“Everything You Want Me To Be” by Mindy Meji

Last night I finished Everything You Want Me To Be by Mindy Mejia. It had been on my TBR list for some time and I was excited to finally grab a copy at the library. I absolutely adore the cover of this book, it just screams dark and twisted. This book was labeled as a thriller/murder mystery, but I’d put it in the sub-genre of “high schoolers having inappropriate relationships with adults/teachers.” I’ve actually read and watched a surprising number of books and shows with this theme lately (The Most Dangerous Place on Earth, Dare Me, Pretty Little Liars, Riverdale, etc.) so I feel like I’m a little burned out, but Everything You Want Me To Be did it well.

The book opens with a dead, mutilated body found in an old shed, which turns out to be that of Herietta “Hattie” Hoffman, all-American high school senior and star of the school play. Hattie is a good student, a promising actress, and a kind, albeit sharp-tongued young woman. She has a happy home life and dreams of moving to New York City after graduating to pursue a career on Broadway. Hattie has no enemies, or so it seems, which makes her death within a small town even more shocking.

The investigation soon reveals that Hattie is having a fiery internet relationship with a stranger named “LG.” But when it turns out that Hattie and LG are less of strangers than they think, he calls their relationship off and sends Hattie spiraling. The story is told from alternating points of view between Hattie, her English Teacher Mr. Lund, and lead detective, Del. The mystery has your classic lead suspects: a lover scorned, the cheated-on spouse, the ex-boyfriend, the jealous best-friend, etc. While there are several minor red-herring moments, the big reveal didn’t prove to be terribly shocking.

This book has a few holes and lose strings, and I found myself being less intrigued in “whodunit” and more invested in Hattie’s illicit relationship with the older man. You start to feel empathetic to the adult in charge, as his and Hattie’s feelings and relationship seem to be genuine, real love. Thinking about this too much made me feel a bit uneasy and sick to my stomach. But, maybe that was the point. An overall enjoyable read.

3.5/5 stars.

www.mindymejia.com

“This Is Not Over” by Holly Brown

I just finished reading This Is Not Over by Holly Brown, and I wish it weren’t over! Although this book has gotten mixed reviews, I really enjoyed it for entertainment’s sake. I found the plot line different and interesting, and the story jogged along at a pretty captivating pace.

This Is Not Over starts with Miranda getting a negative review on Getaway.com, a fictional Air BnB short-term rental site. Since she regularly receives rave reviews for her gorgeous Santa Monica mansion, the negative remarks floor her. Miranda prides herself on being fair, honest, and a superior hostess. She normally has great communication with her renters, is upfront and prompt, which is why she thinks charging Dawn $200 for the damage done to her sheets is more than fair.

Dawn can’t believe that Miranda had the nerve to charge her for ruined sheets that she most certainly didn’t ruin. When Dawn and her husband left the home, everything was in perfect shape. Dawn views herself as an honest, respectable renter, and believes that Miranda must be trying to run a scam. Her Getaway.com review wasn’t rude, it was just the facts.

What starts as a simple online argument blows up into full on obsessions of vindication between two grown adults. As the feud progresses, both women learn more and more about one another and eventually find themselves entangled in a mess that is much larger than an internet review.

This premise in and of itself is intriguing enough to run a plot line, but the back stories of Miranda and Dawn give the book an extra layer of depth. Miranda’s son has a methamphetamine addiction and Dawn has an unhealthy history with her parents and upbringing. Yes, both characters are exceptionally unlikeable, but I’ve never been a reader who insists on falling in love with my protagonists. I don’t mind reading about completely despicable and unreliable humans; after all, that is what fiction reading is all about, stepping into a world outside of your own.

Since I am someone who tends to keep my Facebook comments to myself, I did, at times, find the extent of Miranda’s and Dawn’s feud a bit extreme. However, a simple browse through the comment section on any online political article will show you how quickly these differences of opinion can heat up with keyboard warriors and trolls.

Some readers have felt that the ending of this book was too rushed, and I do have to agree. The climax of the story happens with mere pages until the ending, so it did feel that there were some loose ends that were never fully tied up.

But, overall, I found This Is Not Over to be an entertaining and exciting read, one which I sped through in three days. I even had a dream that I was addicted to meth after reading some of Miranda’s chapters before bed. I woke up in a sweat thanking God I was sober and had all of my teeth!

