Review: Landline by Rainbow Rowell

Landline by Rainbow Rowell 
Release Date: July 8th, 2014
Pages: 308
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Review Copy: Review copy provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review
Purchase: Amazon | B&N

Description from Goodreads:
Georgie McCool knows her marriage is in trouble. That it’s been in trouble for a long time. She still loves her husband, Neal, and Neal still loves her, deeply — but that almost seems besides the point now.

Maybe that was always besides the point.

Two days before they’re supposed to visit Neal’s family in Omaha for Christmas, Georgie tells Neal that she can’t go. She’s a TV writer, and something’s come up on her show; she has to stay in Los Angeles. She knows that Neal will be upset with her — Neal is always a little upset with Georgie — but she doesn’t expect to him to pack up the kids and go home without her.

When her husband and the kids leave for the airport, Georgie wonders if she’s finally done it. If she’s ruined everything.

That night, Georgie discovers a way to communicate with Neal in the past. It’s not time travel, not exactly, but she feels like she’s been given an opportunity to fix her marriage before it starts . . .

Is that what she’s supposed to do?

Or would Georgie and Neal be better off if their marriage never happened?

I think I should start this review by being completely up front with you guys: I totally cried. Not even because of one specific thing. Like, there wasn't one specific moment where something SO SAD happened and I lost it. It's just that this whole entire novel has this tone to it, this seriousness about it that drew me in and wrung me out. I loved it, and I FELT it. And goodness, I'm going to relive it through re-reads again and again. 

Rainbow Rowell established herself as one of my favorite authors with Fangirl, which is kind of an accomplishment because I generally have a rule of having read at least two books by an author (preferably not in the same series, but that part's not a die-hard deal breaker) before I declare them a favorite. But Rainbow Rowell's writing is magic. Her writing is so absolutely enchanting and beautiful, the moment I started in on Landline I was a goner. I was pulled in and pulled under and I still haven't come up for air. I'm completely under her spell, and I never want to break it.

With this being an adult novel, there's a more serious tone to everything. The main character is seriously facing marriage problems, and everything was seriously happening, and it all just struck this cord in me that kind of hurt in the most fascinating way. The characters were so complex and defined, I can honestly say I loved them all. I loved them all and I sympathized with them all. I could see Georgie's side and I could see Neal's side and I wanted things to work out on both ends. Heck, I NEEDED things to work out on both ends. 

The magical phone aspect was woven into the story perfectly. That so easily could have been construed in a way that took away from the feel of the book, from how heavy everything felt. Instead, it gave me the parts I'm pretty sure I most looked forward to throughout the book. I adored those conversations with Neal. But then, I think I just adored NEAL. He's the kind of guy that I realistically could see myself ending up with--hope I end up with. He's not perfect, but he's great. He's so, so great. 

Romance in this book was achieved through sweetness. Phone conversations with Neal. Flashbacks to things that happened before the actual timeline of the story. Stuff like that, all wrapped up in one big package and aimed directly at my heart. Dear goodness, I loved it. I loved everything about this book, romance included.

Overall, Rainbow Rowell has worked her magic yet again with Landline. With her complex characters, consuming story line, and gorgeous writing, she's woven another story that will not only stick in my mind for a good while--but is now one of my all-time favorites. 

 

Blog Tour: Part of Me by A.C. Arthur (Excerpt & Giveaway)

 

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Part of Me by A.C. Arthur 
Release Date: May 13, 2014
Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin
Series: Damaged Hearts
Buy It: Amazon | B&N

Description from Goodreads:
Lidia Morales has always felt out of place. The one stable presence in her childhood has always been Brayden. Every major moment, every growing pain, everything in her life has been shared with him since they were little, so it makes sense to her that they will stay friends at college together. Until one night, emotions are revealed in a heated kiss, and Lidia’s world is turned upside down. Brayden has always been just a friend and she knows she should look somewhere else for love. But the memory of the passion between them is undeniable—and Brayden isn’t about to let her forget it. As trouble brews, Lidia may need Brayden more than she realized and Brayden will do whatever it takes to convince her that they are soulmates…bonded for life, in　Part of Me　by　 A.C. Arthur.

