Welcome to another #BuddyReads. What's a Buddy Read? Me and a fellow book nerd select a stand alone title that we'll either read, listen to, or a combination of both, then we chat about it on the podcast! This is a candid and spoiler-filled convo covering women's issues and adult topics, so you've been warned!

Classy Green, friend, fellow book lover, audiobook listener, and Shelf Addiction reviewer joined me on the podcast to discuss The Idea of You, by Robinne Lee. We both listened to the audiobook.

​If you've already read The Idea of You, leave a comment and let us know what you thought about it.

Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin/Tantor Audio
Release Date: June 13, 2017
Format: Paperback/MP3 Download
Pages: Paperback: 372 | Audio Length: 11 hrs 55 mins
Narrator: Robinne Lee
Source: Scribd/Audible
Genre: Romance, Contemporary Fiction
Bookmark Rating: 2 - Tamara | 3 - Classy
​
Synopsis:​ When Solène Marchand, the thirty-nine-year-old owner of a prestigious art gallery in Los Angeles, takes her daughter, Isabelle, to meet her favorite boy band, she does so reluctantly and at her ex-husband’s request. The last thing she expects is to make a connection with one of the members of the world-famous August Moon. But Hayes Campbell is clever, winning, confident, and posh, and the attraction is immediate. That he is all of twenty years old further complicates things.

What begins as a series of clandestine trysts quickly evolves into a passionate relationship. It is a journey that spans continents as Solène and Hayes navigate each other’s disparate worlds: from stadium tours to international art fairs to secluded hideaways. And for Solène, it is as much a reclaiming of self, as it is a rediscovery of happiness and love. When their romance becomes a viral sensation, and both she and her daughter become the target of rabid fans and an insatiable media, Solène must face how her new status has impacted not only her life, but the lives of those closest to her.

​Today is the first episode of my new podcast feature called #BuddyReads. This is where me and a fellow book nerd either read or listen to or a combination of the both, discuss a stand-alone title.  As this is a book discussion, of course, there is a spoiler alert in effect.

Classy Green, friend, fellow book lover, audiobook listener, and Shelf Addiction reviewer joined me on the podcast to discuss Broken Things written by Lauren Oliver! I read the paperback ARC and Classy listened to the audiobook.

​If you've already read Broken Things, leave a comment and let us know what you thought about it.

Publisher: HarperCollins/HarperAudio 
Release Date: October 2, 2018
Format: Hardcover/MP3 Download
Pages: Hardcover: 408 | Audio Length: 9 hrs 50 mins
Narrators:​ Sarah Drew, Erin Spencer, Saskia Maarleveld
Source: Book Expo/Audible
Genre: YA Mystery/Thriller
Rating: 2 bookmarks (from both Classy and Tamara)

Synopsis: It’s been five years since Summer Marks was brutally murdered in the woods. 

Everyone thinks Mia and Brynn killed their best friend. That driven by their obsession with a novel called The Way into Lovelorn the three girls had imagined themselves into the magical world where their fantasies became twisted, even deadly.

The only thing is: they didn’t do it. 

On the anniversary of Summer’s death, a seemingly insignificant discovery resurrects the mystery and pulls Mia and Brynn back together once again. But as the lines begin to blur between past and present and fiction and reality, the girls must confront what really happened in the woods all those years ago—no matter how monstrous.​

Publisher: Ballantine Books/Random House Audio
Release Date: February 6, 2018
Format: MP3 Download
Pages: Hardcover: 400 | Audio Length: 12 hours 57 mins
Narrator:​ Jon Lindstrom
Source: Audiobook Publisher
Genre: Mystery, Thriller
Rating: 2 bookmarks

Synopsis: Nate McHale has assembled the kind of life most people would envy. After a tumultuous youth marked by his inexplicable survival of a devastating tragedy, Nate left his Adirondack hometown of Greystone Lake and never looked back. Fourteen years later, he's become a respected New York City surgeon, devoted husband, and loving father.

Then a body is discovered deep in the forests that surround Greystone Lake.

