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[carterisamess]

If I had to compare this book to a movie scene, I would compare it to the scene in Twilight where Bella sits in her room depressed and watches the months go by slowly. The books ​My Year of Rest and Relaxation​ by Ottessa Moshfegh follows a nameless character and her plan to sleep through an entire year of her life. With the help of (too many) sleeping pills and a too willing doctor, she is determined to skip a year and wake up refreshed and ready to begin her life.

This book was uncomfortable in the best kind of way. The story is disturbing and annoying and that is exactly what it was meant to do. It was refreshing and interesting to have a main character that you don’t necessarily like or root for. If you enjoy books that make you feel safe and comfy, it may be hard to stomach this one. Moshfegh often writes about terrible people but she does it so brilliantly. She highlights the parts of the world that many books tend to ignore. A book like this is a nice refresher that life isn’t always perfect and that’s normal.

I think the idea of someone being so tired of life that they decide to just sleep it off is really relatable right now. We’re all tired! The characters that interact with the narrator, such as her enabling “doctor”, her best friend that she consistently shit talks, and Trever, a toxic ex that swings back in and out of the story, perfectly highlight all of her fatal flaws and help the reader to truly peel back the thick layer covering our narrator’s true thoughts and feelings. Our main character has nauseating habits that may repulse the reader and that is exactly what it is intended to do.

This book tackled the topic of mental illnesses like depression in ways that aren’t often depicted. Where sleeping is the only thing that can make you feel productive, where shutting the whole world out sounds like a good idea. Moshfegh perfectly tapped into this mindset and it made for a book that you can’t help but fly through, trying to understand and grasp exactly what this young woman is in need of. This book took me into the hazy fog of depression and made me feel as if I had also been taking extreme doses of heavy sleeping drugs, and by that I mean that Moshfegh made it seem as if I had gone through this “year of rest and relaxation” right alongside our narrator.

[carterisamess]

DAISY JONES AND THE SIX

TAYLOR JENKINS REID

5 STARS

This book grabbed my heart and crushed it. When I think of my ideal story, this book is the answer. Rock ‘N’ Roll, sex, drugs, and traumatic love during the 70s in Los Angeles...sign me the eff up. I fell in love with Daisy Jones, just like everybody else in the world, I want to be her. I felt the pain of the love she felt for Billy, and I longed for a happy ending that maybe might have happened? I loved the way this book was set up, like an interview documentary and I loved the twists and turns that came from the mouths of these crazy rock stars. I literally have no complaints about this book. There was the perfect amount of everything and it felt so REAL. So real in fact, that I found myself googling images before I realised that...this is a fictional band and those photos do not exist. Awkward... Anyways, when it comes to romance, I think stories like these are the best AND the saddest. Love when it’s right but the timing is just all kinds of off. When the two main characters are so in harmony but life has kept them apart. As someone who is literally obsessed with Ms. Stevie Nicks and literally wishes that I was her, this book was a favorite from the moment I read the description and went “Oh...so this is like Fleetwood Mac fanfiction” and in a way it was, and it was GOOD Fleetwood Mac fanfiction that the world deserves. This book reminded me of Just Kids by Patti Smith, it had that “here let me hold you and tell you a story and then let me drop you off a cliff at the end” emotion connected to it. I was crying like a baby in the end, out of happiness and sadness. Books like that are the best, love is so special and there are so many different kinds of love, but the kind of love that Taylor Jenkins Reid created in this novel is by far my favorite. 5 stars and probably one of my new favorite books.

[carterisamess]

SIRI, WHO AM I?

SAM TSCHIDA

3 STARS

This book tells the story of an amnesiac who is left to figure out her life from her phone and social media. I liked this book, I just found some of the plot twists super unrealistic. I feel like the author built up this big mystery on who gave her amnesia and the build up was so intense but the answer was not at all dramatic. I did really like the romance in it. Max is easily one of the cutest rom-com guys I’ve ever read about. I loved the self-growth within the main character by the end of the book, and I always like when the main character doesn’t just stay in a situation because it's easier. However, I also found the main character really annoying and her denial of obvious answers really bothersome, but she made up for it by the end. I give this book 3 stars, I really like the concept of knowing nothing about yourself except for what is on your phone, and the romance between Mia and Max was worth the read. But, I didn’t like the ending, and I found this book hard to read because of how unrealistic some of the reveals were. If you are able to set aside your belief in reality, then this book may be perfect for you. I didn’t expect the need to have to do that, and was very confused by some logistics. This was an interesting and dramatic read, and I give it 3 stars! Thanks NetGalley for letting me read this in exchange for an honest review.

