The Bursting Bookshelf: July 2018

Famous in Love by Rebecca Serle

2/5

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Waiting on Wednesday

A very large expanse of sea

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Just Jilted by Cindi Madsen

3/5

Title: Just Jilted

Author: Cindi Madsen

Publisher: Entangled: Select

Release: July 22, 2014

Pages: 350

Synopsis:

Dakota Halifax loves to be in love. In fact, as one of Las Vegas’s premier wedding planners, she’s built a whole career around romance. Which is why her own wedding has to be nothing short of perfect. And then her fiancé jilts her. While she’s waiting in her wedding dress. On a cruise ship already out at sea.

Once back on dry land, Dakota tries to pour her heart into her business and weekly wedding advice column, Get Ready to Wed. But how can the heartbroken celebrate others’ true love? When she reconnects with her childhood best friend, surprisingly sexy and all-grown-up casino bouncer Brendan West, Dakota wonders if maybe she can fall back in love with being in love.

But then her ex reappears, begging for another chance, and suddenly Dakota questions if she’ll ever understand love. Can someone once-burned and twice-shy ever find her way down the aisle again?

Review:
I'll admit, I bought this book mostly because it was 99 cents on the iBooks store and I liked the cover. Ever since I started reading on my iPad, I have been a sucker for the sale section of the store. I can't even count the number of impulse buys I've made that are collecting digital dust because I bought-and-forgot. The reason this one really stood out to me is because it sounded like a modern spin on The Wedding Planner (a classic J-Lo rom-com movie).

From a plot point of view, this book was basically what you would expect by reading the back cover. Girl gets left at the alter, girl meets (or in this case, is reintroduced to) cute new potential beau, girl's ex realizes his mistake, girl has a tough choice between the two guys, everyone lives happily ever after. It's a story that's been told a million times before, but this iteration is just cute enough to keep a reader from thinking too hard about how many versions of this story they've read. There are a few small twists, but it's a pretty straightforward, predictable read.

Dakota was a fun character to read about. It was easy and fun to see her journey after being jilted. Reading about her reevaluating her life and choices actually seemed realistic and fresh. It was nice to read about a capable woman who didn't fly to extremes when her life got turned upside down. Grant (the ex) was infuriating in all of the best ways. He was fun to hate and had a few manipulative tricks up his sleeve that kept him from being too much of a stereotype. Finally, there was Brendan. He was a tad bit two dimensional and predictable, but he was fun to read about and was a good competitor to go against Brendan. I found him to be the breath of fresh air in this book: he said what Dakota needed to hear and said everything I was thinking about how awful and manipulative Grant was.

Was this a fun read? Yes! I would definitely recommend this book to someone looking for a cute new romance book on the fly. It's got heart, it's got fun characters, and it has little moments that will make your heart swell. Just Jilted is a good example of a diamond in the overwhelming sea of eBooks that are constantly on sale on the iBooks store, and I would recommend it to anyone looking for a summery fun-while-it-lasts read.

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Stacking the Shelves

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Can You Keep a Secret? by Sophie Kinsella

3/5

Title: Can You Keep a Secret?

Author: Sophie Kinsella

Publisher: Dial Press

Release: March 1, 2003

Pages: 368

Synopsis:

Meet Emma Corrigan, a young woman with a huge heart, an irrepressible spirit, and a few little secrets: Secrets from her boyfriend: I've always thought Connor looks a bit like Ken. As in Barbie and Ken. Secrets from her mother: I lost my virginity in the spare bedroom with Danny Nussbaum while Mum and Dad were downstairs watching Ben-Hur. Secrets she wouldn't share with anyone in the world: I have no idea what NATO stands for. Or even what it is. Until she spills them all to a handsome stranger on a plane. At least, she thought he was a stranger.…Until Emma comes face-to-face with Jack Harper, the company's elusive CEO, a man who knows every single humiliating detail about her...

Review:
Sophie Kinsella is a massive name in the romantic comedy book genre: she's sold millions of books and her lighthearted novels make for great beach reads or eBook impulse buys. I'm a sucker for a good love story, so I decided to give Sophie Kinsella's books a second shot after I didn't really enjoy the first one I read (review here).

