Someone Like You by Sarah Dessen (Slight Spoilers)

                                                                            TO

About This Book:
Goodreads Summary
✥Stand-Alone
✥Release Date: 5/11/2004
✥Format: Paperback
✥Setting: Lakeview, NC
✥Page Count: 281
✥Genre(s): Contemporary, Romance, YA, Chick-Lit
✥Date(s) Read: 6/24-6/27
✥Rating:    Book:   3/5       Audio: 3/5    Narrator(s): Katharine Powell

My Thoughts: 
(There are some slight spoilers here. If you haven't read it, then read at your own risk after this)

Audio:
I liked the narrator but she sounded like she should have been reading for a New Adult book. She sounded a bit older for a Young Adult book. 

Book:
When a book ticks you off..but then, begins to redeem itself. Reminding you of yourself and your own children...maybe that's a lot of why I was so mad. And the fact that a teenager not listening and you want to shake their eyeballs out their heads. #thelifeofaparent.......

What Did I Think?

This is at least my second attempt at reading this book. I'm not quite sure what it is about Sarah Dessen books that makes them so hard for me to read but yet, I can't help but want to read them. I learned to just listen to them over sitting down and reading the books. Although, when I do listen to them, the book isn't too far off (unless I'm out shopping, etc).

This book though, one person that got on my last nerve throughout, was the mother! Even when she was in the right, she aggravated me! Mostly the aggravation came because of her initial attitude when the story started. If I didn't know any better, I'd think Dessen has issues with her mother going by what I remember about her books (and/or one of her parents...maybe both..I don't know. Of course, I could be wrong and this is a total assumption).

As the book progressed and hit over mid way through, Halley was getting on my last damn nerve! As a mother, she was truly pissing me off with the "Mom, it doesn't matter". Lying. Spending time with boys she shouldn't sneaking out. Maybe because I am a mom who has dealt with the craziness that is a teen....twice. Two different sons with two different issues. Maybe that's why it made me so mad but at the same time, even if I had "perfect" children, it would still make me mad. The disrespect. Both her and her friend are a hot damn mess. I was rooting for Halley's mom in many areas because of nonsense. This book had me wanting to yank characters out of the book and shake their brains out their heads, fixing it and pushing it back in, "fixed". lol

I continued to read because I had made it over halfway and wanted to see how things turned out and hoped both girls. 

The Nine Of Us: Growing Up Kennedy by Jean Kennedy Smith

TO 

About This Book:
Goodreads Summary
✥Stand-Alone 
✥Release Date: 10/26/16
✥Format: Hardcover
✥Setting: N/A
✥Page Count: 272
✥Genre(s): Non-Fiction, Biography/Auto-Biography/Memoir, History
✥Date(s) Read:  6/24/18-6/26/18
✥Rating:                 Book:  5/5      Audio:  5/5      Narrator(s): Lorna Raver

My Thoughts:

Audio:

She had a wonderful voice for this book.  I loved did love listening to her.  For a bit, I actually thought it was Ms. Kennedy reading this book (before I looked up who was reading). The voice of an older woman reading for another older woman (for those who are easily offended, I am not saying old but older. It is not negative by any means because she is a woman of older years. 90 years old as of this post).

Book:
I always loved John & Bobby Kennedy. I just never looked into their family. Not really. If someone had asked how much I knew about them, I would honestly say, little to nothing other than the little I studied about them during JFK's presidency and a little about Bobby running. Of course, about their unfortunate and untimely deaths. 

Then I see this book...

Which made me want to read it (of course) and also made me want to take a closer look into the lives of this family. Even if I don't go into everyone's lives, I'd still love to know more about Bobby & JFK. Maybe even Teddy's. 

I have always had a love for studying the Civil Rights Movement (C.R.M.)/Jim Crow era and naturally, the Kennedy brothers were a part of that. The more I began to look into JFK, I began to see, he was fighting for more than just the C.R.M. and those reasons may have been the larger reason of why he was killed. Which made me want to read this even more. To see how he may have been raised. 