[carterisamess]

IT ONLY HAPPENS IN THE MOVIES

HOLLY BOURNE

5 STARS

I. LOVE. THIS. BOOK. It was so dramatic and I LOVED it. I loved Harry and Audrey so much, I got soooo invested in them within the first like two chapters. The angst in this book was REAL. Audrey’s family issues, her self-esteem issues, her break-up trauma, it was all sooooo painstakingly real. This book didn’t romanticize the terrible parts of life, the main character told it like it was. It didn’t romanticize fuck boys, cheating, sex, and every other messed up thing teenagers have to deal with. Another awesome thing about this book was that it took romance novels/movies and deconstructed them which, as a romance novel reviewer, was something I found super interesting and important. The main character was my favorite part, I found her personality so inspiring and it was hard to be mad at the choices she made in the end of the book because they were all good choices for HER and that is by far what the worst romance novels mess up. When the main character becomes so lost in a man that she stops caring about herself, that is when the book becomes “unromantic”. The selfish part of me wanted a happy ending and as I thought about it after I finished reading (and crying) I realized that there ​was​ a happy ending, it just wasn’t the one I was expecting. As a proud single woman, I loved this book AND it’s ending. I think I’m just a sucker for bad boy turns good for the girl (despite how unrealistic and problematic it can be) and this book reeled me right in from the beginning. 5 stars all around, I love you Holly Bourne.

[carterisamess]

LOVE SOLD SEPARATELY

ELLEN MEISTER

3 STARS

I was given an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review. I went into this book expecting a love story and instead was given a murder mystery with a side of a love triangle. I liked this book aside, who doesn’t love a good whodunit? However, I felt that the crime aspect of the book took away from any real romance building which is the reason why I am reading and reviewing this particular novel. I liked the characters, and I liked the plot. Home shopping channel star host with a mystery to solve? Sign me up! The book definitely did it’s job as a whodunit, it had me guessing the whole time who in fact had done it. The two main love interests failed to intrigue me too much. Lorenzo wasn’t attractive because it seemed that he thought he was above Dana and Ari was unattractive from the start because he was a cop and kind of a jerk. I really enjoyed the main character Dana, her personality made her delight to read about. Although, some parts I found her annoying for not connecting certain dots sooner. I also really loved the rising actress-that-actually-has-a-shot plotline in books so it automatically gained my approval in that department. I give this book three stars from the point of view of a romance novel reviewer, because the mystery really did take away from what the best part of a romance novel is, ignorance AND bliss.

[carterisamess]

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

LINDSEY KELK

5 STARS

Ros is back in England after an amazing three years working in D.C. Okay, maybe amazing isn’t the word she would use to describe. Leaving England meant leaving her three best friends, her wonderful boyfriend and accepting the fact that her early twenties are over. But now that she’s back, she is confused as to why all of those things can’t remain the same as they once were. The one that got away is back in her life, but maybe he’s not as charming as she once thought he was. All of her friends are grown up and living their own adult lives, and plus now there’s John. John is the new addition to her friend group and he seems to be everywhere Ros goes. She seems to have missed the memo on why everyone thinks he’s so great because everytime Ros talks to him, he ends up insulting her or making her question her life's existence. Between living in a shed in her parent’s backyard and trying to figure out if her standards got higher or if her boyfriend is really just a knobhead, Ros finds herself longing for the past instead of looking into the future and appreciating the present.

