Can't Decide-Who's the Man Crush Monday This Week?...Ridge or Griffin?!?

Maybe Someday by Colleen Hoover

A brand new reading experience.  I believe that Colleen Hoover is the most innovative writer of anyone I have ever encountered.  I have heard of authors having a playlist to their books as in songs that have given them motivation or even thoughts from the songs to the pages that they are writing.  Actually, Colleen (yes I can call her by her first name because her writing has touched my soul-that puts us on a first name basis!) did this with Slammed and the Avett Brothers.  What a great way to express what you are feeling, but also give you a reference for what the characters are feeling, and also connect with the author.  But what Colleen has completed with Maybe Someday is an entire new experience. 

The first song was good and I thought, ok, this is a cool idea.  But after I started to get to know the characters and followed along with the plot, the song that changed the entire experience for me was “I’m in Trouble.” I literally got chills.  It was such an amazing moment.  I started smiling and got embarrassed because the words were so true, Ridge was in trouble.  I loved Maybe Someday and of course the last two songs were amazing and brought tears to my eyes.  Griffin Peterson, you did an excellent job with the music! I of course bought the album on iTunes and can’t stop listening to it… daily.

I loved the dual points of view.  I enjoyed getting to know Ridge and Sydney through their own perspectives, and Ridge especially was an amazing character, totally crush worthy and an amazing man.  I also loved Warren.  What a great secondary character and I loved that he wanted Sydney all up in his business and that he never got the hint.  I loved that he was a faithful friend to both Sydney and Ridge. 

I’m not going to lie (why would I?  It’s my blog). I spent a large majority of this book upset with both Ridge and Sydney.  I couldn’t believe what was going on especially after what Sydney had gone through at the beginning.  I don’t want to say much more than that, but know that I was upset with them and wanted to slap them around a little bit. When I wasn’t upset with them, I loved that Ridge would tell Sydney things that he had never told anyone.  It brought a special component to their growing friendship.  The stories from his past were heart wrenching and showed a very vulnerable side to Ridge which of course had me falling head over heels… I was in love!

So as I finished the book and even read the extra epilogue I sat speechless.  My heart beating (beat beat pause), and I just didn’t want it to end.  This seems to be a common theme with Colleen’s books.  She gets you hooked on characters that become a part of you.  I felt like Ridge and Sydney were my friends and at any point they could have turned to me and included me in the pages.  I feel like the worst part of finishing a Colleen Hoover book is that I feel like I’m going to miss my new friends.  Guess I’ll just have to re-read!    

I cannot wait for Ugly Love!!!   

Keep Reading and Listening my Friends!

I wish School Pride was a real Movie... I would watch it!

Between the Lines by Tammara Webber

As a child actor who did her fair share of commercials and made-for-tv movies, Emma has landed her big breakout role in an onscreen movie called School Pride, a present day Pride and Prejudice with her very own Mr. Darcy, the Reid Alexander.  This dual point of view book has both Reid and Emma wondering if their onscreen chemistry can swing right into real life magic.  Reid and Emma are confused about what their relationship should be and then there is the Graham complication.  Who is Emma supposed to be with?  Only one way to find out, read it!

I read Tammara Webber’s book Easy sometime last year and really enjoyed it.  I liked the characters and the flow of the book and so I quickly purchased Between the Lines on my Nook excited about reading more of Webber’s literary creations.  Then my ever growing TBR pile distracted me, since then, I have read books with friends, books with movie adaptations coming out, there is my library list, and books that have been recently released.  So, I have inevitably been sidetracked, but I always come back to my nook list.  Recently, I finished Maybe Someday, and I was doing some Facebook stalking and found Tammara Webber and saw that Easy is going to have a companion book called Breakable (um, I can’t wait!) and that reminded me that I had Webber books to read.  I started reading and quickly realized I was hooked.  I couldn’t wait to get off work to read, I couldn’t wait to read during my lunch break and it was difficult to stop reading when it was way too late to be up reading.

Why couldn’t I put this book down?  I loved the multi levels of the story and the themes that went along with it.  There was the acting “between the lines” theme where what was happening on camera was a lot like what was going on off screen.  I loved that the movie was an off-shoot of Pride and Prejudice and that’s what was happening between the characters.  Reid was the perfect Darcy and although Graham wasn’t playing Wickham in School Pride, he was a fantastic third to our love triangle (or is Reid Wickham and Graham is Darcy, can’t say, you’ll have to read it).

I disliked Reid the entire story.  I wanted to punch him straight in his obnoxious face.  I’ve read enough books in my life that I know Webber will change my final opinion of Reid, I just can’t see how, that is how much I dislike Reid. On the contrary, I really like Graham and from the beginning I wanted Graham and Emma to hook up from the first minute they met.  I also liked all of the actors and the relationships they built while filming School Pride and I even started to like Brooke.  She was just one of those mean girls with a horrible exterior and we come to find out she has a warm nougat center. 
I’m going to immediately start Where You Are, so look Webber up and no matter what, Keep Reading my Friends!