The main appeal for this book was a unique premise and the clout the author's name carries. Can You Keep a Secret follows Emma as she strives to prove herself at a career she is pursuing to prove that she is not an embarrassment to her family. During a flight on a business trip, her plan hits incredible turbulence prompting her to spill all (yes, literally all of them) secrets to the stranger sitting next to her. In a twist, the stranger turns out to be a big-wig at the company she works for and shenanigans ensue.

Was the story line a tad bit predictable? Yes, absolutely. There was no real twists or turns, everything was pretty straight forward. You could see the ending coming a mile away, as is the case with most books of this genre. Was the ride still fun? Yes. This book is a fun, park-your-brain type of book that might not be memorable, but it's nice while it lasts.

One thing that has been consistent in the two Sophie Kinsella books I've read is how terrible the lead character's friends/family/boyfriends are. One of Emma's roommates only qualities is that she's selfish. Her cousin is the stereotypical mean step-sister who has everything going for her and who Emma is constantly compared to. She's oddly malicious towards Emma, despite Emma being a lighthearted seemingly kind person.

On the topic of Emma - she seems to be the same character as Poppy (from I've Got Your Number), but with more career problems. She makes seemingly criminally poor choices that always make the situation she's in ten times harder to get out of than if she had just been honest from the start. Emma gains your sympathy as she deals with her demeaning coworkers and her cousin who seems bent on replacing her in Emma's own family, but she lost my sympathy when she doesn't ever stand up for herself. Her lack of a backbone really drove me nuts: she put up with her cousin, she put up with her coworkers, she even put up with the man she's dating not telling her anything.

I would recommend this book to someone who looking for a light read with a heavy dose of secondhand embarrassment. If watching characters digging themselves further and further into a hole is your cup of tea, you'll enjoy this book. If you begrudge characters who actively make the poorest choice in every situation to the point that they seem to enjoy the consequences of their actions, I would give this one a pass.

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Top Ten Tuesday: Best Books I’ve Read In 2018 (So Far)

favorite books of 2018

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I've Got Your Number by Sophie Kinsella

2/5

Title: I've Got Your Number

Author: Sophie Kinsella

Publisher: The Dial Press

Release: February 14, 2012

Pages: 433

Synopsis:

I've lost it. :( The only thing in the world I wasn't supposed to lose. My engagement ring. It's been in Magnus's family for three generations. And now, the very same day his parents are coming, I've lost it. The very same day. Do not hyperventilate, Poppy. Stay positive!! :)

A couple of glasses of bubbly with the girls at a charity do and Poppy's life has gone into meltdown. Not only has she lost her engagement ring, but in the panic that followed, she's lost her phone too. As she paces shakily round the hotel foyer she spots an abandoned phone in a bin. Finders keepers! Now she can leave a number with the hotel staff. It was meant to be!

Except the phone's owner, businessman Sam Roxton, doesn't agree. He wants his phone back, and doesn't appreciate Poppy reading all his messages and wading into his personal life. As Poppy juggles wedding preparations, phone messages and hiding her left hand from Magnus and his parents, can things get any more tangled?

Review:
Ever have one of those days that you just need a cute book to unwind after a long day? If you're at all a fan of rom-com books, you've definitely heard of Sophie Kinsella. If you're looking for a super fast, light, beach read, this is your book.

This book follows Poppy as she stumbles through her engagement to Magnus: her appealing, if not boring, fiance. After she loses her engagement ring (firmly cementing her as a ditsy and sometimes nitwit to the point of being obnoxious), she finds a cell phone in the trash. Turns out the owner is a mysterious business man, Sam, whom she ends up striking a deal with: Poppy keeps the phone as long as she helps out Sam with his emails.

As you can imagine, the texts these two exchange inevitably lead to a cute will-they-won't they. Their journey from tense strangers to tentative friends is adorable, and I really enjoyed watching them both develop into that relationship. Their dynamic together is nothing special: pick any other rom-com book from the 2000s and you will get the same cutesy dynamic between the two leads.

Let's talk about Poppy. She's a career woman desperate to get married. All she seems to care about is getting hitched to Magnus and making literally every situation she encounters ten times harder for herself. She loses her ring, and instead of being honest about it, she takes a long and convoluted path of deception. After realizing how poorly matched her and her fiance are, she decides to go through with the wedding anyways despite ample warning signs. Every time I found myself rooting for Poppy, she would do something aggressively stupid and I would find myself getting a bout of secondhand embarrassment. I know she was meant to be flawed, but all I saw was a character who was not believable and very hard to root for.