3/5 stars

http://hollybrownbooks.com

“Beautiful Animals” by Lawrence Osborne

Beautiful Animals isn’t the type of book I typically read. This would be considered more of a “literary thriller,” where there is a suspense aspect to the plot line, but the majority of the book is location description and character driven. I prefer my books to be on-the-edge-of-my-seat and to-the-point. With that being said, this novel wasn’t necessarily my cup of tea, although I can appreciate it for being a lovely work of literature and certainly some peoples’ taste.

Set in Hydra, a small island off the coast of Greece, Beautiful Animals tells the story of a summer spent between two newfound friends and the trouble they find themselves encountering together. Naomi’s father, Jimmy, is a wealthy English businessman who purchased a home on the island long before it was fashionable or cool. Naomi has spent every summer living on Hydra, but, since the death of her mother, the summers are not nearly as enjoyable with her stepmother, Phaine. Naomi is rich and bored and sort of an odd duck. She’s in her mid 20’s,has been recently been fired from her job, and has no friends on the island. Until one morning after a swim, she meets Sam.

Sam is an American whose family is visiting Hydra for the first time. Sam is beautiful, but insecure, and immediately smitten by the more sophisticated Naomi. They quickly form a friendship over weed, booze, and their mutual distaste for their family, and find themselves spending every day with each other.

One afternoon, after a yacht trip to a remote part of the island, Naomi and Sam stumble upon a runaway from Syria, by way of Turkey, who has nothing to his name except the clothes on his back and a bar of soap. Faoud, they learn, was from a wealthy family in the middle east, but fled to Hydra to escape into Europe under asylum. Naomi and Sam have differing opinions as to what to do with their discovery, and the decision results in a disastrous tragedy neither could have imagined.

Beautiful Animals deeply investigates the psyche of two unstable young women in their quest to do the right thing. It also examines how far humans will go for greed, money, and freedom. This novel’s biggest strength is its setting. Osborne does a phenomenal job painting a picture of Hydra for the reader. I’ve always wanted to go to Greece, but now it is on my bucket list for sure. I found myself googling pictures of Hydra as I was reading, and understanding why someone would spend their entire summer in such a lovely place.

The biggest drawback was the disjointed character perspectives and slow plot. Osborne regularly switches back between Naomi, Sam, and Faoud, all within the same chapter and even the same paragraph. I found it somewhat hard to follow with the jumping back and forth. I appreciated the underlying story and character development of Beautiful Animals, but it didn’t get to the action quite quick enough for my liking, and never fully accelerated for me.

2.75 out of 5 stars. 

http://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/247814/beautiful-animals-by-lawrence-osborne/

I received this book from Blogging for Books for this review. All thoughts and opinions are completely my own. 

 

Latest Library Picks

This past week I had a “staycation.” I took a week off of work with absolutely no plans whatsoever. It was amazing. My past eight days have included a lot of napping, laundry (this is the first time I’ve seen the bottom of my closet in months,) catching up on Game of Thrones, snuggling my pup and new foster pup, and, of course, reading! I couldn’t let my free time get away from me without taking the opportunity for a library trip.

As I’ve mentioned on here before, I don’t pay for books. For a long time I went through a period of reading on my Kindle and purchasing eBooks, because, hey! they’re so much cheaper than regular! Then I decided that was a little unnecessary, so I started trying to shop at our local used bookstore, Blue Plate Books. I love Blue Plate, and still go there when I find myself having to make a book purchase, but then it dawned on me–why am I paying for books when I can get them fo’ free?

I used to have the misconception that the library wouldn’t have what I wanted. Since it is in an old, historic building, I figured they would only have old, historic books. Perfect logic, right? Wrong! They have nearly every book on my TBR list! They aren’t always in stock as soon as I want them, but it’s cool, I can wait, if it means saving $14.99. Our local library system has three branches, all of which are within 15 miles of my house, so I can get a pretty great selection. I could always put a book on “hold” if it’s something I want particularly bad, but I think it’s part of the fun, part of the hunt, to check out what they have in stock on any given day. Luckily my TBR list is hefty enough that I can always find a good number of gems!

This week I got a particularly good haul. These five books are ones that I’ve reeeeeeally wanting to read. My favorite type of book is a psychological/domestic thriller, which each of these are.

So next up to be read:

Never Let You Go by Chevy Stevens
This is Not Over by Holly Brown
Everything You Want Me to Be by Mindy Mejia
My Husband’s Wife by Jane Corry
The River at Night by Erica Ferencik

Reviews to come soon!

