Book Review: If I Stay

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If I Stay CoverBook: If I Stay by Gayle Forman|Narrated by Kirsten Potter

Published April 2009|Published by Listening Library

Audio Book|Borrowed from the library|4 hours 58 minutes

Series? Yes, If I Stay #1

Genre: YA/Contemporary

Goodreads|Barnes And Noble|Amazon|Gayle Foreman’s Website

Goodreads Summary: The last thing Mia remembers is the music. After the accident, she can still hear it. And she can see her damaged body being taken from the wreck of her parents’ car – even though she doesn’t feel a thing. 

All she can do is watch as doctors rush to save her life, as her friends and relatives gather outside her room, as the boy she loves struggles to be near her. 

As the next twenty-four hours unfold, Mia must come to terms with what came before the crash – and what would come after. And she knows she must make the most difficult choice of all. If she stays…

When I saw If I Stay available at the library, I knew I had to check it out!  And I pretty much checked it out because I’ve heard a lot of really good things, and wanted to know why people loved it so much.

At first, I wasn’t sure about If I Stay.  You get a little bit of Mia’s life and then the accident happens.  You do get a lot of flashbacks, so you get a great picture of what her life was like before the accident.

I was reminded of The Lovely Bones while listening to If I Stay.  So if you liked The Lovely Bones, you will probably like If I Stay.  I think it’s that Mia and Susie are watching things happen- Susie from heaven, and Mia wandering around the hospital.  But while Susie has already died, Mia has to make the decision of whether she wants to live or die.  I didn’t get a huge sense of it being a hard decision to make, because it mostly felt like Mia was reliving life before the accident.  Yes, her parents and younger brother died, and maybe she wasn’t sure what she wanted to do because of that, but it didn’t really come through for me.  But her grandpa giving her permission to die- if that’s what she wanted- was touching, in it’s own weird way.  Although, you do see how memories play a role in her decision, so maybe her decision came through…just not in a way I would have expected.

I was trying so hard to not cry at the end- which is what you get when you listen to an audiobook in public, and don’t want people to think you’re crazy by crying out of nowhere.  Still, I did get pretty teary-eyed.

Speaking of the audio, Kirsten Potter did a wonderful job narrating.  She really brought things to life, and there was definitely a lot of emotion throughout the book.  The book worked really well as an audiobook, so I’m glad I listened to it.

If I Stay was fairly short, and I do think it could have been a little longer.  I get why the book ended the way it did, and anything past the ending really wouldn’t have fit.  I really am looking forward to reading the sequel, Where She Went, because I really want to know how things work out for Mia and what life is like for her!  Seriously, I NEED TO KNOW!

Final Thoughts:

Okay, I love how simple the cover is!  And it actually…kind of makes sense.  Plus, the title is absolutely perfect for the book!  So, I really liked If I Stay, which was narrated so well!  Plus, Mia making the decision she does…so sad at times.  Seriously, choosing to live or die?  If I Stay gets 4 stars.

Top 10 Tuesday: Top Ten Most Frustrating Characters Ever

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Top 10 Tuesday is hosted by the lovely folks over at The Broke And The Bookish.  Every week, bloggers from all over share their own top 10 list based on the topic of the week.  You can find all Top 10 Tuesdays here.

Top Ten Most Frustrating Characters Ever

We’re back for another Top 10 Tuesday!  Okay, so this is a great topic, because there are some irritating characters (and some general character types) that annoy the hell out of me.  I could go on and on about frustrating characters…and had I not grouped certain characters together, this would be one long list.  I did try to keep the ranting to a minimum, which helped…I think.  Here are the 10 that are currently the most frustrating characters ever!

