Man, another enemies to lovers book. When I read Red White and Royal Blue, I thought, wow I guess I like these. Then a bookish friend casually mentioned I was a huge dope since my favorite book is Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen. Um, total enemies to lovers action.In The Unhoneymooners, Olive and Ethan are sworn enemies. On the day of her sister, Amy's wedding to Ethan's brother, Dane, Olive has a laundry list of tasks to perform as the maid of honor. One of those is to make sure she and Ethan have a separate meal not part of the extravagant seafood buffet, to which Olive has an allergy and Ethan a philosophical aversion. Both escape a vomitorium reminiscent of that scene in Stand By Me when everyone is barfing up blueberry pie that results from contamination of the seafood.The story could have ended there but Amy is a notorious sweepstakes winner. So much so that almost everything at the wedding was the spoilers of her contest entering, including electric lime bridesmaids dresses. So when she's too ill to attend the all inclusive honeymoon to Maui, she offers her spot to Olive. As identical twins, Olive can take her spot. Since Olive is recently unemployed she's available for this week long pampering. Since she lives in Minnesota and it's January, she has the desire to go to Maui. The only wrinkle? Dane has offered his spot to Ethan.What follows is fairly predictable but entertaining nonetheless as Ethan and Olive explore the island, their mutual attraction, and a budding...well you get it. I've already said it's an enemies to lovers book. So the situation is complicated by some unexpected run-ins in Maui and their families' belief that they hate each other.Ethan and Olive are asked to figure out some core principles of their relationship and the foundation upon which that relationship is built. It's a rough go. I was pleased with the way it turned out. Again, fairly predictable but with some steam and laughs.
3/5 Stars.
If I didn't know Ronan Farrow was a real person I would swear this was a work of brilliant fiction. That Catch and Kill involves real people and the lengths to which slime balls go to protect their reputation and their brotherhood of slime balls is shocking, disheartening, maddening, and disgusting.Apparently the fact that Harvey Weinstein was a misogynistic, predatory a-hole was a well known "secret" in Hollywood (that's code for if someone makes enough money they can really get away with anything). Typically he would walk over women, assault women, be pushy with women, and anyone who got sideways of his endeavors found themselves without movie scripts, production offers, etc. But because he held the purse strings, employed people, promoted people, created stars, people looked the other way. People who couldn't were shown the exit door and asked to sign a non-disclosure agreement. This isn't right. It's certainly not justice.So when Ronan started following a lead that became a story that became an avalanche, an entire system was put into motion to try to stop the reporting. Men whose conscience balked under the weight of similar allegations, organizations worried about their own internal practices around predators. This led to international security firms following Ronan to out his sources (sorry Jonathan that you were too boring to follow, it's adorable).I deeply appreciated the vulnerability and empathy Ronan showed throughout and that he didn't shy away how the reporting affected him as a person. He focused on sources and facts to remain objective but also let himself feel the way he felt when the facts and evidence laid bare the truth. Our country is better for this kind of reporting, and for Harvey Weinstein and the men (and women) who believed their power, prestige, and money would allow them to get away with this heinous behavior to be held accountable.
Also, I would read any book that has a cameo by Pundit.
5/5 Stars.
