Welcome back for what I believe is the final blog. How sad I know you must be. I read this book a little bit ago. I believe it was around spring break when I started it. Just a warning, if you ever plan to read this book, it is pretty weird. I still do not totally understand what happened in this book, but that is part of the fun.

This book mainly focuses on a grad school student, Sam, who is finishing her final year of school, when she gets invited to join a friend group of four fellow classmates. They call themselves “the bunnies” and they address each other as “bunny”. It is very creepy and cult-like, but Sam is interested to see what they really do in their free time. She has a nickname for each of the four girls, based on their personalities and looks. There is Cupcake, Creepy Doll, Vignette, and the Duchess. She gets invited to come to a “smut salon”, where they all read poetry or some kind of erotic writing that they have come up with. It is like a cultish, erotic, writing club, where they drink and eat and share writing. I should also mention that they are all literature or english majors of some kind. I do not remember what exactly, but they all take creative writing and story telling classes. Once she has become closer into their group, they finally invite her to attend a “workshop”, which is a ritual they perform. Pretty much, they slaughter a bunny, and create these hybrid creatures, that somewhat resemble men. It is never really explained how this occurs, but I guess there is some kind of magic involved. This is where a get kind of confuse as nothing is ever confirmed for sure.

Eventually, Sam manages to create her own hybrid, who appears to be the perfect man, and all the bunnies fall in love with him. It is not known at this point though, that Sam created him. He just kind of appeared one day and joined the story. Sam’s hybrid, Max, is intent on punishing the bunnies, which I believe is from Sam’s inner feelings that have been transferred to Max, since he kind of embodies her unconscious and desires, maybe?? Like I said, nothing is known for sure. So Max pretty much terrorizes the bunnies and makes them fall in love, but breaks their heart and they get really really upset. In retaliation, they kill a swan from the nearby pond where Sam met her best friend, Ava, a long time ago. When Sam and Max discover this Swan, they realize that it was Ava and that Ava was an imaginary friend all along. This part had me so confused because I am not sure if Sam is just schizophrenic or if magic is real and Sam made Ava come to life like a hybrid, but with a dead goose instead of a bunny. I leave it up to interpretation. The story ends with the bunnies fighting over Max and Sam kills Max, who turns into a stag, kicks each of the bunnies, and runs away. So this is when it kind of confirms that Max was a hybrid created by Sam. It’s kinda crazy.

I am already at 500 words so I will shut up, but I really enjoyed this book and gave it 5 stars. Although it was confusing, the ending leaves a lot up to interpretation and I thought it was very well written. I wish I had more words to explain more, but oh well. Good floppiness too so I can’t complain there.

Thanks for reading my blog and I hope it was not too painful and annoying. Best of luck with finals and other classes.     :))))))

I’m sure most of you are familiar with Jennette McCurdy and her role as Sam on iCarly and other shows. I used to watch iCarly quite frequently so I was very interested when I heard Jennette was writing an autobiography, especially with a title like this. I am not usually a nonfiction or biography person, but this book was very interesting and kept me entertained the whole time I was reading it. If you want to get an inside perspective of Hollywood and the children show industry, specifically from an actress you have watched, I highly recommend this book. Quick TW, mention of eating disorders.

The book starts off when Jennette was about 5 years old and describes her family and life circumstances. She grew up in a pretty poor, Mormon family with three older brothers, and idealized her mom. She would do anything to please her mom and keep her happy. Her mother forced her into acting at a very young age because she always wanted to be an actress, but could never do it. Jennette talks about how she never really wanted to act, and preferred writing screenplays and books, but she wanted to make her mom happy. She goes on to describe her life as it continues, and she becomes a bigger child star. Around the time that she got her role on iCarly, her mother helped her develop an eating disorder so that she would remain skinny and small so she could play younger roles. This eating disorder continued long into adulthood for her, even after her mother died, and transformed from anorexia to binging to bulimia. A little later, her mother’s cancer comes back and continues to get worse. Despite this, her mother remains very clingy and controlling of Jennette. Their relationship gets very strained, yet she still does everything to appease her mother.