  1. Sorcha from Daughter Of The Forest.  She was so frustrating!  Basically, at the beginning, she was pretty insistent on not getting married…only to fall in love and get married by the end of the book.  I’m just not a big fan of characters in historical fiction who are insistent on not getting married, because they want to be educated or do their own thing or whatever.  I’m generally forgiving of inaccuracies in fiction but this is the one thing that is frustrating.
  2. Arya from A Game Of Thrones.  She’s frustrating because she’s the typical female character in fantasy who is more interested in learning how to fight than to do the typical needlework and such.  It’s weird, too, because I don’t mind Eowyn, from Lord Of The Rings.  I think it’s pretty much because she’s so in the background that I don’t really notice it.
  3. Rose from Vampire Academy.  She was really unlikeable, and seemed more interested in parties and getting drunk than learning what was necessary to protect Lissa.
  4. Jean from Jinx.  While it is nice to see a character who’s still fairly innocent, it did get annoying.  Sweet but super-insecure.  I like characters who are sweet, and I certainly don’t mind characters who have insecurities, but it was just a bit much with Jean.
  5. Percy Jackson from Percy Jackson.  The most frustrating thing about Percy was the fact that 15-year-old Percy was far too similar to 11-year-old Percy.  Even taking into account the ADHD/being the son of Poseidon and guys maturing at a slower rate than girls…it’s still a little too weird.
  6. Kendra and Seth from Fablehaven.  I honestly couldn’t pick, so I went with both of them.  Seth was a selfish brat, and Kendra was too much of a know-it-all.
  7. Jude, Mia, and Lexi from Night Road.  Because their frustration is kind of interconnected.  Jude was irritating because she’s such a helicopter mom.  She’s one of the characters who acts all supportive and tries to be the cool mom by telling her kids they can call her if they get drunk at a party…only to get mad at them and ground them when they make said call.  Mia, because she’s all clingy- to the point that her twin can’t do what he wants JUST BECAUSE SHE CAN’T GO TO USC ALL BY HERSELF.  If I’m pointing out how clingy and dependent someone is, you know it has to be annoying and frustrating, because normally I’m all whatever about it.  And Lexi because she kept complaining about how Zach and Mia had chances and opportunities she didn’t.
  8. Here’s a character type: the weapon-wielding, tough, super-independent bad-ass who seems to reject anything seen as feminine.  Just…no.  It really makes me want to bang my head against a wall.  I’m just going to leave it at that, because the last thing I need to do is go on some super-long rant about this.
  9. Kendra from Whirl and Alex from Half-Blood.  I’m grouping these two characters together because they frustrate me for the same reason.  They are both too insistent on fighting the bad guy themselves, even when told not to, because it’s too dangerous and because they don’t have enough training to take on the bad guy.  There is a time and a place for going after the bad…and it’s not when you’ve been told not to.  And the lack of consequences for ignoring orders to not do anything makes it worse.  It seems to be sometimes paired with #8, which is partially the case with Kendra and Alex.
  10. And we’re ending with Ginny, from 13 Little Blue Envelopes.  She’s frustrating because she seemed like she was going through the motions and was pretty disinterested in her trip.  You get to go on this crazy scavenger hunt through Europe and you don’t even bother to have fun with it?  It was frustrating to listen to.  Seriously, it was.

GG 2 x 2: Hammers And Veils

Posted in Season Two, The Gilmore Girls Project by

Hammers And Veils originally aired October 9, 2002.  It was written by Amy Sherman-Palladino and was directed by Michael Kattleman.

We open Hammers And Veils with Lorelei using newspaper to decide on the right veil length.  She asks Rory for her opinion, but Rory is more interested in reading the newspaper on Lorelei’s head than she is giving an opinion.

At Chilton, Rory happens to be in the same area as Paris, Madeleine and Louise.  Madeleine mentions a build for a Habitat For Humanity-type company, and Paris starts talking about how Rory wouldn’t like doing the Habitat For Humanity.  She runs into Henry (the guy she and Lane met at the Chilton party) and talk about what classes they’re taking.  It’s physics, Shakespeare and obscure Russian poetry for Rory and trig for Henry.

I know I’ve said this before, but Chilton…what kind of school is this?  It feels more like a college than a high school sometimes!  Henry gives Rory his number because he’s scared of Mrs. Kim answering the phone again.