This disturbing news finally draws Nate home. While navigating a tense landscape of secrets and suspicion, resentments and guilt, Nate reconnects with estranged friends and old enemies, and encounters strangers who seem to know impossible things about him. Haunting every moment is the Lake's sinister history and the memory of wild, beautiful Lucy Bennett, with whom Nate is forever linked by shattering loss and youthful passion.

As a massive hurricane bears down on the Northeast, the air becomes electric, the clouds grow dark, and escalating acts of violence echo events from Nate's own past. Without a doubt, a reckoning is coming--one that will lay bare the lies that lifelong friends have told themselves and unleash a vengeance that may consume them all.

*This audiobook was provided by  the publisher in exchange for a honest review..

​The story begins with Nate McHale, aka “The Storm King”, taking the bus back home to Greystone Lake after being away for fourteen years. He is taking the bus because hurricane Medea is making her way toward his boyhood home and riding the bus is safer than flying. We learn that during his absence he has become an oncologist, a husband and father. He is weary about returning, but there are some questions he needs answered. The town and the lake hold terrible memories from his youth and Nate is unsure about what will be revealed during this reunion. Nate’s parents and baby brother drowned in the lake when their car was hit by another driver and Nate was the sole survivor.  The lake is also the keeper of fond memories, secrets and tragedy that he once shared with his high school buddies and his first love, Lucy Bennett.

Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Release Date: May 2, 2017
Format: Hardcover
Pages: 314
Source: Publicist
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Rating: 2 bookmarks

​Synopsis: On the cusp of turning fifty, Adam Sharp likes his life. He’s happy with his partner Claire, he excels in music trivia at quiz night at the local pub, he looks after his mother, and he does the occasional consulting job in IT.

But he can never quite shake off his nostalgia for what might have been: his blazing affair more than twenty years ago with an intelligent and strong-willed actress named Angelina Brown who taught him for the first time what it means to find—and then lose—love. How different might his life have been if he hadn’t let her walk away?

And then, out of nowhere, from the other side of the world, Angelina gets in touch. What does she want? Does Adam dare to live dangerously? 

* This book was provided by BookSparks in exchange for an honest review.

I wanted to love this book and I did, for the first third. Sharp taut writing, quirky characters and scenes and an intriguing plot line had me eager to set myself down for a great read. Unfortunately the plot got in the way as well as Simsion’s heavy handed reliance on music as a structural device and some overt sexism. 

‘The Best of Adam Sharp’ is essentially a romance novel detailing Adam Sharp’s 22 year frustrated love affair with Angelina Brown. Brown and Sharp meet and immediately fall hard for each other, separate due to their inabilities to make a commitment, and reunite 22 years later for an exploratory week-long tryst in France. Will Adam and Angelina finally be together? Should they? Simsion creates a complicated setting for Adam and Angelina to to decode and explore during their week in France abounding with the sensual delights of a gorgeous villa, fine foods and world class booze, intense sexual attraction  - and Angelina’s husband, Charlie. 

I'm back with another book review. This was another book club read and I wouldn't have chosen this for myself.  It earned a 2 bookmark rating on my scale. Read on to find out why I didn't care for it too much.

​Publisher: Orange Hat Publishing
Release Date:  October 16, 2014 
Format: ebook
Pages: 274 (ebook)
Source: Amazon
Genre: Science Fiction
Review Date: October 24, 2016
Rating: 2 bookmarks

Synopsis: In the distant future, due to medical and technological advances, the human race has all but eradicated the threat of disease. Poverty, pestilence, murders and war are fading from memory. The human body is completely repairable with extensive breakthroughs of nanotechnology. Building projects, new developments and scientific innovations are completed with unequaled precision. By all accounts, the global civilization has never been in better shape. The world is perfect, planned and thriving. This is all due to one company-LifeSpan. Saviors to mankind, they have quelled everyone's most elusive fear: When am I going to die? Thanks to LifeSpan technology, everyone knows exactly how long they will live, and are given a precise expiration date at birth. The Collectors arrive to escort you away at the time of expiration. Family members say farewell, accepting your expiration as scientific evolution. All seems well with Cole as he begins a new career at LifeSpan with a promising future . . . until he is swept into a rebellious movement, ready to expose LifeSpan as the most damaging organization ever to enslave the human race. Will Cole join their fight, or stand against them?

