Category: Books

Posted in Books, Reviews

Book Review – Flirty Little Secret (Jessica Lepe)

Posted on by Katie Night

Hey Dearies!

I have been on a “trying to read more this year than I did last year kick”. I also have a closet full of books that I’m trying to get through as well, however, I didn’t have this particular book just sitting on my shelf.

I’ll admit I was trying NOT to buy any more books because I’m honestly running out of room and when I saw this one and read what it was about, I was honestly curious to see how it turned out. Most of the time I would just buy the book and then it sits on my shelf because I forget about it, but I was determined to read this one.

Not to mention, this was the first book that has been published by this author, Jessica Lepe, which I never get a chance to find an authors very first published works, I never get THAT lucky.

So, the book is about Lucy, a guidance consulter at a high school who also as an online presents as @TheMissGuidedCounselor on Instagram where she gives out the best advice for her followers that no one really knows who she is. She also struggles with a lot of mental health. Which I can say I related to her so much in this book.

Then, you have Fletcher, who is a teacher who transferred to the same high school Lucy works. Little does he know that he has been also talking to Lucy on Instagram through his online present as @BravesGuy93. Fletcher also has his table of family issues that Lucy has been helping him out with.

Anyway, they have such an awkward cute meet, which I’m not going to spoil any details with that because its just hilarious and I honestly would act like Lucy if that ever did happen to me.

Also, I forgot to mention that the book is different chapters of both Lucy perspective and Fletchers perspective. Which I honestly quite enjoyed because a lot of books that I’ve read, its always based off of one persons perspective, but it was so interested to read both sides.

I don’t want to give out too many details as I think this book would be a great read for anyone who is a teen/young adult. The reason why I would recommend this to that age group is that I think it would benefit a lot to actually read what a modern romance is nowadays, especially if there is also mental health in the mix to all that.

I think a lot of people nowadays don’t want to work on relationships and would rather skip to another new person versus sitting down and working on the problems they have if they truly loved each other. I think this book does an amazing job talking about how mental health can affect you when being in a relationship when you aren’t at 100%.

One of the scenes in the book that I am referring to is the scene where Lucy and Fletcher have their very first date. When Fletcher comes to pick up Lucy, he finds he so overwhelmed with a list of stuff she has been delaying doing because of her mental health and instead of just leaving her to deal with them herself, he cancels the dinner plans and takes her around help her get the stuff she needs done, done.

In my eyes, that not only shows that Fletcher is willing to help Lucy in need, but it shows that he wants to be with her through the good, bad, and the ugly times. If I were Lucy, I would snatch that man up for myself since there aren’t many men that would do that, its slim pickings that will.

Overall, I really liked the book and found that I couldn’t put the book down, especially when the author was going back from Lucy to Fletcher, I wanted to know what happened next. Honestly, I wouldn’t be mad if there was a sequel, but I think how the book ended, it ended in a perfect way there wouldn’t need to be a sequel.

Honestly, I will be following this author because I loved her writing style and I related to Lucy in so many ways, which can be hard to do when sometimes authors want to give us the fairy tale hope of happily ever after, but life isn’t like that and I think Flirty Little Secret showed the side that we really don’t see with relationships nowadays.

Let me know in the comments if you have also gotten a chance to read this or if its on your book list to check out!

Posted in Books, Reviews

Book Review – The One & Only Ivan (Katherine Applegate)

Posted on by Katie Night

Hey Dearies! Since one of my goals for this year was to read more books for 2025, I’ve started trying to do that. Granted I haven’t been able to finish a book with how crazy the beginning of the year has been for me, but I finally finished a book!

So, The One & Only Ivan, I actually saw the movie first before I knew that there was a book. This is usually what happens to me, I’ll see the movie or series and then find out that it was based off of a book. At that point, I’ll either get the book or have it saved on my Amazon list and then forget its still there. 

I ended up getting The One & Only Ivan at my daughters book fair. I figured, why not. As adults, we don’t really tend to read books our kids are reading and I figured since my daughter has started reading, I figured why not read it. 

The book is actually very interesting because its in the perspective of Ivan, a gorilla. So, it was a very quick read because most of the pages were short and sweet. If you wanted to, you could finish this book in a day.

