been writing a book for six years and has been trying to finish it while she breathlessly works as a waitress.

As the story unfolds, we can see how she has to deal with her lifelong friends that are getting married and start to have the lives they're supposed to have because of their age. King accurately describes that being over 30 doesn't mean your life's solved but actually starting; the character struggles mentally, financially, and romantically.

The first half of the book was really slow-paced for me compared to the second half, which is important somehow since you can feel the anxiety and hopelessness Casey has. Throughout the book, we can see more characters, like Oscar, Silas, Muriel, Harry, Caleb, and Adam but none of them has enough development. I still celebrate Muriel, Harry, and Casey's friendship, though, but I disliked completely one of her romantic relationships completely; I never liked the way he always referred or talked to her at all. Also, I felt as forced as she felt it.

Writers & Lovers isn't for everyone, maybe that's why I felt I wouldn't finish it. What totally makes it up are the parts about writing. King completely nailed it, at least when it comes to amateur writers like me, I don't know about the rest. She talks about the fears and expectations that come with it with the right words, and I know that more than one will feel identified with those quotes.

I could read this book thanks to NetGalley ;)

LILY KING grew up in Massachusetts and received her B.A. in English Literature from University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and her M.A. in Creative Writing from Syracuse University. She has taught English and Creative Writing at several universities and high schools in this country and abroad. Lily's new novel, Euphoria, was released in June 2014. It has drawn significant acclaim so far, being named an Amazon Book of the Month, on the Indie Next List, and hitting numerous summer reading lists from The Boston Globe to O Magazine and USA Today. Reviewed on the cover of The New York Times Book Review, Emily Eakin called Euphoria, “a taut, witty, fiercely intelligent tale of competing egos and desires in a landscape of exotic menace.”

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Book Review: "Women on Top" by Michelle Miller

“Women on Top” gives you the idea that you’re going to read about women that create paths for others to follow or to influence people in some way.

The title fools you as well as the book cover.

Reading about women that enjoy their femininity, their works, their sex life is perfectly fine, the problem is that this book is about spoiled women that have a lot of privileges in their lives (I know they’re people that have good luck and that can have extraordinary experiences, that’s not wrong, what’s wrong is their personalities). The thing about these characters is that their main purpose in life is to find men, based on their appearance or status; the thing about these characters is that their resilience is proven if one of them sweats.

The stories could’ve been handled better, especially because these are short stories. Here you can find descriptions that aren’t relevant, things that won’t be mentioned again, and even tables attached as if they were essays.

The pacing, in general, is slow at the beginning of each story and too fast at their endings, which makes you feel dissatisfied. They’re unnecessary flashbacks, masochistic love, and some naïve woman. Also, there’s mentioned that the universal feminist dream is ending up with a man and family. Equality? Not in this book.

Both women and men have no depth, they only have lives filled with lies, pathetic people, expensive wine bottles,  and fashion brands, whose purpose is to show knowledge in that area somehow. Almost everything is about convenience and s*itty people can still get some kind of reward.

The image of love is wrong, although we all can fall in any of them, of course (masochistic, toxic, stupid). There’s a sentence that made me cringe intensely. A man takes one of these women to an art gallery because it had reminded him of her. That sounds kinda cute, right? And the resemblance turns out to be: “[He took her there] because he was thinking about her vagina.” Add a sarcastic smile here, please. Oh, mother of Thor!

The few tiny good things, a couple of sentences, intertextuality, and plot twists aren’t enough to make this book worth it. I’d definitely not recommend this book to anyone unless, like the author, such person has a fetish for khakis and calves.

I could read this book thanks to NetGalley and Amazon ;)

MICHELLE MILLER wrote pseudonymously until the publication of her debut novel, The Underwriting, which was translated into twenty languages and developed for television with Fox. She holds a BA and MBA from Stanford University and, in a past life, worked at JP Morgan's private bank. Michelle lives between London and Asheville, North Carolina, where she was born and raised.

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Book Review: "The Ingredients of Love" by Nicolas Barreau

Previously posted on Goodreads!¹

The tagline of this book says "This book will make you happy" (I read this book in Spanish, so I'm not sure if the phrase goes exactly like that). BUT this is my tagline: "This book will make you feel like The Hulk!"

