All posts filed under: February

Giving Five Stars

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Before reading it I’d definitely heard of our February book, The Giver of Stars by Jojo Moyes. I don’t live under a rock! Jojo Moyes is a beloved author (see Me Before You) AND Reese picked The Giver of Stars for her Hello Sunshine book club. So it was hard to miss. And most people who’d read it had nothing but good things to say. And that made me nervous. I feel that way anytime a book gets a lot of hype. Maybe because nothing can ever really live up to that hype? Or I just feel like I’m not usually the type of reader that likes the books that are so beloved? Too polarizing? Either way, that’s usually a turn off for me. But I was willing to give it a shot. Anything for The Bookly Club, right? I did do a lot of research on the story. So I knew the history it was based on. And of course I’d read the blurb, so I knew essentially what it was about. But I …

A little bit of nice…

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Full honesty here – after reading the synopsis of this book, I expected to not entirely enjoy this read. I’m not entirely sure why but just a gut thing. After reading it, here is what I can say – for what it is, the book is delightful. The hard and handsome landscape contrasts the somewhat airy and pretty story very nicely. The pace is excellent without sparing imagery, making it a hard one to put down. Plus, I really enjoyed learning a bit of badass women history. I mean, these women were freaking amazing. The other side of the coin is that the story certainly lacks for some character complexity. Each person in the story, while serving a very distinct purpose, is either decidedly good or decidedly bad (or at the very least deeply flawed). No character is particularly challenging. Everything is made easy for you in the book – including Depression Era Kentucky, which is made to feel quaint.  I felt it a bit problematic that families living in abject poverty hoping for a …

February Book

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We’re back to announce our official selection for February! We’ll be reading The Giver of Stars by Jojo Moyes, and we hope you’ll read along with us! But more on that later… Jojo Moyes, most notable for Me Before You (her tragic romance novel turned movie starring Emilia Clarke), recently published a historical fiction novel that’s getting a lot of attention. Including ours! Released in October of 2019, it was selected for Reese Witherspoon’s Hello Sunshine bookclub in November. And we can’t seem to open Instagram without seeing another book lover rave about it. It’s based on the true story of a New Deal initiative backed by Eleanor Roosevelt called the Traveling Library. The Depression left much of America in poverty, but none were hit quite like the coal-mining counties of Kentucky. Without access to public libraries, and many illiterate, women were called upon to travel the counties and deliver books to those most in need. From 1935 to 1943 these women rode on horseback delivering books to homes and schoolhouses, earning names like packhorse …

Steam Fest

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In true Drew and Alexa form, I’ll get right to it… this one kinda fell flat for me. I think that’s an unpopular opinion, so if you disagree with me you’re probably in the majority. I had high hopes because I know a lot of others really liked The Wedding Date. But maybe my hopes were too high? Romance or love stories aren’t usually my first pick, but Love and Other Words by Christina Lauren and One Day in December by Josie Silver are two I really liked. And I’d heard Guillory’s debut would be similar. But before reading it I read a review that basically hit the nail on the head: “The book is also unexpectedly raunchy, since Alexa and Drew’s connection starts as a purely physical one and they only later develop deeper feelings. The characters never find a situation that doesn’t turn them on at least a little bit” (Kirkus Review) I’m fine with some steam and a good love story, but for me things were a bit unbalanced. I liked the …

February Book

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It’s a new year full of new books! Since finishing our December & January book—Women, Race and Class by Angela Y. Davis—February marks Bookly’s official start to 2019. In fact, we’re currently finalizing our list of books for this year, and we’re so excited about all of them!! But anyway, we’re getting ahead of ourselves. February is the month of pre-fixed candlelit dinners, hallmark cards, chocolate, fuzzy hearts stitched to teddy bears, and romance. So, since we’re a book club that reads what’s fitting for the month we’re reading in, this month we read romance. This year’s love story is a debut novel published just last year. The Wedding Date by Jasmine Guillory. A graduate of Wellesley College and Stanford Law, Guillory sets this story in her hometown; the Bay Area. Her writing has made her a new favorite go-to romance author of many. And since The Wedding Date she’s published a sequel, and the third in the series comes out in July. So if we love this one we’ll have two more to add to our TBR (to-be-read) lists!   …