This book is a rare gem. It has the perfect amount of love and self doubt with a heaping tablespoon of self realization and self love. I loved the characters in this book, and especially found the main character endearing. The book flowed together very well and it had me turning page after page, and giggling and crying. Books where the main character takes the time to figure themself out before jumping into something new are my favorite kind of love story because it’s so accurate. I normally hate time jumps in books but in this case it was very much needed in order for our main character to figure it out. I loved all of the pop culture references (my favorite probably being Taylor Swift in Cats) it really helps to bridge a wide variety of audiences. I loved this book, it is clearly a five star in my eyes because... I LOVE SELF LOVE

[carterisamess]

THIS TIME NEXT YEAR

SOPHIE COUSENS

5 STARS

I received this book in exchange for an honest review. Minnie Cooper is jinxed, she has been since the day she was born. When she meets Quinn Hamilton at a New Year’s Eve party, the two could not be more different except for the fact they were born one minute apart on New Year’s Eve. If anything, Minnie is bitter because Quinn’s mom stole her name after their mothers bonded while in labor, causing said jinx. After their meeting, the two keep running into each other, is it fate or just coincidence? But if the two of them are from completely different worlds, there’s no way there could be any chemistry there...right?

I loved this book so much! The parallels between Quinn and Minnie were amazing, I loved that they had constantly been in each other’s lives without ever realizing it. Another one of my favorite parts was the growth of character on both ends. The two didn’t jump into a relationship until they were both happy by themselves. I loved the main character’s relationships with outside characters. Minnie’s best friend Leila and her boyfriend Ian were some of my favorite people in the book. The book manages to introduce you to every character but still remains true to its romance novel roots. I loved Minnie’s inner dialogue and the fact that even though she didn’t necessarily know what she wanted, she knew her self worth and was not going to settle until she was content with herself. I would say a book like this, with it’s plot, characters, and message, is exactly what I dream of in a romance novel.

[carterisamess]

JUST KIDS

PATTI SMITH

5 STARS

I am sitting here trying to think about how to review this book and how to do it justice. This book did more than exceed my expectations, it ran over them and then drove all the way home. This is not only one of my favorite books I’ve read this year, but probably one of my favorites of all time. I went into this book not knowing much about Patti Smith and definitely not knowing anything about Robert Mapplethorpe. I was expecting a piece of well told history and instead was given the whole museum.

This story tells the beautiful and tragic love story between singer Patti Smith and photographer Robert Mapplethrope. I review romance novels and to me that includes all kinds of love, and this book is an example of one of the purest kinds. I believe we all have multiple soulmates, I don’t think every single one of them is necessarily romantic or physical attraction. Smith and Mapplethrope met each other during a time when they both had nobody but each other, and that connection they built continues throughout their entire lives. This book proves that love is so much more than physical attraction or sex, it’s closeness, caring and the emotional connection. The way the two of them consistently found their way back to each other and supported one another is breathtaking, and even more, the way Smith writes about it is simply beautiful and moving. This book is set during a super interesting part of history, the 60s/70s Beat Generation of New York, at the Chelsea Hotel, and I honestly feel like reading this helped me gain so much understanding for that era of music and art. This book inspired me and made me want to create art again. It made me laugh, it made me cry. At the end, Smith says that she promised Mapplethorpe that she would tell their story and she did it. This book is beautiful and transcendental, a must read for anyone with a soul.

[carterisamess]

THE BETROTHED

KIERA CASS

2 STARS

Hollis is the first girl to make King Jameson laugh, so therefore she is the obvious heiress to the throne. But why can’t she bring herself to pull away from Silas, a foreigner seeking refugee in her country?

This book...was dramatic. It didn’t make sense in many parts and many of the characters bothered me. I found this book hard to read because I kept getting angry at the main character or her friends. Also, as a romance novel enthusiast I was superrrr disappointed with the love in what was promised to be a super steamy love triangle book. Relationships felt rushed and I didn’t find myself rooting for any of the couples or characters. And just when I was maybe about to support one it was ruined. The ending was abrupt and messy, and didn’t really make sense. However, I did like the idea of the story and the plot. I guess I couldn’t get over Hollis not choosing to marry a king and then take him down from the inside, and then just running away. The ending felt very open ended and not in a cliff-hanger kind of way. It just felt rushed. This book had the potential to be amazing like Kiera Cass’ other books, but fell short in my opinion. Still worth the read if you want to have your emotions thrown all over the place and have it result in a non-happy ending.

