Pumpkinheads

My Thoughts:

-    When I saw that Rainbow Rowell and Faith Erin Hicks had made a book together, I was SO excited! I love both these authors, and I knew anything they did would be good. It didn't disappoint. 

-    Combine Rainbow Rowell's fab characters and wonderful friendships with Faith Erin Hicks's colorful and fun illustrations and you have a mix for magic. Add everything wonderful about fall, and you have Pumpkinheads. 

-    The story was very simple, and I really enjoyed it, I did. I just wanted a little bit more. I also wanted to know more about that hilarious goat. 

-    I loved the characters. I love the contrast between Deja's outgoing spontaneousness and Josiah's stick to the rules shyness. 

-    This is the perfect book for fall! The food, the pumpkins, the corn mazes, etc. This book has it all, and I loved it. 

-    I really hope there is another book in the works because I want to know more about Deja and Josiah as they go off to college. I can just imagine the shenanigans. If there isn't another Pumpkinhead book, then I hope these two authors collaborate again in the near future.

Landline

Goodreads Synopsis:    Georgie McCool knows her marriage is in trouble; it has been in trouble for a long time. She still loves her husband, Neal, and Neal still loves her, deeply — but that almost seems beside the point now.

Maybe that was always beside the point.

Two days before they’re supposed to visit Neal’s family in Omaha for Christmas, Georgie tells Neal that she can’t go. She’s a TV writer, and something’s come up on her show; she has to stay in Los Angeles. She knows that Neal will be upset with her — Neal is always a little upset with Georgie — but she doesn't expect him to pack up the kids and go home without her.

When her husband and the kids leave for the airport, Georgie wonders if she’s finally done it. If she’s ruined everything.

That night, Georgie discovers a way to communicate with Neal in the past. It’s not time travel, not exactly, but she feels like she’s been given an opportunity to fix her marriage before it starts...

Is that what she’s supposed to do?

Or would Georgie and Neal be better off if their marriage never happened?

My Thoughts:

-    I read this back in February, so I hope I can remember my thoughts and feelings.

-    This wasn't my favorite Rainbow Rowell book, but I still liked it. I didn't care for the characters, but the story gave me a lot to think about.

-    Georgie and Neal let their marriage drift like a lot of marriages do. Marriage isn't easy. You have to constantly work on it, and I liked that Georgie and Neal had some time apart to analyze their marriage and themselves. 

-    There was a lot of nothing that happened in the middle. It was just more of the same.

-    I wish Neal and Georgie didn't have kids. I didn't like the idea of what if they didn't get married because then their kids wouldn't have been born, and I think it was unfair to add them into the mix. Their existence shouldn't have been part of the equation. It bugged me that that was an option. 

-    This book made me think about my own marriage, and I wondered where I would be if I didn't get married. I'm happy with how my life is going. I have a wonderful husband and amazing girls. I wouldn't go back if I could. 

Attachments

Goodreads Synopsis:    "Hi, I'm the guy who reads your e-mail, and also, I love you . . . " 

From the award-winning author of Eleanor & Park and Fangirl comes a hilarious and heartfelt novel about love in the workplace.

Beth Fremont and Jennifer Scribner-Snyder know that somebody is monitoring their work e-mail. (Everybody in the newsroom knows. It's company policy.) But they can't quite bring themselves to take it seriously. They go on sending each other endless and endlessly hilarious e-mails, discussing every aspect of their personal lives.

Meanwhile, Lincoln O'Neill can't believe this is his job now- reading other people's e-mail. When he applied to be "internet security officer," he pictured himself building firewalls and crushing hackers- not writing up a report every time a sports reporter forwards a dirty joke.

When Lincoln comes across Beth's and Jennifer's messages, he knows he should turn them in. But he can't help being entertained-and captivated-by their stories.

By the time Lincoln realizes he's falling for Beth, it's way too late to introduce himself.

What would he say . . . ?

My Thoughts:

-    I didn't enjoy this one as much as Fangirl, but I still enjoyed it.

-    Why aren't there more guys like Lincoln around? I know this is fiction, but come on!

-    Jennifer and Beth were funny. Some of their comments cracked me up. I wish I had a friend to email and spill my life too. 

-    I could relate to Lincoln's geekiness. 

-    I LOVED the ending! It is completely unrealistic, but I loved it nonetheless. The tension about whether Beth and Lincoln get together is tangible, and the ending delivers!

-    This is not a YA. It is an adult book. The only bad thing in it is a lot of f-bombs, but the characters are in their upper 20s. They have jobs and have graduated college. 

-    This whole book just wasn't believable. Guys don't talk to girls the way Lincoln does. Things like this just don't happen! Again, I know it's fiction, but it still has to be believable fiction.

Fangirl

My Thoughts:

-    I really liked that the book was set in college with college aged people.

-    I laughed that Simon Snow is pretty much Harry Potter. The author really captured the craze and fandom. I love that Cath writes fanfiction! So awesome! I geeked out a little bit. 

-    Cather is a weird name. It kinda leads the mind to something else.

-    They say that a person who sees romantic relationships in everything has never had a true friendship. I can really see that in Cath. 

-    There was a lot of heavy language in the book, definitely for older teens or adults. 

-    I loved Levi! He was like a modern day Gilbert Blythe. I loved him. 

-    I really like how Cath and Levi's relationship grew. They started out as friends, and it somehow blossomed into something else. I loved that!

-    I also liked Cath's relationship with the other characters, and there were some complicated ones. Wren and the dad were supports for Cath, but they were also not stable. Reagan was my favorite! She was fun and hilarious.

-    I liked that Cath and Wren dealt with things in different ways, and it the book showed the consequences of their actions. Wren was on a path of destruction, and Cath needed to come out of her shell. 

-    Overall, this was a wonderful and fun book. I should have read this sooner.