Moving

So I'm moving from this blog to wordpress.

Typing in renaemcbrianbooks.com will take you to yerawizardrenae.wordpress.com now :)

Book Review: Ugly Love by Colleen Hoover

My Rating: ★★★★☆ (really more like 3.5 but I really liked the ending)

Genre(s): New Adult, Contemporary, Romance

Plot: Tate and Miles have nothing in common-- except that they are very obviously attracted to each other. Tate is a nurse and a student and works crazy hours when she isn't in school. Miles is an airline pilot and gone for days at a time. Neither of them has time for a relationship-- but they do have time for casual sex. With two rules-- never ask about the past, never expect a future-- Tate and Miles stick to the arrangement... until they both begin falling. Tate begins to try to break down the walls Miles has built around his heart, before her heart shatters, while Miles tries desperately to keep the situation casual in order to keep his past in the past.

Pros:

• The chapters in the past paralleled the chapters in the present, even if sometimes it was only subtle.
• This book raises the question, "Is casual sex ever just casual?" and I think that's really important.
• Once Miles' past is revealed, it totally makes sense.
• Corbin is a good big brother.
• Cap is a sweetie pie.
• Miles confronted his past and that's huge.
• The sunset in the sky thing.

Cons:

• A little too much sex for my taste.
• It really bugged me that Tate agreed to the terms knowing that she had no intention of actually sticking to them.
• It also really bugged me that she kept. going. back.
• And that she kept trying to change him.

Favorite Quotes: 

• “God gives us the ugliness so we don’t take the beautiful things in life for granted.”
• “Sometimes not speaking says more than all the words in the world.” 
• “Some people they grow wiser as they grow older. Unfortunately, most people just grow older.” 
• “The smaller the house, the more a family is forced to love one another.”
• “There's nothing in the world that compares to the feel and smell of brand-new rain.” 

My Thoughts: It was... ugh. I have such conflicting feelings about this book. As a whole, it was good. Everything was resolved in the end, and it made me happy and feel-y and I think I might have cried at the very end? But all that good stuff aside, it's totally unforgivable how Tate behaved, even if it did end up in her favor in the long run. Their relationship started off as a flat out lie and with her trying to change him, and that's not cool at all. Especially when, throughout the book, she's constantly saying, "I know I should just stop." WELL THEN FRICKING STOP. smh woman you're ridiculous.

Links:
Goodreads
Amazon
B&N
Book Depository
Colleen Hoover

Book Review: Maybe Not (A Novella) by Colleen Hoover

My Rating: ★★★☆☆

Genre(s): New Adult, Contemporary, Romance

Plot: Warren and Bridgette get off to a rocky start when she moves in to the apartment he shares with Ridge. However, it's obvious that there's a shared attraction between them. As strong as her hatred toward him seems to be, Warren is determined to find out if her love could be just as strong.

Pros:

• It's what's happening in the background of Maybe Someday and that's really cool.
• Both of these characters have tough interiors, but gooey insides, and that really shows in this book.
• It was feels-y.
• It told a whole story in a short number of pages, which is really hard to do.

Cons:

• A little too much sex for my taste.
• I was kind of hoping this book would be more about Syd and Ridge, because I didn't read the description.

Favorite Quotes: 

• “The only difference between falling in love and being in love is that your heart already knows how you feel, but your mind is too stubborn to admit it.” 
• “I can’t believe I’m falling in love with such a stupid, stupid asshole.”
• [There are others but my crappy kindle doesn't highlight and I can't find them]

My Thoughts: It was good. It wasn't nearly as good as Maybe Someday, but it was good.

Links:
Goodreads
Amazon
B&N
Colleen Hoover

Book Review: Maybe Someday by Colleen Hoover [SPOILERS]

My Rating: ★★★★★

Genre(s): New Adult, Contemporary, Romance

Plot: When Sydney learns that her boyfriend is cheating on her with her best friend/roommate, her seemingly great life is shattered. Homeless with no where else to go, Sydney is offered the spare bedroom in the apartment across the way from hers, where she is forced into close quarters with Ridge, her musically talented, attractive neighbor. Connected by something neither of them can ignore, their musical collaboration turns into something much more complicated, leaving them both confused and wanting more than just music to happen between them.

Pros:

• Ridge is Deaf and I totally did not see that coming.
• This book game me all the feels. All of them.
• The sex scenes weren't graphic.
• I've said it before and I'll say it again-- I'm a sucker or multiple points of view.
• Relationships are complicated. The relationships in this book are complicated. It's just so real.
• She learns ASL for him awwww.
• He spoke for her!
• She doesn't go back to her dickwad boyfriend.
• This book comes with its own soundtrack. How fricking cool is that?

Cons:

• Poor Maggie. But at the same time, not poor Maggie.
• I didn't want it to end, and it ended.

