romance

Film Review – Marry Me (2022)

films, reviews

Rating: 2 out of 5.

Hollywood is a strange place when it comes to beauty standards. This isn’t news but every so often a film will come along that pushes me to the brink. Like when I Feel Pretty tried to convince us that Amy Schumer was fat. Or how they keep casting the phenomenally beautiful Kate Winslet in the dowdy role. Not jut Kate Winslet. Hollywood is so obsessed with only casting beautiful people that they often have to stretch reality for the sake of the story. Take Marry Me. One of the major plot points of the film is that Jennifer Lopez marrying the age-appropriate and handsome Owen Wilson is considered a sign of madness.

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Book Review – The Flatshare by Beth O’Leary

books, reviews

Rating: 3 out of 5.

It should be obvious by now that I’m really far behind the literary trends. This book was all over Instagram ages ago but I just didn’t think it was the book for me. It’s just not my typical genre. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with romance but it’s just not my favourite. Still, when I found a copy of this book in a charity shop a while back, I had to buy it. Although, it wasn’t until the audiobook came up to borrow at the library that I finally went to read it. It seemed like the perfect book to listen to at work when it was super hot.

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Book Review – A Lady’s Guide to Fortune-Hunting by Sophie Irwin

books, reviews

Rating: 2.5 out of 5.

I’ve been going a bit mad on NetGalley again and requesting loads of books. Just what I need when I already have an unending list of stuff to read. But it’s just what we do, right? When this book came out, I was so close to buying it. Obviously, I wanted the Waterstones exclusive edition but it sold out before I could get it. So, I put off getting it. Then it became available as an audiobook on NetGalley. When I was struggling to read last week, I decided it was a good time to take a look. It’s not my usual thing but what harm could it do?

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Book Review – You Made a Fool of Death With Your Beauty by Akwaeke Emezi

books, reviews

Rating: 3 out of 5.

I’m slowly getting through all of my ARCs and it’s such a relief. I’m definitely going to have to take a break from requesting them because it’s too stressful. I have so many books that I haven’t read yet that I paid for, so ignoring them in favour of ones that I got free seems stupid. Especially as the ones that I’ve read recently haven’t exactly been great. Why am I wasting my time reading disappointing ARCs when I have books I’m genuinely looking forward to reading? My latest is a genre that I normally wouldn’t have picked up but the story intrigued me. Would it break my streak?

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Book Review – Bridget Jones’s Diary by Helen Fielding

books, reviews

Rating: 2 out of 5.

I loved the film adaptation of Bridget Jones’s Diary when I was a teenager. I don’t know why but I asked for a copy of it for Christmas one year. It’s not as if I’d seen it at the cinema or watched it anywhere else. I guess I just figured it was the kind of thing girls my age watched. In the end, I watched tht VHS over and over again. Yet, I never had any desire to pick up the book. I’ve just never read romantic comedies that often. I’m happy to watch but them never read them. As I’d bought the anniversary edition of this book last year, I decided I finally had to read it. As last month was the month of romance, it seemed like a good time.

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Bookish Post – February 2022 Reading Wrap-Up

books, wrap-up
Teacup on top of vintage books.

Number of books read: 10
Number of rereads: 2
Number of physical books: 3
Number of ebooks: 1
Number of audiobooks: 5
Number of ARCS: 1

5* reviews: 2
4.5* reviews: 0
4* reviews: 2
1* reviews: 1

February has finally come to an end, thank god! It’s been the longest month for me and I’m glad to see the back of it. My main aim for reading this month was to focus on romance and love. I read more stories about love than I think I read in 2021. Not all of my reads were successful but, thankfully, there were plenty of highs to balance that out. Here’s how my month went.

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Book Review – Stardust by Neil Gaiman

books, reviews

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

I’m don’t really read a lot of romance books. Not because I think they’re bad. It’s just not something that I’ve ever been bothered by. When I was younger, I used to say that I was too cynical for rom-coms and the like. Now, I think I’d probably say that there are just a few tropes that I don’t really get along with. Being on Instagram and TikTok, I regularly see people praising enemy-to-lovers narratives and I just don’t get it. It just all seems too ridiculous to me. Why do we need to make love this insanely difficult and life-changing thing? Surely, it’s actually quite a simple thing in reality? I know romance novels are an escape for many but they’re often a step too far for me. Although, I will occasionally make an exception.

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Book Review – The Reader on the 6.27 by Jean-Paul Didierlaurent

books, review

Rating: 4 out of 5.

I’m on holiday next week, so I’ll be taking a break from blogging for a bit. Meaning, this will be my last book review for a while. It better be a good one I guess. I’d never heard of this book until Amazon suggested it to me. I know that I should use Amazon as little as possible but I’ve discovered so many novels thanks to its algorithm. This one was perfect for so many reasons but mostly because I was struggling to find shorter reads for my September reading challenge. I’ve got so many letters to cross off but the majority of the books I’d lined up were all over 300. That wouldn’t do. The Reader comes in at under 200, which means I already loved it before I’d even opened it.

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Book Review – Strange Weather in Tokyo by Hiromi Kawakami

books, reviews

Rating: 4 out of 5.

I’m really happy with how all of my reading at the moment. I don’t know whether it’s just that I’m coming out of a very recent slump or that I’m just reading better books. Whatever it is, I’m very pleased with how it’s all going. I’m not necessarily as fast as I normally am but I’m definitely inspired by the novels I’m finishing. The latest one was a book club pick but also a book that I’ve wanted to read for ages. Longer than I actually realised. When I was about halfway through the paperback version, I realised that I had bought a Kindle copy of this book in 2016. So, I’ve been meaning to read this for 5 years and had forgotten all about it. My Kindle is full of books like that. Ones that I buy when they cost 99p but forget about moments later. At least I can finally cross one off the my list of unread ebooks.

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Book Review – All My Friends are Superheroes by Andrew Kaufman

books, reviews

Rating: 5 out of 5.

One of the positive side effects of taking part in my friend’s virtual book club is that I find out about loads of great books. Of course, most of the time we don’t end up reading the ones that I’m really interested in, so I have take it upon myself to read them. This book was my pick or February’s Valentine theme and it was one that I knew I had to buy for myself. It just sounded like such a different take on a love story. Although, I did have some fears about it. I don’t think I’ve ever read a novel about super heroes that I’ve enjoyed. The superhero genre is such a visual one that I think it’s really hard to translate that in words. Could you imagine trying to write a novelisation of some of the most popular graphic novels? It’d be so difficult. As this book didn’t sound quite as bothered about the superhero element, I figured that it might be a bit safer.

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