North of Beautiful

North of Beautiful by Justina Chen Headley

Book Description:
Terra's body is very nearly perfect, except for the port-wine birthmark on her left cheek, which several surgeries have failed to remove. It is the teen's final semester of high school and she looks forward to college where she can study art and escape from her bullying, verbally abusive father. Over the Christmas holidays, Terra and her mother get into a car accident and meet Jacob, a Goth Chinese boy with a cleft lip, and his adoptive mother. The women immediately strike up a supportive friendship, while Terra and Jacob grow close. When Terra's brother, who lives in Shanghai, sends her and her mother tickets to visit, and Jacob's mother wants to try to track down Jacob's birth mother, they decide to travel together. But what about Erik, Terra's enamored but slightly clueless boyfriend? Headley's ambitious novel is written in a beautifully crafted style that flows seamlessly. The characters travel to China, where Jacob, Terra, and their mothers begin to confront their insecurities. Terra and Jacob are flawed, complex, and memorable characters. The message that true beauty and strength come from within is dominant, but this is also a moving and satisfying story in its own right.

My Thoughts:  I really enjoyed this book. Another break from the usually fantasy or sci-fi that I enjoy, this book was quite refreshing. I adored the characters and seeing their development over such hard trials life had thrown at them. It was a real feel good book watching the characters overcome things while seeing the relationship with others come to life. It's a pretty quick read with a sweet plot that I would definitely recommend!

Something Borrowed

Something Borrowed by Emily Giffin


Book Description: Rachel White is the consummate good girl. A hard-working attorney at a large Manhattan law firm and a diligent maid of honor to her charmed best friend Darcy, Rachel has always played by all the rules. Since grade school, she has watched Darcy shine, quietly accepting the sidekick role in their lopsided friendship. But that suddenly changes the night of her thirtieth birthday when Rachel finally confesses her feelings to Darcy's fiance, and is both horrified and thrilled to discover that he feels the same way. As the wedding date draws near, events spiral out of control, and Rachel knows she must make a choice between her heart and conscience. In so doing, she discovers that the lines between right and wrong can be blurry, endings aren't always neat, and sometimes you have to risk everything to be true to yourself.

My Thoughts: Ok, so Sutton and I were in the theater with our husbands one movie night and we saw the trailer for this movie. Once I saw it was based on the novel, I had to read it. If you weren't aware, I love reading books turned into movies. I prefer to read the book first, they are 95% of the time way better! Do I even need to go into how lame the Twilight movie was....? Alas, I own them all. Back on point though. While this movie looked like a sweet Rom Com that Sut and I would surely be seeing without the husbands, the book was hugely disappointing. I was stressed the majority of the time reading it. The whole book is about Rachel who is in love with her Best friends fiance, Dex. I do not handle reading stories that are fully based around affairs, especially with your best friends beau. So I was annoyed and not satisfied with the ending. I'm still trying to decide whether the movie is even worth seeing. I ♥ the actors in it so that might save it. Who knows.  If they follow the same story line, it'll probably be super lame. Anyways, my thoughts... I wouldn't recommend it. Bummer.

Book of a Thousand Days

Book of a Thousand Days

Book Description:

When Dashti, a maid, and Lady Saren, her mistress, are shut in a tower for seven years for Saren’s refusal to marry a man she despises, the two prepare for a very long and dark imprisonment.
As food runs low and the days go from broiling hot to freezing cold, it is all Dashti can do to keep them fed and comfortable. But the arrival outside the tower of Saren’s two suitors—one welcome, and the other decidedly less so—brings both hope and great danger, and Dashti must make the desperate choices of a girl whose life is worth more than she knows.
With Shannon Hale’s lyrical language, this forgotten but classic fairy tale from the Brothers Grimm is re imagined and reset on the central Asian steppes; it is a completely unique retelling filled with adventure and romance, drama and disguise.

My Review:
It wasn't until about half way through did I even realize that this book was rewritten from the original Brothers Grimm fairy tales. I thought it sounded slightly familiar as it was sort of a cross between Rapunzel, The Prince and the Pauper and Mulan. I enjoyed it enough. It wasn't quite as exciting as I'd hoped but it would be but it was one that I had to at least finish to see how it ended.