Review: The Reece Malcolm List
Title: The Reece Malcolm List
Author: Amy Spalding
Publisher: Entangled Teen
Release Date: February 5, 2013
Format: eBook via Publisher
Things I know about Reece Malcolm:
1. She graduated from New York University.
2. She lives in or near Los Angeles.
3. Since her first novel was released, she’s been on the New York Times bestseller list every week.
4. She likes strong coffee and bourbon.
5. She’s my mother.
Devan knows very little about Reece Malcolm, until the day her father dies and she’s shipped off to live with the mother she’s never met. All she has is a list of notebook entries that doesn’t add up to much.
L.A. offers a whole new world to Devan—a performing arts school allows her to pursue her passion for show choir and musicals, a new circle of friends helps to draw her out of her shell, and an intriguing boy opens up possibilities for her first love.
But then the Reece Malcolm list gets a surprising new entry. Now that Devan is so close to having it all, can she handle the possibility of losing everything?—via Goodreads
I loved this book.
It is Gilmore Girls meets Glee.
I hate that I just used Glee as the example because I stopped watching that show about two seasons ago because it got on my ever-loving nerves after about the first season and a half—we can all agree that the saving grace of that show was Darren Criss—but even his incredible charisma couldn’t keep me watching every week. But there really aren’t many shows/movies about high school performing arts programs other than, like, Fame and there was no porn in this, so I went with Glee. But this book isn’t like Glee other than the fact that the main character, Devan, goes to a performing arts high school.
Okay. I’ve probably babbled too much about Glee and you’re all, OMG JUST GET ON WITH IT.
The Reece Malcolm List is so charming. There are a lot of screwed up familial-type things that happen, but still! So charming!
The titular character, Reece Malcolm is maybe my favorite fictional mom outside of Lorelai Gilmore—she’s young, confused, has absolutely no idea how to really be a mother, but is somehow still great. I ADORED her even though she’s sometimes The Worst. And, really, this is the first time I’ve read a book where I identified more with the mom than with the teen, which is probably really telling you something about me. I’m sure a therapist would LOVE to get a hold of me.
But really. I loved Reece. I wanted to be her friend and hang out with her and her awesome boyfriend Brad. And also hang out with Devan and help her edit her papers for school or something.
Speaking of Devan, she is a supremely realistic teen character—she’s all kinds of mixed up in the best possible ways (I considered quoting that Taylor Swift song “22”, but figured I’ve already tried your patience with my rant about Glee.): brimming with hope and confidence, but also high-strung and second-guessing herself at every turn. She’s learning who she is and who her mother is and figuring out what she wants out of life. Though there were a couple places where I wanted to grab her and say, “JUST TALK TO PEOPLE. THEY LIKE YOU AND WILL LISTEN,” I totally understood her and insecurities and her hang-ups.
And let’s talk about the musical theater aspect of this book. I will admit, I was a teenager who did high school musicals.
Backstage at my high school’s production of Oklahoma!
But I was never a musical theater nerd. I’ve never been the kind of girl to buy original cast recordings of Broadway shows. Except Wicked when that first came out. And Big River when I auditioned for a community theater production of that show. Anyway, the show talked most about in this book— Sondheim’s Merrily We Roll Along—is a show I’ve never even heard of before reading this.
I know. I fail. But let’s look at it another way: Amy Spalding, author extraordinaire, did her research.
By using a not-super-widely-known musical, Spalding made Devan’s obsession with musical theater believable. Coupled with her complete knowledge about the history and ins-and-outs of theater, I really appreciated the research that went into Devan’s main hobby/career goal/school curriculum because there have been other books where characters were “obsessed” with something and it was evident that they weren’t. And that bothered me a whole bunch.
And now I’m getting weird and talking about characters like they’re real people.
Bottom line is this: The Reece Malcolm List is adorable and has a lot of emotional depth and you should read it because it is so so good. In fact, you should read it more than once. And buy it for someone. Perhaps for Valentine’s Day. Or President’s Day. Or Lincoln’s birthday. Or YAY IT ISN’T LEAP YEAR!
You get my point.
Review: Waking Up Married
Title: Waking Up Married
Author: Mira Lyn Kelly
Publisher: Harlequin KISS
Release Date: December 1, 2012
Format: Free eBook
Her first thought: “Who are you?”
It’s the morning after her cousin’s bachelorette party in Vegas and Megan Scott wakes up with the mother of all hangovers. Even worse, she’s in a stranger’s penthouse having woken up with something else as well – a funny, arrogant, sexy…husband!
Up until now, finding even a boyfriend had seemed impossible – been there, got the broken heart, sworn off men for good. Then a few martinis with Carter…no, Connor Reed and she’s gone from first meet to marriage in one night!
Megan wants a lawyer. But Connor’s shocking bombshell?
