GMA: Just for the summer by Abby Jimenez

Emma and Justin are both cursed, every time they date someone and break up – their ex goes on to find the love of their life. If they date each other, will the curse break?

This is my first Abby Jimenez book, but it will not be my last! I was instantly invested in Emma and Justins journey to break their curses and then we get thrown into the deep end with family drama based on a lot of mental health issues. This took me by surprise and made the lighthearted story suddenly very serious. But I loved it and I related so much to both Justin and Emma for different reasons.

I have to wonder if the book was marketed as a stand alone because it was a book club pick – because this is definitely the third installment of the “Part of your world” – series. And it’s arguably the best one in the series. If only I had know I would have been able to enjoy every surprise of the relations Jimenez had made for us here. So if you haven’t read it yet – it’s a trilogy!⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Read with Jenna: The Husbands by Holly Gramazio

The Husbands has a unique premise that peppers you with husbands from the very first chapter.
Lauren returns home and is met by a husband she doesn’t remember marrying. And as he enters the attic, a new husband comes down and so begins the revolving door of husbands turning while Lauren and the reader desperately tries to figure out whats happening.

It’s a clever commentary on the current dating situation and how quick we are to discard people if they don’t fit into the idea of the life we think we want.
When Lauren decided the current husband doesn’t fit her narrative, she lures him up in the attic and waits for a new one to descend.
Goldilocks of the 21st dating century, the flaws she can discard a man over: one chews with his mouth open, one’s too tall, one’s a swinger, one’s too timid, one’s got bad finances. Never one exactly what she wants.
She has some bad ones and some good ones, but even the good ones she swaps out, always looking for the BBD – bigger better deal.
It’s pretty linear, with a few turns along the way, but oddly enough, when I was starting to get sick of it – around the halfway mark – it grew on me!
While Lauren is not a fast learner, (a year and over 200 husbands later) she finally feels the toll it’s taking and begins longing for a real change.
I love how it ended, and looking back, I also love how this was a personal journey for Lauren and not a love story.⭐⭐⭐⭐

Belletrist: Memory Piece by Lisa Ko

I’m gutted. I was ready to put this on my favorites shelf next to the leavers.
I tried with all my might to love this, and I sort of do – in parts and in pieces. Most of it in the first third of the book, it quickly fell apart as time passed.
I loved that it had references that set the time from historic events not common knowledge if you’re not Asian.
I love how the sentences are often pieces of a puzzle, but you rarely get the whole picture, because pieces are missing and it’s very often jumbled. Especially the beginning. We quickly jump from one thing to another. It almost feel like timetraveling.

The book offers three perspectives and is divided into three parts, one for each of our asian-american girls; Giselle, Jackie and Ellen. We follow them from girlhood to adulthood through decades and into the future that has been painted bleak.

I’m afraid this book is difficult to connect with, and some might fall off the wagon here, but it’s original, if you’re looking for something different entirely – this is for you! you!⭐⭐

Part of your world by Abby Jimenez

After reading the GMA book pick, I wanted more – so I went into the first book in the series (that isn’t marketed as a series) and lo and behold – “Just for the summer” had already spoiled all the main plot points.
It was still a good read, but it was hard to get really invested when I already know how it would end. ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Yours truly by Abby Jimenez

The second book in the “Part of your world” trilogy and luckily “Yours truly” isn’t connected in the same familial sense and there had not been any major spoilers in the other books so I could just enjoy this story.

I like Jimenez’s storytelling and humor and find myself not being able to stop smiling no matter where I am. I also like her portrayal of mental health which is a common thread through all three books. I enjoy this little world she has built here and I’m sorry to have to leave it now that I’ve read all of them..The only thing that drags it down for me are the misunderstandings. While I enjoy a good fake dating trope, the misunderstandings are not my favorite. They’re more frustrating than anything, but they do work, they are effective and not to mention believable!

I dont often read romance, but I think I found my favorite author in the genre! ⭐⭐⭐⭐

The Friend Zone by Abby Jimenez

After loving the “Part of your world trilogy” (see above) I tried her first trilogy, but I started in the wrong end here and you notice that the writing isn’t as well developed as her newer books.
You can tell that it’s Jimenez by the writing, but it’s missing the Je ne sais quo.
I adored the last three books and I thought I was lucky to have one more trilogy in the backlog, but this didn’t speak to me the same way at all.

Lilith by Eric Rickstad

Let me begin with the cover of the book! Like much in America – It’s black and white – there is hardly any gray area (save for a few letters) and I think this is specifically for that reason. You’re either pro or against gun control.