Based on the reviews, some really loved this book, and I'm confused why. I had several issues. Let's start with the pacing and plot. First, it bothered me that I felt the plot was choppy. Scene transitions were incomplete at best. One moment we're here, the next we're there. No rhyme or reason. Maybe some different title headers or biffernt breaks in the chapter may have helped...I don't know. It just didn't flow.

Today's book review is a retelling, a pretty old one in fact as Beauty was originally published in 1978. I like a good retelling, unfortunately this book didn't hit he mark for me. Find out why.

Publisher: Harper Teen
Release Date: June 30, 1993 (first published October 25, 1978)
Format: ebook (Kindle)
Pages: 256
Source: Amazon 
Genre: Fairy Tales, YA Retellings
Review Date: June 27, 2016
Rating: 2 bookmarks

Synopsis: A strange imprisonment...

Beauty has never liked her nickname. She is thin and awkward; it is her two sisters who are the beautiful ones. But what she lacks in looks, she can perhaps make up for in courage.

When her father comes home with the tale of an enchanted castle in the forest and the terrible promise he had to make to the Beast who lives there, Beauty knows she must go to the castle, a prisoner of her own free will. Her father protests that he will not let her go, but she answers, "Cannot a Beast be tamed?"

Robin McKinley's beloved telling illuminates the unusual love story of a most unlikely couple, Beauty and the Beast.

Beauty is a pretty basic retelling. It's everything you'd expect of Beauty and the Beast, but not much more.  Don't get me wrong, it's not bad book by any means, but there just wasn't anything special about it.  There were some magical elements that could have been really cool if they were developed more. In general, I liked Beauty's character, and I liked her sisters as well.  The Beast was a pretty flat character, but that was't entirely unexpected as the story was mostly about Beauty and her growth throughout the story.

There was a lot of traditional 1978-ish things going on, not very progressive at all. Beauty really thought she was plain and unattractive all the way up until the end. Meet the Beast, fall in love, break the spell, and ta-da, you are now gorgeous! I wish the message wasn't so old school, but it is what it is.

I have a Shelf Addiction book club read for you today. We met online and chatted about this last week. Read on to see what I thought about this fairy-tale retelling with lots of buzz around it.

Publisher: Balzer + Bray
Release Date: February 16, 2016
Format: ebook
Pages: 387
Source: Library
Genre: Fairy-tale Retelling, YA Fantasy
Review Date: April 18, 2016
Rating: 2 bookmarks

Synopsis: Lorelai Diederich, crown princess and fugitive at large, has one mission: kill the wicked queen who took both the Ravenspire throne and the life of her father. To do that, Lorelai needs to use the one weapon she and Queen Irina have in common—magic. She’ll have to be stronger, faster, and more powerful than Irina, the most dangerous sorceress Ravenspire has ever seen.

In the neighboring kingdom of Eldr, when Prince Kol’s father and older brother are killed by an invading army of magic-wielding ogres, the second-born prince is suddenly given the responsibility of saving his kingdom. To do that, Kol needs magic—and the only way to get it is to make a deal with the queen of Ravenspire, promise to become her personal huntsman…and bring her Lorelai’s heart.

But Lorelai is nothing like Kol expected—beautiful, fierce, and unstoppable—and despite dark magic, Lorelai is drawn in by the passionate and troubled king. Fighting to stay one step ahead of the dragon huntsman—who she likes far more than she should—Lorelai does everything in her power to ruin the wicked queen. But Irina isn’t going down without a fight, and her final move may cost the princess the one thing she still has left to lose.

I've included a quick YouTube video featuring the author discussing The Shadow Queen. The video really had me excited for the title so it saddens me to say that this book came in at a 2.5.  Since I don't do half ratings, I seriously had to weigh if I should round up or round down.  I hate to say it, but I went with rounding down and let me tell you why. First, I hate to report this rating as this book was made my highly anticipated book likes of 2016.  So of course naturally had high hopes. Second, not only is this book inspired by Snow White, it IS Snow White with dragons and witches.  Sadly I didn't find that the world building was strong enough to support the fantasy aspects.