I have a love/hate relationship with Goodreads. It helps me find and save books I want to read, but the reviews are always so negative! For example, Girls in White Dresses by Jennifer Close has terrible reviews, but I’m so glad that I went ahead and read it anyway, because it quickly became one of my favorites.
I don’t have any “friends” on Goodreads, I mostly just look up books and add them to my “to read” shelf, but if you have an account and want to sync up, here’s my profile!
February was a short month, but I managed to fit in a lot! Here are my recommendations from the past month.
Read:
This is a modern retelling of Pride & Prejudice – not just a Pride & Prejudice-esque storyline, but literally all of the same characters, but set in modern times. At first I thought that messing with Jane Austen was a little sacrilegious, but this book is so lovely. Apparently there’s a whole series called The Austen Project, and Emma is next on my list.
SWOON. Rom-coms are my favorite genre of everything, and this book did not disappoint. The main characters are journalists, of course, (why are leading ladies of rom-coms always working at newspapers or magazines?) and it’s set in 1999 when the newsroom first got email. However, the story follows the IT guy who reads all of their emails. It sounds a little creepy, but this was a quick read and delivered my happily ever after. I was thoroughly satisfied (and warm & fuzzy).
Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell
I was really excited for this book because it’s a YA novel about teens in the 80s who make mix tapes for each other and fall in love on the bus. I mean, could a novel be more perfect? However, it didn’t have a satisfying enough ending for me. Maybe the author is setting it up for a sequel?
Girls in White Dresses by Jennifer Close
This book is the perfect depiction of modern girls in their 20s. It follows a group of college friends from graduation through their 30th birthdays, and maybe it’s because all of my friends and I are turning 30 this year, but this book really resonated with me. I saw so much of myself and my friends in all of these characters. (And it made me miss them dearly.)
Watch:
This movie gave me the heebie-jeebies. It’s like Single White Female for the Instagram era, where Aubrey Plaza plays a girl who becomes a little too obsessed with an influencer. After watching this movie, I immediately made my Instagram account private and deleted all of my followers who I didn’t know in real life. Not that I’m an influencer in ANY sense of the word, but it makes you think twice about what you post online. It’s available on Hulu and is a great satire of the social media world we now live in.
This Netflix original movie starring Adam DeVine (from Workaholics and Pitch Perfect) had all the makings of a classic rom-com. It explores the concept of who we’re “meant to be” with through time travel. What do you expect? I loved it. (Duh.)
This Amazon original series definitely deserves all of the awards it has won. Rachel Brosnahan is a treasure who perfectly plays a 1950s housewife in NYC who decides to become a stand-up comic after her husband leaves her (and their two kids) for his secretary. It dragged a little in the middle, but it survived the Amazon curse of getting cancelled after one season (RIP Z and Good Girls Revolt), as they’re starting to film season two this month. Also, I’m going to need her entire wardrobe. Can some fashion house create a Marvelous Mrs. Maisel line?
Listen:
I have this new guilty pleasure called Chase Atlantic. It’s an Australian alternative/indie band that also has a saxophone player and some naughty lyrics. Listening to their EPs felt like the first time I heard Say Anything back in high school. They describe themselves as “dark alternative pop punctuated by rock and R&B.” I don’t know why I love it so much, but I got really excited when I saw they were playing Warped Tour this year. (Can you believe I plan on going to my first and last Warped Tour at age 30?)
What’s on your list for March?
Caitlin Ryan, APR 