“I don’t want a divorce.”—via Goodreads
This kind of book is not my normal fare.
But I’ve been trying to read books that are about characters closer to my age than teenagers are (gah.), and this one was free and it sounded fun, so I figured I should read it. Because, you know, free.
Fortunately, I really enjoyed it. The premise is fun: Carter and Megan meet in Vegas, get drunk, elope, and then decided to actually give marriage a shot instead of immediately having it annulled. But once the fun of it is over and the idea of being married kicks in, this book had an emotional depth to it that I didn’t expect and was pleasantly surprised to come across.
Additionally, Carter and Megan aren’t what I typically think of when it comes to “romance” novels—they share a definition of marriage that is more along the lines of partnership, and agree that love is about much more than passion. That nuance to the storyline and the character’s perceptions felt mature and was something that I really appreciated reading.
But that doesn’t mean there aren’t hot hot hot scenes. There definitely are.
So if you’re in the mood for a contemporary romance with depth, Waking Up Married is the book for you. And, let’s be honest, that gratis price point cannot be denied.
What’s Making Me Happy {21}
Well, third week in January, you were kind of a bitch.
But you were also not so bad.
Maybe I’m just actually becoming a New Yorker and my propensity for bitchiness has grown immeasurably.
I apologize for that last sentence.
1. Daniel Radcliffe
In his interview with Vulture’s Kyle Buchanan about his role as Allen Ginsberg in the upcoming film Kill Your Darlings.
“What kind of direction did you get from John for the sex scene?
My favorite John Krokidas direction moment was when we started kissing. I guess I was way too hesitant about it in the moment, and John just went, “No! Kiss him! Fucking sex kissing!” That was my favorite direction moment, probably in my career. [Laughs.] Especially with the world that I’ve come from! The things that directors have shouted to me in the past usually involve which way I have to look to see the dragon.”
That is the greatest paragraph ever. EVER.
2. What to REALLY Expect When You’re Expecting
So, lately, it seems like there are babies everywhere. They cover my Facebook newsfeed. They are in abundance when I go out of doors even though it is EFFING COLD. And I’ve always been very . . . weird about pregnancy. Okay, I think it’s gross. There I said it. It’s weird and gross and it turns you into a decaffeinated, sober, non-sushi eating incubator for nine months.
But! Lately there have been a couple articles I’ve seen about ladies talking very very very honestly about pregnancy and newborns and it makes me happy that other people—WHO HAVE HAD BABIES—feel the way I do about it.
3. Goths in the Snow
Seriously. THIS.
4. Zero Hour Trailer
This will either be awesome or truly awful. Either way, CAPPIE!
5. Jensen Ackles in Chain Mail
If you don’t watch Supernatural, you should. Most of it is on Netflix. Also, you should DEFINITELY find this week’s episode and watch it because 1) Felicia Day is in it, 2) It’s about LARPing, 3) Jensen Ackles wears chain mail.
You’re welcome.
6. Young Avengers
Volume 2, Issue 1 of this comic came out this week, and it is really really really really good.
You should totally pick it up. ESPECIALLY if you’ve been thinking about getting into comics, but weren’t sure what to start with. This is a relaunch of the comic and the very first issue, so you won’t feel so out of the loop. Promise.
Happy Sunday everyone!
Review: Just One Day
Title: Just One Day
Author: Gayle Forman
Publisher: Dutton Juvenile
Release: January 8, 2013
Format: Purchased eBook
When sheltered American good girl Allyson “LuLu” Healey first meets laid-back Dutch actor Willem De Ruiter at an underground performance of Twelfth Night in England, there’s an undeniable spark. After just one day together, that spark bursts into a flame, or so it seems to Allyson, until the following morning, when she wakes up after a whirlwind day in Paris to discover that Willem has left. Over the next year, Allyson embarks on a journey to come to terms with the narrow confines of her life, and through Shakespeare, travel, and a quest for her almost-true-love, to break free of those confines.—via Goodreads
I was nervous about reading this.
Which is stupid. But, Forman’s books If I Stay and Where She Went did something weird to me and I was really afraid to read Just One Day.
What if I didn’t like it? What if it pissed me off? WHAT THEN?!
But, that is also a stupid way to look at books and authors because—I mean—Forman is a wonderful writer and I should’ve just trusted that this book would be great.
Even with all of that in mind, I read this book cautiously. And because of that it took me about half the book to warm up to it.
But once I did, all was well. And then once I finished and really had time to digest what I’d read, I realized how brilliant the book really is.
At it’s core, Just One Day is a story about growing. Learning. Becoming a person who can ebb and flow with life and all that it throws at you. But it takes a long while for the main character, Allyson, to get to that point, which is the beauty of the book.
