Just kidding, it is always reading season around here.
Nonetheless, spring is finally just a few weeks away. This is where I should say something about lions and sheep, but I’m not very good at doing what I should. Instead, I’m going to let you get to it.
Welcome to #TNReads’s Real Quick Reviews for Lazy Readers.
The Girls In The Picture
Written by: Melanie Benjamin
Released on: 1/16/18
Genre: Historical Fiction
Reviewed by: Leanne*
Rating: 4.5 Rising Stars
Recommended for: Movie Lovers, Feminists
Silent film star Mary Pickford started life as an economically disadvantaged Canadian named Gladys Smith. A stage actress from childhood, the birth of the film industry catapulted Mary to a level of fame no one had imagined in the early 1900’s. Melanie Benjamin’s The Girls In the Picture chronicle’s Mary’s career on screen and behind the camera, as well as her tumultuous personal relationships with family, husbands, and best friend and screenwriter, Francis Marion. Both Mary and Francis wielded an astounding amount of power as women in Hollywood from about 1915 into the 1930’s when the advent of sound in film changed the industry forever.
Melanie Benjamin is an accomplished historical fiction author, best known for Alice I Have Been and The Aviator’s Wife. From the complexities of female friendship, to the rise of mega studios and the arrogance of Charlie Chaplin, Benjamin’s novel is full of stunning details made even more fascinating by the current climate in Hollywood. It’s mind blowing how women in 1920 were writing, producing and directing films as well as running movie studios, while in 2018 they continue to fight for equal pay with their male counterparts. Buy It.
*arc provided by publisher in exchange for honest review
Text Me When You Get Home
Written by: Kayleen Schaefer
Released on: 2/6/18
Genre: Nonfiction
Reviewed by: Heidi*
Rating: 4 BFFs
Recommended for: Females with friends or who want them
“Text me when you get home” is a phrase unique to the female experience which makes it the perfect title for this book about female friendship. As author Kayleen Schaefer points out, when a female friend asks you to text them when you get home it means they can identify with the fear of being female. It means they care about you. It means they love you. It’s that love that Kayleen is focusing on. The kind of love that you can only get through female friendship.
I really enjoyed reading the historical and pop culture history of female friendship as told by Kayleen. I found myself nodding along to her musings and laughing in agreement to her anecdotes. If 2018 is the year of women, Text Me When You Get Home is the perfect book to start it off. Buy it.
*arc provided by publisher in exchange for honest review
Love, Hate, and Other Filters
Written by: Samira Ahmed
Released on: 1/16/18
Genre: Contemporary YA
Reviewed by: Angela
Rating: 3 Field Trips
Recommended for: Anyone that liked The Hate U Give
Maya is an Indian-American Muslim teenager trying to find the balance between her parents’ expectations of her– marriage young to a nice Muslim boy who lives close to them–and what she wants–college in NYC and a distant future marriage to whomever she falls in love with. This half of the book that had me thinking “eh, When Dimple Met Rishi did it better.”
But then the book takes a big turn when a terrorist attacks the state capital and the speculation in the news is that it is a terrorist attack by Muslims — because that is always the first assumption. Suddenly it is as though Maya and her family have targets on their backs. A classic case of one bad guy means the whole group is bad. One football player in particular really sets his sights on making her life as hard as he thinks “her people” have made his.
Love, Hate, and Other Filters was a pretty average YA romance novel until it wasn’t; definitely one of those books that make giving up on other books hard because “that one book that one time that turned around for the better!” I think that Samira was trying to show Maya going about her life as a normal teenager when a huge, life changing moment comes out of nowhere. But there was just…something that it was lacking. Overall, I would say worth a read, but give it time to be. Buy it.
The Belles
Written By: Dhonielle Clayton
Released on: 2/6/18
Genre: YA Fantasy
Reviewed by: Emily L.*
Rating: 3.75 makeup tutorials
Recommended for: Anyone who thinks the construct of beauty is ridiculous but still loves a good eyeshadow palette
I’d give this almost 4 stars. It took me a while to get into the story and even after finishing the book I felt like I had missed something, even though I read every page. I’m excited for the sequel because I want to know what happens and what these Belles can do! This story is so original and relevant. There’s so much to be said on the subject of beauty and our obsession with it. This series has so many places to go.
Also, I want a teacup elephant. Buy It.
*arc provided by publisher in exchange for honest review
There you have it! Real quick reviews for books we loved … real quick because we lazy. Hope you find something new to read. But in the meantime, tell us what you are reading in the comments or on twitter using #TNReads.
