Monday Minis – April 8th

New month, new mini reviews! I’ve been really busy lately (science conferences, people visiting me, prospective graduate students visiting our program) so I haven’t had a ton of time to read but I’ve manage to finish Pride and Prejudice (which I’d been working on for forever!) and a few shorter romance/contemporary books.

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My Favorite Half-Night Stand by Christina Lauren
on December 4, 2018
Genres: Romance
Pages: 385
Format: eBook
Goodreads

From the New York Times bestselling author that “hilariously depicts modern dating” (Us Weekly) comes a sexy romantic comedy about online dating, and its many, many fails.

With a world-famous speaker at their university, Millie Morris and her four woefully single male colleagues make a pact that they’ll all find dates. Unfortunately, Millie has more success helping them make matches online than she does navigating the onslaught of lewd pics in her own feed. But when she creates a fictional name for a new account, Millie finds herself vying for the online attention of a man she sees every day in the flesh.

This was so fun and cute and fluffy and I read it in like three hours or something. Though sometimes I’m wary of best friends to lovers, I liked it (loved it) in this case. I liked that Millie had to grow throughout the book and even at the end made the choice to start seeing a therapist. Normalize therapy in books!!! I think it can be useful for so so many people. I hope my library has more books by the author duo because this was a good in between happy book for reading between heavy scifi/fantasy lol.

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
Published by Penguin Classics on November 6, 2008
Genres: Classics, Romance
Pages: 435
Format: Hardcover
ISBN: 0141040343
Goodreads

When Elizabeth Bennet first meets eligible bachelor Fitzwilliam Darcy, she thinks him arrogant and conceited; he is indifferent to her good looks and lively mind. When she later discovers that Darcy has involved himself in the troubled relationship between his friend Bingley and her beloved sister Jane, she is determined to dislike him more than ever. In the sparkling comedy of manners that follows, Jane Austen shows the folly of judging by first impressions and superbly evokes the friendships,gossip and snobberies of provincial middle-class life.

I feel like I’ve conquered a beast. Not in the way that it was an evil beast lol just in that it was truly a challenge. I’m not used to reading classics, so I had a lot of trouble with the writing style. But I switched over to the audiobook, and I think that helped a lot. Maybe my audio processing for older style language is just better than my visual processing, who knows. Anyway! It was also fun via audiobook bc I’ve already seen the movie (the Kiera Knightly one) so the scenes from the movie kinda played out in my head when reading them. Mr. Collins was so much worse in the book than in the movie LOL it was amazing. And dang, Lady Catherine is SAVAGE. I liked that you could see how people’s feelings evolved. Also, this book is obviously about people’s perceptions and how they can be skewed, and I feel like that is something that tbh people nowadays don’t really think about. People are so set in their ways even though they may be completely wrong. It’s hard to really give this a rating because I feel like objectively it is a really amazing book, I just didn’t connect with it as much as a lot of people I think! But definitely worth a read, and I did very much enjoy it.

Josh and Hazel's Guide to Not Dating by Christina Lauren
on September 4, 2018
Genres: Romance
Pages: 320
Format: eBook
Goodreads

Hazel Camille Bradford knows she’s a lot to take—and frankly, most men aren’t up to the challenge. If her army of pets and thrill for the absurd don’t send them running, her lack of filter means she’ll say exactly the wrong thing in a delicate moment. Their loss. She’s a good soul in search of honest fun.

Josh Im has known Hazel since college, where her zany playfulness proved completely incompatible with his mellow restraint. From the first night they met—when she gracelessly threw up on his shoes—to when she sent him an unintelligible email while in a post-surgical haze, Josh has always thought of Hazel more as a spectacle than a peer. But now, ten years later, after a cheating girlfriend has turned his life upside down, going out with Hazel is a breath of fresh air.

Not that Josh and Hazel date. At least, not each other. Because setting each other up on progressively terrible double blind dates means there’s nothing between them...right?

In terms of enjoyment, I’d probably give this like a 4.5!!! Because dang I had fun while reading it. I loved Josh and Hazel’s relationship from the beginning. I loved that Hazel is unashamedly herself always. It’s really great to see people embracing who they are and not being afraid that people will judge them. I also love seeing a relationship where the two involved have very different personalities, but still click with one another. Idk, that’s one of my favorite things. It was also amazing that Josh was not white!!! A hot Korean boy! (man). And that his relationship with his parents was so important to him – so good to see that. And his parents speaking in Korean, and making him Korean food. I just really love seeing that on the page. I also loved that this had a great sibling relationship, and great parent and son/daughter relationships.