I don't like to say this, but I really hated this story.

First of all, this is sold like an intelligent, charming, and blah story when is the contrary. God, I'm so angry that I feel that I'm also writing in a not intelligent way!

We have this total cliché plot of lies and a pair of immature persons in their 30's hat act worse than teenagers. We have Aurélie, who's recently been dumped, so she ends with a two-day "depression", and I'm using quotation marks here because that's what the synopsis says, not what happened; she forgets about this when she reads a book "about her" and saves her life. At first, when I found this book, I thought this would be metaphorical... my mistake. The character of the book is actually her, physically, so I DON'T UNDERSTAND how a book that describes my physical appearance can save me. Then, because she has practically seen heaven, she goes nuts when she tries to find the author.

Then we have André, a person that at first I believed was the one with common sense... NOPE! He falls in love at first sight (falling in love like that isn't the bad part) and creates an awful story around himself just to get in touch with Aurélie. He's the bridge between "the author" and this girl. He doesn't get the hints Aurélie gives him about not being interested and he doesn't understand. There was a moment that got me on my nerves:

"'Do you know that you're a really bad person, monsieur Chabanais?'

'Yes, I know. I'm worse than you can imagine.'" 

And I was like: "FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, GIRL! PAY ATTENTION!"

He gets so obsessed that he makes things that aren't healthy in any way. But, "he's in love" and that's what matters, right? (This f****** weirdo). And Aurélie HATED HIM most of the time and then... loved him? WT...

And the writing? Barreau spoils himself saying things like "I looked at the writing, as it was the key to unveil Miller's mystery. And it was. But I couldn't see it at that moment." Lord, have mercy! Also, the synopsis says that this book is filled with books, recipes... I'm sorry, but there's no mention of a real book and the recipes are attached at the end of the book, resulting in a waste of sheets.

NICOLAS BARREAU was born in Paris, the son of a French father and a German mother. He studied romance languages and literature at the Sorbonne and worked in a bookshop on the Rive Gauche in Paris but is far from an inexperienced bookworm. With his two other successful novels The Woman of My Life and You'll Find Me at the End of the World, he has gained an enthusiastic audience. The Ingredients of Love is his second novel.


¹This review was written and originally posted on my Goodreads profile in 2016. It might now present minor changes in structure or corrections but has not changed its intention.

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Book Review: "Someone Else's Fairytale" by E.M. Tippetts

Previously posted on Goodreads!¹

This is, indeed, a lovely modern fairytale.

What I liked about this book is that, apart from the love story, we can also see a GOOD background of the protagonist and you can understand perfectly why she may seem a bit cold (the best part is that she isn't) and even confused in some cases. Chloe is definitely a nice example of how a woman should be written. She had strong walls surrounding her, but she was still described as a mature, independent, and strong human being.

Jason is that kind of guy who gets what he wants without trouble...until he meets Chloe. The important thing about his is that he realizes this is some point of the book, showing that even if you're the most perfect superstar in the eyes of everyone, you can be one of the most insecure persons on Earth.

I'm not so fond of the ending, it was quite predictable, but I really enjoyed reading it.

E.M. TIPPETTS is a former attorney with degrees in philosophy, politics, and economics from Oxford University and business law from UCLA. A lifelong New Mexican, she now lives in Santa Fe with her family. She is a devoted member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and thus often includes LDS (Mormon) characters in her work. When she isn't chasing her small children or writing, she designs jewelry, sculpts with polymer clay, and runs her formatting company, E.M. Tippetts Book Design

¹This review was written and originally posted on my Goodreads profile in 2016. It might now present minor changes in structure or corrections but has not changed its intention.

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Book Review: "Hardened Hearts" [edited] by Eddie Generous

When we think about love stories we always end up thinking about flowers and chocolates, about kisses and walks during a warm sunset. Happy endings. But the line between love and horror is as thin as the single page of a book. 

Hardened Hearts caught my attention since the very beginning with the foreword by James Newman, which reminds you that, indeed, love isn't easy, that makes you bleed and hurt and rage. I think that Newman wrote the perfect book summary: They are stories about sexual love and love between star-crossed romantics, but also included here are stories of a guilt-ridden father's love for his little girl, obsessions with inanimate objects, and even one woman's unnatural, and shared, love for a spider (!).

