Audiobook: I have been wanting to read this book for a long while and when my friend Gina read this before me, she knew that I would love it. And I did! I feel bad that it has taken me this long to get to it but I finally got there! Gina also recommended the audio and I am so glad I went that route. The narrator was prefect.

I love a good fake dating trope!! As a reader you know when the two characters start to fall for each other and then it becomes a slow burn because you are just waiting for them to realize it. Luc knows he sabotages his relationships and Oliver dates men after men. One frustration that I have with romances (this may even be a trope) is when the communication is an issue! Luc had to hide in the bathroom to talk to Oliver at one point. They both dance around how they are feeling and neither one could come out and say they want a commitment. Drives me bananas! 

I love listening to books when the banter is top notch and this was no exception. And the banter wasn't just between Oliver and Luc but also among the side characters. Anytime Luc would talk to his co worker Alex I had to laugh. I also loved the relationship between Luc and his mother (her love of "RuPaul's Drag Race" cracked me up).  My heart went out to Luc with his relationship with his Dad. He wanted his Dad's love and just to be a constant in his life and when he thought it was going to be there, he took off. 

A good sign to me while listening or reading is if I am smiling and I can tell you I definitely smiled a lot while listening.

Some of my favorite quotes:

I am looking forward to the long awaited sequel to this, coming out this summer Husband Material.

Audiobook: Thank you Libro Fm for an advance copy of this book! 

This book was very different compared to other romances that I have read. It begs the question, if you knew you could meet your soul mate by using a very invasive matchmaking service that also cost thousands of dollars, would you do it? 

Ursula is a 35 year old successful woman who just cannot find the one. She has tried it all and has been unsuccessful. But after getting the extra cash with a side work deal, she decided to give The Arc (matchmaking service) a try. After being on lockdown for 7 days and undergoing many interviews and meditations the company really got a sense of who Ursula is what she needs. Even with being skeptical, she does meet a 42 year old successful man name Rafael and they fall hard fast. But they are both unsure if they are falling for each other because they are "supposed to" since they were a match or if they really do like one another. 

I have not read other matchmaking romance books so to me this was fresh and innovating. I thought the ending was great & reminded me of sometimes how thrillers end. It was very abrupt but left a lasting impression. I thought the audio was great and it read rather quick for me. 

Thank you so much NetGalley, Danny Pellegrino & Sourcebook for an advance copy of this! 

I have been a fan of Danny Pellegrino for many years. I actually was planning on seeing & meeting him on his "Everything Iconic" Tour when it came through Philadelphia in of March 2020. My date was March 25th and as you know approx 10 days prior the world shut down.  So I hope to one day get to see him again when it is safe to do so. 

He always unlocks memories from my childhood in his posts and his Bravo related memes just always make me laugh. Then listening to him on his podcast, I felt so connected with him and his stories so when he announced that he was writing a book, it felt like the perfect match. 

My husband can attest to this that I would be reading this book at night in bed and I would have tears in my eyes from laughing so hard at the stories. 

The collection of short stories range from pop culture moments (the chapter on Jessica Simpson's yellow shawl had me in tears) to personal stories involving his family members (including memorable trip to Disney World and Kohls). 

One of the stories was likely Danny's most personal item to write - in "Sun Will Rise" he documents the time when he was at his lowest point and was severely depressed. He had gone to Disneyland and in the photos; you could not tell that he was broken inside. I am so thankful that he is still here and shared his story. 