In a lot of ways, I feel like this is a mod-podge of other books that I’ve enjoyed: The angst and depression of Charmed Thirds by Megan McCafferty; the diner culture from Speechless by Hannah Harrington; the determined, yet languorous European wanderlust of The Last Little Blue Envelope by Maureen Johnson. With that said, at no time does this book feel derivative of those others—it has best possible essences of those books, combining them in a way that creates a wholly new flavor and experience.
Travel plays a huge role in this book, and the ways Forman presents travel is smart. By pairing up an American and a Dutchman (Are they called Dutchmen? That just makes me think of The Flying Dutchmen which I assure you is not the same at all.) she’s able to showcase the inherently different views of not just travel, but how to live life. American Allyson wants things to be regimented, scheduled, planned, while Dutch Willem is laid-back, laissez-faire, I’ll-follow-the-wind-wherever-it-blows-me. And though they only spend a measly day together that ends in tears and devastation, Allyson knows that Willem has changed her for the better.
But then the book does something I really like—sends Allyson into a tail spin of depression during her first year of college. She’s dealing with her helicopter mother—whom I wanted to punch in the brain—the feeling of emotional distance from her childhood best friend, and realizing that her intended major in college is making her miserable. After meeting with the greatest college adviser ever, Allyson realizes that she needs to do things for herself. So she does. And once she starts making her own decisions is when she begins to grow out of her depression and into herself. It’s not an easy road, as she yearns for genuine experience but doesn’t want to let go of the control and order she’s used to. But once she realizes what it is that she wants, she goes for it full speed ahead.
This takes us on a wild ride of meeting some really great characters—her Shakespeare professor, her Shakespeare partner, Babs the diner owner, her French professor. All of that culminates in her traveling back to Europe, alone, to find Willem. But as they say, it’s about the journey, not the destination, which is the essence of Just One Day.
Overall, this book is a sophisticated portrayal of growing up, taking hold of who you are, and confronting your fears head-on. If you’re looking for a richly plotted book full of realistic growing pains and armchair travel, this book is just the ticket.
When Your Ear Lobe Bleeds: A Cautionary Tale
I’ve had my ears pierced since I was six-years-old.
Since then, I’ve gone nary a day without earrings. I love them. Studs, hoops, dangles, crazy colors and shapes. You name it, I wear it.
Until recently.
One fateful day during the summer, about half-way through my day, I realized that I was very aware of my left ear. It didn’t necessarily hurt, but I was cognizant of it in a way that I probably shouldn’t have been. I thought, “Weird. I’ll remember to clean my earrings tonight.”
So I went home, took my earrings out, and cleaned them with rubbing alcohol.
This routine went on for MONTHS.
And then, it got to the point where I’d hit that half-way mark and my left ear would straight-up HURT.
BAD.
So I’d take my earrings out and it would STING to the point that I was holding my breath, taking them out as quickly as possibly, and then holding back tears. Often, my ear would be bleeding.
I know. Blood. ACK. But I’m not really freaked out by blood. I’m the weirdo who looks at the needle when blood is drawn. I’ve actually had phlebotomists ask me to look away because it was freaking them out that I was looking.
Which I find hilarious because they are basically medically licensed vampires and the idea of them being freaked out by me watching them steal my blood is just kind of bizarre.*
But when I realized I was bleeding I was all, “That’s strange. I’ll throw these cheap-ass earrings away.”
So I chucked them and then I didn’t wear earrings for a day or two. I’d put some Neosporin on my ear at night, and when it felt better, I’d start wearing earrings again.
Doing all of this required touching my ear lobes often. I noticed that my left earlobe felt thicker than my right. I figured it was just from my left ear bleeding and healing.
Then in November, I was absentmindedly playing with my earring at work one day (As you do.) and I realized something really strange—my left earring was hanging way lower than my right earring. In fact, I could *move* my left earring up and down in the piercing. It moved a lot more than the right.
I immediately freaked out, took my earrings out, and called my mom.
Her reaction, like any person’s reaction, was “WHY DIDN’T YOU GO TO THE DOCTOR?!” And I was like, “Well, I wasn’t actually sick. My ear just hurt and was bleeding. I didn’t think it was worth going to the doctor over.”
I am dumb.
I’m the person who will end up dying from cat scratch fever.
So now I’m not wearing earrings at all—which makes me feel naked—in hopes that my now stretched out ear piercing will just grow back together. Supposedly this will only take six weeks, but I feel like that seems a very short amount of time. But would the Internet lie to me? I could get surgery to fix it, but that sounds expensive and unpleasant. And it’s really superficial. I mean, I’d have to go to an actual plastic surgeon for them to stitch up my stretched ear lobe. I mean, first world problem, amirite?
Harrumph.
*I am in no way implying that phlebotomists DRINK blood. But I feel like stranger things have happened in the history of the world.
Bethany Larson 