Friday Reads: I'm Not You Manic Pixie Dream Girl by Gretchen McNeil

So I didn't think I was going to have a Friday Reads today because I haven't had much reading time this week. However, this book arrived on my doorstep yesterday at 3pm and by 10pm last night, I'd finished it. It's been a LONG time since I've finished a book in one evening. (It's 350 pages so not exactly short.) So yay, a Friday Read!

First, let's talk briefly about the Manic Pixie Dream Girl trope in case you haven't heard of it. It was a term coined by movie critic Nathan Rabin (which he now regrets inventing) that describes a female character in movies that is "a fantasy figure who 'exists solely in the fevered imaginations of sensitive writer-directors to teach broodingly soulful young men to embrace life and its infinite mysteries and adventures.'" (see the whole article here.)

Basically this is the flighty, zany, kind of outrageous girl who convinces the broody hero to embrace life or whatever. The problem is that the character exists solely for the purpose of helping the male protagonist and doesn't have any goals of her own. So it's not a positive term. What comes to mind for me is Kate Hudson's character in Almost Famous. 

There's a list here if you want to see more movie examples. But this is the back story that brings us today's Friday Read: I'm Not Your Manic Pixie Dream Girl by Gretchen McNeil. I picked this up partly for the title, but also because I enjoyed TEN by this author, which was a horror based on And Then There Were None. McNeil writes the 80s-90s style teen horror that I adored growing up (think Christopher Pike, Lois Duncan) so this is a little bit of a departure from her normal genre, but I still enjoyed it a lot.

Here's the back cover summary:

Beatrice Maria Estrella Giovannini has life all figured out. She's starting senior year at the top of her class, she’s a shoo-in for a scholarship to M.I.T., and she’s got a new boyfriend she’s crazy about. The only problem: All through high school Bea and her best friends Spencer and Gabe have been the targets of horrific bullying.

So Bea uses her math skills to come up with The Formula, a 100% mathematically guaranteed path to social happiness in high school. Now Gabe is on his way to becoming Student Body President, and Spencer is finally getting his art noticed. But when her boyfriend Jesse dumps her for Toile, the quirky new girl at school, Bea realizes it's time to use The Formula for herself. She'll be reinvented as the eccentric and lovable Trixie—a quintessential manic pixie dream girl—in order to win Jesse back and beat new-girl Toile at her own game.

Unfortunately, being a manic pixie dream girl isn't all it's cracked up to be, and “Trixie” is causing unexpected consequences for her friends. As The Formula begins to break down, can Bea find a way to reclaim her true identity and fix everything she's messed up? Or will the casualties of her manic pixie experiment go far deeper than she could possibly imagine?

Buy the book: Amazon | B&N | Indiebound

So this book has a fun premise and absolutely reads like a movie. I felt like I'd watched a teen comedy when I was done (which isn't a bad thing.) Very light and funny. Nothing gets too dark. If you're thinking about it for your pre-teen or teen kids, there's no sex in it, just a few f-bombs. If you're thinking about it for yourself, it's an enjoyable ride and will make you want to go do your own research on the manic pixie dream girl trope. Also, it has a good female empowerment message, which is always welcome. :)

So, what's your Friday Read?

Roni's Recs: One True Loves by Taylor Jenkins Reid

There are books I enjoy. There are books I like. There are books I tell you about. Then there are books that I devour in every free minute I have, tell everyone they NEED to read it, and then go buy the author's backlist. This is the latter. And it's been a while since I've had one of those.

I started reading One True Loves by Taylor Jenkins Reid on a plane last Friday on the way to the Daytona 500. Then I went to to two full days of auto racing. And I still finished this book on Monday before the plane ride home. I brought he book to the race, y'all, and read on the breaks during caution laps. That's the kind of book this was.

Yes, it was so good, I read it during caution laps at the Daytona 500. 

Now, this book wouldn't be shelved in the romance section because it's technically not a genre romance. But it IS romantic. And it IS a love story. And it does have an ending you'll be happy with. So I guess it's technically "women's fiction" but that term never feels right to me. What does that even mean? So let's just say, this could've been a movie with a 90s era Meg Ryan in it. 

