Review: When the World Was Flat (and we were in love)
Title: When the World Was Flat (and we were in love)
Author: Ingrid Jonach
Publisher: Strange Chemistry
Release Date: September 3, 2013
Format: eGalley
Looking back, I wonder if I had an inkling that my life was about to go from ordinary to extraordinary.
When sixteen-year-old Lillie Hart meets the gorgeous and mysterious Tom Windsor-Smith for the first time, it’s like fireworks — for her, anyway. Tom looks as if he would be more interested in watching paint dry; as if he is bored by her and by her small Nebraskan town in general.
But as Lillie begins to break down the walls of his seemingly impenetrable exterior, she starts to suspect that he holds the answers to her reoccurring nightmares and to the impossible memories which keep bubbling to the surface of her mind — memories of the two of them, together and in love.
When she at last learns the truth about their connection, Lillie discovers that Tom has been hiding an earth-shattering secret; a secret that is bigger — and much more terrifying and beautiful — than the both of them. She also discovers that once you finally understand that the world is round, there is no way to make it flat again.
An epic and deeply original sci-fi romance, taking inspiration from Albert Einstein’s theories and the world-bending wonder of true love itself.—via Goodreads
There is a lot of really good stuff happening in this book.
Unfortunately, it didn’t quite come together for me.
It’s possible that the reason is more about me than it is about this book, which is richly conceived and delves into Einstein’s theory of relativity and string theory. I’m not going to pretend like I understand either of those things. So it’s possible that the book didn’t work for me because my brain refused to comprehend what the hell was going on.
However. I have quite the love for books that deal with time travel and time slipping, so I think that this book could have worked if the entire premise of—I don’t think this is a spoiler because…Einstein—alternate dimensions and travel between them had been introduced earlier. Sure, there are subtle hints, but they are extremely small and only the most intuitive of readers (meaning Sheldon from Big Bang Theory) could have put exactly what was happening together with the larger hints of characters’ behavior changing seemingly overnight.
In the end, there were a lot of threads still dangling that I was thinking, “Wait, what about that?!” about. But, this book isn’t a bad read—it’s engrossing and mysterious and a bit frustrating, but the story at its core is epic and sweeping. I just wish I had been able to wrap my brain around it a little easier and that a few of the major scientific themes had been revealed earlier.
What’s Making Me Happy {25}
1. CHOIR REALITY SHOW
There is going to be a show on USA about mothereffing CHOIRS. I am ABSURDLY EXCITED about it. It’s fittingly called It Takes A Choir. Also, the host guy who is putting the choir together is British and looks a bit like Brad Goreski.
Now if we could just get a solid date on when The Sing-Off is coming back everything would be perfect.
2. Julep’s Bare Face
In this month’s Julep Maven box, I received a skincare product called Bare Face. It’s an oil that you put on a dry face and it cleans off your make-up.
Now, I don’t wear a ton of make-up, so I’ve never had an issue getting it off. But what I’m so impressed with is how effing soft my skin is after using it. SO SOFT.
3. Hawkeye
After having owned it for, like, six months, I finally read the first trade of Marvel’s Hawkeye. I’m very pleased with it.
The point of it is that this comic follows Clint Barton when he’s not doing fancy things for the Avengers. So, it’s a lot of him saving dogs and hanging out with Kate Bishop and falling out of windows. It’s pretty great.
4. The Fox by Ylvis
Watch this. The whole thing. You’re welcome.
5. When Geeks Wed
This website has probably been around for awhile, but I’ve just discovered it and it’s my happy place.
Speaking of weddings, that’s what I’m doing this weekend! Well, that and spending my two year anniversary with The Boyfriend in the car, driving back to New York from Baltimore.
Typical.
The Ice Cream Debacle.
FADE IN:
INT. KITCHEN — NIGHT.
Kitchen is larger-than-average for a New York kitchen with plentiful cabinet and counter space. Appliances are a few years outdated, but still nice. The walls are painted a bright kelly green.
HIM
“Where is the ice cream?”
HER
“I put it and two spoons on the table.”
HE pulls out a bowl and ice cream scoop and says,
“Why would you do that?”
HER
“I figured we’d just eat out of the carton.”
HIM
“Why would we do that?”
HER
“. . . Why wouldn’t we do that.”
HIM
“Two people eating out of the same carton doesn’t make any sense.”
Looking at him now, it’s as if she never knew him. She suddenly sees this relationship differently than she has the past two years. Nothing will ever be the same.
CUT TO BLACK.
Review: The Truth About You and Me
Title: The Truth About You and Me
Author: Amanda Grace
Publisher: Flux Books
Release Date: September 8, 2013
Format: eGalley
Madelyn Hawkins is super smart. At sixteen, she’s so gifted that she can attend college through a special program at her high school. On her first day, she meets Bennet. He’s cute, funny, and kind. He understands Madelyn and what she’s endured – and missed out on – in order to excel academically and please her parents. Now, for the first time in her life, she’s falling in love.