Thursday: Copycat Starbuck Protein Bistro Boxes

This lunch is one of my favorite go-tos! The ingredients are cheap and there’s hardly any prep work outside of throwing items in a container. If you’ve ever had a Starbucks Protein Bistro Box, you know how good they are, but also how expensive. It is soooo much cheaper to make these on your own!

Starbucks’ Protein Bistro Box

I packed a cluster of red grapes, hardboiled eggs (one for me, two for Joel,) a slice of multigrain bread cut into triangles, monterey jack cheese squares, an apple, and a side of peanut butter.   I prefer sliced apples to dip in my peanut butter, but I cut them when I set down to eat my meal. Apple slices turn brown too quickly after cut, and I don’t like how the tartness that lemon juice adds when trying to preserve them. Has anyone found a good way to keep apple slices from browning?

My homemade protein bistro box

I love how easy this meal is to throw together and how tasty everything is combined as a meal! The sweet grapes and apples are balanced well with the salty egg and cheese and peanut butter is one of my absolute favorites so you can’t beat that!

What was your Thursday lunch?

Wednesday: Salads with Grilled Chicken

Today Joel and I both had salads! The same salad that I had yesterday and posted about, so I won’t go into much detail today. These are pretty delicious, so I certainly didn’t mind having one two days in a row!

What did you have for your Wednesday lunch?

“Where They Found Her” by Kimberly McCreight

This book was on my TBR list for a long time before I finally got the chance to read it! I read Reconstructing Amelia by Kimberly McCreight a few years ago and was obsessed. It was definitely a high ranker on my list. For some reason my local library was late to the game in getting Where They Found Her, and since I absolutely refuse to pay for a book (the bane of my existence when my library doesn’t have one I crave) it waited and waited on my list. But lemme tell ya, it was well worth the weight!

When the body of an unidentified infant is found deserted in a New Jersey park, three unconnected woman find themselves tied together in ways they never imagined.

Journalist Molly Brown is assigned as the lead reporter on the case of the found baby. Having recently mourned the loss of her own child, the assignment becomes an emotional uphill battle for Molly.

High school dropout Sandy is navigating through her mess of a life which includes studying for her GED and trying to make ends meet, all while searching for her MIA alcoholic and destructive mother.

Wife of the lead detective in the unidentified infant case, Barbara is struggling to deal with the struggles of her own son, who has recently become the “problem student” in his school.

Where they Found Her alternates storylines and perspectives of these three women and leaves the reader dying to know how they will eventually intersect. Though at first it is hard to keep track of the numerous characters and minor storylines, McCreight pulls everything together nicely toward the end of the story. Her writing is detailed and precise, letting us into the lives of the three main characters in their separate, but similarly challenging, struggles. The only thing I didn’t adore about this book was some of the “fluff,” such as Molly’s newspaper stories. Since they typically reiterated information already discovered in the book, they appeared to me as more filler than pertinent to the novel. But, again, very minor flaw in a deliciously engrossing book.

I really thought I had the ending to this one “figured out,” but was wowed with a surprise ending that, while somewhat farfetched, was completely gripping. Where They Found Her kept my interest until the last page and left me both bewildered and very impressed.

4.25/5 stars!

www.kimberlymccreight.com

Tuesday: Salad with Grilled Chicken/Turkey Sandwich

For today’s lunch, Joel had exactly what I had yesterday. The only difference is he had a whole sandwich, while I only had a half.

Joel’s turkey sandwich and sides

I had a salad. I much prefer spinach/arugula salads over lettuce salads. I am okay with lettuce if it is romaine and really green but I can’t stand white watery iceberg lettuce…yuck. My salad base was mixed greens and my toppings were blue cheese, blueberries, sliced almonds, and grilled chicken strips. I used a creamy poppyseed dressing. I know creamy dressings aren’t the healthiest, but I prefer a pretty dry salad so I probably don’t even use a teaspoon of dressing. For the sake of time in meal prep, I use pre-sliced Perdue grilled chicken slices, rather than  grilling and slicing my own.

For my side, I had a pack of cheese and cracker sticks made by Laughing Cow. These are a throwback to the Kraft Handi-Snacks of elementary school, but healthier and just as tasty!

What was on your lunch menu for Tuesday?