Other characters in the book were not very well fleshed out. Poppy's coworkers were inconsistent and ill defined. Poppy insisted that they were her closest friends, but one showed up for all of five minutes, and the other was actively trying to seduce Magnus (the bland fiance). Honestly, the book would have been better without these two characters. All they made me do was question why a person would ever consider them friends.

So, would I reread this book? Absolutely not. I've had my fill of meddling Mary Sue characters. Would I recommend it? If you can catch this book at a used bookstore or on sale in the iBooks/Kindle/Google Play store, go for it. Otherwise, you're best to pass this book up in favor of a more interested rom-com read.

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Stacking the Shelves

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Ready Player One by Ernest Cline

5/5

Title: Ready Player One

Author: Ernest Cline

Publisher: Broadway Books

Release: August 16, 2011

Pages: 374

THANKS TO WONDERKIND PR FOR THE REVIEW COPY.

Synopsis:

In the year 2045, reality is an ugly place. The only time teenage Wade Watts really feels alive is when he's jacked into the virtual utopia known as the OASIS. Wade's devoted his life to studying the puzzles hidden within this world's digital confines, puzzles that are based on their creator's obsession with the pop culture of decades past and that promise massive power and fortune to whoever can unlock them. When Wade stumbles upon the first clue, he finds himself beset by players willing to kill to take this ultimate prize. The race is on, and if Wade's going to survive, he'll have to win—and confront the real world he's always been so desperate to escape.

Review:

Have you ever read a book just for the hype? I'll admit, I was hardcore jumping on the bandwagon when I decided to read this book. Was the hype worth it? Absolutely.

In Ready Player One's version of the 2040's, people no longer interact in person: life happens in the OASIS. Enter Wade Watts: a teenager who has lived his entire life online. He lives in the stacks of trailers outside of Oklahoma City with his aunt and her sketchy boyfriend, attending school online and trying to explore the online world with his exceptionally limited funds. Wade is part of the hordes of users on the OASIS trying to solve a seemingly unsolvable puzzle with the highest of stakes: ownership of the OASIS. When Wade is the first player to make progress in solving the high stakes puzzle, we see him pushed into the spotlight and the danger that accompanies it.

Because everything is online, Wade doesn't know or understand the true value of real-life, in person interactions. Throughout this book we see him stumble through relationships with his friends, family, people of power, and the girl he's admired for years. I love how this book tackled the social anxiety of removing oneself from their 'safety blanket'. We got to see Wade in the real world: where he couldn't micromanage his appearance and environment and the vulnerability and discomfort that exposed him to. The author didn't sugar coat how challenging being in the real world was for Wade, he was clearly vastly more comfortable in the game where he was idolized and a celebrity.

I'm not an 80s kid, but I'll be damned if this book didn't make me feel nostalgic for that era/ make me want to track down the nearest arcade to me. Ernest Cline's world building was spectacular: it took a while for the OASIS to be fully fleshed out, but once it was, I couldn't put the book down. The amount of detail was astounding, everything from the hardware that runs the game to the layout of the game to the pseudo-politics and mannerisms of different classes of players was described. By the end, I felt like an expert on all things 1980s.

This is a perfect book to get someone into the sci-fi genre. Ready Player One also has the added bonus of not being some grandiose series starter- it's a genre defying stand alone novel. Having a perfectly delivered sci-fi tale in a single book is a rare find, one I would highly recommend to anyone looking for their next read.

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Welcome

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The Bursting Bookshelf

Top Ten Tuesday

Stacking the Shelves

Top Ten Tuesday

Famous in Love by Rebecca Serle

Austenland by Shannon Hale

Waiting on Wednesday

Just Jilted by Cindi Madsen

Stacking the Shelves

Can You Keep a Secret? by Sophie Kinsella

Top Ten Tuesday: Best Books I’ve Read In 2018 (So Far)

I've Got Your Number by Sophie Kinsella

Stacking the Shelves

Ready Player One by Ernest Cline

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