Eventually, Jennette’s mother gets very sick and becomes permanently hospitalized. She ends up passing away and Jennette feels very conflicted. She has idealized her mother for so long that it is hard to adjust to a life without her. On the other hand, she finally has some freedom and do what she wants. The books goes into much more detail and talks about relationships, jobs, and other things happening in her life.

I really enjoyed this book and found it particularly interesting because I was watching her on TV at the time when all of this was happening. It is kind of weird to think how all of this was going on while I was laughing at her show. I gave this book 4 stars because I really liked her writing and the progression of the book. I found it really fascinating to find out about so many different things she dealt with and went through.

Unfortunately, this book was a hardcover so I can not flop it at all. :(((((    That made me sad, but I still really enjoyed the book. Sometimes I must sacrifice book floppiness for a good book with good writing.

Welcome back for another book review. This is a pretty weird one for sure so get ready. This book takes place in a world where all animals have supposedly gotten a virus that makes them deadly to humans and therefore humans can not eat animal meat anymore. As I am sure many of you can guess where this is going… they start breeding humans for food! It is pretty gruesome and they get into some graphic details in this book so I do not recommend if you get squeamish easily. They explain the whole butchering and packaging process along with how the humans are bred and chemically enhanced to grow faster. They also remove their vocal cords so they can not talk or scream.

Most of the book revolves around Marcos, who works at a processing plant for humans. Recently, his baby son has died, his wife has left to live with her mother, and his father is slowly losing his mind in an elderly home. Everything is pretty depressing for Marcos, but he seems like a decent guy overall. Out of nowhere, he is given a gift, to make up for a mistake someone made against him. This gift is a pure bred female, which is considered very valuable and “tasty” because it has not been bred with or treated with any chemicals. Marcos does not really want this gift and does not know what to do with it so he keeps it in his barn. He says he can not bring himself to kill her, so he just takes care of her for a while.

Here is where the plot takes a bit of a turn. After a while, he starts bringing ‘Jasmine’, the pure bred female, into his house and treating her a little more like a human. Eventually, he impregnates her, which is very very illegal to do, and he now has a pregnant, mute, woman, stuck in his house, who can’t really do anything without his supervision. He goes on and start to form a more intimate and caring relationship with Jasmine. He is very excited for the baby to be born since he is still grieving the loss of his son severely. Marcos has a very strained relationship with his sister, and this is expanded upon throughout the book, like when their father dies and his memorial service happens. He also takes a lot of time visiting the old zoo, where his father used to take him, when animals were still normal and around. His connection here is very deep and also gets into a lot more detail throughout the book.

Okay, so here is what happens in like the final chapter. Its a bit insane. Pretty much, Jasmine goes into labor, but it goes wrong and he needs help. He can’t call a specialist because him impregnating her is illegal, but he calls his wife since she used to be a nurse. She comes to the house, delivers the baby, and everyone is happy, if not a little surprised. Then he turns to his wife says “He’s ours,” and proceeds to kill Jasmine. So I guess it really shows that no one in this book is actually a good person since the only decent seeming person literally used a woman to breed a child since his previous one died. Oh, and his wife exclaims “Why? She could have given us more children.” Some everyone pretty much sucks and is greedy.

That was a lot, but I did enjoy this book and thought it had some complex, interesting perspectives and ideas. I gave it 4 stars overall, however the floppiness is not amazing because it has a really thick cover so it doesn’t really flop much.

We’re back and this one is a rough one. This is definitely the most traumatic and tragic book I have ever read so be prepared to get depressed. On that note, I would like to include a trigger warning for mention of self harm, suicide, sexual assault, eating disorders, and pretty much any other triggering subject so please advance with caution. I will not discuss them in detail in this blog, but they are consistent themes throughout the book, so I if you consider actually reading this book, I highly recommend looking through the trigger warnings beforehand because it does discuss many of these subjects in graphic detail and can be very triggering for many. So on that joyful note, let’s get into it.

I really liked the writing style of this book and it had a lot of great quotes with eloquent writing. It was not too difficult to understand, but it was a long book. It is 814 pages with pretty small print and I will admit, it could get boring at some points. It basically tells the life story of these four men so some parts are pretty bland and not as exciting as others. I still think it is very well written and has many relatable descriptions and emotions expressed throughout the book. The relationships and friendships shown throughout this book are both heartwarming and heartbreaking and I am still not sure if the ending left me happy or sad.