At Friday night dinner, Lorelei is really amused by Rory building a house.  She takes off her engagement ring, and still hasn’t told Richard and Emily about her engagement, even though the wedding is in 3 months.  Rory is giving Lorelei two weeks, before Rory says something.  Seriously, three months to plan a wedding?  It’s one of those things that seem like a lot of work…work that takes more than three months.  This episode is roughly a week after Sadie, Sadie, so things have moved awfully fast…or the timeline just got really messed up and the writers didn’t notice.  Richard apologizes to Rory again, and they really didn’t like fighting.

Meanwhile, Lorelei does tell Emily about her engagement.  Emily hopes they’ll be in town.  If not, she’ll send a nice gift.  After dinner, Lorelei rants about how it was a mistake to tell Emily, and how she regrets mentioning it.  I know they don’t have the best relationship, but Lorelei and her unwillingness to see things from Emily’s side is starting to get annoying.

Rory goes off to help build a house, with Lane dropping off instructions for her escape from Korea, and Dean laughing at Rory for wanting to do this.  It is a little strange, I’ll admit, Rory building a house.  But they make plans for that night.  Paris starts talking about all the extra stuff she’d done to get into Harvard- study groups, charity work, and tutoring, to name a few.  Rory realizes she is behind on such activities and wants to cancel her plans with Dean.  Not surprisingly, this doesn’t go over well with Dean.  Remember h0w last week, I felt kind of bad for Dean?  Well, it didn’t last very long, because Dean was super-annoying.  He thinks summer is a time for relaxing and hanging out, and could care less about Rory getting in Harvard.  You’d think by now he’d know how important Harvard is to Rory and that she has a bit of tunnel vision about it.

Lorelei and Max have dinner, where Lorelei’s still frustrated about what Emily said.  We do learn how one plans a wedding in a week, for a date 3 months in the future- by having Sookie cook, by having the ceremony at her house, and by having Patty supply the chairs.  Pretty impressive, doing all of that planning IN A WEEK.

They make a stop at Emily’s, where Lorelei wants to know what Emily said what she did, and if Emily knows how it felt to hear Emily say what she did.  Emily says it’s probably how Emily herself felt when she realized that Lorelei got engaged and told everyone else in her life first, and having to hear from a complete stranger that Lorelei was engaged.

Emily has a good point, and I really feel bad for Emily.  Lorelei doesn’t really look good in this scene.  Yeah, Emily and Lorelei have a ton of issues, and I do get Lorelei being worried about what they’ll think…but putting it off and wishing she never told Emily in the first place…it’s like Lorelei doesn’t even want to try to work things out or make an effort.

Lorelei learns about the party, Sookie babbles about how she wasn’t sure if she should invite Emily and Richard, but decided to invite them anyway, and we see the engagement party.  People dance, Rory and Dean make up, and Lorelei asks Luke to come.  A note about Rory and Dean making up- he apologizes, as does Rory.  Rory really shouldn’t have to apologize, but she’s Rory, so she apologizes for having tunnel vision, while Dean admits he got jealous of Harvard…even while liking Rory is going to go to Harvard.

We end the episode with Lorelei asking Emily for advice about veils.  Emily tells her that she’s capable of making her own decisions.  And Lorelei does apologize for not telling Emily, and talks about how she doesn’t know how to tell Emily things.  She does admit to maybe being partly to blame for the vicious cycle they get in…which really sounds insincere.  Emily tells Lorelei she might want to try a tiara, because it’s what she wore at her wedding.

Favorite Lines Or Scenes:

Rory reading the newspaper veil on Lorelei’s head

Pop Culture:

Thelma And Louise, The Beatles, Frank Sinatra

Final Thoughts:

This is a pretty interesting episode, and stuff definitely happens.  Lorelei and her rant about regretting telling Emily was irritating- and her “I hate my parents, who are evil and horrible” mentality is starting to get annoying and tired.  Still, Lorelei does appear to realize she hurt Emily by waiting to tell her about her engagement.  Hammers And Veils gets 3.5 mugs of coffee.

Book Review: City Of Dark Magic

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City Of Dark Magic CoverBook: City Of Dark Magic by Magnus Flyte

Published November 2012|Published by Penguin Books|448 pages|Borrowed the paperback from a friend

Series? Nope!  I read a stand-alone for once

Genre: Adult: Mystery/Time Travel/Something about it feels like a fantasy and paranormal novel…so that too!