There’s only one problem. Bennet is Madelyn’s college professor, and he thinks she’s eighteen – because she hasn’t told him the truth.
The story of their forbidden romance is told in letters that Madelyn writes to Bennet – both a heart-searing ode to their ill-fated love and an apology.—via Goodreads
The Truth About You and Me is not a fun book to read.
I mean that as a compliment.
The story of this basically boils down to what would happen to Aria and Ezra (in the TV show version of PLL) in The Real World. Which is to say that it very quickly wouldn’t work out.
Told from the perspective of Maddie, a super smart sixteen-year-old who takes the majority of her classes at the local community college, The Truth About You and Me is a letter from her to Bennet, the professor she lies to and then starts a relationship with. The letter is her attempt to explain, to put him at ease, to apologize.
Through the plaintive letter, the reader can easily see how she that despite how intelligent she is, emotionally she is naive, and often manipulative. She knows she’s falling in love and she wants to relish the feeling—it’s warm and exciting and terrifyingly exhilarating. While she knows that the feeling isn’t something to be ashamed of, she also knows that the situation is completely wrong and that if they’re found out Bennet’s life will be ruined. But, because she’s sixteen and in love for the first time, she wants to be selfish.
Though you know from the beginning of the book how it will end, Amanda Grace does a great job of pacing the story and also being fair in her depiction of Maddie. My favorite thing about this book is that Grace shows you how very immature Maddie is despite her genius-level intelligence and thoroughly enunciates the difference between thinking and actually being mature.
Overall, The Truth About You and Me is a story of living and learning, feeling fiercely and letting it all go, and an example of what it means to emotionally mature.
Adventures in Fantasy Football {1}
I had my first ever fantasy football draft last night.
But I should probably start from the beginning.
I told The Boyfriend that I thought it’d be fun to be in a fantasy football league. I wasn’t digging for an invite. I was just sort of saying things in the car. (As you do.) And then the next week I get an email from him to the rest of his standing fantasy football league. Turns out, their token girl decided not to be in their league this year, so voila. I fill that void.
So now I’m the Token Female.
This amuses me.
So after much hemming and hawing on Twitter about whether or not I wanted to fully invest myself in this fantasy football business, I decided to give a shit.
Meaning, I read a bunch of Beginner Guides to Fantasy Football, considered many different draft strategies—including picking players that went to my college and picking players based on their attractiveness, watched the ESPN fantasy football draft special, and looked at depth charts.
I decided on a combination of good advice (You need running backs! They are important!), attractiveness (really, I only picked one guy based on his man pretty.), alma mater loyalty, and, perhaps most importantly, being spontaneous when I realized I was eighth pick in the first round of the draft and wouldn’t get Arian Foster. (Sad me.)
I won’t lie, y’all. I had a bit of a panic attack right before the draft started. I had to turn on Pitch Perfect to combat it.
And then it turned out there was no reason to have a panic attack because everything will be FINE. Though I’m a bit of a spaz, I feel the draft went fairly well. (The Boyfriend would probably refute this. I think I stressed him out.) I got a couple of the players I wanted going in and I think the rest of them are decent. (I think. I hope. I pray.)
Here’s what I ended up with:
QB: Aaron Rodgers*
RB: Steven Jackson
RB: Darren McFadden (Yay Razorbacks!)
WR: Danny Amendola (He’s the one I based on attractiveness level. My sister said he looks like a saucy pirate, which just made me think of Kaleb from Myra McEntire’s Hourglass series. So.)
WR: Steve Smith
TE: Tony Gonzalez
FLEX: Giovani Bernard (RB)
DEF: Houston Texans
K: Blair Walsh
Bench: Andrew Luck (QB)
Bench: Sidney Rice (WR)
Bench: Brandon Myers (TE)
Bench: Isaac Redman (RB)
Bench: Malcolm Floyd (WR)
Bench: Martellus Bennet (TE)
Bench: Baltimore Ravens Defense
(*I feel really bad about this Aaron Rodgers business. The Boyfriend really wanted him. But as I had eighth pick and Rodgers was, like, 12th pick overall or something, The Boyfriend knew he wouldn’t get him. So when my first pick came, The Boyfriend was all, “It would behoove you to grab Rodgers now.” And I argued it and finally gave in. I’m secretly pleased with this because Rodgers is hilarious. But also feel bad for The Boyfriend. )
So now that that’s done, I need a kick-ass, amazing, perfect team name that is as incredible as my team logo. (Please feel free to submit suggestions in comments!)
Which is this:
I also considered this:
Maybe I’ll just change it every week.
Bethany Larson 