This will a review with lots of spoilers because I can’t really discuss anything significant that happens without spoiling the book. This book basically follows the lives of four men who become friends in college. You learn about all of them throughout the book, but the main plot mostly revolves around Jude. The other three are Willem, J.B., and Malcolm. Willem becomes a famous actor, J.B. becomes an artist, and Malcolm is an architect. They have all had their personal traumas, but they end up doing okay in the end. But now for Jude. *this part may be triggering*. I will list a few of the traumatic experiences Jude has faced in his earlier lifetime including becoming an orphan as a young boy, being sexually abused by a brother at the ministry that raised him, being forced into prostitution with the same brother, being in physically abusive relationships, and being hit by a car by a doctor that said he would help him. Needless to say, Jude has faced very severe circumstances, but we finally seem him growing up and becoming his own person. He eventually starts dating Willem and they are finally somewhat happy. He still self harms, but he is getting better. He has to amputate his legs because they are so infected after all the years of injury from the car accident. This book is loaded with depressing events, but it had its happy moments too. Jude has a successful job that he enjoys, he gets adopted by his father-like figure and wife even though he is about 40, and he is finally in a good relationship with one of the few people he trusts. I am already out of words, but I wish I could say so much more about this book. This book made me feel so many emotions and it is truly beautifully written. The care and love that you see in the relationships Jude forms is amazing and I gave this book 5/5 stars.

Also, very nice floppiness because it has so many pages and they are really thin so it is very floppy and satisfying.

P.S. you don’t have to read this, but if you really want to know how depressing this book gets(VERY), you can read this part if you want. I literally finished this book today so I am still in shock and overwhelmed by everything. I can not get over how much happened in this book. It just kept coming and getting worse.

Once Jude and Willem are finally happy and getting oldish together, Willem gets in a car crash with Malcolm and Malcolm’s wife and they all die. Jude kills himself. J.B. is the last one alive out of the original four and pretty much everyone else dies soon after from unexpected health reasons. The final chapter is told from Harold’s POV (Jude’s adoptive father) and I literally cried. This book is seriously messed up, but somehow amazing. I can’t even explain all the trauma and emotions in this book.

For this week’s book blog, I am going to write about “One True Loves” by Taylor Jenkins Reid. I have read two other books by her and have had mixed feelings on her writing. I loved “The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo”, however I did not really enjoy “Daisy Jones and the Six” as you can see in a previous blog from last semester. I had high hopes for this book and was hoping to find another Taylor Jenkins Reid novel that I loved, especially since I heard good things about this one in particular.

The main conflict of the story revolves around Emma Blair and her love life. She married her high school sweetheart, Jesse and traveled the world with him for years. But then he goes missing on a helicopter ride over the Pacific Ocean and is never found. Boo hoo. So sad. In her grief, Emma moves back to her hometown and helps run her family bookstore, where…you guessed it! She falls in love with an old high school friend, Sam. How original right?? Anyway, they get engaged and life goes on and everyone is happy. The end. Just kidding. I probably would have been happier with that ending.

Emma and Sam

Suddenly, Jesse reappears and Emma doesn’t know what to do. Now she has two men that she loves, and she has to decide who she wants. Honestly, I liked most of the book and I thought the plot was fine, if not a little cliché. I did not particularly like Jesse if you could not tell, but even I will admit, their backstory is pretty cute. I did enjoy how she told the stories of both couples falling in love so you got to see how they met and felt about each other. It made the plot stronger as it actually made both men seem like good people who she should want. I just think Jesse is kind of a dick, particularly when he comes back from his little expedition. Needless to say, I was team Sam for most of the book, especially because he accepted Emma and realized that she wanted to settle down, and did not want to spend her whole life traveling. Jesse could not really grasp this concept in his tiny, little, self-centered brain.

Emma and Jesse?

