Tag: book

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: 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 Writing Works

Rewriting My Story (Friday’s Short Stories)

Posted on by Katie Night

Rewriting My Story

Hey Dearies! So, this one is about heartbreak and how it is to start all over after a relationship ends. Hope you all like it! Let me know in the comments!

A woman who is deeply in love is crushed when her fiancé breaks up with her. “In life, every ending is just a new beginning,” says Dakota Fanning’s character in Uptown Girls.

Natalia never thought she would have to start all over again, but after being crushed by the love of her life, she didn’t know what to do or where to start. It was so unexpected, but she still didn’t understand why.

Collin Mather was someone she never expected to fall in love with, but she did. Having met him freshman year of high school, he was apart of the baseball team and hockey, always busy with sports that she was surprised that he had time with her.

They met at one of the home games of his, Natalia was a reporter for the school newspaper and since no one else that day wanted to go to the baseball game, she ended up going. Natalia never minded sitting by and watching the sports games, as long as she got the score and a little bit of the action, she would be set.

She watched as Collin stepped up to the plate, getting ready to swing his bat, it was the end of the game, as Natalia watched intently as he glared at the pitcher. They needed this win to be in the school finals, they were tied with the other team and just needed a home run.

Natalia sat on the edge of her seat as she wanted Collin to hit the home run, she needed this article to be on the front paper before school. The writing was always her passion, but she wanted to be more than just a side-stage reporter, she wanted to be apart of something huge, and her school winning to go to the finals was what she was waiting for.

The pitcher threw the ball and Collin’s bat hit the ball, as he threw it to the ground and ran as fast as he could to first base. The ball was way out in the field, too far for the outfielders to catch it as he hit first base and ran to second.

Before they even managed to get the ball, Collin They needed this win to be in the school finals, they were tied with the other team and just needed a home run. Natalia sat on the edge of her seat as she wanted Collin to hit the home run, she needed this article to be on the front paper before school.

The writing was always her passion, but she wanted to be more than just a side-stage reporter, she wanted to be apart of something huge, and her school winning to go to the finals was what she was waiting for.

The pitcher threw the ball and Collin’s bat hit the ball, as he threw it to the ground and ran as fast as he could to first base. The ball was way out in the field, too far for the outfielders to catch it as he hit first base and ran to second.

Before they even managed to get the ball, Collin had already hit the third base and was working on getting the home run they needed. Quickly the opposite team grabbed the ball and threw it to third, Collin threw himself to slide into home base, just in time before the ball was thrown to home base.

They had won the game and made it on the finals. Natalia couldn’t believe it, but when she looked at Collins’s face, as the team collapsed around him, she could tell that this was something that he was waiting to happen. He was only a sophomore, but he was the first to take the school to the finals.

After they won, Natalia went to the team and started to interview the captain of the team, Jerry, Collin’s older brother. As she was taking some notes down, she noticed from the corner of her eye, Collin was watching her.

The next school day, they managed to print out the paper early that morning and lots of people were paying to read the main article, her article. Natalia was smiling as she handed out the papers.

“I can’t believe you managed to pull this off!,” Joyce said as she handed out another paper, Natalia smiled at her best friend.

“I know, but the best part was, I think I have a crush on Collin,” Natalia whispered as Joyce giggled, but then turned back to the front of the stand where Collin was standing right there.

“Speaking of crushes, I’m going to go out back and get more copies.” Joyce winked at Natalia as she did not want her to leave her by herself with her crush.

Collin smiled as Natalia felt her cheeks get warmed, she had never had a crush before. “Natalia, isn’t it?” Collin asked as she nodded.

Joyce came back with the extra copies of the paper Natalia handed one of them to Collin, as she returned the smile. “I’ll see you around,” Collin said, as he started heading down the hall.

“Wait till he reads the article, he’ll be head over heels in love with you,” Joyce smirked as Natalia covered her eyes.

Later that day as Natalia was leaving her newspaper club meeting, she was shocked to find Collin waiting outside the room for her. She slowly walked by him, gripping her books tightly around her chest.

She feared the worst, thinking that he might have not liked the article and wanted to confront her about what she had written.

“Natalia, wait a second,” Collin said, catching up next to her. Natalia turned to face him as he looked like he was about to speak, but she stopped him from doing so.

“I’m sorry if you didn’t like the article that I wrote. Did I say something wrong? Or was I not supposed to put your nickname that your teammates call you. I’m really sorry, I can go back and see about getting it changed-,”

Collin had put a finger on her lips to shush her. “Nothing is wrong with your article. I loved it.”Natalia’s face started to warm up, she was so thankful that he did like the article, but what else did he want with her?