And man the hook on this one. Here's the back cover:

From the author of Maybe in Another Life—named a People Magazine pick—comes a breathtaking new love story about a woman unexpectedly forced to choose between the husband she has long thought dead and the fiancé who has finally brought her back to life.

In her twenties, Emma Blair marries her high school sweetheart, Jesse. They build a life for themselves, far away from the expectations of their parents and the people of their hometown in Massachusetts. They travel the world together, living life to the fullest and seizing every opportunity for adventure.

On their first wedding anniversary, Jesse is on a helicopter over the Pacific when it goes missing. Just like that, Jesse is gone forever.

Emma quits her job and moves home in an effort to put her life back together. Years later, now in her thirties, Emma runs into an old friend, Sam, and finds herself falling in love again. When Emma and Sam get engaged, it feels like Emma’s second chance at happiness.

That is, until Jesse is found. He’s alive, and he’s been trying all these years to come home to her. With a husband and a fiancé, Emma has to now figure out who she is and what she wants, while trying to protect the ones she loves.

Who is her one true love? What does it mean to love truly?

Emma knows she has to listen to her heart. She’s just not sure what it’s saying.

Now, I'll warn you. There are sad parts. It is hard to witness Emma's grief, especially if you have a partner you love deeply. BUT you know from the start (the first chapter gives it away) that her husband survives. She just doesn't know that for years. So you might get teary, but you also know he's going to make it.

There are so many things I loved about this book. It was a very fast read and there were so many sweet, poignant moments. There's a bookstore and I love books about book people. There are two really great guys to root for and break your heart over. There are funny parts. Endearing parts. There's jumping around in time (a favorite writing technique of mine.) And this book makes you ask yourself questions: What would I do in this situation? How would I feel? Is there really such thing as one true love?

I can't convey how much I enjoyed this book and it's been a long time since I've raved about anything, so basically, just go buy it, read it, and thank me later. :)

Grab your copy: Amazon | B&N | Indiebound

Favorite quote:

"Good things don't wait until you're ready. Sometimes they come right before, when you're almost there. And I figured when that happens, you can let them pass by like a bus not meant for you. Or you can get ready. So I got ready."

What are you reading this weekend?

Read & Watch Picks for March with Agent Sara Megibow

Can you believe it's March already? Welcome back for the March edition of the Read & Watch Challenge! How'd your February challenge go? (I'll update with how mine went at the end of the post.)

This month's theme is DIFFERENT. If you're new here, pop on over to this post to see how the challenge works and which themes we'll be using.

This month, I have a special treat for you. My dear agent, Sara Megibow of KT Literary, is here to give us picks for March.

One of Sara's jobs as a literary agent is to sell books to publishers, so she gets to sift through all the query letters and chapters from aspiring writers and then picks the best of the bunch to represent. So, in other words, when she gives a book recommendation, you should probably listen. She clearly has excellent taste--after all, she IS responsible for plucking Crash Into You out of the pile when I was trying to get published. ;)

Here's a little more about Sara:

Sara Megibow is a literary agent with nine years of experience in publishing. Sara specializes in working with authors in middle grade, young adult, romance, erotica, science fiction and fantasy and represents New York Times bestselling authors Roni Loren and Jason Hough and international bestselling authors Stefan Bachmann and Tiffany Reisz. Sara is LGBTQ-friendly and presents regularly at SCBWI and RWA events around the country.

So let's welcome Sara and she what she's chosen for DIFFERENT:

Sara's Book Pick 

FORGED IN DESIRE by Brenda Jackson

Sara’s Thoughts: I chose FORGED IN DESIRE by Brenda Jackson to be my #Different book because I read a lot of sexy contemporary romance and small town contemporary romance but not a lot of romantic suspense. I’ll let you in on a little secret – I frequently struggle with suspension of disbelief in this sub-genre. The bad guys are coming! Danger is everywhere! And…they stop to have sex. That’s the point at which most romantic suspense books lose me. When I saw FORGED IN DESIRE at my B&N I was hopeful this book would avoid that hiccup. And it did!

“Strong Enough To Protect Her. Bold Enough To Love Her.” = that’s the tagline for FORGED IN DESIRE. And wowza – that’s the perfect description for this amazing, amazing book! I loved it! The balance between chemistry and plot was superb and I was simultaneously cheering for Margo and Lamar to beat the bad guys and to...you know…get together. Bravo!