The chapter that I resonated with on a person level fell under "A Star Is...in the Theater?" After sharing a story where he thought his boyfriend surprised him with a happy birthday greeting from celebs, he went on to talk about feeling if he has done enough with his life. I am approaching 35 which some could say is "midlife" and I question many things. I am not near where I thought I would be by now and with social media it is hard not to compare where you are to where someone else you know is.   This is a rather long quote but it really was poignant to me: 

"I spend the days and week before wondering if I’m metaphorically behind in life. Did I accomplish all the things I wanted to by the age I’m at? No. Is my life set up the way I hoped it would be by this age? Never. Sometimes I feel like Super Mario in one of the water levels, frantically paddling through, dodging the devil fish and occasionally gasping for air. I’m sure everyone feels this way, but looking around in your thirties and seeing old friends and family on social media with their fancy houses and babies, it’s hard not to feel less than. Less than because I don’t own a house, less than because I have no kids, and less than because I don’t have abs. I feel judged by my peers, and all the while I’m scrolling IG and judging the celebrities on my feed with a leftover Roadside Slider from the Cheesecake Factory in my free hand. It’s a vicious circle of judgement." 

I just loved everything about this book & I have not laughed this hard in so long and especially have never read anything so funny. So thank you Danny for the belly laughs. 
 
 I am so proud to be a fan of Danny's and I cannot wait to see what other goals he crosses off his list. 

Also how can you not be mad when he had a whole acknowledgment section dedicated to his favorite day time hosts including STICK STICKLEY! What an icon! 

PS - I am breaking my rule of not rating Non Fiction books because I loved this one so much. 

Audiobook:  Oh Seth Rogen. I had heard so many things about the audio of this and that it was excellent. 
I did enjoy it and his stories and just the production was nothing like I've heard before from an audiobook. 

What stood apart from other audiobooks particularly memoir type books is that there were different voices for the people involved and sometimes voiced by the person themselves. Good ol' Google told me that there were 80 narrators involved in this audiobook which is INSANE but honestly it helped bring the stories to life along with the sound effects.

Seth told stories about growing up in Canada, different encounters throughout his Hollywood career and of course times he was on drug trips. It was one of those things where you just shook your head as you were listening thinking "my gosh how does this happen".  

If you are looking for a laugh & quick listen, this book is for you! 

**I will not be rating memoirs as this is someone's life story**

Audiobook: I wasn't sure what to expect after listening/reading this book. I had very limited knowledge of Hilarie Burton besides her being a TRL VJ and actress. I do have a vivid memory of watching her get picked to be on TRL and just to see her growth from that to being on "One Tree Hill".  

I'll be honest, I probably would not have read this if it wasn't for needing a book from a prompt of one that took place on a farm.  And wow I should have read it sooner.  

I cried twice while listening to this. It was an emotional last few days and listening to Hilarie talk about her miscarriage and journey to having her children just hit me in the feels. As a woman and as a woman who has infertility issues with multiple miscarriages, it just made me emotional. 

I love hearing her relationship with her husband and how it began and their struggles as a couple with both being actors and traveling. It was also so fun to hear about their relationship with this small community in NY and I now want to travel to visit this city and see their candy shop that they own. 

This was just such a beautiful book and I am really glad I had that prompt to give me that push to read it. 

**I will not be rating memoirs as this is someone's life story that they are sharing.**

"You can't live in this town, Maya, you can only survive it." 

Wowowow!  Where do I begin with "Beartown". This is my first Fredrick Backman book. I had heard numerous things about his writing style and that you will either love or hate it.  If his writing style/format is like this in his other books - I am here for it!!! 

I love that we would get numerous character plot points within the same chapter sometimes even twice a chapter. So the wait to know what is going though is not that long.  Which is also a con because there were a lot of characters in this book and you have to remember who does what when until you are really wrapped up into the story to know. 

The book starts off with a foreshadow of the future and it hooks you right away. 

I will admit that I did struggle to get my reading in for this but when I was focused, the pages flew by. There were so many things going on in all these different characters life and they all made sense by the end.  

I don't want to divulge so much into the story because it would give away but this was a truly wonderful book. My heart belongs forever to Benji. He was my absolute favorite character. Maya is the strongest teenager I think I have ever read about. The whole Andersson family is quite extraordinary.  Peter and his family on the other hand was disgusting and that's all I'll say about that. Amat & Bobo are amazing as well. 

