I Lost My Favorite Rings. It’s Jimmy Buffett’s Fault.
I went to a Jimmy Buffett concert last night.
The Boyfriend’s blurry picture from our not-quite-nosebleed seats.
It was at Jones Beach, which has a really cool concert venue that’s right on the water. Which is, you know, a fitting location for Jimmy Buffett.
Here’s the thing. I don’t really know any Jimmy Buffett songs. I mean, sure, I know the chorus to “Margaritaville.” I can hum along to the Alan Jackson and Kenny Chesney songs he’s guested in. But other than that?
I am Jon Snow. (Meaning I know nothing.)
So anyway. Here I am with The Boyfriend and a couple friends, being a really good sport going to a Jimmy Buffett concert. And you know what—it was actually fun. He’s a good entertainer and it was a gorgeous night and the only thing that would’ve made it better is if you could drink in the venue. But you can’t. Which is stupid.
Since you can’t drink, everyone tailgates in the parking lot before the concert. People take this VERY seriously. Like, they take off work and show up at noon to tailgate. As if Jimmy Buffett were a college football game. It’s bizarre, but, sure okay. Tailgating! (Apparently this is a Jimmy Buffett fan thing and Jimmy Buffett sells Margaritaville Tailgating Grills. Seriously.)
But we didn’t tailgate. We took the train out to Long Island and had tacos and margs at a friend’s house. Then we brought road beers for the walk from the parking lot to the venue.
As you do.
But as we’re getting tot he venue, we see a cop car with the light flashing, so we chug down (well, they chug. I can’t do that, it gags me, so I gulped.) our beers and then toss the rest on the ground.
As soon as we do that, the cop car drives away.
Boooooo.
When we finally get the venue, the concert has already started, but since I have the smallest bladder in the history of the world, I have to pee. The Boyfriend is being impatient about this, so I am hurrying while peeing.
I finish up, wash my hands, dry them with a paper towel, and as I’m throwing my paper towel away, realize I’ve lost my chevron stackable rings.
They looked like this.
I love these rings.
They have no sentimental value, they weren’t expensive, but I love them. Problem was, they were a little too big for my index finger and looked stupid on my thumb, so I just wore them on my index finger anyway and they would constantly fall off.
And now they are lost forever somewhere near or in the Nikon Theater at Jones Beach.
Woe is me.
Review: Elite
Title: Elite
Author: Rachel Van Dyken
Publisher: Forever (Grand Central Publishing)
Release Date: July 9, 2013
Format: eGalley
For Tracey Rooks, life with her grandparents on a Wyoming farm has always been simple. But after her grandmother’s death, Tracey is all her grandfather has. So when Eagle Elite University announces its annual scholarship lottery, Tracey jumps at the opportunity to secure their future and enters. She isn’t expecting much-but then she wins. And life as she knows it will never be same . . .
The students at Eagle Elite are unlike any she’s ever met . . . and they refuse to make things easy for her. There’s Nixon, gorgeous, irresistible, and leader of a group that everyone fears: The Elect. Their rules are simple. 1. Do not touch The Elect. 2. Do not look at The Elect. 3. Do not speak to The Elect. No matter how hard she tries to stay away, The Elect are always around her and it isn’t long until she finds out the reason why they keep their friends close and their enemies even closer. She just didn’t realize she was the enemy — until it was too late.—via Goodreads
So here’s the deal.
Elite is a lot of fun.
It’s not the greatest writing you’ll ever encounter nor does it have the most mind-blowing plot twists, but it is a really good time.
There are some things about this that irked me—mostly the old plot device of everyone withholding information from the main character in order to “protect” her. But you’ve heard that all before from me.
I won’t bore you again. Mostly so that I don’t sound like a broken record who is telling authors to get off her lawn.
I would very much like for authors to be on my lawn.
Not literally. I’d probably get a ticket from the city for something like that. (My city is really into giving out tickets.)
Anyway, Elite is fun! There’s a private college with designer clad, sycophantic, perhaps psychotic students! A girl who is from Wyoming and sometimes moos at people! Mysterious intrigue! VIOLENCE!
It’s a perfect, pulpy read for a lazy afternoon or that random weekend night you find yourself without plans. It’s fast-paced, very entertaining, and you can definitely knock it out in one sitting.
So if you’re looking for something that is fun, a bit mindless, but also engrossing, and you don’t mind if your characters are brooding, rich, and packing heat (by that I mean guns. Not some obscure penis reference.), then Elite will definitely fit the bill.
Review: The Sea of Tranquility
Title: The Sea of Tranquility
Author: Katja Millay
Publisher: Atria Books
Release Date: June 4, 2013
Format: eGalley
Former piano prodigy Nastya Kashnikov wants two things: to get through high school without anyone learning about her past and to make the boy who took everything from her—her identity, her spirit, her will to live—pay.
Josh Bennett’s story is no secret: every person he loves has been taken from his life until, at seventeen years old, there is no one left. Now all he wants is be left alone and people allow it because when your name is synonymous with death, everyone tends to give you your space.
Everyone except Nastya, the mysterious new girl at school who starts showing up and won’t go away until she’s insinuated herself into every aspect of his life. But the more he gets to know her, the more of an enigma she becomes. As their relationship intensifies and the unanswered questions begin to pile up, he starts to wonder if he will ever learn the secrets she’s been hiding—or if he even wants to.
The Sea of Tranquility is a rich, intense, and brilliantly imagined story about a lonely boy, an emotionally fragile girl, and the miracle of second chances.—via Goodreads
This is one of those books that shocks your system a little.
