Well, it's somehow Friday again! And it's pizza for dinner, and we're going to attempt to go to the fair at some point this weekend. So hopefully my body will cooperate enough for this weekend to be half as good as last Saturday turned out to be. ;)
1~ You may have seen this lovely discovery on Instagram earlier this week. I attempted making something similar a while back and it was pretty bad, so I was skeptical, but these are awesome! Thank you, Whole Foods. :)
2~ Speaking of yummy food, did you see this week's Wellness Wednesday recipe? Just one more way to use the coconut sauce I've now used in like three other recipes.
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3~ So yesterday I posted a very depressing blog review. But I promised that today I would prove I don't hate every book I read... So I am happy to report that after reading A Matter of Heart, I read Before I Go to Sleep by S. J. Watson, and it was pretty awesome. I'd never read a "thriller" before and found it online by accident a few months ago and was attracted to it because of the slight similarity to 50 First Dates--the main character is an amnesiac. Except this story isn't all happy like 50 First Dates, as both the reader and the main character don't know who to trust. I finally tracked the book down at Barnes & Noble this weekend and finished it in no time--I got to about 60 pages left a couple nights ago and just had to stay up and finish it.
I thought the book was brilliant. The plot, all the little details that had to be tied together, the order in which the story was told, the author's mind-blowing ability to capture mundane details in the perfect words to make a scene come to life in your mind, the ending that for the longest time I did not see coming ... and I only found one typo! ;) Plus, this is S. J. Watson's first novel! Insane.
The only drawbacks: I was thinking as I read it that this would be an R-rated movie, which I never watch. I find things disturbing that most people can just brush off (yes, call me sheltered...) and don't watch anything terribly violent or graphic. There were a couple of scenes in the book, flashbacks, that could have gotten the point across without so much detail and length. And there was a particular word they liked to use a lot (a British thing I assume). Those were the only drawbacks, and I was willing to put up with them because the story was so good. Also, I've seen some complaints in reviews about the ending being predictable (which I didn't think at all--I just felt stupid for not figuring it out sooner) and about the very ending. Yes, it could have had just a couple more sentences at the end, but I'm willing to overlook that. I also saw many complaints about lapses in believability. Which is something I complained about in yesterday's book but was very willing to ignore--and even not notice--with this book. The difference is the quality of the story and the storytelling: if a book is just there and then throws in reality issues, I'm not going to overlook it, but if a story is so amazingly written, I'm willing to put up with whatever reality issues you want to throw in there for the sake of the story.
So, I at first thought this would be a great movie, then as I got farther, I realized it would be a movie I wouldn't watch. Then the day after I read it, I discovered it has been made into a movie that comes out on October 31, rated R of course. Now if that isn't fluky--that I just found this book right before the movie came out--I don't know what is. As much as I want to see it, because the book was so good, there's a difference between reading something and watching it. So I most likely won't. But the author has his next book coming out next year--so there's a good chance we'll be reading that one too. :)
4~ My mom sent me this article the other day... did you see Lily Collins's dress?? Oh my... You must take a look.
5~ All you Nashville fans, I'd love for you to check out this week's Music Love Tuesday post, where I shared my top 10 favorite songs from the show--and I would also love to hear what your favorites are!
1~ You may have seen this lovely discovery on Instagram earlier this week. I attempted making something similar a while back and it was pretty bad, so I was skeptical, but these are awesome! Thank you, Whole Foods. :)
2~ Speaking of yummy food, did you see this week's Wellness Wednesday recipe? Just one more way to use the coconut sauce I've now used in like three other recipes.
3~ So yesterday I posted a very depressing blog review. But I promised that today I would prove I don't hate every book I read... So I am happy to report that after reading A Matter of Heart, I read Before I Go to Sleep by S. J. Watson, and it was pretty awesome. I'd never read a "thriller" before and found it online by accident a few months ago and was attracted to it because of the slight similarity to 50 First Dates--the main character is an amnesiac. Except this story isn't all happy like 50 First Dates, as both the reader and the main character don't know who to trust. I finally tracked the book down at Barnes & Noble this weekend and finished it in no time--I got to about 60 pages left a couple nights ago and just had to stay up and finish it.
I thought the book was brilliant. The plot, all the little details that had to be tied together, the order in which the story was told, the author's mind-blowing ability to capture mundane details in the perfect words to make a scene come to life in your mind, the ending that for the longest time I did not see coming ... and I only found one typo! ;) Plus, this is S. J. Watson's first novel! Insane.
The only drawbacks: I was thinking as I read it that this would be an R-rated movie, which I never watch. I find things disturbing that most people can just brush off (yes, call me sheltered...) and don't watch anything terribly violent or graphic. There were a couple of scenes in the book, flashbacks, that could have gotten the point across without so much detail and length. And there was a particular word they liked to use a lot (a British thing I assume). Those were the only drawbacks, and I was willing to put up with them because the story was so good. Also, I've seen some complaints in reviews about the ending being predictable (which I didn't think at all--I just felt stupid for not figuring it out sooner) and about the very ending. Yes, it could have had just a couple more sentences at the end, but I'm willing to overlook that. I also saw many complaints about lapses in believability. Which is something I complained about in yesterday's book but was very willing to ignore--and even not notice--with this book. The difference is the quality of the story and the storytelling: if a book is just there and then throws in reality issues, I'm not going to overlook it, but if a story is so amazingly written, I'm willing to put up with whatever reality issues you want to throw in there for the sake of the story.
So, I at first thought this would be a great movie, then as I got farther, I realized it would be a movie I wouldn't watch. Then the day after I read it, I discovered it has been made into a movie that comes out on October 31, rated R of course. Now if that isn't fluky--that I just found this book right before the movie came out--I don't know what is. As much as I want to see it, because the book was so good, there's a difference between reading something and watching it. So I most likely won't. But the author has his next book coming out next year--so there's a good chance we'll be reading that one too. :)
4~ My mom sent me this article the other day... did you see Lily Collins's dress?? Oh my... You must take a look.
5~ All you Nashville fans, I'd love for you to check out this week's Music Love Tuesday post, where I shared my top 10 favorite songs from the show--and I would also love to hear what your favorites are!
P.S. If you filled out my survey a few weeks ago, don't forget that your gift card reward expires October 31st! (If you need to be reminded of the code, feel free to email me!)
Be sure to come back tomorrow for this month's
Short & Sweet 2-day sale at Katya Valera!
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