“T-Thank you.” She managed to speak after his finger away. “No problem. The finals are next weekend, are you going?” He asked as she nodded. “Alright, how about if we win again, I get to take you out on a date?”

You can probably guess what happened next, Collin won the game and Natalia went on her first date with him. After that, they started dating and stayed together after high school.

Natalia never thought that she would be alone, after 6 years together, he finally popped the question. Never did she think that two weeks before the wedding was planned to happen, he would call it off.

She was heartbroken, but he wanted to focus on his career, while she wanted to start a family. Not to mention, she had found out that there was someone else he wanted to be with instead, too.

When that was all said and done, she felt empty, didn’t understand why she wasn’t good enough for him or what she did wrong to make him not love her anymore, but it gave her a new meaning of life. A fresh start.

She always wanted to be a writer and decided to write about her relationship, changing the names and town, she wrote her heart out about it all. The first date, first kiss, first time together, and so much more.

After she had finished, she sent it to her publisher and once it was published, it became the next bestseller, it sold out more than Twilight and Hunger Games combined. She got her dream and after finishing the book, she came to understand and realized why he left her and that it’s always okay to be alone because sometimes that\’s the best.had already hit the third base and was working on getting the home run they needed. Quickly the opposite team grabbed the ball and threw it to third, Collin threw himself to slide into home base, just in time before the ball was thrown to home base

They had won the game and made it on the finals. Natalia couldn’t believe it, but when she looked at Collins’s face, as the team collapsed around him, she could tell that this was something that he was waiting to happen. He was only a sophomore, but he was the first to take the school to the finals.

After they won, Natalia went to the team and started to interview the captain of the team, Jerry, Collin’s older brother. As she was taking some notes down, she noticed from the corner of her eye, Collin was watching her.

The next school day, they managed to print out the paper early that morning and lots of people were paying to read the main article, her article. Natalia was smiling as she handed out the papers.

“I can’t believe you managed to pull this off!” Joyce said as she handed out another paper, Natalia smiled at her best friend.

“I know, but the best part was, I think I have a crush on Collin,” Natalia whispered as Joyce giggled, but then turned back to the front of the stand were Collin was standing right there.

“Speaking of crushes, I’m going to go out back and get more copies.” Joyce winked to Natalia as she didn’t want her to leave her by herself with her crush.

Collin smiled as Natalia felt her cheeks get warmed, she had never had a crush before. “Natalia, isn’t it?” Collin asked as she nodded.

Joyce came back with the extra copies of the paper as Natalia handed one of them to Collin, as she returned the smile. “I’ll see you around,” Collin said, as he started heading down the hall.

“Wait till he reads the article, he’ll be head over heels in love with you,” Joyce smirked as Natalia covered her eyes.

Later that day as Natalia was leaving her newspaper club meeting, she was shocked to find Collin waiting outside the room for her. She slowly walked by him, gripping her books tightly around her chest.

She feared the worse, thinking that he might have not liked the article and wanted to confront her about what she wrote. “Natalia, wait a second,” Collin said, catching up next to her.

Natalia turned to face him as he looked like he was about to speak, but she stopped him from doing so. “I’m sorry if you didn’t like the article that I wrote. Did I say something wrong? Or was I wasn’t supposed to put your nickname that your teammates call you. I’m really sorry, I can go back and see about getting it change-,”

Collin had put a finger on her lips to shush her. “Nothing is wrong with your article. I loved it.”

Natalia’s face started to warm up, she was so thankful that he didn’t like the article, but what else did he want with her? “T-Thank you.” She managed to speak after his finger away.

“No problem. Finals are next weekend, are you going?” He asked as she nodded. “Alright, how about if we win again, I get to take you out on a date?”

You can probably guess what happened next, Collin won the game and Natalia went on her first date with him. After that, they started dating and stayed together after high school. Natalia never thought that she would be alone, after 6 years together, he finally popped the question.

Never did she think that two weeks before the wedding was planned to happen, he would call it off. She was heartbroken, but he wanted to focus on his career, while she wanted to start a family. Not to mention, she had found out that there was someone else he wanted to be with instead, too.

When that was all said and done, she felt empty, didn’t understand why she wasn’t good enough for him or what she did wrong to make him not love her anymore, but it gave her a new meaning of life. A fresh start.

She always wanted to be a writer and decided to write about her relationship, changing the names and town, she wrote her heart out about it all. The first date, first kiss, first time together, and so much more.

After she had finished, she sent it to her publisher and once it was published, it became the next bestseller, it sold out more than Twilight and Hunger Games combined. She got her dream and after finishing the book, she came to understand and realized why he left her and that it’s always okay to be alone because sometimes that’s the best.

Let me know in the comments of what you thought about this short story! These will be posted every Friday and if you have a prompt or idea that you would like me to try out, let me know in the comments!