011-014 Short Story Round Up

So I went  on a bit  of a short story  binge the  last few days. All of them being super short  don't really warrant their  own posts but I wanted to make sure that I did post that I read them.

011 -  How (Not) to Play With Magic (Cindy Eller 0.5)  by  Elizabeth A. Reeves.  
This is a prequel short story to set  up  her series  of books featuring Witch/baker Cindy Eller. It's a totally cute  funny read  that  introduces you to Cindy two of her sisters and  Cindy's roommates that I assume will play  the main parts in the series. I enjoyed  the story and plan to try  and check out the first full length book soon. I gave this 3 out of 5 stars on goodreads. 

012 - Baehrly Beginning: A Goldie Locke and the Were Bears Short Story (Goldie Locke and the Were Bears 0.5)  by Elizabeth A. Reeves.
This is a tie into the Cindy Eller  book. Another sister  of hers Goldie Locke   is  on a quest to avenge  her father's death (different father then Cindy) This one wasn't quiet as funny as the Cindy one but it's definitely  interesting and  another one that I will  likely try to continue at some point.  They  both seem like the books would be fun easy reads. And I am always game for those. I gave this 3 out of 5 stars on goodreads. 

013 - The Right Wrong Number by Barbara Delinsky.
This was a cute little love story about how  you can find just the person you didn't realize you  needed when  you make a simple  mistake like dialing the wrong number. It will make you trust  fate and love. I gave  it 3 out  of 5 stars. 

014 - What She Really Wants by Barbara Delinsky 
While the first short story above was about suddenly finding love this one  is about  if  it's still there years  later and what a couple learns about each other after so many years  of marriage.  It was a good read. I gave  it   3 stars out 5. 


Thanks to this  little binge and the fact that they count as a book each on good reads I am 3  books ahead  on my goal. So yay for a buffer.

I am currently reading Relatively Famous and Just in Time. 
               


 

010 - Best Friends Forever by Jennifer Weiner

"Addie, please." More tears dripped down her cheeks. "Don't be so hard."
"Oh, please," I muttered...and that was as far as I got. 'You broke my heart' were the words that had risen to my mouth, but I couldn't say them. That was what you said to a boyfriend, a lover, not your best friend. She'd laugh. And I'd had enough of being laughed at. I'd worked hard to get to a place where it didn't happen anymore, where I didn't move through life like a walking target, where it was just me and my paints and brushes and my big empty bed every night. "You weren't a good friend," I said instead.

I did such a back and forth between  loving and hating this book while I was reading it. I think in the end I like  it. I don't love  it. I still hate  parts of it and a little bit of  how Weiner wrote both the main female characters but  as the book goes on you start to understand why she does.

I think  maybe why I had such a  hard time with this book for most of it  is that I see myself  in Addie. Maybe a little too much on some levels and that's uncomfortable. But especially and for the  purpose  of this  in the way she  handles friendships. This friendship with  her  best friend since childhood Valerie.

As a child Addie  feels shy awkward and socially not  able to put herself out there. And then she has a girl  move in across the street; Val who for all  her own  reasons and issues is looking for a friend just as much as Addie  is so they bond quickly and fiercely.  The  thing  is as time goes on and they  grow up and things  change.... everything seems (to Addie) become easier for Val and while they  remain best friends they grow apart and Addie feels left  behind. 

I know that feeling. I had  my  own "Val" growing up. We were quickly  best friends and while we remained friends for years  there  came a time when I knew  and felt like her "back up"  best friend for whatever reason. 

This is how  Addie spends much  of  high school.  And then senior  year everything  completely falls apart for the two  of them and their friendship when something happens to Val. Val would rather forget and just move  in. Addie though speaks the truth, thinking she's doing what's best for  her  best friend.  Because  of that  one  night and both their choices afterwards they  don't speak for  more then fifteen  years. 

The  book  is the story  of what brings  them back together and full circle from that night  all those  years  earlier.  It's an up and down  cycle for  me  of weather  these two  should even  be friends again for most of the book. Again though that could be  me and  my feelings. So I have to  give it to Weiner for writing a story that as  angry  as  it  made me in spots  is definitely  realistic (most of the time....) to what  it takes to  bring two friends  back together.  

The book is funny and  sad (very sad  in spots; the  whole first part was  utterly  depressing to  me. It gets better though) and touching. There are parts that seem a bit  out of left field and even seem out  of character  for the women later on  in the book  but I can  overlook them for the most  part. 

I gave this 3 stars  on good reads.

Currently  reading: Relatively Famous  by  Heather C. Leigh.

009 - Here's the Story: Surviving Marcia Brady and Finding My True Voice by Maureen McCormick

“From what I've been able to figure out, all of us are here together and we need one another. We must celebrate each others differences. Learning to ask for help is as important as learning the value of helping other people. I believe all the people in my life have been there for a reason, and I hope I have been in theirs for a reason as well. It's taken me a while, but I feel truly blessed. After all is said and done, I love life, I love people, and I love being me.”

I grew up  watching The Brady Bunch. I am great at Brandy Bunch Show  trivia  and I even already knew most of the  behind the scenes stuff that she shared about  her time on the show. Nothing  in that area was all that shocking to me.  But, her more personal and private  life that she opened up about in the book shocked me. It saddened  me and it  made me admire  her more for  what she managed to  live  through and pull herself out  of. 
My heart  breaks for her  for what she was still going through at the time the book was written/published (2009) with her brother and her father. I hope they were able to find some  sort  of peace with everything.

As with most  tv star biographies  we learned that everything  was  not nearly as perfect in real life as  it was  for their  on screen characters. Maureen  spent almost 30 years feeling depressed  stressed and  like she was  or very well may go  insane. She struggled with a huge drug  problem for many  years. All of this  fuled  many years  of up and downs for  her. When she was finally able to find  her way through those nightmares slowly  becoming the person she and the people that  loved her always  knew she was  deep down  inside  her  life was again turned upside down when  her  mother got sick and  the events that followed that with her brother Kevin and her father  are probably worse in a lot of ways then  her  years struggling with drugs and anxiety.  It was  brave  of  her to share her story  of the elder abuse of her father at the hands of  her brother Kevin. I am not sure  what the outcome  of this was as  it was still going on at the time  the book came out.  I do hope the family was  able to find peace though. 

This was a good read. It wasn't really the light funny  read I was going  for as a distraction from the other book I am reading but  it was still a page turner and I enjoyed  it. I gave it 3 out  of 5 stars on goodreads. 

I am still currently  reading Best Friends Forever  by Jennifer Weiner 

I am still  on track with  my goal  of 50 books this year.