I’ve decided that a solid dose of heart-pounding suspense goes very well with a solid dose of heart-pounding chemistry. So glad I gave romantic suspense another try and I heartily recommend FORGED IN DESIRE!

Back cover:

Strong enough to protect her. Bold enough to love her. 

When good girl Margo Connelly becomes Lamar "Striker" Jennings's latest assignment, she knows she's in trouble. And not just because he's been hired to protect her from an underworld criminal. The reformed bad boy's appeal is breaching all her defenses, and as the threats against her increase, Margo isn't sure which is more dangerous: the gangster targeting her, or the far too alluring protector tempting her to let loose. 

Though Striker's now living on the right side of the law, he's convinced his troubled past keeps Margo out of his league. But physical chemistry explodes into full-blown passion when they go on the run together. Surrendering to desire could be a deadly distraction—or finally prove that he's the only man qualified to keep her safe, and win her love.

Sara also has two bonus picks from her client list to look out for!

Juno Rushdan has a trilogy of romantic thrillers coming from Sourcebooks in 2018. I pitched A LONG WAY TO FALL (Book #1 in the series) as a sexy Jason Bourne and it’s even more high-action and high-suspense than what we find in romantic suspense. Follow Juno at: www.junorushdan.com

And, for Different, follow Don Allmon whose debut M/M elf + orc romance, GLAMOUR THIEVES, comes out this summer. Elf + Orc? Now THAT’S #Different! www.donallmon.com

Sara's Movie Pick

Mamma Mia

I recently saw Mamma Mia at The Marriott Theatre in Lincolnshire with my dad – it was amazing! The singing and dancing and colors and general happiness was utter joy. Good news = it comes in movie-format too (starring Meryl Streep, Pierce Brosnan and Amanda Seyfried). I’m calling this my #Different because it’s a play and a movie and there’s bellbottoms and zoot suits. Want love? Want to sing along to Abba? Mamma Mia it is!

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Roni's Book Picks

The theme DIFFERENT could be interpreted in many different ways, but I decided to choose book recommendations that if I were suggesting the books to you in person, I would offer a disclaimer of "It's a little odd/different/out there but trust me, it's awesome!" :)

The Last Hour of Gann by R. Lee Smith

Okay, so this is a LONG ASS book and there is an ALIEN LIZARD HERO and those two things along would normally make me want to run. I don't read sci-fi stuff. I don't typically like non-human heroes. I would've never picked this book up if not for a recommendation. But it ended up being one of my favorite reads of that year. I did an extensive review on it here. But this is one that I almost don't want you to read the back cover because you're going to want to run and you shouldn't, lol. It's a romance. It's horror. It's sci-fi. It's super dark. It's compelling. I read it in five days and it's long, people. LONG. So anyway, you can't get more different than this one.

Back cover:

It was her last chance:

Amber Bierce had nothing left except her sister and two tickets on Earth’s first colony-ship. She entered her Sleeper with a five-year contract and the promise of a better life, but awakened in wreckage on an unknown world. For the survivors, there is no rescue, no way home and no hope until they are found by Meoraq—a holy warrior more deadly than any hungering beast on this hostile new world…but whose eyes show a different sort of hunger when he looks at her.

It was his last year of freedom:

Uyane Meoraq is a Sword of Sheul, God’s own instrument of judgment, victor of hundreds of trials, with a conqueror’s rights over all men. Or at least he was until his father’s death. Now, without divine intervention, he will be forced to assume stewardship over House Uyane and lose the life he has always known. At the legendary temple of Xi’Matezh, Meoraq hopes to find the deliverance he seeks, but the humans he encounters on his pilgrimage may prove too great a test even for him…especially the one called Amber, behind whose monstrous appearance burns a woman’s heart unlike any he has ever known.

From R. Lee Smith, author of Heat and Cottonwood, comes an epic new story of desire, darkness and the dawn that comes after The Last Hour of Gann.

WARNING: This book contains graphic violence, strong sexual content and explicit language. It is intended for mature readers only.

One Cut Deeper by Joely Sue Burkhart

I read this one a while back, but it has a serial killer hero. Yes, the hero is a serial killer. And it works. (I've been heard it compared to Dexter, but I haven't seen that show so I can't say for sure.) Here's the review I did back when I read it.