Twisty Romance

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It Ends With Us caught my eye when it won the 2016 Goodreads Choice Award for best in romance. I’ve never read a book you’d categorize as a “romance novel” (unless you count Twilight), but I figured the best of 2016 was a good place to start. And it was an interesting experience. If you know anything about this book, you know it’s not your typical romance novel. But it’s pretty close to exactly what I’d expected (mostly because I’d done a lot of research when voting for our Bookly picks). The relationships were hot and heavy, with lots of steamy romance, a fairly predictable female protagonist with just enough baggage to make her interesting, some lack-luster writing, and some terribly romance novel-y names for the romantic interests (Ryle and Atlas). However, the unusual twist made it much more than just a predictable romance novel. Lily’s story made this a likeable read. SPOILERS I knew before reading it that Ryle was not who he seemed. But I wish I hadn’t! I think it would have …

February Book

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Hello February, love is in the air! Or not. But either way, there’s some love in our next book. This month we’re reading Colleen Hoover‘s romance novel It Ends With Us. Until now Hoover hasn’t really been on our radar. But this seemed like a great February pick considering it won Best Romance in the 2016 Goodreads Choice Awards. Not to mention the reviews on Goodreads and Amazon are crazy good. But if you’re still not sold, here’s some more info… Hoover is an interesting story herself. She started writing in 2012 when she self-published her debut novel Slammed. From there everything  fell into place with all of her full-length novels since ending up on the NYT Bestseller List. It Ends With Us came out in 2016 and it’s been one of her most successful novels yet. Although Hoover describes it as, “the hardest book I’ve ever written.” And we can see why. This book tells the story of Lily Bloom, Ryle Kincaid and Atlas Corrigan; the owner of a flower shop, a neurosurgeon (Lily’s new love) and a …

My Pride and Prejudice

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I’m surprised I’d never read Pride and Prejudice until now. Not even in school. But I never really had the urge to until I saw the 2005 movie. Ever since it’s been high on my to-be-read list. But sometimes classics don’t always live up to those long-standing expectations. I thought I’d be disappointed after waiting so long to read such a classic. I wasn’t. I expected to enjoy it, but given the language, the time period and already-seen-the-movie plot line I thought it’d be more of a labor to get through. It wasn’t. Even though I knew exactly how the story played out (the 2005 film was very true to the book) I found myself looking forward to picking it back up at the end of the day. I’d been charmed by each and every character and their quick wits. I eagerly stepped into the world. Maybe part of it was that I’m in a place where a story about the potential good in this world is welcome and needed. I also found it to be surprisingly feminist for its …

Eligible: An Updated Pride & Prejudice

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As an all-around Jane Austen fan, I have read Pride & Prejudice more times than I can count. So as much as I would happily read it again, I thought this would be a good opportunity to expand my horizons, though admittedly not very far, and read Eligible. If you’re not familiar with the Austen Project, it is a Jane Austen update – pairing  six bestselling contemporary authors with one of Austen’s complete works to retell/rewrite/reboot it for the modern age. Curtis Sittenfeld, who also happens to be one of my favorite authors (Prep and American Wife are particular favorites though you really can’t go wrong!), was tasked with retooling Pride & Prejudice. I DEVOURED this book (confession: I read the book in less than three days at the end of January and wrote this immediately afterward, so hello from the past!). It was, in my opinion, the perfect reimagining of Pride & Prejudice. It stayed true to the plot and the characters, but with appropriate updates for 2017. She perfectly married the language of P&P with contemporary language, creating a sort …

February Book

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Image by Katherine C. The only thing getting us through this month is the promise of chocolate (whether bought by someone else, or yourself. No shame). The weather’s not great. Awful, actually. We’re months away from spring. And we’ve just said a long goodbye to the Obama’s. So, let’s embrace February as a month of romance. Whether Valentine’s Day is your favorite or least favorite holiday we can all agree there’s no better upper than a good love story. So we’re taking you back to a classic romance to end all romances (well, no, that wouldn’t be good… but you get what we mean).   Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen, is a world-renown classic. First published in 1813, and set in the early 19th century, it tells the story of Elizabeth Bennet (and her family) and her struggles with English manners and upbringing styles of her time. We’re probably telling you what you already know, but for those of you who haven’t read this one, we’ll go on with our basic summary. Mr. and Mrs. Bennet’s five unmarried …