Find out more: Goodreads|Barnes And Noble|Amazon|Magnus Flyte’s Website

Goodreads.com Summary: Once a city of enormous wealth and culture, Prague was home to emperors, alchemists, astronomers, and, as it’s whispered, hell portals. When music student Sarah Weston lands a summer job at Prague Castle cataloging Beethoven’s manuscripts, she has no idea how dangerous her life is about to become. Prague is a threshold, Sarah is warned, and it is steeped in blood.

Soon after Sarah arrives, strange things begin to happen. She learns that her mentor, who was working at the castle, may not have committed suicide after all. Could his cryptic notes be warnings? As Sarah parses his clues about Beethoven’s “Immortal Beloved,” she manages to get arrested, to have tantric sex in a public fountain, and to discover a time-warping drug. She also catches the attention of a four-hundred-year-old dwarf, the handsome Prince Max, and a powerful U.S. senator with secrets she will do anything to hide.

City of Dark Magic could be called a rom-com paranormal suspense novel—or it could simply be called one of the most entertaining novels of the year.

This was a really entertaining read.  For reals, I wasn’t sure about it for most of the book, but by the end…I was definitely interested.  I love the back-drop of Prague, and the places were described so well!  Plus, I like that there were a lot of different scholars working on different parts of the museum, and that we got to saw bits and pieces of that.

I love that it’s a mash-up, and that I had trouble exactly pin-pointing which genre (or genres, as it would be) this book falls into.  And there’s so much going on that any kind of synopsis I could come up with will not fully describe the entertainment that is City Of Dark Magic.  I was definitely intrigued by the toenail-induced time travel.  Yes, I just said toenail-induced time travel.  And if you’re wondering, it actually makes sense…in a totally weird way.  I loved the focus on Beethoven and his connection to, well, a lot of different things in the book.

There was lot going on, with quite a few characters, and while it was irritating at times, it really did make sense and come together at the end.  Sometimes, it almost felt like too many things were going on.  And I was expecting something involving magic…but perhaps that is in the music and the places and the people.  Because there is something magical about the book in general.  Sarah was interesting, but Nico was a lot of fun.

I was kept guessing, and I liked that I wasn’t completely sure what was going on until I was pretty much finished with the book.

Final Thoughts:

If you liked The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern, you’ll like City Of Dark Magic.  It was fun, full of mystery and adventure, and well-worth the hours I spent reading it.  I didn’t completely love it, but it was still enjoyable.  It gets 4 stars.

Book Review: Endlessly

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Endlessly CoverBook: Endlessly by Kiersten White

Published July 2012|Published by HarperCollins

E-book|Purchased from the Nook store|400 pages

Series: Paranormalcy #3

Genre: YA/Paranormal

Goodreads|Barnes And Noble|Amazon|Kiersten White’s Website

Summary: Evie’s paranormal past keeps coming back to haunt her. A new director at the International Paranormal Containment Agency wants to drag her back to headquarters. The Dark Faerie Queen is torturing humans in her poisonous realm. And supernatural creatures keep insisting that Evie is the only one who can save them from a mysterious, perilous fate.

The clock is ticking on the entire paranormal world. And its fate rests solely in Evie’s hands.

So much for normal. 

I finally read Endlessly, the last book in the Paranormalcy trilogy.  I just love this trilogy, and I was definitely surprised by how the series ended.

Evie is one of my favorite characters ever, and it’s because she’s so funny!  Well, also because she’s pretty girly for a pretty kick-ass character, which makes her stand out.  But even when things were bad, she still managed to get a laugh out of me!

I love the world that White built, with an assortment of paranormal characters and the agency that is supposed to keep tabs on things.  It’s nice to see a series where you learn that a lot of the paranormal characters got sucked into our world because of fairies, and how they went back home before this world could destroy them.  Evie had a hard choice to make, and it was great to see her make the right decision- even when she struggled with it and she felt like she was forced into it.