Basically, the book is about Ivan who is an act at a mall circus with a few other animals, including an elephant Stella. Also, can’t forget about the stray dog named Bob. Anyway, when a new act, a baby elephant named Ruby, comes into the picture, Stella has Ivan promises her that Ruby will not be stuck at the mall as a circus act. 

Ivan uses his creativity to communicate to the humans to get Ruby and him out of the mall. Which is pretty much the just of the story. The best part was that Ivan was based on a true story. Most of the story is fictional, but Ivan was based on a real gorilla.

I really enjoyed both the movie and the book, but there are some differences between the two. After reading the book, I noticed that the tone was different from the movie when it came to a few aspect. 

In the book, for example, Mack, the mall owner, is more aggressive in the book than in the movie, especially when it comes to when he’s training Ruby. In the book, he uses a “claw stick”, to train Ruby and Mack uses it in the book, but in the movie, he doesn’t. 

Other than that, I think Disney did a great job with the movie, they didn’t follow the book completely, but I’m kinda glad, I don’t want to spoil the book, but there was a scene that they described that I’m just glad Disney didn’t add in, it was a minor detail, but it was still heartbreaking to read. 

I will say if you do watch the movie, you might cry like I did at a few parts. They did a good job with the movie and every time I was reading parts where Bob was talking, all I could hear is Danny DeVito’s voice since he voices Bob in the movie. 

Have you read The One and Only Ivan? If so, what did you think of it and did you like the movie afterwards? Let me know down below!

The picture above is Ivan the gorilla, which was what the story was based on.

Posted in Books, Reviews

Book Review – Ever After (Laurel-Leaf Books)

Posted on by Katie Night

Hey Dearies! Back with another book review for you all! So, this one I never thought this was really a book, but it is and you can find it on Amazon.

Ever After is a motion picture that Drew Barrymore stars in as the main character, Danielle. This movie is one of my all-time favorite version of a Cinderella story, next to Hillary Duffs more modern version in A Cinderella Story.

The ‘Cinderella’ story has been told in many different ways in, by different writers and in different genres. In my opinion, ‘Cinderella’s story is one of the easiest recreations that any writer can do, but I’m always curious to see what writers come up with and try to do.

The same goes for any other fairy tale story, but I think this version is the best because not only is it in the perfect timeline and location to do it.

The theme of where this Cinderella story is set more like how the original Cinderella story started. Danielle lives with her father, her more died in childbirth and her father raises her the best he can. Of course, when she is 8, he re-marries Baroness Rodmilla of Ghent, otherwise known as her evil stepmother, and has two daughters of her own.

However, the reason why Rodmilla marries Danielle’s father is to get further up the line, or into the castle, basically wanting to live the life of riches. So, she really doesn’t care about Danielle, anyway, makes Danielle a ‘slave’ when her father dies.

I will say, Danielle puts up with a bunch of crap as a servant, but how she meets Prince Henry is even funnier than how the other versions. She ends up meeting him and throws apples at him thinking that he is stealing their horse.

The entire book is an exact play-by-play of the movie, which made me feel like I was just reading the movie and I ended up finishing it in a day. So, instead of watching the movie, you can read it, however, depending on how fast you read, it could take a day, perfect for passing the time.

There are only a few slight things that weren’t in the movie, but even if it wasn’t, it doesn’t change the way the book is, instead, I feel like it gives more of a backstory to some of the parts that are ‘rushed’ when created into a movie, or they were parts that they didn’t put into the movie.

Overall, this is an amazing book, even though it is literally the movie script, but in a book form and since I don’t own the movie, it’s not a bad way to pass the time. Perfect for a rainy or snowy day when you can’t go anywhere and want to snuggle up to a good book.

I also think that it would be a great bedtime story or a book that you could read to your kids before bed, you won’t finish it all before bed, but you could finish a chapter a night before bed no problem.

So, since I’ve reviewed the book, later in this month, I will be reviewing the movie because you know that’s what makes sense to do, right?

What do you think about the book? Were you as shocked as I to find out that there was a book to the movie? Let me know in the comments below.

