Book Review - All I Ask by Nicole McLaughlin

From Goodreads: Staff Sargent Reeve Miller lives by his own golden rules: Train hard, work hard, and f*ck hard. This way of thinking has served him well. He’s enjoyed a successful career in the military, started his own landscaping business while serving part time in the Guard, and left a string of very happy females in his wake… until he meets one feisty, smart woman in a bar looking for a one-night stand.

Emily Phillips is tired of working her ass off and not enjoying her life. According to her accountant, Emily is a millionaire. But her friends say she is a workaholic heading for lonely spinsterhood. The night of her high school best friend’s bachelorette party seems like a good time to try something new, and when the blue-collar hottie at the bar gives her the look, she’s ready to take a walk on the wild side. He makes it clear that he can give her a night to keep her very satisfied, and since it’s only a night, why bother sharing her title of CEO? But as one night becomes two and three, both Reeve and Emily find it harder to keep their hearts safe.

My Thoughts: I received an advance copy of this from Netgalley and was so excited to read this because I've loved Nicole's previous books and this one did not disappoint!

I really enjoyed this book. Emily and Reeve are great characters who you really feel like you get to know. You'll root for both of them, want to give both of them hugs at some point, and possibly even want to smack them both in the head to knock some sense into them once or twice.

McLaughlin creates a great story with a setting that will instantly seem familiar, characters that you'll become invested in, and a story you can't get enough of. 


Review copy provided by Netgalley. All opinions are my own. 

Book Review - Year of Yes

Year of Yes: How to Dance it Out, Stand in the Sun and Be Your Own Person

From Goodreads: In this poignant, hilarious, and deeply intimate call to arms, Hollywood’s most powerful woman, the mega-talented creator of Grey’s Anatomy and Scandal and executive producer of How to Get Away with Murder reveals how saying YES changed her life—and how it can change yours too.

She’s the creator and producer of some of the most groundbreaking and audacious shows on television today: Grey’s Anatomy, Scandal, How to Get Away with Murder. Her iconic characters—Meredith Grey, Cristina Yang, Olivia Pope, Annalise Keating—live boldly and speak their minds. So who would suspect that Shonda Rhimes, the mega talent who owns Thursday night television (#TGIT), is an introvert? That she hired a publicist so she could avoid public appearances? That she hugged walls at splashy parties and suffered panic attacks before media interviews so severe she remembered nothing afterward?

Before her Year of Yes, Shonda Rhimes was an expert at declining invitations others would leap to accept. With three children at home and three hit television shows on TV, it was easy to say that she was simply too busy. But in truth, she was also afraid. Afraid of cocktail party faux pas like chucking a chicken bone across a room; petrified of live television appearances where Shonda Rhimes could trip and fall and bleed out right there in front of a live studio audience; terrified of the difficult conversations that came so easily to her characters on-screen. In the before, Shonda’s introvert life revolved around burying herself in work, snuggling her children, and comforting herself with food.

And then, on Thanksgiving 2013, Shonda’s sister muttered something that was both a wake up and a call to arms: You never say yes to anything.

The comment sat like a grenade, until it detonated. Then Shonda, the youngest of six children from a supremely competitive family, knew she had to embrace the challenge: for one year, she would say YES to everything that scared her.

This poignant, intimate, and hilarious memoir explores Shonda’s life before her Year of Yes—from her nerdy, book-loving childhood creating imaginary friends to her devotion to creating television characters who reflected the world she saw around her (like Cristina Yang, whose ultimate goal wasn’t marriage, and Cyrus Beene, who is a Republican and gay). And it chronicles her life after her Year of Yes had begun—when Shonda forced herself out of the house and onto the stage, appearing on Jimmy Kimmel Live, and giving the Dartmouth Commencement speech; when she learned to say yes to her health, yes to play and she stepped out of the shadows and into the sun; when she learned to explore, empower, applaud, and love her truest self. Yes.

This wildly candid and compulsively readable book reveals how the mega talented Shonda Rhimes, an unexpected introvert, achieved badassery worthy of a Shondaland character. And how you can, too.

My Review: So first let me just get this out of the way: I am not a frequent resident of Shondaland and I'm not a frequent watcher of TGIThursday. I've seen Greys and did watch the first season or two but otherwise I don't really watch it. I also never watched Private Practice and I've never seen Scandal or How To Get Away with Murder. I may flip past Greys if I know something is going to happen (Oh, McDreamy....) but that's about it. So basically my Shonda watching stopped with Denny's heart (it's not a spoiler if it was like 8 years ago, right?).

So, why did I not only want to read this but want to so much I asked for it for Christmas? Because I think Shonda is impressive and I loved the concept.  I've spent the last few years trying to amp up my game, which is why last year's word was Conquer and this year's word is Do. I'm trying to take on life, carpe the heck out of the diem, not let life pass me by. So basically this book spoke to me, just by the description.

And it did not let me down. 

I saw so much of myself in Shonda it was kind of weird. I had no idea she was a nerdy kid who preferred reading to going out and doing. That was me as a kid. I had no idea she was so introverted as an adult and that she used her characters to express herself. That's me too. I love what she did on her year of yes. I hope that's what I'm doing now.

While I may not be saying yes to award shows, commencement addresses, or photo shoots the things I'm saying yes to (or should be saying yes to) are just as important to me and my life as those things are to Shonda. 

If someone like Shonda, who has so much attention on her and so much to lose by shaking up her life, can do this - say yes to the things in life that come her way - then so can I. This books reminds me of this.

