Transitive Verve

Thoughts at a glance:  **** (I really liked it) Summary:  Zuri Benitez is watching the world change around her. Having grown up her whole life in Bushwick (in Brooklyn), Zuri is seeing her neighborhood slowly being gentrified; her older sister Janae, who is back after her first year of college, is also different; and Zuri herself is getting ready to finish high school as well. That summer, though, when the Darcy family moves in across the street into the most expensive house on the block, they experience the biggest change of all as Janae takes a sudden interest in friendly elder son Ainsley, and Zuri finds herself constantly in the presence of snobby, judgmental Darius... ... and if you're at all familiar with the story of Pride and Prejudice , you can probably guess how this will go...

While my blog post itself does not contain any sexual content, this book does. This is a review for a book that is meant for mature audiences, and therefore is unsuitable for minors. Thoughts at a glance: **** (I really liked it!) Summary : After the sudden death of her father, Annie Daschle, her mother, and her two sisters find themselves having to move in with estranged family in New York. Annie, who is 18 and who has spent her life in a small Texas town being extra  sheltered due to a congenital heart defect, is ready to make the most of their new life and is armed with her dad's old camera and a list of ways she wants to live out loud . Starting with, getting a job for the first time ever. And then she literally runs into one of the managers at bookshop/bar, Wasted Words. Greg Brandon, who never really notices any women, finds himself inexplicably drawn to Annie's sunshine and passion-filled approach to life. However, Annie's heart has always had a mind of its o...

It's been a while since my last review. I had a lot of personal things going on these last couple of months (which is a story for my personal blog, and not this one), so I haven't felt motivated to get lost in fictional drama when I've had a lot of real drama to deal with :/ I WILL be getting back into the swing of things and making up for lost time, but for now, I'm going to share a review that I posted back in January on Goodreads, but for some reason didn't put on my blog. The reason why I'm bothering to repost it here is because I had already reviewed another book from this series on my blog (it's a romance series, which means that each book is a standalone, but they feature commonalities/are related), and I'm about to start the most recent one, so I want all the reviews to show up here as well :) While my blog post itself does not contain any sexual content, this book does. This is a review for a book that is meant for mature audiences, and ...

While my blog post itself does not contain any sexual content, this book does. This is a review for a book that is meant for mature audiences, and therefore is unsuitable for minors. Thoughts at a glance: *** (I liked it!) Summary:  Seven years ago, Elliot let the love of her life walk away, and she's regretted it ever since. She has always known that Wade was The One, but she was too young at the time to make that kind of promise, and as a result, she hasn't heard from him since the day they broke up. Wade is back in town after seven years of running from the memories of the girl he loved, but under the worst of circumstances: his father is dying. So now, not only is he having to deal with being strong for his sisters, but he also has to face Elliot, and the very real possibility that his feelings for her are as strong as ever.

A recent issue of Real Simple  magazine featured an article where writers, artists, and other influences described a fictional female character who really helped shaped them as people. Responses ran the gamut from literary heroines and television characters, and even included some whom I would choose as well. I thought I would chime in with a list of my own here, to pay homage to the girls and women who aren't just my favorites, but who actually made me ME. Ramona Quimby Aside from Disney fairy tales, Ramona  books are some of the earliest books I remember reading and getting REALLY into. (I read all the books, I listened to audiobooks, and I even borrowed videotapes of the tv show from the library.) I guess I was "in the fandom" before I knew anything about the idea of being in a fandom. The Quimby household felt very different from mine at that age, when I felt "more Vietnamese" than I did as I got older, but so much of what eventually became my worldv...

Valentine's Day is coming, and if you happen to be unattached, you may be looking forward to spending some time with your favorite book boyfriend. Hell, I'm even in a relationship myself, and I will probably end up spending Valentine's Day with a book. (Though, this is because we choose not to celebrate, so don't feel bad for me or anything.) I thought I would take some time to make a list of some of my favorite dudes. These are the guys who make me swoon every time I read, who are just too precious cinnamon-roll-y for the real world, but whom I love all the same. Note: I fully acknowledge that this post is absolutely heteronormative. Also note: For any teenaged YA guys that I choose, that crush is coming from Teenaged Me. Or I'm projecting them forward into adulthood. I am not literally imagining mid-30s me with a teenage boyfriend, because that would be Not Okay. Also ALSO note: Spoiler warnings for all the books listed below. There were MANY I could...

OH MY GOD YOU GUYS. OKAY. Before I get into the thick of it, let me explain, for the uninitiated. The Lizzie Bennet Diaries  is a vlog-style Youtube-based modernization of Pride and Prejudice,  and it was amazing and won an EMMY, and  I LOVE IT , and... and... JUST WATCH IT OKAY. If you love Pride and Prejudice , you just HAVE to watch it. Even though it's been over for years now, I have still been holding out hope that someday the creators will give us SOMETHING, some sort of scraps of our generation's version of one of the greatest literary couples of all time, Lizzie Bennet and Mr. Darcy. Well.... *deep breaths*... that someday was TODAY.

In short: You must allow me to tell you how ardently I admire and love this movie. Note: I haven't actually read the PPZ book (always meant to, never got around to it), so I can't draw comparisons between this and its book, but I've read the original P&P, obviously, and seen multiple adaptations, so that's where I'm coming from with this. Spoiler warning! Movie spoilers below!!