Now for the big spoiler section. You’ll never guess it, but Emma chooses Sam!!! She explains to Jesse how they were perfect for each other at one point, but they are different people after all these years and they need to live different lives. He still wants to live in California and travel, while she wants to run the bookstore and build a life. He finally agrees, and here is where the book when to absolute shit for me. And I apologize, but there is really no way for me to put this nicely. They both agree to move on and go their separate ways. Perfect right?? NO!! They both decide (including Emma who just decided she is going to marry her fiancé who is not currently in the cabin they are staying at) to fuck one final time, just for old time’s sake. This honestly ruined the book for me and I lost a lot of respect for Emma. I know she was pretty much dating and fucking two people this whole book, but to verbally state your decision and still have sex, just felt wrong to me. I am going over my word count so I will wrap this up, But I gave the book 3 stars, only cause I enjoyed the rest of the book and read it in one night.

It had a decent floppiness, but nothing special. I am starting to think Taylor Reid Jenkins just might not be for me, despite me loving her one book.

p.s. sorry for going over the word requirement, but this book just pissed me off and I needed to release my feelings.

p.p.s. Apparently they also made a movie that comes out this year in April?!?!?! At least Simu Liu is playing Sam

For my first book review of the semester I wanted to do a book I read in early January. I actually read the book in one night and started it and like 6 pm and finished it just after midnight. I have a lot of books by Fredrik Backman, but this is actually the first one I read by him.

The main plot of this book centers around an accidental hostage situation that occurs at an apartment open house. The “criminal” had tried to rob a bank outside the building, but the bank went cashless so there was nothing to rob and in a panic, they ran away and into the open apartment. At this point, the failed robber is panicking so they hold up their gun and claim it a hostage situation. It quickly turns awkward when the failed robber does not really know what to do or want to continue the hostage situation anyway and starts sobbing. When all the hostages realize this person is no real harm, they start to relax and talk to each other, including the robber. At one point, they even order delivery pizza.

The robber explains their backstory and reasons for trying to rob the bank, and most of the hostages feel quite sorry for them. They were about to lose their children in a custody battle if they could not pay the rent and they just needed exactly 6,500 kronor. The hostages take pity and develop a plan to help them escape.

I really liked this book because it is written from many different character perspectives so you see all kinds of ideas and viewpoints. I also really like how connected everything is. By the end of the book, about 20 loose ends get tied up in a very satisfying way that I was not expecting. There is also a decent plot twist toward the end of the book that I was not expecting, but it made a lot of things less confusing once I figured it out. I just really liked the complexity and multiple story lines that you follow throughout the book. You get to know about all the different hostages and their backstories, the police officers, and people who aren’t even related to the hostage situation. I just never expected all the lies and twists that just kept coming and I really did not expect the ending. I will admit, I did cry a couple times. Another thing that I really liked about this book is how it accurately described anxiety and the thought processes of a bunch of people who don’t quite know what to do. Everyone agrees they don’t want to get the robber in trouble, so they all just kind of sit around for a while. It was also extremely funny in my opinion, as one of the characters is literally an old man in a bunny suit. Unsurprisingly, I gave this book 5 stars and could not put it down.

Of course, I also have to say that the book had a pretty good floppiness and I think the pages were a good thickness. It is a paperback book and just a pretty satisfying book overall.

P.S. apparently they also made it into a series on Netflix and I didn’t even know that, so all pictures of characters are the actors from the TV adaptation.

Welcome! I figured I would start this passion blog out with a little bit of an intro since none of you likely saw my blog last semester. This is just a continuation of my previous passion blog, so feel free to look back at my other posts if you want to get an idea of what I post, but either way, I hope to make it pretty comprehendible. I am an avid reader and I love to collect books. This often means buying way more than I can read, but we won’t talk about that. I mostly post book reviews of books I have recently read, or books that had a big impact on me and that I really enjoyed and will always recommend.  In some cases I will post book hauls with all the books I got from a thrift store or other shop, and sometimes, just to spice it up, I will post a review of a book I absolutely hated just for fun and for an excuse to bash the book in any way I can. This tends to be when I am in a spiteful mood and is not as common.