“I know this great game we can play,” he continued, trying to sit on the stool across from me but missing the seat entirely because, one—he didn’t have eyes in the back of his head and two—he was too drunk to possess any type of balance. His free hand caught the side of the bar just as his knees buckled.

     Now I was looking down at him instead of across, still at a complete loss for words.

     Brown liquid sloshed over the rim of his glass and down his arm. “Whoa,” he half-moaned, half-laughed, then to my horror, licked the rivulets from his hairy forearm.

     I closed my eyes, counting backward from ten and praying that when I opened them again he’d be gone.

     No such luck.

     “It’s called dare,” he whispered, hot liquor breath fanning over my face because that’s where he was now. Standing right next to me, leaning down so his face was in mine, his eyes aligned with mine, his lips too damned close to mine.

     “I dare you to take your clothes off. And then I take my clothes off.”

     “And then I vomit all over both of us,” I quipped, finding my words before actually vomiting on this dirtbag.

     His hair was greasy and lay in a haphazard yucky mess while his half-closed eyes continued to glare at me. He looked like he was actually thinking about that as an option. I flattened  my palms against his chest and the sweaty T-shirt with the totally outdated and faded band logo on front and pushed him away.

     “Not interested,” I said in the clearest and loudest English I could manage.

     “That’s because I haven’t showed you my piece yet,” he told me just before lifting his arm and pushing it down between where my arms were still extended toward him. Fearing he was going for his “piece,” I yanked my arms back, about two seconds after realizing the jackass had been using the arm with the hand that held the half-empty glass of liquor, which now spilled down the front of his pants.

     “Bitch!” he yelled as his “piece” was now outlined by a growing wet stain.

 Artist C. Arthur was born and raised in Baltimore, Maryland where she currently resides with her husband and three children. An active imagination and a love for reading encouraged her to begin writing in high school and she hasn’t stopped since.

Working in the legal field for almost thirteen years now she’s seen lots of horrific things and longs for the safe haven reading a romance novel brings. Her debut novel Object of His Desire was written when a picture of an Italian villa sparked the idea of an African-American/Italian hero. Determined to bring a new edge to romance, she continues to develop intriguing plots, sensual love scenes, racy characters and fresh dialogue—thus keeping the readers on their toes!

During the course of her writing career Artist has won the YOUnity Guild’s Best New Drama and Romance Author Award in 2005/06; been nominated 3 years straight for EMMA Awards, with the fourth time being a charm she took home the 2007 EMMA Award for Favorite Romantic Suspense; and has also received her first Romantic Times Reviewers’ Choice Award Nomination for Best African American Romance. She is represented by Christine Witthohn at Book Cents Literary Agency, LLC.

Author Links: 

Website | Goodreads | Facebook | Twitter

a Rafflecopter giveaway

 

April Monthly Re-Read (Cracked Up to Be by Courney Summers)

Monthly Re-Read is something I'm going to be doing every month in 2014. I'm going to re-read one book a month and then blogging about it. To learn more and see the post where I introduced the idea, click HERE. 

(So sorry this post is a few days late, y'all! I was sick, so I kind of got behind on some stuff--this included.)

Cracked Up to Be by Courtney Summers
Release Date: December 3, 2008

Pagecount: 214 pages

Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin

Source: Bought
Buy It: Amazon | B&N

Description from Goodreads: 

When "Perfect" Parker Fadley starts drinking at school and failing her classes, all of St. Peter's High goes on alert. How has the cheerleading captain, girlfriend of the most popular guy in school, consummate teacher's pet, and future valedictorian fallen so far from grace?

Parker doesn't want to talk about it. She'd just like to be left alone, to disappear, to be ignored. But her parents have placed her on suicide watch and her conselors are demanding the truth. Worse, there's a nice guy falling in love with her and he's making her feel things again when she'd really rather not be feeling anything at all.

Nobody would have guessed she'd turn out like this. But nobody knows the truth.

Something horrible has happened, and it just might be her fault.

Back in the day, before I started my blog or even knew blogging was a thing, I would look up books on Barnes and Noble's website. I would search a book I knew I liked, and then follow the suggestions that they "think you might like" all over the place. This was one of those books that popped up in that long chain of book-looking (so was Obsidian by JLA, by the way). I read the little preview on B&N's website and decided that I seriously needed to get my hands on this book.