Now, I’ve read my fair share of school shooting books and let me tell you, this one was a special kind of rough. The children in this one are so young and innocent. And usually the stories we study are the shooters and the people close to them, or the victims who died and those close to them. We rarely follow a young one who was badly injured. We rarely see the grief or mourning of someone who is still here because life as they know it has ended. The struggle victims have to live with after the tragedy.
I found the book sad, infuriating and extremely satisfying at the same time! I was so angry with all the school board and their “procedure”, with the politicians and the conspiracy they. And the fact that this happens in America all the time!
And I was rooting for the single mom ready to spring to action for her child! I am Lilith! May we all be Lilith’s and bring an end to this slaughter.

I could not stop reading this and I want to recommend it to everybody!⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Expiration dates by Rebecca Serle

Rebecca Serle always has interesting plots with just a touch of magic in them. This one was no different.
Daphne receives a note in one way or another with a name and an amount of time. That’s the name of the man she’ll be dating and how long they’ll be together.

The premise is interesting enough, but Serle has her way of twisting things. I’m not really sure that I liked this twist, but I did like her explanation for it. I guess in a romance novel where you know beforehand if they’re gonna work out or not, saying it’s predictable would be redundant. I guess that’s why we get a twist out of the blue.

It’s a quick and easy read, Serle writes well, but towards the end the amount of profound insights and life lessons are hurled at us ad nauseam. But I also like and respect the fact that Serle knows when to end the story and not drag it out another 50-100 pages like many do. She could almost afford 50 more pages, cause her books are of the shorter kind, but I like that they’re not.
To me, she’s a writer that delivers exactly what I expect and enjoy, so she’s an auto-buy for me.⭐⭐⭐⭐

Annie Bot by Sierra Greer

I did not think I was going to enjoy this story told from a perspective but it was oddly addictive and disturbing at the same time.
Doug is divorced and his ex-wife Gwen has called him controlling – so what does Doug do? He gets an AI sex bot he can control.
Misogyny is just the foreword here. Annie bot can’t seem to get anything right even though she’s trained and designed by Doug himself. Doug’s anger and resentment over the smallest details are terrifying. And it makes it even more so when Annie bot does everything she can to placate him to no avail.
Being autodidactic she starts learning about human behavior and as her consciousness grows she starts seeing Doug’s toxic masculinity differently.

It’s a short and gross read with the most timely topic. Plus robot smut.⭐⭐⭐⭐

Manila takes Manhattan by Carla De Guzman

I don’t love or believe for a second that a famous actress meets an unknown, masked (Covid-setting) man in her hallway and brings him into her apartment to have sex with him.
An instant love story where the obstacle isn’t really an obstacle – they will be working together on a movie! Gasp! (Said nobody) A more believable obstacle would be the conservative Filipino culture but ok. Let’s say I buy it, there’s no real tension here. There’s a barely there triangle and some location issues. And smut. So much smut. Smut with a stranger after a 15 hour flight without a shower, gross smut.

But I love both the main characters here and what they represent! Olivia or Emma as her real name is – grew up outside the Philippines and has found success in the states. But with that she has missed out on parts of the Filipino culture, one that Mon brings with him to the US and shares with her as they start collaborating. It’s a familiar scenario – becoming more Filipino in the presence of other filipinos.

I can’t help myself, I love the representation here! I love reading a scene where the characters eat pancit canton, drop Tagalog phrases and have Filipino mannerisms. But it just didn’t weigh up for the lacking tension and it fell it little flat for me. ⭐⭐

Funny Story by Emily Henry

Ok, I think I’ve tried enough Emily Henry books now to know they are not for me.

This one actually started out ok, and I thought I knew what was coming – hopefully a funny story! But the fun eluded me again.
First of all, I got the ick with Miles immediately when he was a stoner – this is a hard thing to backtrack and I never really fell for him, but I was ready for the story to go in that direction. But somewhere along the way we got lost in trying to be deep and add levels? Mommy issues, daddy issues, sister issues that just jump scare you for no reason and then disappear again.

Maybe it’s cynical of me, but I feel like many of the choices made here (and in many of her other books) were sucking up to the bookish community and I’m a little put off by it. I wish I could see what the fans of Henry sees, cause I’m totally jealous of the catalog the fans have.⭐⭐

You’re that bitch by Bretman Rock

You’re that bitch, is the perfect example of why you should listen to the audiobook when it’s a memoir and it’s read by the author! Nobody and I mean NOBODY can deliver a line like Bretman Rock!
I laughed so hard I think it healed me from my toxic Filipino traumatic upbringing. He makes light of some serious topics and it lightens the load for some reason. It makes it feel like it doesn’t have to be so heavy all the time. Brush it off and be that B!