I was really surprised by Reth, who was sort of likeable.  I wasn’t completely sold on him- not even in this one- but he really did surprise me.  I definitely understood him a lot more by the end of the book.  And the characters are really memorable and have their own personalities.  Which can be difficult with a such an interesting ensemble of characters.  But White does it, and does it really well.

I love that all of the characters and events of previous books come back, even when it’s been a few months since reading the previous book.

I loved the Faerie Realms, and they were described so well.  They sounded so pretty, and how they came to be was great.  Everything tied together so well, and while Endlessly didn’t seem long enough, I’m glad Evie and Lend had their happily ever after.  It’s a shame we didn’t get some sort of epilogue, but the series ended on a great note.

Final Thoughts:

Endlessly wrapped up this series really well.  It was fun, hilarious, action-packed and dramatic.  Evie really is a great character…well, a lot of the characters are great.  Endlessly gets 5 stars.

Book Review: 13 Little Blue Envelopes

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13 Little Blue EnvelopesBook: 13 Little Blue Envelopes by Maureen Johnson|Narrated by Emily Durante

Published December 2010|Published by HarperCollins|6 hours 51 minutes|Audio Book via the library

Series? 13 Little Blue Envelopes #1

Genre: YA/Contemporary

Find out more: Goodreads|Barnes And Noble|Amazon|Maureen Johnson’s Website

Goodreads.com Summary: When Ginny receives thirteen little blue envelopes and instructions to buy a plane ticket to London, she knows something exciting is going to happen. What Ginny doesn’t know is that she will have the adventure of her life and it will change her in more ways than one. Life and love are waiting for her across the Atlantic, and the thirteen little blue envelopes are the key to finding them in this funny, romantic, heartbreaking novel.

I have mixed feelings about 13 Little Blue Envelopes.  I like the idea of 13 envelopes that taking Ginny on this interesting adventure through Europe, but the book didn’t quite work for me.  I mean, Ginny has the chance for a lot of adventure but it felt like she was just going through the motions.  Seriously, it felt like she didn’t care about having fun or exploring Europe or getting to know some of the people her aunt became friends with or admired.  She was just so disinterested in her trip that it was hard to care about her journey.

Ginny really zipped through those envelopes, which took her to a lot of different places.  As a result, she never really got to spend a lot of time in each place.  Overall, it was hard to connect with Ginny and her taking the same trip through Europe that her aunt took.  And I honestly couldn’t tell you anything about Ginny, who was pretty lackluster, and didn’t seem to have a personality.  Actually, lackluster describes pretty much every single character in the book.

And the rules surrounding this trip through Europe.  No maps, no guidebooks, all of her belongings have to fit into a huge back-pack…only the money her aunt has set up for her, and Ginny has no idea how much that is until she can get to an ATM.  Oh, and no cell phone, no contacting her family and friends, unless it’s a hand-written letter or postcard…and of course, no way for them to contact 17-year-old Ginny.  I’m willing to overlook a lot in YA, but who lets their 17-year-old traipse around Europe with not a lot of money and no way of keeping in contact?

And the narration?  It was okay.  Not amazing, but not completely horrible.  It did work fairly well as an audio book, but the narration itself doesn’t really stand out.

Final Thoughts:

Overall, 13 Little Blue Envelopes was pretty uninspiring.  It could have been a lot of fun, but unfortunately, I felt like Ginny was just going through the motions.  I liked the concept of the novel, but it just didn’t work for me.  It gets 2 stars.

Book Review: The Things A Brother Knows

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The Things A Brother Knows CoverBook: The Things A Brother Knows by Dana Reinhardt

Published September 2010|Published by Wendy Lamb Books

E-book|Borrowed from the library|166 pages

Series Or Stand-Alone: Stand-Alone

Genre: YA/Contemporary

Goodreads|Barnes And Noble|Amazon|Dana Reinhardt’s Website

Summary: The story of a young marine’s return from war in the Middle East and the psychological effects it has on his family.

Finally, Levi Katznelson’s older brother, Boaz, has returned. Boaz was a high school star who had it all and gave it up to serve in a war Levi can’t understand. Things have been on hold since Boaz left. With the help of his two best friends Levi has fumbled his way through high school, weary of his role as little brother to the hero.

