Review: Pivot Point

Title Pivot Point (Pivot Point 1)
By Kasie West
Genre YA Supernatural Romance
Format Print
Rating ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Synopsis
As a Searcher, Addie can look into the future and see the outcome of her choices. But choosing whether to accept a date from the cute guy that asks you out or not is nothing compared to the choice she's facing now. Her parents are divorcing and she has to choose who she'll live with.

First Sentence
"Heads up," a loud voice called from my right.




I've been meaning to read this book since it's release five years ago. Whoops! I also wanted to read it because Kasie West now seems to be writing strictly YA contemporary romance. I read The Fill-In Boyfriend and liked it well enough but thought maybe since this one, and its sequel, have a supernatural element to them, I might like them better.

Sadly this one still focused a little too strongly on the romantic side of things. I could have happily accepted that considering I couldn't stop turning pages and had zero qualms about the writing style but the supernatural elements has some logistical problems that took away from my overall enjoyment.

I'm still going to read the sequel and sooner rather than later but I'm hoping it improves on the supernatural side of things. As for the romance?..Kasie West seems to have that down to an art.

Friday Flicks: Unsane

Unsane
★★★

What It's About
The unsettled victim of a stalker, Sawyer reaches out to a therapist and gets committed to a mental health hospital. As if things couldn't get any worse the stalker has gotten a job there. Starting to question her own sanity, Sawyer fights to survive.

I debated with myself about whether to review this one or not. I'm guessing most of you haven't heard of it??? But I decided to go ahead any way. I was very excited to see it since I love psychological thrillers and the entire movie was shot with an iphone so I was curious.

I had a few disappointments with this one. First, my iphone won't do half the things this one did. Night vision video? What the hell?! Come on! I guess I should get the iphone X if I want that feature. ;)

My real disappointment was that the previews lead you to believe that you're going to be trying to decide if Sawyer is actually sane or not. I don't know why they marketed it that way. There was never any doubt in my mind that she was sane. They should have just marketed it for what it was. A twisty, disturbing tale of a girl held against her will in the one place where no one will believe her.

So if you decide to go see this one, just go into knowing she's perfectly sane and it makes the unfairness of it all so much more disturbing and creepy.

Claire Foy was quite different than she is in The Crown and even puts on a passable american accent. Her stalker, Joshua Stine did an excellent job of being maddeningly creepy.

Besides feeling a bit too long, I enjoyed this one.

Let's Talk
Why do movies and even books often mislead us in their advertising? It's so annoying!

Recommendation
You don't have to pay full price at the theater but it's worth renting from Redbox or Amazon and enjoying a chilling thrill ride in the comfort of your home.

Review: I Liked My Life

Title I Liked My Life
By Abby Fabiaschi
Genre Adult Fiction
Format Audiobook
Rating ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Synopsis
Alternating narratives from a husband, his daughter, and the wife and mother that committed suicide tell the story of a women who watches her family from the other side deal with their grief and  determines to find the perfect replacement for herself.

First Sentence
I found the perfect wife for my husband.





I just couldn't resist this one. A story about a woman who committed suicide and is trying to find the perfect replacement from the other side?  Add the seemingly untrue title and that bizarre cover and I'm in.

There's nothing quite as wonderful as fully met expectations. Am I right? Life is full of disappointments and unmet expectations so I always try to keep mine low. But I often find myself getting way too excited for a book. I get the whole thing so worked up in my mind that by the time I read it I'm usually left deflated and unsatisfied. For the first time in a long time I went into a book with freakishly high expectations and was absolutely delighted to find them met.

I really loved this book. It was exactly what I wanted. It met my criteria trifecta of great writing, great characters and great story AND won the coveted fifth star that determines a new favorite that I'll definitely be rereading.

Review: The Upside of Unrequited

Title The Upside of Unrequited
By Becky Albertalli
Genre YA Contemporary
Format Print
Rating ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Synopsis
Molly knows all about unrequited love, she's had twenty-six crushes in her 17 years. None of her crushes ever knew about her fondness for them because the other thing about Molly is she keeps herself very guarded and never puts herself out there for rejection. When her twin sister Cassie begins to fall in love, Molly finds herself feeling slightly left behind and decided it might be time to put herself out there at last.

First Sentence
I'm on the toilet at the 9:30 Club, and I'm wondering how mermaids pee.

Just the title of this one had me wanting to read it. I grew up knowing a thing or two about unrequited love. What I didn't expect was to find myself so closely relating to the MC in more ways than the above mentioned.

This one had a shaky start for me. I haven't read any other of Alberalli's books but I'm aware she always has all the politically correct characters covered. But this one started out feeling like maybe she was trying TOO hard??? Every type of LGBA was included all races were included and the MC is even overweight. It just started feeling more like walking on eggshells than writing a story. Does that make sense?

But then we get into the story. And what a story! I related so much to Molly! It's not even that we had too much in common but I just fell in love with this girl and felt all her feels so deeply that I was sobbing at one point. I couldn't finish the book fast enough to make sure everything turned out OK.

The whole cast of  "politically correct" characters were so dang memorable and I fell in love with them all. Reid is my new book boyfriend and Abby is my new best friend. Loved it!

Review: Are You There God? It's Me Margaret

Title Are You There God? It's Me Margaret
By Judy Blume
Genre Middle grade/coming of age
Format ebook
Rating ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Synopsis
When Margaret's family moves from New York to New Jersey she's anxious to fit into her new group of friends. They've formed a club to talk about boys, bras and getting their first periods. None of her new friends can believe she doesn't go to any church but why does Margaret need religion? She's been talking to God her whole life.

First Sentence
We moved on the Tuesday before Labor Day.




Can you believe I've never read a Judy Blume book? This used to be a much bigger deal than it is now, believe me. My mom was never a fan of Judy Blume so I was "forbidden" from reading them. I could have if I wanted, I guess, but I never cared enough to bother.

So I decided I'd see what they were like and why my mom hated them so much. I think I must be imagining me mom's loathing for them because there was nothing in this book my mom would have cared about.

Yes, it's a coming of age book and it talks about all the things little girls reaching puberty think about: Getting bigger chests, starting their periods and first time crushes but I didn't find anything too shocking in these pages...unless you find it shocking that a girl would actually WANT to start her period. Because, yeah, I do find that a tad bit shocking.

This one was well written and entertaining even for someone my age but I did find it very dated. The lack of technology and the references to party games etc. stood out.  I don't think young girls from today's generation will relate to it very well.

And then there's the whole religion thing. I actually loved that Margaret was raised without religion and that she tried different churches but had her own personal relationship with God.

Nothing mind blowing or overly special but this one was cute and I enjoyed it.