Love is strange...

I almost wrote this review in a different way, focusing on each story, but then I thought that I could end up spoiling some of them, because WOW! They were 3 of them especially that I'll totally reread whenever I have the chance! What I can say about it, is that this is one of those books that you can't put down easily. I had to, because of work and school, but it's not like the stories left my mind, really. There was one story that reminded me of my first heartbreak, there was another that made me feel terrible and hoping it would never happen to me, and another one that made my jaw drop because the ending wasn't what I was expecting.

Hardened Hearts tells you about self-love, love after death, sexual love, family love, broken hearts, and maybe some kinky love (WOMAN, A SPIDER, REALLY? Haha, sorry, my fear is speaking here); its characters are varied and inclusive, full of fear and doubt but some kind of hopeful as well, so I think almost everyone can feel identified with at least one of their sentences. 

The writing of all of them was impeccable and dark, and for some stories, I was left wanting more. If there's a chance to make a Volume 2 of this, please, don't hesitate to make another compilation!

The authors you can find in here are:
Gwendolyn Kiste
Somer Canon
Calvin Demmer
Theresa Braun
John Boden
Tom Deady
J.L. Knight
Madhvi Ramani
Scott Hallam
Robert Dean
Leo X. Robertson
Jennifer Williams
Erin Sweet Al-Mehairi
Sarah L. Johnson
Meg Elison
James Newman
Eddie Generous

The only reason I gave this book 4 stars is because there are some stories with explicit sex, drug abuse or rape. I don't mind the topics, I've read them in other stories, but I think is important for other people that might feel threatened by these. Please be careful when reading or recommending this book.

I could read this book thanks to author Theresa Braun and Booktasters ;)

THERESA BRAUN was born in St. Paul, Minnesota and has carried some of that hardiness with her to South Florida where she currently resides with her two fur babies, who are her creative sidekicks. She enjoys delving into creative writing, painting, photography and even bouts of ghost hunting. Traveling is one of her passions--in fact, her latest adventure took her to Romania for a horror writers' workshop where she followed in the steps of Vlad the Impaler. She writes horror fiction and the occasional romance. 

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Book Review: "Ann, Not Annie" by Sage Steadman

Not till we have lost the world, do we begin to find ourselves.

Henry David Thoreau

The first thought I had when I finished the book was HELL, YEAH!

This book was awesomely written. The irony, the vocabulary, and the descriptions provided by the characters and the narrator fit perfectly for all situations. Plus, the idea of having a narrator as a very close person to the main character gives you a more personal approach, which makes you feel familiar and sympathetic.

The thing that surprised me the most was the story behind what I read in the synopsis. When I read it, it seemed quite simple, I honestly thought this would be a very basic book about teenage love and I'm very pleased to say I was very wrong.

Ann, Not Annie tells us accurately how it is for a teenager to have an alcoholic parent and the role that sometimes children have to take so they can have some order in their lives; a thing that isn't right, a thing that hurts, and wow, that was incredibly well-described. I can give it credit because I've been in the same situation.

More pros about this book are definitely its characters, they all had something that made them be unique in their own way, the drawings were an interesting addition, and I think adding the use of intertextuality with Walden was quite smart. I've always liked to have more texts to read later, that also gives you an idea of how an author gets their inspiration, which is more than cool!

The thing that gave this book 4 stars instead of 5 was the pace at the end. I felt it was faster compared to the first chapters. There are a few typos as well, but I think I shouldn't criticize that because English isn't my mother tongue and I know I don't write it perfectly.

I could read this book thanks to the author and Booktasters ;)

SAGE STEADMAN was awarded a master’s degree in social work from the University of Utah. While pursuing her passion for writing, she worked as a licensed mental health therapist. She published her debut novel, Snowflake Obsidian: Memoir of a Cutter, in 2010 under her pen name, The Hippie, and since, re-released the second edition under her real name. The novel has been deemed an “idyllic” read, filled with love, humor, romance, and heart. She is also the co-author of the gritty and inspiring historical fiction novel, Upon Destiny’s Song, alongside classical guitarist, Mike Ericksen. She is also the author of the YA novels, The Waking Dream, and Ann, Not Annie. Sage is heralded as a talented writer who tackles her novels with a witty, raw and honest approach. She currently lives near Salt Lake City, Utah with her family.