But when Boaz walks through the front door after his tour of duty is over, Levi knows there’s something wrong. Boaz is home, safe. But Levi knows that his brother is not the same.

Maybe things will never return to normal. Then Boaz leaves again, and this time Levi follows him, determined to understand who his brother was, who he has become, and how to bring him home again.

Award-winning author Dana Reinhardt introduces readers to Levi, who has never known what he believes, and whose journey reveals truths only a brother knows.

There are so many things I liked about The Things A Brother Knows!  I liked that it focused on the relationship between two brothers, and how Boaz joining the military has affected his family.  You definitely hear about how war can and does affect soldiers, but I kinda feel like you don’t really hear about their families and how their loved one going off to war affects them.  Growing up in a navy town- but with no connections to the Navy, other than knowing my grandpa was in the Navy- you do hear about navy ships being deployed and their families seeing them off and welcoming them home.

I liked that you saw things through Levi’s eyes, and how he struggled with his own feelings about his brother joining the marines and how that compared to what other people thought.  That other people thought Boaz was a hero, while Levi sometimes seemed to wonder what was so great about his brother joining the marines.  It wasn’t what I was expecting from Levi, but I can imagine that there are people out there, who just want their loved ones, home and safe.

I loved how Levi followed his brother on his journey to D.C., and how Boaz’s family wasn’t quite sure how to help him.  They definitely have an interesting relationship, which has changed over the years.  It even changes a bit throughout the book, but I wish we got to see a little more of their relationship before the start of the book.  You get enough to see the difference, but a little more would have been nice.

Final Thoughts:

I really liked The Things A Brother Knows.  It’s a great look at how families deal with a relative going off to war, and a really great look at the relationship between 2 brothers.  It wasn’t completely amazing, but I still thought it was a great book.  It gets 4 stars.

Top Ten Settings I’d Like To See More Of (Or At All)

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Top 10 Tuesday is hosted  by the lovely folks over at The Broke And The Bookish.  Every week, bloggers from all over share their own top 10 lists, based on the topic of the week.  You can find all Top 10 Tuesdays here.

Top Ten Settings I’d Like To See More Of (Or At All)

One of my favorite things about reading is reading a book set in a place I know nothing about.  There are some great and truly amazing places out there (some of which I want to visit) so reading a book set in a certain place is a chance to visit a new place.  Here are some settings I’d love to see more!

  1. India.  I’ve read a couple novels that were set in India, and I was completely fascinated.  India made a great backdrop in both Shantaram and Tiger’s Curse- with the busy-ness of India in Shantaram, and the traveling all over India in Tiger’s Curse.  
  2. Pretty much any well-imagined world.  One of the best parts of reading is when an author creates this amazing world that you cannot stop thinking about.  Whether it’s Narnia, Hogwarts or Middle Earth, I love seeing authors come up with a world that’s a great escape from real life.

    Downtown Chula Vista- One Of My Favorite Places

  3. San Diego.  I get so excited when a novel I’m reading is set in San Diego, because it’s so cool to read a book where the local references make sense.  Like, I read a book called Night Walker last, and it was cool seeing the Gaslamp District and the San Diego mission, because those are places I’ve been, and don’t go to often enough.  It’s just cool when a book is set where you live and the places in the book are really familiar.
  4. Africa.  Anywhere in Africa is good with me but Ancient Egypt would be particularly interesting.  Such a fascinating place, so I really need to find some books set in Africa or Ancient Egypt.
  5. Athens, Greece.  One, there’s a lot of history in Greece, and with the Greek mythology re-tellings, you’d think it would show up as a setting a lot more.  And two, it looks so pretty in all the pictures I’ve seen.
  6. Rome.  I so want to go to Rome, partly because I’m fascinated with Rome, partly because I am dying to see the Vatican, and partly because there’s a lot of history there.
  7. Spain.  Because I’m thinking about having a novel set in Spain, so it’s on my mind right now.  And it would be interesting to see what authors do with Spain as a setting…especially historical fiction, but any time period will work.
  8. Asia, particularly in fantasy settings.  Cinder comes to mind (naturally).  And I’m reading this book, Eon, which is a YA fantasy.  It’s definitely not used enough in fantasy settings.  Like, I know fantasy and medieval European villages are BFF’s, but fantasy in a setting that’s not medieval Europe-esque would be a nice change.
  9. Wales.  Because you always see England, Scotland and Ireland as a setting but I have yet to remember reading a novel set in Wales.  Does no one care about Wales?  Also, Wales is the other possible location for the novel I mentioned in #5, so it’s on my mind as well.
  10. Oregon is going to round out the list.  I’ve been to Oregon!  It’s such a pretty state, and it just seems like a cool place to write about.