I completely recommend this book, even if your word for the year isn't Do and your goal isn't to shake up your life. I think everyone can find something in this book that speaks to them, that makes them get up and go do something, or even that just makes them nod their head or laugh out loud (which I did a few times). This book definitely goes on the shelf with the other books that inspire me and that I reach for as inspiration again and again.

Welcome to 2016

A few years ago my friend Jennie introduced me to the idea of picking a word for the upcoming year - something to focus on and think about  as you travel through the next 12 months. I adore this concept and have done it the past few years.

In 2015 my word was Conquer and I feel like I did a pretty good job with that. I conquered some financial goals, I conquered some things I wanted to do around our house, I conquered a few small health related goals, and I really conquered some things with work. So having that word to focus on really worked for me.

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It actually didn't take me too long to come up with my word for 2016 - Do. I'm very much a creature of habit, an introvert, and someone who doesn't like to step out of my routine. Ok and I can be a bit lazy at times too. So my goal for 2016 is to always keep the idea of Do in mind.


Do good.
Do well.
Do something fun.
Do something new.
Do something that scares you.
Do go on an adventure.
Do something with the ones who are important.
Do something that is important to you.
Do or do not, there is no try.
Do epic shit.
Do what needs to be done.
Do what you want to Do.
Just Do something!

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So welcome to 2016, my year of the Do.

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Does anyone else pick a word to describe their upcoming year? If so, what did you pick?

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Top Ten Tuesday - Top Ten Books I'm Thankful For

In no particular order:

 

Top Ten Tuesday - Ten Book To Movie Adaptations I Still Need To Watch

1. Divergent

2. Insurgent

3. Wild

4. A Walk in the Woods

5. Papertowns

6. Frankenstein (hello, Daniel Radcliffe)

7. Horns (again, Daniel)

8. If I Stay

9. The Spectacular Now

10. The Help

Book Review: Dumplin'

From Goodreads: Self-proclaimed fat girl Willowdean Dickson (dubbed “Dumplin’” by her former beauty queen mom) has always been at home in her own skin. Her thoughts on having the ultimate bikini body? Put a bikini on your body. With her all-American beauty best friend, Ellen, by her side, things have always worked…until Will takes a job at Harpy’s, the local fast-food joint. There she meets Private School Bo, a hot former jock. Will isn’t surprised to find herself attracted to Bo. But she is surprised when he seems to like her back.

Instead of finding new heights of self-assurance in her relationship with Bo, Will starts to doubt herself. So she sets out to take back her confidence by doing the most horrifying thing she can imagine: entering the Miss Clover City beauty pageant—along with several other unlikely candidates—to show the world that she deserves to be up there as much as any twiggy girl does. Along the way, she’ll shock the hell out of Clover City—and maybe herself most of all.

With starry Texas nights, red candy suckers, Dolly Parton songs, and a wildly unforgettable heroine—Dumplin’ is guaranteed to steal your heart.

My thoughts: So I had somehow not been aware of this book until about a month before it came out when my Twitter feed exploded with people posting about it. I resisted the hype for maybe a week before finally going to Goodreads to see what this was all about. I then immediately put in a library hold for this book. I had to read it.

As someone who was very similar to Willowdean in high school I felt a good connection to her. I honestly wish this book had been around when I was a young adult. I think 15 year old me really should have been able to read this. Willowdean is such a kick ass character. She's lively, she's feisty, she's smart, she's brave, she's insecure, she's figuring it all out still. She's amazing. 

I loved this book and it made me go look up more than one Dolly Parton song on Youtube, which I call a good thing. 


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Top Ten Tuesday - Ten Authors I Really Want To Meet

Top Ten Tuesday is a fantastic blog series hosted by The Broke and The Bookish. This seemed like a fun topic to jump back in on the TTT bandwagon.

1. Diana Gabaldon. Aka, Herself. I'm a huge fan of the Outlander series and love her writing. I think I'd probably be rendered mute if I met her though.

2. Sarah Dessen. There are so many things I love about Dessen. She writes amazing books with amazing characters and plots, she is fantastic at creating places that you can just perfectly visualize, she drops in things from her previous books, like a band or a character at a coffee shop, so perfectly it doesn't feel forced, and she is so incredibly friendly, modest, and supportive of other people on social media. And she seems like the kind of person where you just know she's being genuine and not putting on an act.

3. John Green. My introduction to Green was when my friend Andea forced me to read TFIOS. I still owe her for that. Green creates some amazing characters, seriously Hazel Grace is fantastic. Plus I love how much he loves my favorite city.

4. Jen Lancaster. I don't just want to meet Lancaster, I want her to take me under her wing and be one of her besties. I love her sense of humor, her sarcastic wit (we have that in common), and the way she tells a story. Plus I love that she's an animal rescuer as well, that's definitely the key to my heart.

5. Emery Lord. Lord is another author that I have some friends to thank for introducing me to. She's also another one that is so incredible friendly, down to Earth, and supportive on social media. Plus when the Start of Me and You came out she sent people who preordered some swag and mine came with the nicest note based on the email I'd sent her. Anyone who takes the time to really read your email and personalize their response in the midst of a book coming out is extra amazing.

6. JK Rowling. Does this one really need an explanation? Her mind created Harry Potter, enough said.

7. Stephanie Perkins. Yet another author who seems so down to Earth, so supportive of others, and just genuinely nice. Plus she created Anna, Lola, and Isla and I'd really love to thank her for this is person.

8, 9, 10. I'm cheating a little here. Melissa Landers, Jessica Love, and Kelsey Macke are friends of mine, who at this point I only know through the wonderful thing that is the internet. Even though I've never had the chance to sit across a table from them I genuinely consider them my friends. However, I also consider them amazing authors and I'd love the chance to sit down with them and discuss the characters and places they've created.