Books.

I think I have realized that I may like books a lot of people don’t like.

I finished the Colleen Hoover book, “It Ends with Us”, yesterday. When I was scrolling through the comments about it on Goodreads, I realized a lot of people didn’t like the book. They called the book && author toxic because she didn’t add a “trigger warning” to the book. Apparently, according to the comments left, she didn’t want to add a trigger warning to it but what I’ve read from what she has said about the book, she hasn’t tried to play it off as anything other than what it is. That’s half the reason I read it.

I really enjoyed “It Ends with Us” – but I liked the backstory of Lily & Atlas more than Lily & Ryle. I mean, other than the obvious reason, I liked the journal entries that had to do with Atlas, their story was greater in my opinion than that of Ryle.

So, when I heard that “It Starts with Us” about Lily & Atlas, of course I want to read it. I went and added it to my “reading” section of Goodreads, and out of curiosity I was scrolling through the comments of the book. Reviews, if you will. Most of them say the same thing “why does this book exist?” – which seems harsh to me. Apparently, it exists because people wanted her to write it. Why ask her to write something then bash the book? I don’t know… a lot of the other comments were about how they don’t like Colleen Hoover and cannot understand why they or anyone else reads anything written by Colleen Hoover. Honestly, people seem to enjoy her books. Do I like Tessa Bailey more than Colleen Hoover? Yes, I do. But that’s just the slutty part of my brain.

Colleen Hoover does the “use your imagination on the fun parts”. Tessa Bailey goes into more detail. But other than that, their writing is similar.

Either way. I’m going to read “It Starts with Us” && see what I think about it. If I read it like I did the first one, I’ll be done tomorrow && I’ll let you know if this book should exist or not. I’m hoping for the best.

Counting..

Who can you count on the most in your life right now?

Logically, I’m smarter than to answer this in a public blog. Why? People in my life read this – they automatically think why can’t she count on me? && it wouldn’t matter who I put down as the people I can count on the most. I could say the Pope, && someone in my life would get butt hurt.

So let’s ramble a little instead. So I started a book called “Almost Surely Dead” by Amina Akhtar. I got it off Amazon for free this month, which I didn’t know was a thing. Let’s just say, I’m obsessed with this book. I read a review on Goodreads that said “this book helped me out of a reading slump”. I first thought, no way will it work. Dude! I can’t tell you enough how much I’m enjoying this book. I’m about half way through with it right now && I can’t wait to find out what happens && why it happened. I think I have figured everything out and BAM! I was wrong. But of course, that is what the author wanted.

I still haven’t wrote anything other than a daily blog post. It’s still something, right? Maybe a little more writing will help. Maybe a little more reading will help.

I called the weight loss doctor on Monday to set up an appointment to start the journey over. However, it’s Thursday, && they still haven’t called me back. When I called them I stayed on hold for thirty minutes – it was around 4 PM when I called them. After the thirty minutes they said they’ve been on the phone with insurance, which I do know takes a bit, && that they’d call me back. I haven’t heard anything as of yet. I’m hoping they haven’t given up on me. I had started the journey last year with them but money became an issue so I paused. Started talking to a different surgeon about going through them because my job would pay quite a bit on it, plus insurance, so it would be basically free. Free is good, right? However, even free isn’t enough when the dietician did nothing but yell at me every time we spoke.

Why’d she yell? They wanted me to lose 37 pounds, which doesn’t seem like a lot of weight, because it’s honestly not. However, with all of the meds I’m on (insulin included) I’m having a very hard time losing weight. Trust me, if I could, I wouldn’t be looking into the surgery. I need help! But all the dietician wanted to do was yell and scream. Which honestly, I thought I was making that up. I can be pretty sensitive. After one month I went into the living room where Boyfriend was and he asked me what the yelling was about? He had heard her yelling from three rooms over. That’s when I decided I didn’t want to go through them. So him && I talked && we figured out the money. Now, I’m just waiting for them to call me back. Hopefully they do soon so I can get the ball rolling again.

Gabriel’s Inferno/Rapture!!

I have trouble finding things to write about. Not because I am completely boring and I do absolutely nothing. Oh wait. Never mind. My biggest problem is that I spend most of my free time writing. When I’m not writing I’m nose deep in a book. So since I decided that I do not want to post anymore of my writing, mostly because there is no point and I will just keep in my back pocket safe, that I will write book ‘reviews’. Since no one really reads my blog anyway, I might as well just get the thoughts that clutter my mind out and maybe I can write a little better. (Yes! My writing sucks.) Is using “!” a bad idea? So I figure if I cannot think of something to talk about then I’ll just write a book review.

My first pick will be Gabriel’s Inferno and Gabriel’s Rapture by Sylvain Reynard. Yes, I’m cheating by starting out by two. You’ll notice if there is more than one connected to each other, I’m just going to put them in one post. *waves hands around in air* Otherwise, it’s too much clutter. I’m trying to kill the clutter.

First I must say that I am obsessed with these books and partially with the author.
Obsessed [uh b-sest] : adjective;
1. Having an obsession (usually followed by with or by).
2. Having or displaying signs of an obsession.

