Mad Love

I'm constantly looking for books that will inspire or teach me something new. I like new perspectives on issues or sometimes simply an author that can put a feeling into words. With the way I go through books, you can imagine it can get expensive. My mom and aunt told me about two websites for discounted and/or free books. The first is Thriftbooks.com. I find flipping the pages of a physical book therapeutic, so this was my first stop. I got three books for $12.00, shipping and tax included. The only problem I've found is that they go out of stock rather quickly. You might ask what books I bought and I went with a couple that are not particularly new, but ones I haven't read before. Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail by Cheryl Strayed, Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert, and Mad Love by Colet Abedi. Notice a theme? My wanderlust is in full force right now and I can't wait for my travel plans in the next couple of months. But for now, I will just read about them. 
The second site is Bookbub.com. I haven't used it yet, but my aunt told me she downloads discounted or free books right to her Kindle. It could definitely be worth a shot for people that read faster than they breathe. ;)

If you've followed any of my social media accounts within the past year, you've seen that I have taken a liking to yoga practice and meditation. Mad Love immediately drew me in due to the  main character's spiritual exploration in the Maldives. Sophie Watson travels to this magical place to "find herself" with two friends. She recently broke up with her boyfriend and dropped out of law school to be an artist. With disapproving parents, she needs a break. Sophie is introduced to the art of meditation through the resort's renown healer, Noom. There is really a peaceful and beautiful thing about just being. No thinking, no worrying, no stress. Its about feeling the energy and sometimes that can be tough to figure out. (Not that I'm an expert)
A lot of time I go into a book without really knowing all that its about. Case in point, Orange is the New Black and Fifty Shades of Grey. I seriously thought OITNB was about fashion and FSOG a crime/law trilogy. Jokes were on me! Mad Love was no different. This book turned into a FSOG novel real quick with the presence of English businessman, Clayton Sinclair. You can imagine what happens, but I enjoyed it and finished in a couple hours only to get to the last page to read "END OF BOOK ONE." They leave you at a total cliffhanger too. I should have done my research and known there was a sequel to have on deck for when I finished the first installment. Now I have to wait until Friday for Mad Love 2 to come in the mail. #thestruggle
If you are into Maya Banks' books or E. L. James' Fifty Shades of Grey series, then I would suggest Mad Love to you. But really, I don't think I can read another book about some millionaire sweeping a girl off her feet. We need some new storylines and characters, people.
Happy reading! 

Fuller House

Whatever happened to predictability? The milkman, the paperboy, evening TV? Well, they are all back after 29 years with a Fuller House. This revival of the family everyone loved and grew up with from San Francisco is back with most of the original cast, except for the Olsen Twins. I started watching last night and I must say, it is awesome. All the same feels of Full House, but updated with new cast members and storylines.  D.J. takes on the single mom role after her husband, a firefighter dies and is left with their three boys.  Sound familiar? While her Dad, Uncle Jesse, Aunt Becki, and Uncle Joey move to LA and Las Vegas to pursue their careers, D.J. is left to take care of her three boys on her own for the first time. Thats until her sister, Stephanie ditches "DJ Tanner" and trades spinning records for changing diapers to help out. Lets not forget the obnoxious Kimmie Gibbler... She has a daughter. Just let that one sink in.

As for the rest of the cast, they all look great. Uncle Jesse... Have MERCY! Him and Aunt Becki have aged like a fine wine. They did a great job casting D.J.'s son, Max. He is the cutest boy genius and has wit that made me laugh out loud. It was also very thoughtful to choose a set of twin boys to play her third son, Tommy. Although Michelle isn't present, the Olsen Twins will forever be a part of the Full House crew. Fuller House was perfectly and appropriately done. I absolutely loved everything about it. From the first episode to the last, they stayed true to its predecessor, "Full House" and pulled at your heart strings with references and one-liners from the old days.  You can now watch on Netflix since it premiered yesterday. Cue the violins, we have more lessons to learn!

The Girl on the Train

The way this book opened up, I started to become very depressed for the characters. It seemed every setback, illness, or hardship one could go through in a lifetime was the reality of their lives. Divorce, depression, alcoholism, etc. The "girl" in question, Rachel Watson, rides the local train past her old house where her ex-husband and his new wife and former mistress reside. She names people as she peers into passing homes and imagines what their lives are like. She does all of this while intoxicated to the point of blackout. She is an alcoholic.

One of Rachel's imaginary friends, through her observations on the train goes missing. From one blackout to the next, she tries to piece together what happened. Fumbling through vivid dreams and reality, she realizes the truth. And it isn't pretty, let me tell you! It took me some time to get through this book because it seemed like nothing good was ever going to happen and in my opinion, nothing did. Interesting read, but I wouldn't say I absolutely loved it. I suppose I just wasn't really surprised by anything. I didn't get that "Wow" factor.

Like Sunday, Like Rain

Sometimes we meet people in the most random of situations, creating unique and lasting connections that start out completely unexpected but later reveal themselves to be much more. That flame could burn for a lifetime, even if your time together is only a chapter in your book.

Like Sunday, Like Rain is about a mutual respect and understanding found in an unlikely place. Eleanor Logan, played by my beloved Gossip Girl Leighton Meester, forms a bond with a 12 year-old boy with whom she was hired to nanny. Reggie is a prodigy and wise beyond his years. While lost in her own journey of life, they share bits of each other to better understand and cope with their own realities. The pair nurture their bond with their love of music.
This independent film tells a pure, lighthearted story but still had me in tears for the beauty of its subtleness. I'm a sucker for piano and string instruments, so the fact Reggie composed and played his own score was fascinatingly touching. Leighton was stunning as always, but in a more simple way than what I was used to seeing her in with Blair Waldorf's character. I think a good takeaway I got from this movie is that we meet different people all the time and everyone has something in them that's special. You never know when you might meet someone that makes you look at life differently. Everyone's journey is their own.
I'd been wanting to see other work of Leighton's and was ecstatic when I saw it was released to Netflix. I would highly recommend viewing at your streaming convenience. I don't want to blow the ending, but I hope it touches you too.