It was both fun and interesting to read about his journey to becoming an influencer and his confidence and attitude is everything! I hope it’s contagious and that I caught some!

The only thing I have to say about it is – The book came out early 2023 so it was most likely written around 2021-22 coming off the woke era (or should I say woke extremist era) and it really drags the book down and ruins the mood towards the end. The one chapter that starts apologizing to the woke community for appropriation and bullshit not only feels like bullshit, but it doesn’t fit any of the other narrative. This woke overcorrection is starting to get really annoying. It would have been a five star for me without that.
But he manages to reel it in at the end and halfway backtrack it by saying that he’s going to apologize again and again because he doesn’t filter or censor himself. And honestly, pushing back on all the bullies that said he couldn’t wear this or couldn’t do that, I hope he pushes against the people who are still saying it but with a different tone, because in the end, it’s the same thing it comes down to – control. The glimpse he gave of backing down to those bullies wasn’t cute. If not for that it would have been a five star read.⭐⭐⭐⭐

Rebel Rising by Rebel Wilson

Fat Amy is the character Rebel is often confused with I think, a dumb blond with a killer confidence (or just too stupid to know better?) But the real Rebel is nothing like Fat Amy and she starts off by taking off that mask and showing us the insecurities around not feeling worthy of love and the same that comes with the body shaming society. This is such a vulnerable thing to show and it’s very generous of her to share these intimate feelings with a society so quick to judge. Thank you for this Rebel, truly. ❤ I’ve never really managed to admit some of these feelings to myself, let alone the world.

We get a chapter of her going to the fertility doctor wanting to get pregnant even though she’s single. Aaaand then we’re suddenly thrown into a Bridget Jones diary situation dating back to her childhood. These diaries are what they can base celebrity sitcoms on, like “Everybody hates Chris” or a “Young Rock” situation. But a celebrity memoir? Are anyone’s younger school days really that interesting? We get 16 chapters out of 32 of young Rebel pre-fame and only in chapter 19 are we in the era of “Bridesmaids” which I would say was her first big Hollywood break before Pitch Perfect catapulted her into a household name.
And this is what we came for – the behind the scenes, the story behind the story we know and have followed, her career. Rebel feels like one of us, a completely unserious, enjoyer of life and funny observer of the Hollywood elite! She’s become a Hollywood elite herself, but that doesn’t seem to phase her too much. We get what we came for, the inside scoop. We even get a redemption story of her law degree working for her under negotiations and the karma of the evil borat. But she’s not trying to cancel anybody, a stance I appreciate these days that people are so quick to cut people off.
And like always, I want to recommend the audio. Rebels voice is one you don’t want to miss! It’s just funnier the way she delivers it!

Edit: man she is getting hate for the Adele comment! It was barely a sidenote, I didn’t even mention it in my original review. This felt like an honest experience, one that she seems a bit confused about herself so she threw it in the air to see where it landed. I guess it didn’t land well with die hard Adele fans, but I don’t see any reason for the hate. ⭐⭐⭐⭐(Four stars is being a little generous here)

The Mango Tree by Annabelle Tometich

There are over 100 million Filipinos in the Philippines and more that 10 million abroad. And yet, the amount of memoirs or novels based on the Filipino or Filipino-mix experience that I’ve found and have on my shelf are few. As opposed to Korean or Vietnamese books, I seem to find everywhere. (And have read my fair share of those too.)
So, whenever I do find a Filipino one, I jump on it in the hopes that I’ll find kinship within the pages. And let me tell you. This was so much fun for me to read! The connection I felt to this is unmatched by anything I’ve read before. I listened to it on audiobook and the narrator obviously does not know Tagalog. The pronunciation is completely off and the MC does not understand the culture, but many mixed Filipinos are not taught the culture or the language. Myself included. I only learned when I moved there myself to find my missing pieces.
Tometich travels to the Philippines with her family, and when she is grown with a family of her own she takes another trip, she states:

“I could have in theory come without mom, but I need her for this, I need her as my conduit and my credentials as a flesh and blood reminder that I have a place here, that I belong here too.”

Tears have never rolled down my cheeks faster. I know exactly how it feels to need that tether. It’s one I don’t have, and I’ve never been able to explain to anyone exactly what that feels like. Lost. Lonely. Suspended in a void. But I never managed to fully understand why. This is why. I just never managed to grasp it until someone else explained it to me in that way. So thank you, Ate.Representation heals, helps and warms the heart. And today, I feel a little less lonely. Cause I know there’s someone out there who can relate my heart.

❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️