Monday: Turkey Sandwich/Tuna Salad Sandwich , Celery & Peanut Butter, and Cheese

Today’s meal was pretty simple. A good ol’ deli sandwich with some sides. Joel had a whole tuna salad sandwich. I had a half of a turkey sandwich. I used multigrain bread for mine, and regular white bread for Joel’s. Both sandwiches had lettuce, and mine had a little mayo with provolone cheese.

Joel’s tuna salad sandwich

I am not a huge fan of celery, especially not by itself. I know it is “negative calories” or whatever, so I should probably be shoving it down my throat, but I’m not too keen on the bitter juiciness, combined with the fibrous stalk. But, I sure do love peanut butter. I haven’t had peanut butter and celery probably since elementary school, and I was pleasantly surprised! The peanut butter totally masked the celery, I couldn’t taste it at all.

My deli turkey 1/2 sandwich

A friend asked if my cheese dries out throughout the week when I prep. The answer is not at all! As long as the cheese is kept in an airtight container, I’ve never had a problem with dryness. Today we had a variety of cheddar, swiss, and mozzarella. They were all great! If you are still having concerns, you can always use individually wrapped Baby Bell or Laughing Cow cheese.

What did you have for lunch on your Monday?

Meal Prep Sunday

It’s been a while since I’ve shared a full meal prep! I still do some level of food preparation on Sundays for the week ahead, but a few things have changed since the last time I posted. I no longer prep breakfast meals, only lunches. My husband’s job has changed recently and he now doesn’t have to leave the house until 11 a.m., so he eats breakfast at home daily. Also, for the last several months I’ve switched to drinking a green smoothie every morning as my breakfast. I always included smoothies in my breakfast rotation, but drinking them daily has really been beneficial. I no longer have to worry about “what’s for breakfast,” and having a green smoothie ensures I start my day off with some vegetables and fruits. It also saves money by not having to buy a variety of breakfast groceries each week–now I only get ingredients for smoothies (recipes to come soon!) and some hearty items like eggs, sausage and bacon for my husband.

The prep I did this evening created five lunches for my husband, and four for me. I get off at noon on Fridays (HUGE job perk!) so I eat my Friday lunches at home. Ideally, Joel and I would be eating the same thing on the same day, but this week I’m making a conscious effort to use up the items that will go bad the quickest at the beginning of the week. So, his and my meals don’t completely synch up. For the past few weeks I have been making the same lunches every day for an entire week. Prepping this way, Monday and Tuesday are great. By Wednesday, the meals are getting a little boring. By Thursday, I’m dying to drive to McDonalds for lunch. And God bless Joel for eating the same lunch again on Friday! Last weekend I threw a surprise birthday party for my dad and we had a TON of Costco pinwheel wraps leftover. So guess what we had every.day. last week for lunch? Yep, pinwheels. When I asked Joel what he thinks he may like for lunch this week he said “please, Lord, anything but pinwheels!” So this week I wanted to get back into the old routine and switch up the meals somewhat throughout the week. The entire prep took a little longer than it has been lately, but only about an hour total from start to finish. My grocery bill yesterday was about $90, but that included all ingredients for lunches and dinners for the upcoming week. I should have plenty of leftovers for next week, so long as my produce keeps fairly well. (Side note, I grocery shop at our local discount grocery store called Sharp Shopper. It’s seriously the shit. A bag of organic baby kale cost $1.99 and a pint of vanilla Greek yogurt was 99 cents. I don’t know what I did before this store came to our town. It’s definitely my jam.)

A new thing I added to this prep was super high tech sticky notes. I’ve noticed that sometimes the entire meal doesn’t fit into one plastic container (I knowwwww, I know, I really need to switch to glass!) so I usually have some loose items on the same shelf of my fridge as the main part of the meal. “Side” items include things like apples, sides of dressing, fruit cups, etc. Since I’m the one who prepped, I know what I need to grab with my salad or sandwich container, but my husband doesn’t. He also will sometimes grab my lunch accidentally instead of his own. So this time around I put sticky notes on each container that has our name, the day of the week the meal is for, and what side items to grab. Hoping this will cut out some confusion, and will keep my husband from picking the “good lunches” and leaving me with tuna salad every day. (JK I actually love tuna salad, sorry office mates!)

So here it is, the final prep. Each day this week I’ll be doing a post about our individual meals for the day. If you have any questions, feel free to let me know! What meals do you include in your weekly meal prep?