Review: The Simplicity of Cider

Title The Simplicity of Cider
By Amy Reichert
Genre Adult Romance, Magic Realism
Rating ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Synopsis 
Sanna has lived on her families apple farm her whole life. She loves the life. Her cider making has consumed her life, so much so, that she's only just becoming aware of how badly things are going for the farm. With the arrival of the handsome Isaac and his son Bas, Sanna's troubles are just getting started.

First Sentence
Sanna Lund's thoughts of apple blossoms and new cider blends stuttered to an end with the grunt of her dad's snore.




My friend Kami discovered this author this year and loves her books. Since she and I have some similarities in our tastes for books, I knew I'd have to give this author a shot. This one popped up on Overdrive so I downloaded and started listening.

What a cute little book! When I need a comfort read I reach for Sarah Addison Allen or Emily Giffin but since I'm coming to the end of reading everything they've written I needed a new go-to author. Amy Reichert will be great.

I liked the setting of this book. I'm not a huge apple fan but I swear I could smell apples while reading it. I even bought some apples (rare for me) and snarfed them down because of this book. The setting sounded heavenly. A cute little touristy town with apple orchards, a lake, and yummy food, sign me up.

The characters were your typical small town characters. I wasn't blown away by them but I liked them and wished the best for them. Bas was adorable. I feel for that kid!

The story was great too. Not too heavy but it had plenty of substance. I struggled a little becoming emotionally invested but it got me in the end.

With just a touch of magic and a whole lot of drama and romance, I liked this one and can't wait to try more by this author.

  Should you read it
If this one sounds like your type, you should definitely read it. I don't think you'll be disappointed.

Review: You Are A Badass

Title You are a Badass: How To Stop Doubting Your Greatness And Start Living An Awesome Life
By Jen Sincero
Genre Nonfiction Self Help
Rating ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Synopsis
Um, See the big long title of the book and that about sums it up.


First Sentence
Many years ago I was in a terrible bowling accident.







I actually bought this book at a thrift store to send to my friend as a "sort of" joke. But mostly because I believe she is a badass who sadly doesn't quite see herself that way.  Of course I decided to read it before sending it to her to make sure it wasn't completely stupid. And I was pleasantly surprised.

It's another "law of attraction" book like The Secret. But where The Secret fails to talk about taking action in controlling the universe, this one has all the awesomeness of The Secret with a more realistic, take action approach.

I loved the set up of each chapter as well. She talks about a subject and then has several tips/directions for action which I loved. As much as I like common issues we all face being pointed out and giving me something to think about, I also want answers; a "how to" of getting over said issues. You know? So this one was perfect for me.

Some of these types of books aren't understandable. Which is pretty sad. If a self help book can't even be understood how can it offer help? This book was easy to read. Had a great set up and the author had a good voice.

I know self help books aren't for everyone but I don't go into self help books because I'm unhappy with my life and desperately seeking help. I read them because I like looking at things in a different way.

I seriously loathe that people are brought up a certain way by their parents or community or religion and taught to think a certain way and they go their whole lives thinking one thing one way. How sad is that?!  If they never get out of their ingrained belief system how limited their experience. How much they miss!

Sorry, rant over. It just comes from my soul. I believed a certain way for so long and am just waking up and realizing there's this whole world of different opinions and guess what? They're not wrong. They're just different. I love kicking my old stubborn beliefs in the butt and telling them to shut up while I look at things in a new light.

And that's why I loved this book. It was another opinion. Another view on things. If I'm lucky, I glean the useful and move on to other experiences and ways of thinking and learn from those too.

I loved this book so much, that I told my friend if she doesn't like it to send it back to me. It's one I want on my shelf.

Should you read it
Yes!

Friday Flicks: Wonder

Wonder
Rating ★★★


What It's About
We have this cute little boy (yes I said cute. Because he is!) who was born with a facial abnormality. His mom has home schooled him but, starting with 5th grade, he'll be going to real school. Here he'll struggle to make friends and face the world, face first, and learn the true meaning of friendship.