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Book Review: "Orange Is the New Black" by Piper Kerman

Previously posted on Goodreads!¹

After thinking about it a lot, I decided to change the rating of this book from 3 to 2 stars. This story could've been written in such a marvelous way and it wasn't. I understand that Piper Kerman is not a professional writer, but that's why editors exist, I suppose.

I felt a lack of depth in many situations, like Kerman's development as a character and with the inmates for example. You forget who they're because there are a lot of names and no story about them.

There were some things that freaked me out. For example, I didn't believe in what was Kerman saying in almost every situation, and in a book, the most important thing is that your reader believes in what you're saying, even if it is in a fantasy book. The point here is that, even if she's saying the truth, I don't buy it.

But the thing that won the second star in this book is that I could actually see how the system works if you have a white woman as an inmate. No one can deny privileges, we see that every day.

Well, for me, this book was a disappointment and to have watched the series before isn't even a factor, they're totally different. The series is believable.


PIPER KERMAN is a graduate of Smith College. Her writing has appeared in the New York Times, the Guardian, Cosmopolitan and other publications. She serves on the board of directors of the Women's Prison Association and the advisory boards of the PEN America Writing For Justice Fellowship, JustLeadershipUSA, Healing Broken Circles, and InsideOUT Writers. She teaches creative nonfiction writing to incarcerated men and women. Piper speaks frequently around the country about justice reform. 



¹This review was written and originally posted on my Goodreads profile in 2014. It might now present minor changes in structure or corrections but has not changed its intention.

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Book Review: "Scrappy Little Nobody" by Anna Kendrick

Previously posted on Goodreads!¹

This is the first time I read and listened to an audiobook. I wanted to take advantage of those 3 credits you get in Audible and because this book was new I decided to get it. And it was a great idea! Fortunately, Anna read her own book, she was a pleasure to listen and read. Her tone is unique and sincere and makes you have a good time.

Anna may not agree, but I believe she is a very good writer. She could transport me to those events in her life without a joint (I don't do drugs but you get the idea)! I don't follow her movies, I've seen them but not with the idea that she's in them, so I didn't know what kind of artist is she in the terrible Hollywood. She describes herself in some points as childish but that's not what I mean. I found that she's a very down to earth and talented woman that really knows what she wants and who she is, a VERY difficult process in life, by the way. How many of us, in our middle twenties, really know what we want in life? How many of us are still hiding under our sheets and never face any existential crisis? She has faced and accepted things and that's a very good example for teenagers and new adults like me.

Yup, this book was a trip. In an aspect she made me see that even small details of your life can be great if you know how to take advantage or deal with them.

You better hurry up and become 70, Anna! I can't wait to read the next one!

ANNA KENDRICK is an American actress and singer, born and raised in Portland, Maine. She is widely known for her roles in The Twilight Saga, Up in the Air, and Pitch Perfect. Throughout her acting career, Kendrick has received various awards and nominations.




¹This review was written and originally posted on my Goodreads profile in 2016. It might now present minor changes in structure or corrections but has not changed its intention.

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Book Review: "Fangirl" by Rainbow Rowell

Previously posted on Goodreads!¹

I had a lot of unfulfilled expectations, especially after one of my friends started to send me some excerpts BUT ALSO got surprised in some aspects, like FOR REAL!

Apart from being a book that talks about being a fangirl, this book also tell us the part of a life of someone with social anxiety. Maybe, some readers (that don't know the term) just read about a girl being paranoid about everything, so, how did I recognize the term? Because I have it, so I can tell the difference. I felt identified with Cath all the book along, I've also found shelter in my sister and in fandoms, I can count my friends just with my fingers, I find alcohol and drugs repulsive... the list can go on.

Even if you don't feel identified with that, you can also read, and learn, about a MAN with a bipolar disorder, you know that mental disorders are just entitled to women, so this is big; read about early alcoholism... even read about writer's block! (BTW, this is a thing I've been fighting for ages, literally! It was like getting a slap!)