Back cover:

Her needs are dark. His are dangerous.

Charlie MacNiall has been bringing his beautiful king shepherd to the vet clinic where Ranay Killian works for the better part of a year. She doesn't realize he's been slowly wooing her. She certainly has no idea that he picked her deliberately--that she is to become his. A broken heart and a desperate desire to be dominated make her the perfect victim.

His perfect victim.

Charlie fixes Ranay, testing her emotional limits while pushing her sexual boundaries past anything she'd imagined possible. Pain is their shared pleasure...until Charlie disappears and Ranay is all but destroyed.

The FBI says the man she loves is a serial killer. Ranay can't deny there's a darkness in Charlie, a monstrous hunger that drives him to the brink. She even believes he could kill. But Charlie's hunger is what bonds them--it's the foundation of their love. Would he actually kill her?

I could say, "And now for something completely different." But really, we're already out there, aren't we? ;) So next isn't a romance, it's a horror book. But for anyone who has ever been in an IKEA, you'll be able to relate and laugh. I thought this was such a clever idea for a story. And the paperback looks like an IKEA catalog with the drawings of furniture (and eventually torture devices) within the pages. :) Here's my full review.

Horrorstor by Grady Hendrix

Back cover:

A traditional haunted house story in a thoroughly contemporary setting, Horrorstör comes packaged in the form of a glossy mail order catalog, complete with product illustrations, a home delivery order form, and a map of Orsk’s labyrinthine showroom. It’s “a treat for fans of The Evil Dead or Zombieland, complete with affordable solutions for better living.”—Kirkus Reviews. 

Something strange is happening at the Orsk furniture superstore in Cleveland, Ohio. Every morning, employees arrive to find broken Kjerring bookshelves, shattered Glans water goblets, and smashed Liripip wardrobes. Sales are down, security cameras reveal nothing, and store managers are panicking.

To unravel the mystery, three employees volunteer to work a nine-hour dusk-till-dawn shift. In the dead of the night, they’ll patrol the empty showroom floor, investigate strange sights and sounds, and encounter horrors that defy the imagination.

Charlotte Stein romances 

If you're looking for straight up romance pick, anything by Charlotte Stein will serve you well. Charlotte writes really quirky erotic romances that often have a forbidden element in them and have BETA HEROES (now that's different, right?). Her author voice is also very unique. These are sexy and funny almost always have awesomely awkward characters. If you're not sure where to start, I recommend Sheltered (awkward virgin heroine) or Forbidden (priest hero).

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Roni's Watch Picks

If you want a creepy ass show to watch, this one fits the bill. Weird and spooky and strange, Channel Zero: Candle Cove from the SyFy channel kept me entertained. If you don't like scary, skip this one.

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What I'll be Reading and Watching This Month:

Reading:

This one is a little different for me because I don't read a lot of what's labeled "women's fiction", which always struck me as kind of an odd genre delineation. What does that even mean? But, I've heard this recommended in a few different places and the premise intrigues me.

What Alice Forgot by Liane Moriarty

Back cover:

Alice Love is twenty-nine, crazy about her husband, and pregnant with her first child. So imagine Alice’s surprise when she comes to on the floor of a gym (a gym! She HATES the gym) and is whisked off to the hospital where she discovers the honeymoon is truly over—she’s getting divorced, she has three kids, and she’s actually 39 years old. Alice must reconstruct the events of a lost decade, and find out whether it’s possible to reconstruct her life at the same time. She has to figure out why her sister hardly talks to her, and how is it that she’s become one of those super skinny moms with really expensive clothes. Ultimately, Alice must discover whether forgetting is a blessing or a curse, and whether it’s possible to start over…

Watching:

One Day at a Time on Netflix

I've only watched the first episode, but I thought it was really cute. I remember the original show from the 70s that it's based on, but this is a different take (see how I worked in the theme word? ;) ). Here's the summary from Wikipedia:

This Netflix-original comedy-drama is inspired by Norman Lear's 1975 series of the same name. This time around, the series follows the life of Penelope, a newly single Army veteran, and her Cuban-American family, as they navigate the ups and downs of life. Now a nurse, Penelope is raising two strong-willed children. When faced with challenges, Penelope turns to her "old-school" mother, and her building manager, who has become an invaluable confidant. The series offers a contemporary take on what life looks like in both good and bad times, and how loved ones can help make it all worthwhile.