Obsess [uh n-ses] : verb;
to dominate or preoccupy the thoughts, feelings, or desires of; beset, trouble, or haunt persistently or abnormally.

I want to point out, really quick, that I am not the weird obsessed person. I’m not the type of person who becomes obsessed with something and then when the object of my obsession walks out of their house I’m sitting in the tree in their front yard. Or in the bush by their bedroom window. Or even in the mail box. That’s not me. I just tend to talk about that particular subject a lot. For an example, I’ve been obsessed with Johnny Depp for many, many years. I don’t stalk him. *thumbs up* So no worries!

I have never in my life read a book with such intensity as I did with these two books. I was completely and utterly captivated by these books. *shakes head* ‘Captivated’ isn’t a strong enough word. Taking ideas for a stronger word.

I must admit that I am a late bloomer when it comes to books. I don’t know of authors and books before everyone else. I cannot tell anybody that “I read that before you did.” Because that’s a lie. And lying is bad. I had no idea who or what all of this was four weeks ago. No idea. I found Gabriel’s Inferno by accident. I was looking for a new book and found a big shelf of 50 Shades of Grey, on the very bottom by the floor sat one copy of Gabriel’s Inferno. I hadn’t heard of it so I glanced through it and the back cover. It seemed interesting. I purchased it along with Bared to You by Sylvia Day. It took me a week to read this book.

When I first began the book I honestly didn’t think I’d even finish it. It was written a lot more intelligently than I think. *sighs* I got to a point that I had to look up a word. Then look up the words it gave to mean the same thing. Until I finally found a dictionary that was made for “dummies” and it dumbed it down enough and I was like “oh, well why didn’t he just say that?” I like to flaunt my intelligence (which really isn’t all that much). That book, even from the first page, made me feel like the stupidest person on the planet. So in the first chapter I didn’t think I’d ever finish it. But all of this isn’t bad. It’s a very good thing.

The start of the second chapter I was hooked. I couldn’t put it down. I found myself staying up on the nights I worked to read. Doesn’t seem that big of a deal? I only get six hours of sleep before each of my twelve hour shifts. So losing two hours because I cannot stop reading… hurts.

By the fifth chapter – I was obsessed.

Everything I read about these two books kept saying that it was just like 50 Shades of Grey. I just want to point out that everything I read lied. And lying is bad! This book was NOTHING like 50 Shades of Grey. Nothing.

50 Shades of Grey was a good set of books, don’t get me wrong. But they are nothing compared to Gabriel’s Inferno/Rapture. Am I being harsh? I apologize. Mostly.

The intelligence spewing out of Gabriel’s Inferno/Rapture was intriguing and a complete breath of fresh air. I’ve read a lot, and none of which just made me stop and think “wow!”

I have read and reread these books. The “sex” that everyone talks about isn’t “sex”. It leaves to your imagination and makes you think instead of knowing. Too much detail ruins the story line of the book, the way Sylvain Reynard wrote left it there. Intact. Perfectly. Jaw dropping.

I found myself following Sylvain Reynard on Twitter. I never follow people – well, besides Gabriel Iglesias, but who doesn’t follow him? Oh and of course Chelsea Handler – getting off topic. I found myself following Sylvain Reynard. Getting on Twitter a lot more than I normally do. *covers face with hands* I told you! I’m obsessed. My personality isn’t the type to get hooked very easily. Mostly because usually what I get used to having leaves and that is getting old. But I find myself logging into Twitter just to see if he’s tweeted. *pouts* I’m hopeless.

I’ll be even more hopeless if it turns out not to be a guy. Or an old guy. Or gay.

Why am I obsessed with the author? I live in a small southern Oklahoma town. I am by far one of the most intelligent ones that live here. And I’m stupid! Intelligence is something that you don’t turn away quickly. Especially when one finds it to be the most attractive thing about people. In general. Male or female. Intelligence is just a jaw dropping experience. When you live in the South, you don’t find that often. Knowing there are still people out there who can talk in complete sentences & be able to spell “you”, gives me hope.

But then again. He’s Canadian. *purses lips* So that makes a bit of a difference. You know the old saying “Americans butchered the English language.” Well, the South butchered the butchered English language.

Yeah. I’m roaming around in all directions of the topic. *smiles* I do that!

So basically if I was to give these books a rating between 1 and 5. It would be 102. I plan on reading these books until the binding doesn’t hold. Until the pages start falling out and landing on my bedroom floor. Until the words are smeared off from my fingertips running across the words. But then – I’ll just rebuy them.

Sylvain Reynard is a mystery. And from what I can gather from it – that’s how he wants it. Bravo to him! The only thing that is killing me to know is his age & if he is for real, 100 percent male. Because if it gets out that he is a female. I’m going to be extremely agitated. I won’t think any worse of the books, though. But knowing that a girl writes like a guy – I’ll be sad.

Yes. I just seriously said that the books are written like a guy. I have read a lot of books written by women. These books were written by a man. And I will eat my shoe if I’m wrong. *holds shoe up* See! Not very tasty looking. But if it comes down to that, I’d like some hot sauce.