GG 2 x 1: Sadie, Sadie

Posted in Season Two, The Gilmore Girls Project by

Sadie, Sadie originally aired on October 9, 2001.  It was written and directed by Amy Sherman-Palladino.

We open Sadie, Sadie with yellow daisies all over town.  Rory is coming up with all kinds of wedding suggestions for Lorelei’s wedding.  Lorelei hasn’t made up her mind about whether she gets married or not.  Which is actually pretty smart.

From there, Rory drops off some flowers at Lane’s house, where we learn Lane is going to Korea for the summer.  The problem is that Lane’s parents got her a one-way ticket and won’t tell her when she’s coming back.  Meanwhile, Lorelei is looking at a bridal magazine at Bootsie’s newsstand.  Miss Patty sees her looking at the magazine, gets excited and then asks if Luke knows.  Lorelei and Rory walk to the diner, and a lot of people are following them to see her tell Luke.  At this point, it’s no big secret in town that Luke has a thing for Lorelei, so naturally everyone wants to see his reaction.

She tells him, and he’s asking her things like where she’ll live and if they’ll have more kids.  Lorelei isn’t happy with Luke’s questions, so she goes back to the table.

At Friday night dinner, Emily tells Lorelei and Rory that Rory is in the top 3% of her class, having heard it from Headmaster Charleston’s wife.  Lorelei says she knows, and Emily wants to know who Lorelei knows at Chilton…that person being Rory, of course.  Richard comes in and announces Rory’s big accomplishment, only to learn they already knew.  Emily tells Rory they’ll have an extra-special dinner the following week.

Lorelei randomly calls Max during dinner, and starts asking him the same questions Luke had asked her.  She accepts his proposal, goes back inside, and silently lets Rory know she and Max are getting married.  They start jumping up and down screaming, and they tell Emily and Richard it’s because of Rory doing well at school.

Dean comes over, and since Rory can invite someone to Friday night dinner, she asks him.  He agrees, but when they finally arrive, Emily isn’t exactly thrilled Dean is there.  I don’t blame her, after the dance.  But she does act pretty nice to Dean, which is very different than Richard’s reaction.

He is less than thrilled, and during dinner, starts asking Dean a lot of different questions.  Like, where Dean wants to go to college, and what grades Dean gets.  Dean isn’t sure about where he wants to go to college, and gets a couple A’s, a couple B’s, and a few C’s.  Plus, he’s not sure what he wants to do once he graduates college.  Richard responds to this by saying that Rory is smart, is going to an Ivy League college and is going to need top grades to get into a top school.  She also has plans and wants to travel.  Richard also talks about how when he was 10, he knew he wanted to go to Yale, travel, work in an office, and wear a nice suit.  And then he says the family has high standards and how Rory has to live up to those standards.  And since she does, everyone she’s in contact with needs to live up to those standards as well, because there are some people (meaning Dean) who are going to bring her down.

This whole time, they’re trying to get Richard to leave Dean alone, and go easy on him, but it doesn’t work.  Rory defends him, and Rory, Lorelei and Dean end up leaving.

I never thought Dean and Rory were well-matched, and I am not a big of Dean.  But even Dean doesn’t deserve the questions asked and things Richard kept saying.  I mean, saying that Dean is going to bring her down because he doesn’t get the grades she does, and doesn’t know where he’s going to college or what he wants to do is uncalled for.  I’m 26, and half the time, I still don’t know what I want to do.  Besides, Rory is pretty unusual, and not everyone knows what they want to do at 16.