[carterisamess]

masterlist

BY TITLE

The Wedding Date

The Friend Zone

Call Me By Your Name

Waiting for Tom Hanks

Five Feet Apart

A Walk To Remember

The Betrothed

Just Kids

This Time Next Year

In Case You Missed It

Love Sold Separately

Siri, Who Am I?

Daisy Jones and The Six

BY TROPE

friends to lovers

enemies to lovers

fake to real relationship

hospital

star crossed lovers

celebrity

friends with benefits

sad

lgbtq+

POC

fantasy

non-fiction

medieval

historical

interracial

long distance

sick

no happy ending :(

music

mystery

classic

slow burn

angst

BY RATING

5 STARS

4 STARS

3 STARS

2 STARS

1 STAR

[carterisamess]

A WALK TO REMEMBER

NICHOLAS SPARKS

3 STARS

Landon Carter is one of the most popular kids in schools. He hangs out with the football team and has a pretty exciting social life. But how come he can’t get a date to homecoming? After failing to find a date, he asks Jamie Sullivan, the daughter of the towns minister. He finds her embarrassing and feels sorry for the girl, but he cannot help but get tangled into her world. Jamie shows Landon how to be compassionate and helps him understand what it means to love.

Following a bit of a theme here lolz. I have seen this movie several times and always bawled my eyes out, but this book did not exactly do the same thing for me. For me, Landon’s embarrassment of Jamie really turned me off from thinking that he truly cared about her until he saw her looking “pretty”. I didn’t get enough material to truly feel like they were super in love and it made her passing away a lot less sad. Her passing was sad because of the character she was but not because of the love they shared and could have had. I think this is an iconic story and obviously well loved by many, I was just expecting a little bit more. Of course, I cried like a baby at the end but I could have cried more, and that’s what I’m focusing on. Still a classic love story, thus I am giving it 3 stars.

[carterisamess]

FIVE FEET APART

RACHEL LIPPINCOTT

5 STARS

Five Feet Apart tells the tragic but real love story of two teenagers who suffer from Cystic Fibrosis. Stella has been routinely following her regime in order to keep herself healthy and therefore keep her parents happy. Will routinely ignores his medications to spite his problem solving mother. When these two both end up in the same hospital, a connection like no other is formed. Only problem is they are not allowed to be closer than six feet apart.

This book battles with the constant pain of being close to the one you love but not being able to be there physically. This book also dealt with the very serious issue of terminal illness and turned it in to something beautiful. Two souls demanding more than what the universe has allowed them to have. This kind of love story always breaks my heart, but it is also always very heartwarming and important to hear. Not every love story ends tragically but not every love story also ends perfectly. The ending of this book upset me but not in a way where I needed to go sob but in a way of respect and pain for these two teenagers who were forced to grow up way too young. This book has everything, romance, angst, philosophical advice, and humor. I think this is a really good representation and modern take on a love story. Love stories don’t always have a movie perfect ending.

[carterisamess]

WAITING FOR TOM HANKS

KERRY WINFREY

4 STARS

annie is a normal girl with normal dreams. those dreams just happen to include marrying a rom-com worthy leading male who also happens to own a house boat and have a sentimental personality. until the day that she meets her tom hanks she spends her time living with her uncle, writing her own rom-com screenplay and bothering her friends at their work. when she discovers a rom-com is filming her small town, she is thrilled to finally have a chance to accomplish her dreams. except for the fact that drew danforth is the leading role of said rom-com, a prankster celebrity who can’t take a single thing seriously. there is no way he will take the very important genre of romantic comedies seriously! while annie is navigating working on her first movie set and still trying to find her movie perfect meet-cute guy, she can’t help but become frustrated by drew’s teasing and taunting. there’s no way that could be his way of flirting...or is it? THIS IS MY KIND OF BOOK. this is also coming from a girl who has delusions of grandeur and slight unrealistic expectations for her love life. the main character annie and her romanticizing of life itself spoke to my soul. along with her t-swift, jo bro, and other pop culture references. i loved this book. one of my favorite tropes is celebrity falls in love with the small town girl (i wonder why that could be). i feel like this book can be relatable to everyone because it touches on being blind to something that is right in front of you. annie refuses to believe that a guy like drew would ever like a girl like her, and that is her downfall. that being said, some parts were kind of weird. like when she took a picture of him naked in bed...that was weird. i understood it was needed to create some drama but they didn’t ever real touch on how that made drew feel, like he apologized to HER??? another issue i had was the fake “wokeness” and lack of color in this book. there was one character of color, and she was barely mentioned. aside from issues like that, this book made me laugh and i honestly cannot be too judgmental because i myself am a crazy delusionist who writes reviews of strictly romance novels.

