Read / Write / Shoes

Holly and Lawrence. Bella and Sam. Olivia and Ross. Harry and Rachel. One by one the relationships crumble, and Holly finds herself joining a club with Bella, Olivia, and Harry that started out as a joke, but turned out to be a lifeline - the Break-Up Club. Who better to cry to, to laugh with and to meet every Sunday to support each other to stop wallowing and start living life? You get to see the progress, and regression, of each character in the club as they figure out, not only how to move on from their break ups, but also about their jobs, their friendships, and seeing if they can move on to new relationships. When I started reading this book, I had a preconceived notion that this was going to be, what I call, a light beach read. People break up. They get lost. They find love. I was pleasantly surprised when there was more depth to the story than I originally thought. There were times when I was reading it, where I thought the story was close to an end, only to have a new sto...

Attention all chick lit fans who love to laugh - pick this book up immediately! Lizbeth Bates moves from the UK to America to live with her American friend Phoebe Hawkins and they find themselves without a job. The road to a new job has never been funnier. In a case of mistaken identity, they find themselves employed with a website running a "Dear Abby"-esque column (which PS I am so jealous of and wish it was my reality!) Will they be found out? Will they be fired? Will they ever find a filter from telling it how it is regardless of the situation?  This book had me laughing one minute, shaking my head the next, and then laughing again. I will be looking forward to finding the sequel, and hope that this becomes more of a series. This was my first "new adult" book, and if they are all like this, then I will be looking for more. I received this e-book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I wish I had known that this was book 3 of a series before I started reading it. Had I known, I would have sought out the other two books to read first. The one thing that kept me from giving this a 5-star rating is that the book makes an extraordinary amount of references to events that occurred in Daphne and Greta's past, but barely explains what those are. One can only surmise that these events are referenced in the first 2 books of the series. If you ignore those references and remind yourself that everyone in your life has a past that you are unaware of, then you can read this book as a standalone novel. Daphne Saito is living the dream in LA - writing screenplays that sell and hanging out in exclusive clubs that her friends own. Due to events from Daphne's past, she has trouble letting people in, but after breaking up with someone, she meets the man that may be able to see past all that. But where Daphne goes, trouble always seems to follow. With people out for revenge,...

This book was marketed as "Parenting and Families" and being a new mom, I requested to read this to see what challenges my daughter may be faced with when she enters school. What would she want her teacher to know? My idea of what this book was about could not be more off base. While a few cards were shared (my favorite being "I wish my teacher knew that I love nachos") that was not the focus of this book. The focus of this book was on Kyle's research about how to be a better, more engaged teacher to those in less affluent areas. While I am not a teacher, a lot of this I could not relate to, and I found myself skipping pages. Schwartz provides real world examples of the ideas she speaks about, which was about the most interesting part of the book. The saddest part for me was that I never found the area where they talked about the kid who loved nachos, yet that card was displayed with every chapter. Nacho-loving child - I feel you! You were the only part of the...

I didn't think that I would enjoy this book as much as I did, so it was a nice surprise when I found myself so engaged I couldn't stop reading! I'm extremely tired this morning as I write this as I stayed up for most of the night to finish the book. I had to see how it ended - I was not disappointed! Every year, Annie and some of her friends get together for a week away in the Hamptons, away from husbands and kids. Newly divorced, Annie finds herself with 3 of her friends going on their annual trip, only this time she is ready for adventure! She finds herself agreeing to go stake out a celebrity so her obsessed friend can meet him. Imagine her surprise when they meet that celebrity, Jason Wilde, have a few drinks with him, watch him pass out, and take him home so he can sleep it off. Before they know it, they are being wanted for kidnapping him! Police are involved, and when some misunderstandings occur, the FBI gets involved as well! How's that for an adventure? At...

I loved this cute story for middle grade children! When my daughter is older I can see this being a series that I would be OK with her reading. Of course I am biased even more, as I really enjoy books that are told in a diary format. When I read the synopsis and saw it was a children's book told in a diary format, I knew that I had to read it. In this story, Valentine's Day is upon us (ick!) and Pippa's mom doesn't have a Valentine. Enter Pippa to save the day  while also completing her Valentine's Day Project. What are the three things you love the most? I definitely recommend this book for girls in middle grade! If this book is like the rest of the books in the series, then I will be finding the other books for me to read - oh yeah, and also my daughter! I received this e-book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Well here is a blog post that I never thought I would write. I remember when I used to write on My Dear Diary (before the days of blogs) and I would write all about my college days. Parties I went to, sorority life and, of course, dating. I always dreamed of settling down and having a family, and now that it is happening I still can't wrap my mind around it! It's been 10 months and my daughter has fallen in love with Play With Me Sesame. Not Sesame Street - PLAY WITH ME SESAME. Of course she did, because they took it off of Netflix and I can't find it ANYWHERE! There are 5 DVD's that exist of some excerpts of the show. We only own 4 of them that are played on constant rotation. My husband-to-be (HTB) and I can recite each segment by heart. We know which songs stop baby girl short and which characters make her laugh. So color us happy when we heard that Grover and Cookie Monster were going to be at the LA Zoo! I thought we might get a cute picture of me holding baby ...

Oh to be 25 again. To be so young, so free of responsibilities. You can be what you want to be, go anywhere and do anything you set your mind to! I was skinny! I worked all day and partied all night! I dated and then dated some more! I lived...with an ex-boyfriend because we couldn't afford to live alone and we didn't want to live with strangers (ironic since we became like strangers during that time).  Work? I had a mountain of debt from college and no idea what I wanted to do with my life. Relationships? What relationships? Just a lot of awkward dates trying to find a relationship. Partying? Ok - that was fun. 25 Sense was like taking a trip down memory lane to a time when I was in my early 20's. Claire Malone is an aspiring television writer working as an assistant on a TV show. She finds herself flirting with her married boss which leads to an affair. Turning 25, she finds herself feeling lost with love, with work, with her family and where she fits in with it all. ...

As I am trying to get my blog off the ground, I was excited when I was selected to review this book. I wouldn't say that I'm blocked, but any inspiration would help. Well that, and if I could find some extra time in my day (as any writer would say). With that thought in mind, I dove in. Right in the beginning, after reading the introduction, I was hit with an advertisement page - buy my companion book! I know I was given this for free in exchange for my review, but had I spent money on this book, it would irritate me that now I need to spend even MORE money to get something out of this. I don't even know if I like this book - so let's begin. In going through the 62 blog posts, I didn't find a way to overcome bloggers block. Instead I was reading 62 different types of blog posts, and then a real world example. While there were a couple of good ideas listed that could work with my blog, many wouldn't. This book reads better for those that are just starting out and...

Remember that time when your dreams of the future collided with the present day, and you have to reconcile both of them? That moment is captured in The Museum of Heartbreak. Seventeen-year-old Penelope Marx is at the point in her life where friendships are beginning to change, new relationships are forming, and old friendships may be left behind. Penelope experiences heartbreak for the first time in multiple fashions, and in coming to terms with it develops the Museum of Heartbreak. The story is told with each chapter showing how a piece of the museum came to be a part of Penelope's heartbreak, one item at a time. It weaves together Penelope's tale and all the players involved. I first heard of this book in a Buzzfeed article of YA books to read and thought that the idea of it sounded great. After all, who hasn't experienced heartbreak? When I began to read the book, I really liked that an item from the museum was displayed, and it's story shared. I haven't se...