Susan’s Book Blog

  How to Fake It in Hollywood  by Ava Wilder Pub date: June 14, 2022 🎥 4 stars out of 5 🎬 Grey Brooks is on a mission to keep her career afloat now that the end of her long-running teen TV show has her (unsuccessfully) pounding the pavement again. With a life-changing role on the line, she’s finally desperate enough to agree to her publicist’s scheme: fake a love affair with a disgraced Hollywood heartthrob who needs the publicity, but for very different reasons. Ethan Atkins just wants to be left alone. Between his high-profile divorce, struggles with drinking, and grief over the death of his longtime creative partner and best friend, Ethan has slowly let himself fade into the background. But if he ever wants to produce the last movie he and his partner wrote together, Ethan needs to clean up his reputation and step back into the spotlight. A gossip-inducing affair with a gorgeous actress might be just the ticket, even if it’s the last thing he wants to do. Though their jui...

  See You Yesterday by Rachel Lynn Solomon Publishing May 17, 2022 3.5 stars out of 5 From the author of Today Tonight Tomorrow comes a magical romance in the vein of Groundhog Day about a girl forced to relive her disastrous first day of college—only to discover that her nemesis is stuck in the time loop with her. ⌛⌛⌛ This could be called Barrett Bloom and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day. It’s her first day at college and… everything has gone wrong. Not just wrong. Epically, disastrously bad. The day culminates in her nearly burning a frat house down. But luckily (or not) when she wakes up the next day, it’s not the next day. It’s the same day as before. She gets a do over. But Barrett needs a redo for more than just her first day of college. She’s kind of running from her past, which adds an extra element of interest to the story and some emotional weight. Barrett is smart and witty but her brusk demeanor eventually got on my nerves a bit. She tends to be somewhat h...

  Part of Your World by Abby Jimenez Published April 19, 2022 by Forever/Grand Central Publishing 5 stars out of 5 After a wild bet, gourmet grilled-cheese sandwich, and cuddle with a baby goat, Alexis Montgomery has had her world turned upside down. The cause: Daniel Grant, a ridiculously hot carpenter who’s ten years younger than her and as casual as they come—the complete opposite of sophisticated city-girl Alexis. And yet their chemistry is undeniable. While her ultra-wealthy parents want her to carry on the family legacy of world-renowned surgeons, Alexis doesn’t need glory or fame. She’s fine with being a “mere” ER doctor. And every minute she spends with Daniel and the tight-knit town where he lives, she’s discovering just what’s really important. Yet letting their relationship become anything more than a short-term fling would mean turning her back on her family and giving up the opportunity to help thousands of people. Bringing Daniel into her world is impossible, and yet ...

One of my favorite books is Glitterland by Alexis Hall. About a struggling bipolar depressive writer who finds love in the last place - and person - he’d expect. It’s so beautifully written and conveys the most beautiful messages. I highly recommend reading it. Below are a few quotes I highlighted on my kindle and wanted to share. When I highlight quotes in a book, they tend to fall into one of a few categories: lines that made me laugh, lines that I thought were profound or particularly well-written, or lines that I could strongly relate to. The quotes below fall into these categories. I’ll let you decide which ones they might be. Have you read Glitterland? If so, share your favorite lines in the comments below!

The Unplanned Life of Josie Hale by Stephanie Eding Pub: May 3, 2022 Sourcebooks Casablanca // 5 stars out of 5 // Josie Hale's life has been going downhill for a while now. Between her cheating husband, a messy divorce, and moving back home with her parents, she almost feels like she's starting all over again. Then she finds out she's pregnant, which is the icing on the cake of things in her life she hadn't planned for. Feeling all kinds of emotions (happy, overwhelmed, and especially hungry), Josie visits the local county fair to satisfy her cravings and greet the nostalgia of her childhood. Her two best friends from high school were the last people she expected to see, but Ben Romero and Kevin Lawrence are certainly a joyful sight for sore, crying eyes. When they realize each of their lives is a tangled mess, who better to help sort it out than each other? They make a pact to move in together and turn their lives around. And with a baby on the way, Josie will take as...

This May End Badly by Samantha Markum Published: April 12, 2022 5 stars out of 5 ☙ ☙ ☙ Pranking mastermind Doe and her motley band of Weston girls are determined to win the century-long war against Winfield Academy before the clock ticks down on their senior year. But when their headmistress announces that The Weston School will merge with its rival the following year, their longtime feud spirals into chaos. This May End Badly is a story about friendship, falling in love, and crossing pretty much every line presented to you—and how to atone when you do. ☙ ☙ ☙  I thought this was an excellent book. It was so much more than a fake dating trope and a high school prankster. The characters were great. The plot was fantastic, the premise unique. Great writing. The opening scene was hilarious. It definitely set a certain tone for the rest of the book. The feminist Girl Power vibe I got from the brief Weston school history lesson early in the book was especially satisfying when it circled ...

  Galatea: A Short Story by Madeline Miller Originally published July 2013 This edition published March 2022 ☙ ☙ ☙ First, click here for a quick primer on the Pygmalion & Galatea myth. Pygmalion was a sculptor. He created in statue form the most beautiful woman he'd ever seen and fell in love with her. Then Aphrodite brought her to life.  It is a tale that has been told and retold over the centuries by artists such as Ovid, Rodin, George Bernard Shaw, and many others. If you've seen My Fair Lady, you've seen an interpretation of it. Here, Miller's Galatea , as she states in the afterword, is a response to Ovid's version in his Metamorphosis,  which has rather misogynist undertones. In Miller's version, we discover that Galatea (living in a slightly more modern, if unspecified, time period) has spent the last year hospitalized, being told to rest, continuously gaslighted and tranquilized by medical staff. Her husband (Pygmalion) comes to visit but isn't ...

  You Made a Fool of Death with Your Beauty by Akwaeke Emezi Pub Date: May 24, 2022 🌺 5 stars out of 5 🌺 ☙ ☙ ☙ Feyi Adekola wants to learn how to be alive again. It’s been five years since the accident that killed the love of her life and she’s almost a new person now—an artist with her own studio and sharing a brownstone apartment with her ride-or-die best friend, Joy, who insists it’s time for Feyi to ease back into the dating scene. Feyi isn’t ready for anything serious, but a steamy encounter at a rooftop party cascades into a whirlwind summer she could have never imagined: a luxury trip to a tropical island, decadent meals in the glamorous home of a celebrity chef, and a major curator who wants to launch her art career. She’s even started dating the perfect guy, but their new relationship might be sabotaged before it has a chance by the overwhelming desire Feyi feels every time she locks eyes with the one person in the house who is most definitely off-limits—his father. This...