Fast forward to the beginning of September of 2010 when my brothers, my sister-in-law, and my mom went to the Yankees game against the Texas Rangers at Arlington. I wanted to go so badly, but instead I was stuck at home with my dad and my nephew. (No worries--I ended up going the next May and it was wonderful.) Another thing I used to do back then (and wish I still did today) was go to Borders and look at books. For no good reason. I didn't always buy a book--because I didn't always have money for that--but I'd just look around and be cool with that because books are awesome.

**Sidebar: I think it was the website for Borders that I was on more. I mean, I KNOW I went on B&N's website, too, but I think I may have found this book (and Obsidian) on Borders. Hmmm.**

Back to my story...I was at home with my dad and nephew and so bored I could cry. Soooo we went to Borders. And at Borders, I was all grabby hands at this book, because I was so curious about the contents of the book. It looked amazing, but it also looked like I could want to chuck it across the room. I wanted to reeeeeeeead it. So I talked my dad into buying it for me. 

I proceeded to read the crap out of this book in the day and a half-ish before the rest of my family got home, and this story has stuck with me ever since.

Parker was such a poignant character, and even though she could be so mean, I wished I could be like her. I wanted to be confident like she was, I wanted to be funny just like she was, and I wanted to not care about the little things like she did. I must also point out that the summer of 2010 (and the fall, and my whole freshman year in general for various reasons I'm not going to get into at the moment) was a hard one for me. I wanted to be anyone but myself, and almost any of the main characters in the books I read were ones I wanted to mirror. I didn't want their bad qualities, of course, but their strong ones, their unique ones, the ones that made them characters I loved--I wanted all of that. And Parker rocked at being everything I wished I was. 

And her story, in general. Her story will never leave my brain. It hurt my heart so much, but I loved it at the same time. I loved the characters. I loved how much people cared about Parker--especially Chris and Jake--and how everyone interacted. One of my favorite things was when Parker fell out of the tree and Jake was all worried and then she started teasing him the moment she got her bearings. 

I adored Jake. And Chris was a sweetheart. And I didn't even hate Becky. I am so excited to experience this story again. I don't doubt that it'll resonate through my mind much the same as it did the first time. I'll laugh and possibly cry and just fall in love with every single word, even the ones that sort of made me cringe, because I was a fan of Jake and Parker could be so cruel to him. 

But seriously, I think this is going to be great!      

I am so, so, SO glad I chose to read this book again. As I explained, it has always been one near and dear to my heart, but now I am declaring it one of my all-time favorite books. I am honestly and truly with the writing, and the premise, and this whole story in general.

Right off the bat, I already realized that there were things about this book that went right over my head the first time I read it. Seriously, on the very first page. Chris is asking about G-spots. Yeah, I didn't know what that was the first time I read this. HAAAAAAA. But it even goes beyond that. Little things that most people might have noticed the first time around, but it took me another read through to catch. Like how she says her counselor's eyes are like a dead sparrow's at the beginning of the book--and THAT is who was talking to her around the end of the book.

I also have a WAY better understanding of Parker now. There was something wrong with her. I'm guessing some type of anxiety disorder. I'm pretty confident she had some form of OCD. I mean, I'm not qualified to actually diagnose people or anything, but from my understanding of psychology (which is not very vast, but still, I have a little) that would be my guess. Parker had those problems BEFORE the whole thing with Jessie, and that is a huge part of why I am in love with this book. Parker didn't start having issues BECAUSE her friend went missing. No, she just reached her breaking point then--and this all lead to her actually getting help. I liked that this was something that was always a part of Parker. I mean, how many books feature perfectly fine characters and then BOOM tragedy strikes and they're not fine anymore? Not all characters can have perfect lives that are marred only by something bad happening to them. Making Parker flawed from the get go (i.e. even in the flashbacks) made her more easy to relate to, in my opinion. And I loved it.