 

 

Posted in Books, Reviews

Book Review – I Hate Myselfie & It Gets Worse (Shane Dawson)

Posted on by Katie Night

 

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Hey Dearies! Since I finally have finished both books, I figured I would do both of them in one review, just to make it easier! So, if you don’t know or haven’t been following me, I am a HUGE fan of Shane Dawson, I’ve been a fan since the first video I watched of his, which was ‘Fred is Dead’. 

After that, I followed him through his YouTube journey and to what he is currently doing now, however, I never got a chance to get his books until a year ago. Which is why this review is very overdue, but I don’t care because Shane is amazing!

So, when I finally got his books, I got more of an understanding of not just his past, but some of the challenges he had to face when he was younger and up now. As you look at him now, he does struggle with some of those challenges today, but I see him as more confident now, than he was before.

You see, when you watch YouTubers videos, you see what they want you to see, you don’t see the depression, anxiety, or any of their struggles outside of the YouTube community. Sadly, if anyone does bring light to what’s going on in the background, but Shane did in his book and just like how Brittani Lousie Taylor did in her book.

I don’t want to spoil the books for anyone that hasn’t had a chance to read it, so I just want to say that the first book was amazing and it gave me the insight to sort of how his childhood and teen years were like for him.

Also, he did a short film of the Prom chapter, which I will leave a link for here, if you would like to see them, they are hilarious!

Part 2

Also, I want to note that one of the reasons why I follow and another Shane is because we have the same problem that we share together, whether he knows it or not. We both have been struggling with our weight.

As like him, I’ve been struggling with it for as long as he has and it sucks. In high school, I got picked on and judged because I had the extra weight. I used to wear a sweatshirt on all the time because I didn’t want anyone to see how fat I am.

Even after having kids, I’m still struggling with it, but if there is one thing Shane has taught me, it is to love yourself and to not listen to those who judge you based on your weight. In other words, live your best life however you want to live it.

After his first book launched, then he had a second one, which was around the time of when he came out as bisexual, so one of the chapters talks about how he struggled as a kid on what type of gender he was attracted to.

I don’t know much about that because I’ve never had to deal with something like that, all I know, that it is a very hard thing to do, for those who struggle with who they are.

That essay made me understand that he wasn’t just struggling with his sexuality for a few months or years, but almost his entire life.

The very last chapter was a chapter that his mom wrote and I loved that he let her do that because if you grew up watching Shane, you grew up watching his mom and they would do skits and videos together.

Not to mention, he loved to surprise her and when he bought her to see Kathy Griffin, it was amazing for him to do that for her. I love the closeness that they had together as Mother and Son, which I hope I will have the same closeness to my daughter as they had.

Here is another short film that he made for the second book!

Overall, I loved both the books, there was a love of things that I didn’t know about Shane, or what he didn’t want our fans to see and I’m glad I know. It makes me love Shane and want to support him more and more!

One more thing, I just want to add, this has nothing to do with the books, but the friendship that he has with Jeffree Star I think is amazing and I wish I had a friendship like that!

Are any of you Shane Dawson fans? Or have you read his books? Let me know in the comments down below!

Posted in Books, Reviews

Book Review: Game Of Thrones (Book 1)

Posted on by Katie Night

Hey Dearies! So, as I’ve been getting back into reading, I started to read the infamous GOT books, I got them after the show had already aired, but that’s what usually happens when a book gets turned into a series or movie, either you read it before it turned into a live-action or you find out after the fact.

To me, the only series that I have read before they wanted to release a T.V. series or live-action was the House of Night Series, but those books will be for another time and its a rumor that I’m not 100% sure if they are doing or not.

Anyway, back to GOT. If you haven’t already seen this series, it’s about castles, dragons, kingdoms, but more suited for adults. The first book follows really closely with the first season, as I was reading this, I was also watching an episode that followed what I had read.

WARNING: Spoilers to come! Don’t read forward if you don’t want me to spoil it for you!

The first thing I want to say is that, if you are a fan of the series, they did a really good job of following the book, but to me, the book was really hard to get into because I’m not really used to reading books like this, meaning it does have a lot of big words and it took me a little bit longer to get into, but once Ned becomes the hand, it’s a lot easier.

