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Books
What I Read: January 2014
Instead of doing this every other month, I've decided to do these mini book review posts monthly. I think it will be better because you'll get recommendations more often and it will be easier for me to remember the details of each book. January was a bit of a strange reading month for me because I …
Black & Gold
Thank you all for your well wishes in Friday's post. I'm happy to say that I'm finally starting to feel better. After a week of feeling generally crummy, I knew I was on the upswing when I regained the desire to paint my nails! I had a pretty low-key weekend, mostly involving sleep, reading and …
Weekly Wishes 04.
Let's start with the good. I finally crossed off everything on this list, namely buying my plane ticket home for Christmas! I'll be home for a little over a week and I can't wait to spend time with my family and friends around my favorite holiday. I also accomplished my goal of starting a new book …
Well-Read Women
When you're reading a book, do you try to picture what the characters would look like? If so, then you'll probably love this book that just came out: Well-Read Women. I think that Chronicle Books publishes some of the prettiest books and this one is no exception. It contains illustrations of 50 …
Noted 07.
book // vase // earrings // scarf This week I thought I would focus on items that would make great Mother's Day gifts! I think a book is always a wonderful gift idea and I've heard really great things about Z: A Novel of Zelda Fitzgerald. Want to take things to the next level? Stick two tickets …
![HOW TO FAIL AT FLIRTING by Denise Williams (thank you to @berkleypub/@berkleyromance for the free copy!)
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What a fun, engaging, and sexy romance read!
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Our main character, Naya, leads a quiet life. After splitting with her abusive ex a few years ago, all she wanted to do was fade into the background. But she’s become a shell of the person she used to be, so her friends lovingly encourage her to get out of her routine and try something new. She decides that maybe they’re not wrong and on the first night she opens herself up a little, she meets a guy in a bar. Before their flirtation can turn into something serious, she has to decide if she’s ready for a new relationship or if she wants to retreat back to her old life.
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I loved that the two main characters were both nerds that enjoyed trading cheesy jokes back and forth. Since Naya is a professor, I also liked how the author explored the struggles of being a woman in academia. I really felt for Naya and hearing about the ways her ex used to hurt her was hard to read. I definitely want to mention the discussion of domestic violence in this book so that you don’t go in thinking this is a super light read.
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To me, this book was about a woman trying to find herself again and learning to believe in herself and her worth. I also loved that Naya made a list of things she wanted to do/accomplish, along with the nods to her list throughout the book, as I am very much a list person myself. Overall, I thought this was a fun romance! I enjoyed the writing, there were some great supporting characters, and some good steamy moments as well (ooo la la).
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[CW: domestic violence, sexual, physical, and emotional abuse]](http://starcrossedsmile.com/wp-content/plugins/instagram-feed/img/placeholder.png)