Jake, Chris, and Becky. I adore Jake and Chris. They're such high school boys. They're funny and realistic, and I simply adore them. I have more to say about them, but first I want to talk about Becky. I feel like our view of Becky is skewed, because we're seeing her through Parker's eyes. I don't think Becky is the nicest person ever or anything, but I do think she was Parker's friend. Or the closest thing to a friend she had, at least. All four of these characters--one big group of super awesome friends, no matter how reluctant Parker is to admit it. SO YEAH. Becky did get on my nerves some, but I didn't hate her or anything.

Now back to the boys. I feel like Chris was the perfect representation for a high school guy doing all he can to get back the girl he fell in love with. I know he doesn't seem to try TOO hard, but what was he supposed to do? He's only an 18-year-old human male. He tried. And the biggest thing is that he's always there for Parker when she needs him. He messes up a little, but he's there and I freaking loved him. The way they parted ways at the end was fantastic. And Jake--another perfect representation, this time of a high school guy completely baffled by this situation he walked into after moving across the country. It's funny how his luck went--first person he met at him new school was Parker Fadley. The least helpful person he could meet. Poor guy. But he turned into another guy we could rely on and I fell in love with him, too.

After being immersed in the story I have loved for a long while yet again, I cannot be more glad I sat down and re-read this book. I see Parker for who she really is now, and I still kind of want to be like her in some ways. Not as many ways as before, because I realize now that she DOES care about things, just not the same things she forced herself to be good at before the beginning of the novel. But I like that she aimed to only care about things she deemed worth it. I also see that she didn't see herself worth caring about, which is why she was trying to make everyone forget about her in the first place. And I LOVE that this book is her realizing that she can't control who cares about her--not anymore than she can control anything else happening in the world--and she should be open to making relationships with people. It's healthy, it's normal, and it can be so incredibly rewarding.

So yeah. I definitely got something out of re-reading this book. Have you read this one? What do you think?

Review: Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell♥

Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell
Release Date: September 10, 2013
Format: Hardcover, 433 pages
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Source: Publisher in exchange for an honest review

Description from Goodreads:
From the author the New York Times bestseller Eleanor & Park

A coming-of-age tale of fan fiction, family and first love.

Cath is a Simon Snow fan.

Okay, the whole world is a Simon Snow fan . . .

But for Cath, being a fan is her life — and she’s really good at it. She and her twin sister, Wren, ensconced themselves in the Simon Snow series when they were just kids; it’s what got them through their mother leaving.

Reading. Rereading. Hanging out in Simon Snow forums, writing Simon Snow fan fiction, dressing up like the characters for every movie premiere.

Cath’s sister has mostly grown away from fandom, but Cath can’t let go. She doesn’t want to.

Now that they’re going to college, Wren has told Cath she doesn’t want to be roommates. Cath is on her own, completely outside of her comfort zone. She’s got a surly roommate with a charming, always-around boyfriend, a fiction-writing professor who thinks fan fiction is the end of the civilized world, a handsome classmate who only wants to talk about words . . . And she can’t stop worrying about her dad, who’s loving and fragile and has never really been alone.

For Cath, the question is: Can she do this?

Can she make it without Wren holding her hand? Is she ready to start living her own life? Writing her own stories?

And does she even want to move on if it means leaving Simon Snow behind?

Goodness gracious, Rainbow Rowell. Is it your goal to write such awesomeness that it consumes the reader into forgetting about...well, everything? Because I seriously slacked on a bunch of stuff while reading this book. BECAUSE IT IS AMAZEBALLS.

Now that I think about it, that probably was Rainbow's goal. It's an author thing.

But anyway! This book. Take every positive word ever (seriously, every. Single. One.) and I want to say it about this book. Amazing, fantastic, wonderful, excellent, spectacular, and my personal favorite when talking about this book--phenomenal. But I should probably explain WHY I'm saying these things, right? That's always the hard part, putting words to the beauty that is a phenomenal story.

Okay, so, first off, we have Rainbow's writing. Which had me. It had me from the very first page. And I don't even mean the first page of the first chapter, I mean that search page with all the Simon Snow info on it. Because that was so cool! But then the first sentence of the first chapter pretty much kept me in for the long run. "There was a boy in her room." Boys in rooms may or may not be a weakness of mine...