[carterisamess]

CALL ME BY YOUR NAME

ANDRE ACIMAN

5 STARS

When Elio’s family welcomes Oliver into their home as a guest for the summer, Elio is immediately drawn to his easygoing and constantly changing personality. Throughout the summer the two find themselves in the middle of a summer love for the ages. Their story is one of the greatest love stories of our time, the innocence of a first love and fragileness of putting your heart out on the line.

This. Book.

Having seen this movie, going into the book I thought it would still be a good read but wouldn’t have that magic that hearing a story for the first time has. I was wrong. This book managed to grab me and yank me into the brain of Elio, who is a very relatable character for most anxious-minded people. This book is filled with his panicked thoughts and overthinking about a first love and a forbidden crush. Something about the frantic way Elio thinks about everything was very refreshing and relatable to me, and made the ending of the book all the more saddening. Books that don’t end how you expect them to and they grow older always make me sad, but it’s important to hear these stories like this because of how realistic it truly is. This is one of the greatest love stories of our generation and I highly recommend that everyone read this at least once in their life.

[carterisamess]

THE FRIEND ZONE

ABBY JIMENEZ

3 STARS

When Kristen meets Josh, the best man at her best friend’s wedding, it's easy to say it was love at first sight. Only problem is Kristen has a boyfriend, and Josh just dumped his girlfriend because she didn’t want a family. Oh yeah, and Kristen is infertile. Throughout the book, the two awkwardly dance around being together while eating lots of food, building lots of dog staircases, and months of sleepovers. Kristen is dead set that the right thing for both of them is to just keep things in the friend zone, but can Josh convince her otherwise? This book was...good. The main characters had good chemistry and banter that made me believe in love. However, the book also dealt with the serious subjects of infertility and death and I feel they were not handled well. Kristen handled things really oddly, by not allowing herself to date Josh but still essentially...dating...Josh. The ending was disappointing and unrealistic. One of the parts that bothered me the most was the treatment that one of the best characters, Sloan, received. I really loved her character, she was strong, happy, and a great friend to Kristen. I was disappointed to see her character brought down with no revival. Kristen’s character really bothered me because she has this “secret” about her infertility and then puts words into Josh’s mouth about how he would react and doesn’t even entertain the idea of telling him and explaining why she doesn’t think things will work and they should just stay friends. The ending is upsetting because she has been so stubborn the whole time and it just takes a couple papers for her to say yes, and then they get married like ASAP??? This book had a lot of unnecessary angst but made up for it with a happy (but unrealistic) ending for the main characters, but the problematic way of handling serious topics kind of ruined the romance of this novel for me.

[carterisamess]

THE WEDDING DATE

JASMINE GUILLORY

rating: 5/5 star

OMG. I. LOVE. THIS. BOOK!!! Jasmine Guillory’s The Wedding Date tells the story of Alexa Monroe and Drew Nichols and their journey from fake relationship to real relationship. When Alexa and Drew get stuck in an elevator together, somehow Alexa leaves having agreed to be Drew’s fake girlfriend at his ex-girlfriend’s wedding over the weekend. No big deal right? However throughout the events of the wedding the pair find themselves more and more attracted to each other. Just a few small problems, Drew lives in L.A and Alexa in Berkeley, and both love their important careers. This novel is filled with wonderful wonderful interracial romance, strong women in strong roles, steamy safe sex, and lots of FOOD! One of my favorite parts was the calling out of Drew’s white privilege, which was done in such a beautiful way. This novel does exactly what it promises the reader, it tells a short but sweet love story and manages to do so without being too cheesy or predictable. When I think of a romance novel, this is what I picture. A little bit of angst, a lot of love. Definitely recommend and romance enthusiast approved.