The way the book is set up is that every chapter is a different person’s point-of-view. The best part is that chapters aren’t in a cycle, they are very random, first, you’ll be reading about Ned, then you’ll jump to Jon or Dany.

About halfway through the book, King Robert, who goes out hunting and ends up getting hurt badly, he dies in the first season and in the book. I was getting a little bit worry that he still wasn’t dead, but you have to remember, the book always has more detail than the T.V. Show.

I do want to say, after watching the series before reading the book and then watching the episodes that occur from what I read in the book, it really helped me to understand who the characters were and what the story is about.

Now that I’m rewatching the series as I read them, it does help me when I’m going through and reading each of the books. Which if you didn’t know, there are 5 books in the Game Of Thrones series.

So, for once, one of the books is spot on to the, I would say the first season of GOT. What did you think about the book? Have you read it or were you like me and found out after the fact? Let me know below!

Also, I want to note that these books take a lot of time to finish, so please be patient for me to get through the second book!

Posted in Books, Reviews

Book Review: A Sucky Love Story (Brittani Louise Taylor)

Posted on by Katie Night

I am a big Youtube fan, I’ve been watching Youtube since I was 13. Always wanting to start a channel of my own and really be myself. There were two big names that I used to watch on the daily: Shane Dawson and Brittani Louise Taylor.

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Ever since then, I’ve followed them both on social media, but we are going to talk about Brittani, first. The first video I watched of hers, was the mini two-part episode she did with Shane, ‘Emo Breakup.’

Here is the link, if you would like to see it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=st8-oYpI_FE

Brittani was one of those people who loved to show herself being herself, which is one of the reasons why I loved watching her videos. She gave me the inspiration to keep being myself. However, little did any of us followers knew, she had been going through something even more frightening. An abusive relationship.

Since she was going through a trial, she wasn’t allowed to say anything about what was going on in her situation, so her lawyer told her to write a book instead, which she did. Out came ‘A Sucky Love Story’.

I’m not going to go completely into details, but as a person who has been watching Youtube for a while, you never would’ve thought anything wrong would be happening in their lives.

Brittani was on Tinder, trying to find her ‘soul mate’, as she says in her book. She had a few failed attempts at Tinder, but was still hopeful, until she found Milos. At first, she didn’t like him, but over time, he changed everything about him to what Brittani was attractive too.

In the end, Brittani had gone through hell and back, figuring out that everything that he told her, was turning into a lie. At one point, multiple detectives and law enforcement officials said that the way Milos actions of him and his so-called ‘mother’, made them think to believe that they were going to try to human traffic her and their son.

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Brittani wanted to tell her story so that anyone who does start or is currently trying out online dating, just to make sure you know the signs and that you are careful who you meet. She wanted to make sure that no one goes through the same thing she had to endure.

My Opinion of the Book:

I couldn’t put it down, I had to keep on reading, so that I could find out the real truth and what really happened to her. She does an amazing job and had notes from when everything happened. I ended up getting teary towards the end of the book, but it was amazingly written.

I would 100% recommend it, but I highly recommend it to those that are thinking or already started online dating. It’s good to keep in mind what can happen to you when you meet someone online and how cautious you need to be when it comes to that.

At the end of Brittani’s relationship with Milos, the best thing that came out it all was her son Rex, who is now happy with his mother and grandmother. Brittani is still doing Youtube videos, whenever she has a chance, but because of her relationship, she has to alter her and her son’s life.

If you are one of those people who says, “If he is abusing you, just leave,” it’s a lot hard said than done because that person can manipulate you to change your mind and try to work out things together.

If you are in an abusive relationship, talk to someone and try to make a plan, there are all kinds of people and place who are willing to help, even if you have children, they want to help you. Here is the list of links if you want to reach out for help:

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If you want to check out Brittani’s channel and watch the videos she made when she was with Milos or what she is currently doing now:

https://www.youtube.com/user/BrittaniLouiseTaylor

If you want to get somewhat of a sneak peek to what really happens to Brittani, she did make a video with Shane Dawson explaining bits and pieces of what really happened to her, but in order to really find out what happened, you will need to read her book.

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Link for Shane Dawson’s video with Brittani: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sNuKpwX6Tz4