After they get home, Lorelei tries to reassure Rory and tells her that it’s more about Lorelei not being the daughter they expected.  We also see how Emily isn’t happy with Richard, who didn’t expect her to bring Dean.  Richard thinks proper socialization is important, but she shouldn’t date one boy, and she most certainly should not date Dean.  Sookie calls Emily while she and Richard are talking, and invites them to Lorelei’s bridal shower.  This is the point where we learn Lorelei never told her parents she was getting married.  I know it’s been around a week, and that Lorelei still doesn’t have the best relationship, but it’s weird that it takes her a while to tell them.  Emily tells Richard he needs to apologize to Rory because Lorelei’s getting married and didn’t tell them, and she wants Rory to tell them when she gets married.  Emily did (understandably) look upset.

The episode ends with Lorelei and Max talking on the porch.

Favorite Lines And/Or Scenes:

Nothing really jumped out at me in this one, except for the first Friday night dinner

Pop Culture:

All In The Family, Sally Field, Cujo, Frank Sinatra

Final Thoughts:

There is a lot going on in this episode, but that’s not surprising, given that it’s the first one of Season Two.  Richard was pretty horrible to Dean and Lorelei gets engaged but doesn’t tell her parents.  These are pretty important happenings, and they’ll show up again.  I didn’t love Sadie, Sadie, but it was still a pretty decent episode, so it gets 4 mugs of coffee.

Book Review: Faking Faith

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Faking Faith CoverBook: Faking Faith by Josie Bloss

Published September 2011|Published by Llewellyn Worldwide|164 pages|E-book via the library

Series? No

Genre: YA/Contemporary

Find out more: Goodreads|Barnes And Noble|Amazon|Josie Bloss’ Website

Goodreads.com Summary: Dylann Mahoney is living one big unholy lie.

Thanks to a humiliating and painfully public sexting incident, Dylan has become the social pariah at her suburban Chicago high school. She’s ignored by everyone–when she’s not being taunted–and estranged from her two best friends. So when Dylan discovers the blogs of homeschooled fundamentalist Christian girls, she’s immediately drawn into their fascinating world of hope chests, chaperoned courtships, and wifely submission.

Blogging as Faith, her devout and wholesome alter ego, Dylan befriends Abigail, the online group’s queen bee. After staying with Abigail and her family for a few days, Dylan begins to grow closer to Abigail (and her intriguingly complicated older brother). Soon, Dylan is forced to choose: keep living a lie . . . or come clean and face the consequences.

I was intrigued by Faking Faith.  I mean, Dylan goes from sexting to pretending to be a fundamentalist Christian.  I get why she’s initially drawn in, and how she was able to take the good from Abigail’s life.  You sort of see her appreciate her own life after visiting Abigail.

I was definitely intrigued by Abigail and her family and their beliefs.  I’m fairly certain there are more than a few people out there who think families like Abigail’s are strange and maybe even a little crazy.  I would say Faking Faith falls somewhere between a super-positive portrayal of Abigail’s family and a really negative one.  You see both, but there were times when I felt like Bloss leaned more towards portraying them in a negative way, which was kind of irritating.  That being said, I was glad to see Dylan’s appreciation of her own life.

At the risk of being repetitive, I’m going to move on to something else.  Abigail and Dylan are so very different, but both are interesting characters who are just trying to make it through life.  I definitely connected more with Abigail, which is probably because I felt like we’re a lot more alike than myself and Dylan.  Although I do understand Dylan getting really into those blogs.  The internet is a fun and slightly scary time-waster.  You only mean to spend a few minutes looking at something…and hours later you realize you just need to stop.  I did like the contrast between the two girls and thought it was pretty well-done.  I would have liked more contrast to Abigail’s dad, because that would have been more interesting to me.  Then again, it’s not about Abigail’s dad, it’s about Dylan.

Final Thoughts:

I’m not really sure what to say about Faking Faith.  I liked, and while I didn’t completely love the portrayal of the Dean family, they are a nice contrast to Dylan and her family.  It gets 3 stars.