I read the book this movie was based on back in 2015 and, while I wasn't blown away by it, I thought it was cute. I was very interested in how the movie would be and thought the previews looked adorable. So me and my friends went to check it out.

As often happens, the movie was just so beautiful and fun to see. The characters were perfectly cast. Each kid did such an amazing and cute job with their parts.

They also stuck very closely to the book, if I'm recalling right, and I appreciated that. It's always annoying when they go way, way off from the book.

The kid that played Jack Will was so freaking cute! I know, I was supposed to be in love with Auggie but I couldn't help it. This kid was so cute and did such a great job with his part. They all did.

Much like my review of the book, I felt that this one was cute with an important message but not anything life altering. I did get a little choked up at one point but that was it. Meanwhile I know my friends cried through most of it so maybe I just have a stone heart.

Let's Talk
Do you like when movies follow the book or do you like when they take their own twist?

Recommendation 
Redbox or Netflix. It was cute but maybe not full price at the theater good.

Review: Beauty Queens

Title Beauty Queens
By Libba Bray
Genre YA Contemporary/Adventure/Comedy
Rating ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Synopsis
When a plane full of beauty pageant contestants crashes on an island there's only 13 survivors. Will they survive long enough to be rescued? And can they keep up their looks and dance routines until then? The longer the girls are on the island the more they discover who they really are and just how strong they are.

First Sentence
"Are you alright?"





I've had this book on my list for 6 years. The number of years it's been released, I think. I enjoyed the Gemma Doyle books enough to give the author my attention and this one sounded just plain hilarious.

I listened to this one on audio and it was my first audio book read by the author. That was a treat! When the author does all the different voices you know they're done exactly as she imagined the characters sounding. Her voice for Tiara cracked me up!

Filled with "a word from the sponsor" moments and commercial breaks this one was written to be an audio book.

While I was expecting a total comedy I was surprised to find a very feminist "girl power" twist on this one. I had mixed feelings about this. While I enjoyed the message, I sometimes found it a bit heavy handed and taking itself too seriously. But it actually gave depth to the story too so I don't know. I think I ended up liking that it chose to take that road. And of course it was still funny too. I laughed a lot.

There was a lot of eye rolling, yeah right, moments but I think any annoyance I had for those moments was ME taking things too seriously.

My biggest problem with this one was the length. (this seems to be an ongoing annoyance of mine as of late) I'm fine with long stories but needlessly long stories are another story. This one just kept going on and on! And on!!!

Should you read it
If you can buckle in for the LONG ride I'd recommend it for a laugh and a look at some cool messages about the awesomeness of girls.

November Wrap-Up 2017

November, you and I really need to stop seeing each other. Last year I wrote about my heartbreaking miscarriage that happened in November and this year I'm having to write another sad post. I'll keep it short. As I mentioned last month, my mother had cancer and has fractured her spine and was bedridden. Some of you know already, but for those of you who don't, my mother passed away on November 11th. I've been through the gauntlet of emotions and am still struggling but I think I'm going to be okay. I won't dwell on the sadness. I just wanted to update you.

 I did manage to read some books though and since this is a book blog lets just get to that, shall we?

Fiendish by Brenna Yovanoff, Haunting Violet by Alyxandra Harvey, All The Truth That's In Me by Julie Berry, Be Frank With Me by Julia Clairborne Johnson, The Sugar Queen by Sara Addison Allen,(review on Goodreads)  and Beauty Queens by Libba Bray

Favorites of the month were Fiendish and Be Frank With Me. Least Favorite was Haunting Violet.

 I promise I'm not heartless but since my mother had been diagnosed with cancer for over a year and we knew the end was coming I feel like I was somewhat prepared. Of course that means nothing when I want to call and tell her something and realize I can't. Then the water works come on and I get lost in grief but mostly I'm okay.