From the first page on, I was SO INTO this book. I kid you not, I fell in love with Fangirl around page 20. Which is usually silly because not much ever happens in the first 20 pages. (Well, usually.) But I couldn't help it. I was honestly worried that my love would fade as the book went on, but it didn't. This is one of those books that I purposely spent too long reading because it was so fabulous I didn't want it to end.

And then there are the characters. (That was a smooth shift, eh?) Cath is our leading lady and she rocked. A huge part of my love for her stems from how easily I could relate to Cath. She keeps to herself, and spends a lot of her time on the internet. I'm not saying I don't have a life, but honestly--I spend more than my fair share of time doing...well...THIS. ;) In some ways, Cath was a wee bit annoying, because she WAS so relatable, whenever she did something that I personally would NOT have done, I got somewhat frustrated, but I got over it quickly. I just can't stay mad at Cath. Plus, there is Levi hanging around...

I love book boys. We all know this. But there are a few that I have specific things for. Andrew Parrish is perfection. Guy Chambers is My Guy. Dean Holder is Giggle-Swoon. Aidan MacRae is the guy the word "swoon" was invented for. Well, Levi? He's my person. Wholly and completely, he is my person. I have a list of reasons why, but I realized it at one part where he was arguing with Cath, and then after when they were patching things up, he apologized for yelling at her. Cath was like "You didn't yell," and then Levi was like "Well, I raised my voice." People who know me SUPER well probably understand where I'm going with this, but most of you only know me via text on a screen, so I'll explain: I don't like yelling. Or loud voices. I like calmness. Which is super funny, because I get loud sometimes, when I'm excited. Maybe when I'm mad, too, but I've never given it much thought, so I'm not sure. But then Levi was equating raising his voice with yelling and I was all like OMG THAT IS SO ME. I DO THAT! And then I started a nice list of all the reasons he's my person. It's pretty hefty.

Wow, I got rambly there...but Levi is honestly fantastic. I was already getting into (good natured) Twitter arguments about him before I was even halfway through the book. He is so worth it. He's not a cliché at all, which made me incredibly happy. He's not a bad boy, but he's not a goody-goody, either. He's uber nice, though. I wish he were real.

But there ARE other characters other than Levi...look at him, dominating this review... Reagan! I kind of wanted to not like Reagan a little. I'm a jealous person like that. I ended up loving her just as much as I loved Cath, however. I wish I had a real-life Reagan, too, to be friends with. I need ALL OF THE PEOPLE in this book to come to life and be my besties. Please? But wait. There are more characters. A couple I'm not even going to comment on, because I don't care about them. They were great in the story and while I was reading, but meh. Courtney and Nick are just meh to me. Wren, however, I'm going to talk about. Because I don't like her. She was selfish and mean to Cath for no good reason. She got better over time, but that only lessened my dislike for her fractionally.

**Oh, and this is me breaking in to say that I LOVE the names in this book. Cather and Wren was something that made me laugh. I found it cute. Levi has always been a name I loved, and Reagan is so pretty! Okay, back to the actual review now....**

Now, for my happy-dance aspect of most books: ROMANCE! Even when there wasn't anything actually romantic going on, I was swooning for Levi. He was sweet and Cath was so innocent, it just WORKED. They are one of my favorite book couples ever. I kid you not--they're in the top ten, easy. Oh, and I posted a little swoon-worthy moment from Fangirl over on YA Bound for Swoon Thursday. So you should, you know, check that out if you missed it.

A big thing about this book is that it's about a girl in her first year of college. I mean, there's more to it than that. WAAAY more. But my point is that it's a New Adult book, really. I know there are a bunch of people who thought the idea of New Adult was cool, but can't find anything they really like in that category right now. Well, THIS BOOK. YOU NEED IT. It does the New Adult thing so, so, SO well. I think it's my favorite NA book, to be honest. I think it's technically categorized as YA, though. Still, if you're going by age group, this is NA. And it is one of the best out there.

Rainbow Rowell has without a doubt written one of my favorite books of 2013. Fangirl is funny, well-written, and positively phenomenal. I was both sad and happy when I made it to the last page, because the book was over but it was so completely amazing I couldn't keep the smile away. This was somehow the first book I read by Rainbow Rowell, but it will most definitely not be my last. I am officially a Rainbow Rowell fangirl! ;)

♥Jessica(: