Transitive Verve

Disclaimers: while my blog post itself does not contain any graphic sexual content, this book series does. This is a review for a book series that is meant for mature audiences, and therefore is unsuitable for minors.  This review is for the second book in a series and contains spoilers for the first book as well. Thoughts at a glance: **** (I really liked it) When we left Sophie and Neil at the end of The Boss ( review here ), she had just found out she was pregnant, shortly after getting fired by her boss who is also her boyfriend and her Dom. Her future is uncertain, and so is their future together, especially as Neil reveals to her that he has cancer - or rather, he has been in remission for the past few years, but now he's hitting critical stages.

I found out today that Jonathan Crombie, who played Gilbert Blythe in the three tv movie adaptations of Anne of Green Gables , passed away a few days ago . I never saw him in anything else (though I hear he was a wonderful, talented actor and a kind, warm person), but I'm feeling sadness all the same, because he wasn't just an actor playing a role - he was the physical embodiment of a most beloved character and one half of possibly my favorite romantic pairing in all of literature. When I was young, my parents went through spurts when they decided that we shouldn't have cable, but when we did, I would sometimes catch this movie about this red-headed girl who cracked a slate over a boy's head when he called her "Carrots." And then she would keep getting in trouble in funny ways, like when she tried to dye her hair black, but then it turned green, or when she accidentally got her best friend drunk. I got so swept up in the story, and I would keep tuning int...

This copy was provided for free from Netgalley in exchange for a fair and honest review. Thoughts at a glance: **** (I really liked it) When was the last time I read an epistolary novel, especially one that was written well after the advent of electricity? Can there even BE such a thing as an epistolary novel representing our modern age of emails, text messages, and social media? Love, Rosie comes pretty close. And it was quite a pleasant surprise! I first heard about the movie adaptation of this book, actually, because it stars Lily Collins and Sam Claflin, who have both portrayed major YAF characters in other movies - Clary Fray from The Mortal Instruments  series and Finnick Odair from The Hunger Games  trilogy, respectively. Of course I'd be interested in seeing a movie starring the two of them! But then I found out that it was based on a book, and when the opportunity came up for me to receive a review copy, I couldn't resist. As I said, Love, Rosie  is a...

This book was provided to me for free through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. Thoughts at a glance: **** (I really liked it) Quinn and Seth are two high school seniors facing the end of high school and the end of the 80s at the same time. Their backgrounds are distinctly different, but it doesn't stop them from being drawn together: Quinn is influenced by her wealthy Republican parents, and clashes with Democrat-leaning Seth, who spends his free time working at the lumberyard to support himself and his mother, who is suffering from MS. To read the synopsis on Netgalley or Goodreads, one would think that the main attraction of the novel is their "passionate romance." It is  important, and it is  passionate, but I found their individual character arcs far more interesting. Usually when a story is framed to be about a relationship, it's about the trials and tribulations of that relationship. I felt like the story was more about the trials and tribula...

I feel like I should say: while my blog post itself does not contain any graphic sexual content, this book series does. This is a review for a book series that is for mature audiences, and therefore is likely unsuitable for minors. Thoughts at a glance: **** (I really liked it) What with the recent hubbub over the Fifty Shades of Grey  movie coming out last month, there were lots of people speaking out against the movie and the book, claiming that they glamorize abusive relationships and that they conflate abuse and BDSM. Note: I have never read any of the FSoG books, nor am I part of the BDSM community, so I cannot speak with any authority on either matter, but considering how many of the sources making these claims were writers, sites, and even personal friends whom I absolutely trust, I was willing to believe it. It was enough to completely destroy any interest I might have had in reading the book or seeing the movie (and trust me, I had very little interest to begin with)...

I feel like I should say: while my blog post itself does not contain any graphic sexual content, this book series does. This is a review for a book series that is for mature audiences, and therefore is likely unsuitable for minors. I originally wrote this review for Goodreads and Netgalley, and am posting it here now. This was provided to me for free in exchange for an honest review. Indulging Series Box Set by D.L. Raver My rating: 2 of 5 stars I may be the outlier here, but I found myself eyerolling quite a bit while reading these two books. It was sexy, I guess, but the characters all felt really cartoonish and one-dimensional to me, and I felt like Irelyn and Zolt's relationship was problematic in certain ways - she insisted that she didn't "belong" to Marcus, but she was very quick to say "I'm yours!" to Zolt. I guess it's okay to let a man possess you if he's hot and good in bed? And Zolt had quite a number of neanderthal moments -...

The latest John-Green-to-movie adaptation is going to be his novel Paper Towns , which I finally got around to reading last week, in anticipation of the trailer's release yesterday and the movie's release in July. It's the third John Green book I've ever read, after TFIOS  and Looking for Alaska . Thoughts at a glance: **** (I really liked it) *Possible spoilers for the book ahoy* Q (for Quentin) is a kid growing up in a subdivision in Orlando, living next door to Margo Roth Spiegelman since they were two. And yeah, he's totally in love with her, has always been in love with her. At the age of 9, they find a dead body in the park where they usually play. Spoiler: this body has nothing to do with the mystery that happens later, but it does in some way set the tone for things to come. The ever-intrepid Margo investigates and finds out that the man had apparently committed suicide. "Maybe all the strings inside him broke," she says, which is a prett...