With my book reviews, I generally give an overall synopsis to try to explain the plot and main features without droning on and on, and then give me personal opinion on what I really liked or did not like. I will try to include photos of the book and characters if I can find them, but sometimes I am not able to find any art of depictions, but will still try to split up my paragraphs with some kind of visual. At the end of every book review, I also rate the book on its “floppiness”. I know this sounds really weird and it is kind of hard to explain, but I prefer paper back books and really like when they just flop really well. This is best accomplished with a book with a lot of pages that are very thin and heavy. I know I sound slightly crazy right now, but it adds something fun to the blog at the end and hopefully makes it a little more enjoyable to read. I just really enjoy a book with a nice texture that is pleasant to hold. I will be influenced by the appearance and consistency of a book, and will avoid books that I do not like the look of or do not like how they were constructed. I’m running out of descriptive words and this is sounding really weird so I will stop there.

Anyway, I will likely start next week off with a book review so I look forward to writing that. I hope that you can find some interest in my blog, or at least not absolutely despise reading it every week. I try to make it somewhat comical and easy to read to not bring too much pain to your life when you are forced to read it. I am looking forward to the passion blog this semester and hope that you maybe learn something about a book or find a book that interests you slightly.

Welcome back! I know you’re excited, just like me. :/  Anyways, this week, I finished “Vicious” (which I never can spell right on the first try) and I enjoyed it way more than I thought I would. I gave it 5 stars and immediately started the sequel.

The plot mainly focuses on two groups of people: the ‘good’ and the ‘bad’. The so called ‘good’ group is composed of Victor, Sydney, Mitch, and eventually, my absolute favorite character, Dol. Victor is the main protagonists and he is on a mission to kill his old friend, turned enemy, Eli.

Mitch, is, what I would consider, Victor’s current best friend. Who he met in jail. Because Victor killed his other best friend in college. By accident. But anyways… Sydney is an adorable 12 year old who gets abandoned by her entire family and gets picked up by Victor and Mitch on the side of the road. They make the cutest found family and I love them all dearly. Oh, and Dol is the dog that Sydney brings back to life as a pet…multiple times. I may have forget to mention that part. Both Sydney and Victor have both died, been brought back to life, and now have powers. Sydney can bring back the dead and Victor can manipulate his own and other people’s pain. More on that later but now for the ‘bad’ guys.

Sydney and Dol. I literally love them so much.

Eli went to school and roomed with Victor in college. Together they investigated the idea of “ExtraOrdinaries” which they found out are people who went through near-death experiences, but came back to life, and whatever they were thinking about as they almost died, is correlated to their superpower. Of course, being dumb college students, they both decide to test this theory, and what do you know…you have two college students with superpowers except one is innately evil with a concerning adoration and devotion to God and another who accidentally killed his friend who is also Eli’s girlfriend.

Needless to say, tensions are high and they do not exactly leave each other on the right foot. Eli’s power is to heal himself indefinitely. Of course, Eli picks up a sidekick on his way: Serena, who believe it or not is Sydney’s sister, who experienced the same almost-death experience, but her power is controlling people with her voice. Oh, and should I mention that Eli and Serena are kind of dating even though Eli is technically like 35 and Serena is like 20, but he doesn’t physically age due to his power, and he also literally shot Sydney, her sister, so that seems kind of toxic, but whatever. So, the stage is set and this is just the beginning. I know this was a very dense paragraph with a lot of confusing details and a lot of unanswered questions so I apologize, but I could not recommend this book enough. I love the characters. I love the plot. I love the relationships. I love everything about this book. I wish I was able to explain it better, in fewer words, but I can not recommend it enough. It is not a book that I can even really describe in words, at least, not in this few. It was just complex enough that it was entertaining, but a little too much to explain in only a paragraph or two. It was endearing, thrilling, gruesome, and every other description I can think of.

Not to mention, it has the cool matte covers that feel nice and it is also a perfect thickness to create a good floppiness. Thanks for sticking with me through this somewhat (I apologize for the language) shit show of a blog and goodbye. It’s been fun. Kind of. 🙂

p.s. I have no fucking idea why the picture of Victor is so huge, but I can’t fix it and it’s kind of hilarious.