Who doesn't love to hate on a character now and then. In Little Fires Everywhere, Celeste Ng gives us a whole family of characters to hate on. When Mia and Pearl move to Shaker Heights, Ohio, Mia promises her 15 year old daughter that for once, they will stay put. Mia, who is an artist constantly moving where her inspiration takes her, knows this kind of stability will be a gift to her daughter, who has attended more alma maters than is probably advised.Mia rents an upstairs unit from the Richardson family - a perfectly situated family of four children (two boys and two girls) with a lawyer father and journalist mother. Elena may have at one time aspired to more than a local beat at a tier three paper, but she never went for it. Now she's content to believe her opinions and her beliefs are the best. She's managed to raise three exceptionally selfish children, and treats the youngest pretty horribly. Now I'm not saying I don't have my moments when we're late leaving the house and my child is crying about how her/his seat belt won't buckle and somehow it's my fault and they hate me, that I don't react in a way that is less than motherly, but c'mon Elena Richardson, your daughter is still a CHILD. Phew. So anyway, Mia is a pretty level headed person although she's got some secrets, but she genuinely feels for people. And Pearl starts to hang out more with the Richardsons, finding a kindred spirit in the younger boy, Moody, and finding a smoking hot smoldering spirit for the older brother, Tripp, who, let's face it, has had too much of his life be easy to be anything other than slightly less than an asshole. The older daughter, Lexie, is also incredibly selfish although there is a hint of that starting to change. And Moody, who we may have some sympathy for, ends up being kind of an asshole too. Which leaves the youngest daughter, Izzie, who, constantly berated and unloved by her own mother, has a bunch of issues and is seriously just looking for someone (Mia) to love her. Sad.And all that would be fine if Elena Richardson didn't have a friend so focused on having a baby that she would railroad the child's biological mother in her quest for custody. Because she does, and that brings out everyone's thoughts and feelings on the subject. When it turns out Mia doesn't agree with Elena, Elena goes through some pretty sneaky and unethical shit to get dirt on Mia. I wasn't a huge fan of the ending only because I wanted Elena Richardson to really get hers but alas, this book is probably more like real life where Karma is a bitch, but not always egalitarian. Celeste does some really great work with white privilege, white saviorism, and class distinctions that work really well in the book. I enjoyed it and her writing.
4/5 Stars
You have to admit this amazing cover art catches your eye and makes you wonder what might be inside. And the inside is just as beautiful. Queenie Jenkins is on the cusp of something good. She has a steady boyfriend, Tom, who has suggested marriage, and she's landed a job at a magazine. So what if Tom's family is racist and he doesn't seem to care. So what if the job is managing listings and not writing about issues that really matter to Queenie. She's ALMOST there.And then. She isn't. Tom wants a break. A clean break. And this begins a spiral for Queenie who must confront some of the things that have made her adult life difficult. Painful, heartbreaking episodes from her childhood are hinted, and then drawn out fully as we grieve and learn with Queenie.At times completely hilarious and then equally heartbreaking, this book really does do it all. Queenie's friends are dismayed and helpless to halt her downward spiral and I felt these same feelings along with them. I felt like Queenie's friend. I was rooting for her. I wanted her to figure out these things she was doing to herself and allowing to happen to herself. The book brings up uncomfortable questions of self acceptance and worth and race. And it does it all in the most excellent writing. I was so thrilled to find this book in my mail box courtesy of Scout Press Books. I can't wait to share this book with everyone.
5/5 Stars.
Stephanie Plum is still out there doing mediocre work as a bounty hunter. She's tenacious, but when it comes to the actual apprehension, she's not very good at it. This time around she's trying to find a woman named Maxine, who skips bail for stealing her boyfriend's car. The boyfriend, predictably, is a real piece of work. Oh and this time the ante is upped because Stephanie's nemesis and husband stealer - Joyce Barnhart, has also decided being a bounty hunter could be a good line of work.
Stephanie manages to have yet another vehicle blown up and her apartment fire bombed so she shacks up with Morelli for a few days while repairs get underway. And that's probably the best part of the whole book. FINALLY, after three installments (you can read my reviews of the last book here), Stephanie gets her man. Ahem.
Oh yeah, there's something about counterfeit money, and fingers start getting chopped off of witnesses too. In addition, we get a new member to Stephanie's odd posse that previously included her 80 year old grandma and the former prostitute turned file clerk, Lula. To this merry band we add the cross-dressing heterosexual Sally Sweet, bass guitarist and puzzle solver extraordinaire. I have a feeling we'll be seeing more of Sweet at the series continues.
This installment was entertaining because of the character arc development of hooking Stephanie up with Morelli finally, and because Grandma, Lula and now Sally make quite a team. There were a few laugh out loud moments. The story did get a bit slow in parts. I've come to realize Stephanie never captures her fugitive the first time she meets them, sometimes not even the second or third time, so it always ends up making the book feel unnecessarily long.
3/5 Stars.