Why 3.5? Its pace and its structure.

For me, it was really slow at the beginning, perfect in the middle, disastrous at the end. Mostly the end. The author was like "oops, I'm gonna reach page 433, I need to finish it now, no matter if it ends with half a statement" (ok, I'm overreacting a bit, but that's how I felt when I read the end). Why include excerpts of Simon Snow's books, and fanfics? I know Simon Snow's are based on Harry Potter's, that made me feel like paying a visit to my childhood-teenage years, but REALLY! It wasn't necessary to read them! Especially the fanfic parts because Cath was supposed to be an AMAZING writer but I didn't believe it.

But I enjoy Rowell's writing in general, I couldn't have read this or Eleanor & Park otherwise. 

RAINBOW ROWELL writes books. Sometimes she writes about adults. Sometimes she writes about teenagers. But she always writes about people who talk a lot. And people who feel like they're screwing up. And people who fall in love. When she's not writing, Rainbow is reading comic books, planning Disney World trips and arguing about things that don't really matter in the big scheme of things. She lives in Nebraska with her husband and two sons.

¹This review was written and originally posted on my Goodreads profile in 2016. It might now present minor changes in structure or corrections but has not changed its intention.

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Book Review: "Room" by Emma Donoghue

Previously posted on Goodreads!¹

"The wide of the walls is the same as wide as the wide of Floor!"

I don't do this regularly, but I saw the movie first :O so I knew I was going to read this from Jack's perspective. THAT is what makes the book so interesting, but I guess if I hadn't seen the movie before I would've been lost in some parts. That's something I didn't like, to be honest. But now, let's separate the book from the movie:

Jack is a little boy that, despite his situation, is a very happy boy that has had a great childhood thanks to his Ma (and from my point of view, from TV, his only "window" to the world). His entire world is Room, and the things there are persons for him, they're their friends. 

For a moment I thought his vocabulary was inaccurate for a boy his age, but later on, the author explains where he's learned all of this since Ma's games weren't just about having fun. So the author definitely sounds like a child, and not because of the misspelling of verbs, but because you can read a five-year-old boy who has infinite questions, who takes everything literally, who has tantrums, and that even when this boy is outside Room, he still lives in a world of his own (and Ma's). 

You can feel Ma's anger through Jack, her desperation, her hopelessness, even when Jack can't express it with words. He knows how to interpret her perfectly, and the thing that shocked me the most while reading was precisely that, that Jack in some points doesn't act like a son but a parent. Jack, aside from being Ma's hero, is her anchor, her reason to survive in Room but not in Outside. Jack's is reborn and Ma doesn't, at first. She thought everything would be alright but she is still a kid. She spent an eternity in Room and she remembers the world in a very different way… and this world is so big and so terrifying that she doesn't know what to do anymore. She collapses while Jack is learning about everything so fast that he even says that he's seen enough of this world and that now he's tired. 

And you get tired too; you start feeling like Jack because everything is overwhelming. Everything changed so fast that I even felt a bit dizzy. 

This book is so well written that maybe you ask “why 4 stars (well it’s more like a 4.5) instead of 5?” well, because of its triggers. It’s a difficult book to read if you’ve been in a situation like this (I’m not saying I have), but you can see depression, suicide attempts, rape, lots of nightmares some topics that can be difficult for some readers.

For a moment I thought that it would’ve been awesome to read from Ma’s point of view but in the end I was more like “nope, that’s enough.”

EMMA DONOGHUE is the youngest of eight children of Frances and Denis Donoghue. She attended Catholic convent schools in Dublin, apart from one year in New York at the age of ten. In 1990 she earned a first-class honors BA in English and French from University College Dublin and in 1997 a Ph.D. (on the concept of friendship between men and women in eighteenth-century English fiction) from the University of Cambridge. Since the age of 23, Donoghue has earned her living as a full-time writer. After years of commuting between England, Ireland, and Canada, in 1998 she settled in London, Ontario, where she lives with her partner and their son and daughter.

¹This review was written and originally posted on my Goodreads profile in 2016. It might now present minor changes in structure or corrections, but has not changed its intention.

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