Welcome back to another episode of Anna writing a book review at 10 pm. For today’s review, we have “Everything I Never Told You” by Celeste Ng. I ended up giving this book 4 stars since I felt it lacked a big wow factor and never had that big “aha-moment” that I was expecting. Also, this review is pretty full of spoilers since I felt I had to explain it more to get my views across so if you do not want to know the final scene, do not read the second to last paragraph.

The main storyline of this book revolves around a family of 5 that recently became a family of 4 after one of the daughters tragically dies. She was obviously the favorite in the family and the other children knew this. After her death, the whole family undergoes a changing dynamic and they have to figure out how to adjust to life without Lydia. The big problem is nobody knows how or why Lydia died. All they know is there is rowboat in the middle of the town lake, and her body was found at the bottom of it. How can you grieve something if you don’t even know how you lost it?

Nath, the older brother in the family, is overcome with grief and is determined to find out what happened to his sister. He has high suspicions of their neighbor, Jack, who Lydia recently started hanging out with. Hannah, the youngest sister, is reflecting on all her previous memories of Lydia and how her parents actually pay attention to her now. Despite everything going on, tensions remain very high in the household throughout the book. The parents also have plenty of their own issues as well. The father is having an affair with a student, and their mother has run away in the past to finish her education, only to come back and pretend like nothing ever happened.

picture of author, Celeste Ng

Luckily, you do get some insight in Lydia and her mind before her death. Although seeming like the perfect child, she struggled a lot more than she let anybody else know. She is stressed under her parents expectations and the thought of her brother leaving her for Harvard next year. She finds solace in Jack, who shares his cigarettes and car rides with her. In her time of crisis, she decides she wants to lose her virginity, and Jack seems like the best option. Then Jack reveals that he is in love with her brother, Nath. After deciding the root of her problems began when her brother pulled her out of the lake when they were younger and didn’t let her drown, she decides to change this. She rows out to the lake and swims back to the shore. Unfortunately, she still doesn’t know how to swim. And here is where the book ends.

I think this book was very complex and it was quite short and easy to read. The only reason I did not give it five stars, is because I thought there would be some big reveal at the end and I do not think I totally understood all the hidden meanings. Still, I highly recommend this book, even with the spoilers, it is a very thought-provoking book. It also is pretty short (I think like 200 pages) so it has a pretty nice floppiness and can flop a lot.

Let me start by saying, I have read a different book by this same author and I loved it. I read “the Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo” and I loved it so much that I cried when it ended. It was practically my Achilles heel and I would die if anything happened to my version of the book. I thought I would love this book as well since it is very popular and by the same author, but needless to say… I did not. I gave this book 3 stars and only because I feel bad giving harsh ratings to books that I expected to be good.

the supposed actor for Daisy in the Amazon Prime show

The main setting is in the 1970s in Hollywood and Los Angeles. Daisy Jones is a young singer and songwriter who is trying to find her place in the world. By about halfway through the book, we finally encounter ‘the six’ which is the band she eventually joins. I wish I could tell you more about the plot, but quite frankly, I do not think anything else happened or at least anything else important or memorable. The only thing this book talked about was drugs, sex, and alcohol. There are rumors that this book was inspired by Fleetwood Mac but nothing is confirmed and I think I would have enjoyed reading a biography about Fleetwood Mac much more than this excuse of a book. The only other thing that was somewhat significant was that the lead guitarist of the band who I think Daisy has an affair with, goes to rehab for addiction and has a wife and daughter who for some reason never divorces him. Someone clearly lacks logic considering he also cheated on her like 20 times, but I won’t say anymore.

Billy (the lead guitarist) in the TV show

Almost all of the characters in this book were infuriating to read about and I wanted to give each one a nice, little, delicate punch in the face. Also, apparently it is being turned into a TV show on Amazon Prime so I can’t wait to see what that will turn out like.  My expectations are a corny car crash of a series. On the bright side, it does have decent floppiness so I give it some credit for that. Also, after having written this and realizing how much I truly disliked this book, I think I have changed my rating to 2 stars.  It took me so long to read, that I had to read about 4 books in between because I kept needing to take breaks. I did not have a good time.