It’s a slow-build in both story pacing and character relationships, but at no point is the book boring or does if feel like it’s going nowhere. Though much of it is fueled by the minutiae of a high schooler’s day, the repetition builds a secure, safe space where you can predict the routine and are rarely surprised.
That’s exactly the kind of life that Nastya needs.
Now, I know you’re thinking, “I need a book that’s entertaining! Exciting! To take me away from the minutiae of my routine!”
I know. I get it. Stay with me.
What’s riveting about this book is the relationship that is built between Nastya, Josh, and Drew. Though Nastya is a girl who is incredibly good at building walls around her true self and keeping people away with a glare, Drew is the only one who refuses to play by her rules, which is something that Nastya comes to respect. But it’s Josh—the boy everyone treats with respect, but whom they also ignore—who catches her attention and who she feels compelled to spend time with. The three strike up a bizarre, but loyal friendship that becomes the cornerstone of Nastya’s life. But it’s not just Nastya who needs Josh and Drew—they need her too.
In the end, The Sea of Tranquility is about redemption, second chances, and learning the meaning of family and how many definitions fit into that six-letter word.
It’s a book that will keep you engaged, and when you’re finished, will creep up in your mind again and again. It’s masterfully plotted and when you read the last sentence your jaw will drop.
In the best possible way.
Review: Infinityglass
Title: Infinityglass
Author: Myra McEntire
Publisher: Egmont USA
Release Date: August 6, 2013
Format: Purchased hardcover
The Hourglass is a secret organization focused on the study of manipulating time, and its members — many of them teenagers -have uncanny abilities to make time work for them in mysterious ways. Inherent in these powers is a responsibility to take great care, because altering one small moment can have devastating consequences for the past, present, and future. But some time travelers are not exactly honorable, and sometimes unsavory deals must be struck to maintain order.
With the Infinityglass (central to understanding and harnessing the time gene) at large, the hunt is on to find it before someone else does.
But the Hourglass has an advantage. Lily, who has the ability to locate anything lost, has determined that the Infinityglass isn’t an object. It’s a person. And the Hourglass must find him or her first. But where do you start searching for the very key to time when every second could be the last?—via Goodreads
Sometimes, books are more than just books.
I don’t think it’s a coincidence that the day I watched my first episode of Doctor Who* was also the day that Hourglass arrived in my mailbox.
Though those two things are thematically consistent with each other and it’s easy to see why a person who likes one likes the other, what is harder to explain is what those two things have come to mean to me.
I don’t want to be hyperbolic here, because there are things in life that are more important than a TV show and a book series, but on that day I felt like things came together for me and life said, “Here are your people. You can stop feeling so lonely now.”
With Infinityglass, the third and final (*sniff*) book in Myra McEntire’s Hourglass series, McEntire brings a whole slew of characters, plots, and timelines together in a way that is purposeful, thoughtful, and a whole lot of fun.
There’s suspense and drama and romantical times and so so so many nerd jokes, y’all. (And let me tell you, the nerd jokes are where it’s at.) I snorted so many times reading this book because of how funny it is, I can’t even tell you. At one point, I actually started clapping.
Clapping.
On the train.
In New York.
Which I promise is not even close to the most annoying thing someone was doing in my train car.
Though I’m sad to see this series end, McEntire went out with some serious style, and I’m stoked to find out what her next book will be. (Clearly it will come after she takes a very long, relaxing vacation where no computers or electronics of any sort are present.)
It doesn’t surprise me that this series is coming to a close in the same year that my Doctor is leaving. Life sometimes has a way of having your back, giving you exactly what you need, and then poetically reinforcing its decisions. In the Hourglass series, I was able to find an author whose voice and style gave me hope for my own writing, characters to embrace wholeheartedly and with a kind of intense care that even I, the girl who loves books more than food, found a bit startling, and a plot that made my heart go pitter-patter on many different levels. (Yes, one of those levels is named Kaleb.)
These are books that I will revisit time and again, and are three of the five things I told my boyfriend would be essential to grab if we ever have a fire in the apartment. (The other two are my purse, which is basically the TARDIS, and my mom’s engagement ring.)
For real.
So do yourself a favor. Go buy these books, set aside a weekend, read the hell out of them, and let yourself fall irrevocably in love with these characters.
*It was “Vincent and The Doctor.” I cried. A lot. And still do every. single. time.
Vacation, All I Ever Wanted.
This is where I’ll be for the next five days.
I’m not even a beach person, but I’m so excited to get away for a bit and have absolutely nothing to do other than sleep and read and hang out.
I pretended for about five seconds that I was going to set writing goals for myself while away and then I was like HAHAHAHA NO.
(But I kind of secretly want to. Because. Writing is happy and fun and might someday make me money? [Hahahaha.])
Anyway. It’s going to be five days of all-girls getaway to Cape Cod, where there are no schedules or agendas or concrete goals. Just relaxing and hanging out and eating and enjoying, you know, life.
Unless this happens.
I will high-tail it back inside and as far from the coast as I can get if I see anything close to that.
But I won’t. Because all-girls getaways to Cape Cod don’t end in shark attacks.
Oh, God, now I’m just thinking about Jaws and every other scary movie that begins with “Five girl friends go away together…”
…
ANYWAY. Cape Cod looks like this:
And I will relax and enjoy and devise a plan to make the inevitably cute guy who runs a lobster roll shack fall in love with me. Because, let’s be honest, at this stage of my life, I just want someone to give me free lobster rolls.
Bethany Larson 