#giselasbooked

“I want to read it all, I want to play it all, see it all. That world out there. What’s it like?” “It’s pretty grand, sometimes. But sometimes it disappoints you too.” • This book is the perfect cure for the Next Year In Havana book hangover I had. I started the book yesterday and I’m already HALFWAY THROUGH! 🌴 • #TheSummerWives #giselasbooked #BeatrizWilliams #bookstagram #SummerReads (at Honeymoon Island State Park)

But who are we really, eh? We've told each other what we think, but we've no idea what we feel. That requires a conversation. Having words, having language, to connect us to ourselves and to each other." Frankly, I don't know where to begin. Sometimes I read a book purely for entertainment. Sometimes I read a book because I want to learn more about a subject. But, all of the time, I read purely to understand the condition of being human. Ella and Jamie taught me that. Their shared love of knowledge and academia and poetry... was beautiful and called out to the nerdy student in me. They were clever and mischevious along with all the other characters present in the book. Through Ella's journey- neverending fear, unbridled joy, unconditional love, and worrisome thoughts are constantly present. But as Jamie says we must "Carry on." The hardest thing is love, with no expiration date, no qualifiers, no safety net. Love that demands acceptance of all the things I cannot change. Love that doesn't follow a plan." Side Note: I cried more than a few times while reading this book. I think I was meant to read this book at the exact moment my life demanded it. This book needed to tell me something, and it did and I will cherish it always. This will be a top-shelf book.

Leave this world a better place than how you found it. Reading about the inner circle felt like coming home after a long time away. I love their chemistry with each other, their banter, their funny moments (especially the scene where Feyre and Cassian drunk decorate the house- I was laughing hysterically). All the characters are just so themselves. Maas does such a great job of shaping their personalities and having all of them, even the side characters, have an active role in the story. No character, even one that says one line, is thrown in there carelessly. I love that about her. That is what gets me invested in these characters. The only disappointing thing is that I have to wait a whole year for the next book. Sighhhh. <3 Side Note: I'm happy Nesta finally got told to stop being cruel and being a brat. I completely understand that she has PTSD, but she's been mean from the beginning. I can't wait to see how she does in the next book. She needs breakthrough boot camp and to be nice to her sister Feyre.

Taylor Jenkins Reid, One True Loves

Victoria Schwab, Our Dark Duet

M.L. Rio, If We Were Villains

Passion, betrayal, deception... I think I can add more adjectives to describe the insanely beautiful and destructive nature of the characters in If We Were Villains. I'll give you a warning though, it is a book that requires a bit of patience and intrigue and love for character driven stories. If you have those, plus at least a vague knowledge of Shakespeare than you will truly appreciate this. And appreciate it I did. As soon as I put the book down, my heart ached for all the characters and the decisions that lead to their predicaments. (I can't give too much away without ruining the book). I think I could especially relate to the characters and to books in general because just like Oliver and Co., when you live the lives of so many others, even vicariously, you don't know where yours and the characters emotions begin or end. It's a dramatically thin line. I believe anyone of any background that is passionate about any particular subject can relate. When you are so involved in your passion, any lines that have been previously drawn are erased. Reality and fantasy slowly melt together. The ending is definitely open to interpretation and I enjoy it when authors do that in an artful way. Which M.L. Rio did. She's brilliant. I'll leave you with this quote from the book: You can't quantify humanity. You can't measure it-not the way you mean to. People are passionate and flawed and fallible. They make mistakes. Their memories fade. Their eyes deceive them."

Side Note: The Shakespeare references in this book are making my week.