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Update from February:

I was such a fail at the challenge in Feb. However, I have a good excuse. :) This month was RITA judging, which is when romance writers get a stack of 5-7 books that we have to read in about 6 weeks and judge for the RITA contest. I can't publicly post about those books, so it doesn't show that I've read them, but I've been busy reading those and didn't get a chance to read my challenge books.

I also only got to watch an episode or two of Gilmore Girls. It's been a crazy busy month. Hopefully, y'all were more successful at the challenge this month than I was, lol.

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All right, that's what I've got for you for this month's challenge. I'd love to hear what you plan to read and watch for the theme DIFFERENT! :) 

Friday Reads: This Is How It Always Is by Laurie Frankel

It's been a quiet week on the blog because I've been fingers-to-keyboard all week while I FINISHED BY THE HOUR! Woo-hoo! This is the second book in the Pleasure Principle (Off the Clock) series. I hope to reveal the cover to y'all next week and to get it up for pre-order. Release date right now is April 2017 and that should stay on track. So yay! New book!

But today, I have a book to recommend for you if you're looking for something a little different to read. In between writing this week, I read Laurie Frankel's This Is How It Always Is. I'd call this Contemporary Fiction if you're looking to pin down a genre. I found out about this book on the Modern Mrs. Darcy blog and the plot intrigued me. What to know what it's about?

Back cover:

This is how a family keeps a secret…and how that secret ends up keeping them.

This is how a family lives happily ever after…until happily ever after becomes complicated.

This is how children change…and then change the world.

This is Claude. He’s five years old, the youngest of five brothers, and loves peanut butter sandwiches. He also loves wearing a dress, and dreams of being a princess.

When he grows up, Claude says, he wants to be a girl.

Rosie and Penn want Claude to be whoever Claude wants to be. They’re just not sure they’re ready to share that with the world. Soon the entire family is keeping Claude’s secret. Until one day it explodes.

Laurie Frankel's This Is How It Always Is is a novel about revelations, transformations, fairy tales, and family. And it’s about the ways this is how it always is: Change is always hard and miraculous and hard again, parenting is always a leap into the unknown with crossed fingers and full hearts, children grow but not always according to plan. And families with secrets don’t get to keep them forever.

So this book is about a transgendered child and her family, but it's about so much more than that. It's about secrets--when to keep them, when they become damaging, what happens when you get caught up in them. The family in this novel is big and loving and well-intentioned. This isn't about a family not accepting their child. Quite the opposite. But all that acceptance and support and sheltering from the world can also create its own problems. I loved the nuanced way the topic was handled. 

I also just adored the family. The characters were people you feel like you could hang out with. Funny and imperfect and good-hearted. The whole book just had this warm feel to it even though it tackles some serious topics. I devoured it in a few days.

Some of my favorite quotes...

The mother on sending her son to school when he started to transition to wearing girl clothes.

"She wanted to go to school with him. She wanted to don a gang jacket and sit in the back of the classroom with a bat so that everyone understood what would happen to them if they messed with her kid." 

Haven't we all felt that way at some point as parents?

And on what people say when your child is dealing with something. I've had this very thought because my son is on the autism spectrum and I've gotten these kinds of comments. I appreciate kind words but we're not doing some different kind of brand of parenting. We're doing what everyone tries to do: be the best parent to meet the needs of their individual child/children.

"Or they would lay a hand on her arm and say, 'You're so brave,' or 'You're such a good mother. You're doing so well with all this.' Rosie appreciated the support but wasn't sure parenting ever really qualified as brave--or maybe it always did--because it's not like you had a choice."

And on time passing with kids. This one made my heart clench.

"Parent time is magic: downtempo and supersonic all at once, witch's time, sorcerer hours. Suddenly, while you aren't paying attention, everything's changed."

Also, I loved this from the Author's Note at the back of the book. This is how my writing process is as well.