I am rating it at 4.75 only because it did take me a bit to get through and was a little wordy but it could potentially be bumped up to a 5 if I keep thinking about it and letting it sink in more. 

The book did not leave off on a cliffhanger but there is a sequel to this which I will be reading as soon as I can. There was some tidbits in the last few pages that foreshadow the next book and I need to know the answers. 

I flagged so much of the book because the way Backman wrote; everything was pretty much a quote. It was insane. But this one stood out especially as an adult this resonates with me: "Because friendship is both complicated and not complicated at all." 

Bonus: Storygraph has an amazing Buddy Read feature which allowed my friend Cam and I to leave comments for each other as we read. 

Audiobook: Bravo!! Just like the first book, I thought this one was just as entertaining. This was also on the longer side of an audiobook at 13 hours but went super fast. 

I really felt for Bea having to decide between her heart and what was best for the country. Without giving away too much, I am really excited to see what happens in the 3rd book. Will she pick her ex bodyguard Connor or the regal safe choice Teddy? Or maybe she will meet someone new? Gahhh! 

I absolutely love Samantha with Marshall and cannot wait to see how their relationship blooms!!!! 

Daphne is still the villain that just likes to stir up so much trouble for Nina and the men. I am OVER her!! 

I just love 3/4 of the ladies so much and can't wait to see what adventures and trouble they get wrapped up in in the next book.  Also could this series sweep and all 3 be in my favorites of 2022?! I guess we will have to wait and see! 

Audiobook: I had seen the cover for this book here and there but really didn't give it much thought. Then the opportunity to read an ARC of the third in the series was presented & in a Facebook group the was a lot of buzz and excitement among other readers so I thought 'lets give it a whirl".

Gosh I am so glad I did!!!! I am actually surprised how invested I became in all 4 protagonists that are featured in this series.  I will admit though I had to write down their names and who they were dating/interested in to help keep it straight until I got use to them. 

I can't pinpoint what exactly it is that I loved listening to this but I just was so invested in all their storylines and how they intersect with one another. Though Daphne, I could do without but I guess we need a villain to stir the pot.  I love that it takes place in America where royalty is our government. Being an American who swooned over the Princes of Wales growing up definitely helped my interest in this book.

I wish we got different individuals for each person but that is just a personal preference.  
Though the narrator is great for altering her voice to help distinguish each of the characters. 

Though the running time per Libby is 14 hours, I thought it went by super fast and if I didn't have interruptions in my day I probably could've finished it in one day. 

Guys, I finally get the Colleen Hoover craze. This book gave me all the feels and I love the writing style. This was just such a beautiful book. I was trying to avoid spoilers and reviewers but I kept seeing such positive reviews and people sobbing by the end. This did not make me cry (its me I promise) but I totally got why people were emotional over it by the end.  

My heart went out to Kenna (also what a beautiful name). She had such a horrific incident that happened to her and I felt like I was Ledger in torn on how to feel. I also love how writing for her was therapeutic and how she wrote to Scotty throughout the book. You could really get a sense of her growth and its all you want out of a character and just as a person.  

Ledger. Where do I even begin on this wonderful human being?! These book boyfriends are really making it hard living out here in the real world. This man has the most beautiful soul and saw what others didn't see. 

Here are some of my favorite lines: 

Also can we get a short story starring Lady Diana aka Lucy?!  She made me laugh with her sass every time! 

Audiobook: I told myself that I would try to incorporate more NF into my reading this year and this was the first book on the list. I had been warned that this book dealt with heavy topics. It definitely did not shy away the truth about American history one which we ALL should be told instead of a sugar coated version that pleased "the average white citizen".  Clint traveled to several areas in the south to explore slavery and spoke to tourist visiting these places. The part that really struck me was the epilogue when we learned about his own family's history with slavery and racism. We think that all this is "in the past" but that past is still very current in 2022. I would love to have seen this as a documentary as I think it would come across the screen very well and so much more effective to get the information out there to people. Clint narration was wonderful & I loved the tone of his voice.