Favorite Quotes: 

• “You should take note that simply because a girl makes your dick hard, that doesn't mean you have to go shove it inside her.” 
• “Sometimes in life, we need a few bad days in order to keep the good ones in perspective.”
• “A life of mediocrity is a waste of a life.”
• “Nothing in my life has ever felt so good yet hurt so achingly bad.” 
• “Kisses like his should come with a warning label. They can't be good for the heart.”
• “Truths are written, never said... Lines are drawn, but then they fade.” 

My Thoughts: I loved this book. So much. I think I read it in about 12 hours (that's really fast for me), and the second I finished reading it, I picked up the sequel and read that too! It was so great and the characters were so perfect. I couldn't decide who I was rooting for, and in the end I was so glad that Maggie found out and was able to let Ridge go-- and that Ridge was able to let himself go. I liked that their connection was deeper than music, and I  loved that the book came with its own soundtrack. Seriously. The best book I've read in a really long time. There is so much that I can say about this book, but UGH it's just so amazing.

Links:
Goodreads
Amazon
B&N
Book Depository
Colleen Hoover

Christmas book wish list

My True Love Gave to Me by Stephanie Perkins (and others)

• I love collections of short stories like this, and the cover is really super cute.

The Strange and Beautiful Sorrows of Ava Lavender By Leslye Walton

• HAVE YOU SEEN THIS COVER? Also it has really good ratings and I’ve been dying to read it since it came out.

One of these Harry Potter boxed sets. I’m not picky, but something in English would be nice :p

• This is a given. Harry Potter and box sets are my favorites.

A Little Something Different by Sandy Hall

• Someone recommended this book to my and my library doesn’t have it. Also it sounds quirky and cute and I think I would love it.

Love Letters to the Dead by Ava Dellaira

• I love this concept. Love it.

Maybe Someday by Colleen Hoover

• Ok so I read this book and I will probably read it again, but I’d rather have an actual copy since I already have the ebook.

The Giver Quartet by Lois Lowry

• My second-favorite series, and a boxed set. Yes please.

The Silkworm by Robert Galbraith/JK Rowling

• Ok so one of my favorite authors started writing books in one of my favorite genres. The first one was great. I want to read this one next.

The Secret Place by Tana French

• I have the first two, and I need this one.

Little Big Lies by Liane Moriarty

• Another recommendation, and it seems really interesting!

The City by Dean Koontz

• Favorite author. Need this book.

The Truth About Alice by Jennifer Mathieu

• Another recommendation.

The Queen of the Tearling by Erika Johansen

• Some people whose literary opinions I greatly value said I HAD to read this book.

Panic by Lauren Oliver

• I love Lauren Oliver so, so, so much. I started reading this book, but there was a hold line behind me so I couldn’t renew it.

California by Edan Lepucki

• This book sounds creepy and exactly like something that I would live.

Update.

Still alive. I promise. I'm about 32k into my second book, but I haven't worked on it since 11/25 because I got burnt out trying to win NaNo. I kinda started the sequel to How Real also, because I just need to write SOMETHING.
I've got three book reviews to write, which I will do soon. I've been working more and I just really don't feel like doing anything. At all. Ever.

Book Review: Dark Places by Gillian Flynn

My Rating: ★★★★☆

Genre: Adult Fiction, Thriller, Mystery

Plot: Libby day was seven years old when she stood before a court and said that her family was murdered by her brother Ben. Now in her thirties, Libby is contacted by a group of conspiracy theorists who believe that her brother is innocent. Libby begins questioning her memory and, with the help of the socially-awkward Lyle, starts to research and retrace the steps of everyone involved that night.

Pros:

• The plot twist at the end.
• Libby is tiny-short. Go short people!
• I liked that it switched between past and present.
• Gillian Flynn's storytelling abilities are phenomenal. 
• Libby's snark is seriously the best.

Cons:

• It took a long time for the story to get going.
• I wasn't sure about Diondra and Trey.
• I really want to know what happens to Ben in the end.

Favorite Quotes: 

• “The truly frightening flaw in humanity is our capacity for cruelty - we all have it.”
• “It was surprising that you could spend hours in the middle of the night pretending things were okay, and know in thirty seconds of daylight that simply wasn't so”
• “I am not angry or sad or happy to see you. I could not give a shit. You don't even ripple.” 
• “I don’t know anyone’s name. If one of those women died, I couldn’t even say, 'Poor old Mrs. Zalinsky died.' I’d have to say, 'That mean old bitch across the street bit it.'

My Thoughts: It took me a really long time to read this book. The plot is slow until the last 1/4 of the book story, which is really hard to get through when you've got a million other books to read. But the twist at the end really made it worth waiting. I love the way Gillian writes. Like Gone Girl, this book kept me guessing until the very last page.

Links:
Goodreads
Amazon
B&N
Book Depository
Gillian Flynn