"The novelist in me is inspired by how much raising children is like writing books: You don't know where they're going until you get there. You may think you do, but you're probably wrong. Corralling and forcing them against their will to go where you first imagined they would isn't going to work for anyone involved. Never mind you're the one writing and raising them, they are headed in their own direction, independent of you. And scary though that is, it's also how it should be."

So if you're looking for something that will warm you heart, make you think, and is a page-turner, grab this one.

Buy the book: Amazon | B&N | Indiebound

Friday Reads: Texas Destiny by Lorraine Heath

This Friday I have a bit of a throwback book for you. I've mentioned before that I didn't grow up reading romance, so I'm playing catch up with some of the oldies but goodies. And one thing I couldn't ever remember reading was a historical western romance. So I decided to give one a try, and I'm so glad I did.

I'm not sure what originally made me download Texas Destiny by Lorraine Heath. I believe someone recommended it to me but my memory fails me. But I saw it when I was skimming through my Kindle titles, seeing what I was in the mood for, and I thought, "Oh, well, I'll read a few pages and see if it captures me." You know how this goes, I didn't stop and finished the book in about two days, lol.

So this one has a mail-order bride set-up in the American West. The brother of the man the heroine's supposed to marry picks her up and is supposed to bring her on the month-long journey to the ranch. Well...guess how that works out? ;)

I really liked the hero in this one. Houston Leigh was injured, half of his face disfigured in the war, and he's a guy who would just rather keep to himself. And though he does some brooding, he's gentler than your normal brooders. Tough on the outside (he's a real deal cowboy after all) but he's more beta hero on the inside. Sweet and kind. And tortured. Because what good is a hero if he's not a tortured one? ;) (Oh, how I love my tortured heroes.)

The heroine, Amelia, also holds her own. She's tough, kind, and good-natured. You root for her.

What was particularly interesting about this book for me is that it *felt* kind of steamy but there really wasn't much sex on the page. Usually, I like my romances burning hot, but this felt like the right amount and tone for this story. And there's a scene with a tent and a latern that totally made me smile.

Be warned that the Kindle version of this did have a few formatting issues, at least on my Kindle. There weren't always breaks between dialogue so I'd stumble on figuring out who was speaking. And there were some paragraph breaks missing. But it wasn't enough to distract too much. I think that's just the nature of the beast when pre-ebook stories are converted into electronic form. 

Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed this book and have bought the next one in the series because the two brothers in the story are really strong side characters, especially the youngest, who will get his story in the third book.

About the book:

She was his brother's wife...

Arriving on the Fort Worth train, Miss Amelia Carson, mail-order bride, had never met Dallas Leigh, the Texan she promised to marry. The tall cowboy at the station wasn't Dallas. He was Houston, Dallas's brother, sent to escort her on the rugged three-week trek to the ranch where Dallas waited. Brought up in war-ravaged Georgia, Amelia thought Dallas's letters made Texas sound like heaven, a place for her dreams to grow with the right man beside her.

And his only love...

By all appearances, Houston Leigh would hardly be considered the "right man." The war he survived had scarred him inside and out, and he was little competition for his handsome brother. But from the moment Houston met Amelia, he knew she possessed the courage this wild land needed. She had eyes that could see past his wounded face to his soul. And he would fight any man—except his brother—for her heart. Now he and Amelia were riding down dangerous trails, sleeping under the stars, and God help them, they were falling in love. 

Find the book: Amazon | B&N | Goodreads

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Book of the Month Club

It's that time of the month again--the Book of the Month club picks come out! I have to say I get excited each month to see what's chosen. This month I had a hard time deciding so I ordered three of the five. 

I chose Behind Her Eyes because it's supposed to have some crazy shocking ending. I chose Perfect Little World because it sounded like a fascinating premise that will play to my psychology nerd background. And last I picked The Possessions because it sounded really unique and interesting with a heroine who is a medium and falls for the guy who's dead wife she's channeling. Who doesn't want to know how that's going to turn out?

If you want to sign up for your own trial membership, check it out here. (That is an affiliate link which will earn me free books, but I'm a paying member and they haven't asked me to post about it. I genuinely just enjoy the service.)

That's all I've got for you this Friday. If you missed it earlier in the week, the theme word for February's Read & Watch Challenge was featured along with a ton of recommendations for books, TV shows, and movies. Be sure to check it out. :)

Hope you have a relaxing weekend!