monday minis

Happy Monday all!

I think my arm is almost better (last week I had thumb strain that cause pain all the way up my arm and neck which made typing difficult) so hopefully I can get more blogging in this week.

It is soooo damn hot here. Hotter than it was all summer. The heat index, factoring in humidity, has been 103 degrees. So I'm cranky and not doing much.

I managed to get a few books in - one that I picked up on a whim that ended up being amazing! and one I was looking forward to be but ended up dnf'ing.

That's #booklife for ya!

Josh and Hazel's Guide to Not Dating by Christina Lauren

Hazel Camille Bradford knows she’s a lot to take—and frankly, most men aren’t up to the challenge. If her army of pets and thrill for the absurd don’t send them running, her lack of filter means she’ll say exactly the wrong thing in a delicate moment. Their loss. She’s a good soul in search of honest fun.
Josh Im has known Hazel since college, where her zany playfulness proved completely incompatible with his mellow restraint. From the first night they met—when she gracelessly threw up on his shoes—to when she sent him an unintelligible email while in a post-surgical haze, Josh has always thought of Hazel more as a spectacle than a peer. But now, ten years later, after a cheating girlfriend has turned his life upside down, going out with Hazel is a breath of fresh air.

Not that Josh and Hazel date. At least, not each other. Because setting each other up on progressively terrible double blind dates means there’s nothing between them...right? ~ Goodreads

Source: Purchased

My thoughts: What is there to say about this book that hasn’t already been said?? Not much – but I will say this is the type of romance I love! Two kind people, slowly falling for each other. Not a whole lot of drama but a whole lot of funny. The hype is real with this one. I say this as someone who hasn’t always enjoyed their books, and someone who didn’t love Act Like it, The Hating Game and The Wedding Date – other equally hyped romcom type books.

This was a 2018 favorite list kind of read for me.


Mary Shelley: the Strange True Tale of Frankenstein’s Creator by Catherine Reef

On the 200th anniversary of the publication of Frankenstein,comes a riveting biography of its author, Mary Shelley, whose life reads like a dark gothic novel, filled with scandal, death, drama, and one of the strangest love stories in literary history. ~ Goodreads

Source: ARC provided by the publisher via ALA18

My thoughts: This really should have been the “riveting biography” the summary promises.

Mary is such a fascinating woman, with an obviously difficult life, and I can’t imagine how the author managed to make this dull but she did.

The information is doled out like a litany of the days activities. I’m paraphrasing here but…

Mary saw men and animals paraded by her house on the way to the gallows….

Sounds like creepy inspiration for Frankenstein right? I was excited! Only to be followed by…

Then she went inside to have a sandwich. One slice of cheese, two pieces of ham. It was sunny out. Her father wasn’t at home that day, as he was out with the poet Lord Byron. – followed by lengthy bio of Lord Byron.

Then there’s her wack-a-doo, douche-canoe of a husband, Percy Shelley, who, among other things, tried to get Mary to take Laudanum as part of a Romeo & Juliet inspired suicide pact and cheated on her with her sister while she was home alone and pregnant. Although, that’s probably not so surprising since Mary met and carried on with while he was married to his then pregnant wife.

Even though that's disturbing - it should have been more interesting and a clear connection to her future work but instead it's ...Percy spent too much time with her sister. Mary felt lonely. Mary took a nap because she was alone. Blah The author seemed more enamored by Percy than Mary.

I ended up DNF’ing this around the 100 page mark (out of 177 pages + references) and read a quick Wikipedia entry that took 5 minutes and that told me more about Mary and in a more captivating style than this book did.

Bummer because I was really looking forward to this one.