I haven't studied the C.R.M./Jim Crow era in a long while now. Not that I lost interest, just other things were picked up over the years. Now, it's definitely time for me to pick it up again. And this is one great way to start. Plus, going into it a little further and maybe looking into the Harlem Renaissance era and much more. 

What I thought of the book itself: 
I enjoyed this book as much as I had hoped. It wasn't a love but it was still really good in my opinion. Well worth the read knowing they had a not perfect but still very happy upbringing. Mother and Father were strict but loving. Made sure they were well rounded in many different areas (which is how many ended up in politics because of the debates and discussions the parents had with their children). 

For two people who had nine children, the way Jean Kennedy Smith described the family, they did really well balancing it all. Well, as well as you can balance two adults with nine children! Hell, it was hard for me having just two that were 5 (almost 6) years apart! How they did it, I don't know but from what I read in this book, they all seemed to have come out pretty well balanced. Naturally, there were some mistakes made along the way, as there are no perfect parents/families but seemingly a little less dysfunction than some others.

This book gave me more respect for a family that I already had respect for and more understanding of rumors about the father being almost "abusive". It seems from me, that the parents were just "take no nonsense" type of parents and with nine children, they had to be I'm sure or they would have run all over their parents. 

I'm glad that I found this book. It makes me want to look for more (hopefully by actual members of the family as it's hard for me to read books about people outside the family because sometimes those books aren't always written with the best interest of the family/person it is written about. Yes, I know that knowing different sides of situations are a good thing but I like knowing family/personal history told by family/person first before going to other venues to learn about said family/personal history)

Death of a Mad Hatter (Hat Shop Mystery #2) by Jenn McKinlay

About This Book:
Goodreads Summary
✥Series/Trilogy/Stand-Alone, etc: Hat Shop Mystery #2
✥Release Date: 5/6/14
✥Format: Mass Market Paperback
✥Setting: London, England
✥Page Count: 304
✥Genre(s): Cozy Mystery, Romance
✥Date(s) Read: 5/30-6/12/
✥Rating:   Book: 4.5/5       Audio: 4.5/5         Narrator(s): Karyn O'Bryant

My Thoughts:

Audio:

I started reading the book on my own, then scribd put the audio book on there and started listening to it most of the time, picking it up a couple times to read it on my own when I didn't feel like listening to it. I enjoyed listening to her though. 

Book:

I did like this one quite a bit more than I did the first. The characters of course I loved. Although I didn't quite like the bossiness of one of them sometimes, although I did understand to a certain degree. I can't go any further without giving away the story a bit. 

Although I don't really see this series being a favorite like her Cupcake Bakery Mystery series is for me, but it is still worth me continuing on to at least book 3. I am just going to take it book by book and hope I can get the entire series done. Right now, I am only seeing 5 books, the last one coming out in 2017. I am not quite sure if there will be another one or not but I guess I will "worry" about that when it gets to me reading book 5 and then looking to see if there are any more.

I have attempted to read the Library Lover's series,and loved the characters, there was just something about that series that wouldn't allow me to continue. And that is confusing for me because as I said, I did love the characters.

What I thought about the [main] characters?

Scarlet: Although I liked her in the last book, one thing that got on my last nerve was she kept calling her ex the rat bastard. After about 3 times, well, it became to be too much. This one and the last one, her interest in one of the characters, but always denying it, made me want to slap her! If you can't admit it to anyone else, at least admit it to yourself, at least a little bit! lol...

Vivian (Viv): I don't really know what to say about her. Both of the women can come off a bit flighty, but yet Viv, she seems to be a bit more so sometimes. I actually think they seem to alternate on flightiness actually. I am still sitting here trying to rack my brain on what to say about her and I just can't think of anything other than, I like her.

Fee: She doesn't make many appearances in the book but she shows up often enough for me to say that I like her and she seems so chill for a 20 year old. Maybe I should say, mature? Yeah, Mature. But again, she doesn't make many appearances in the book. (No, I am not saying 20 somethings are immature, just that, well, they're 20 and still, as much as many may think they know, they still have a lot to learn, as well all do)

Harrison: So far, I like him. He seems a tad bit arrogant but deep down, I think he has his sweet side too. It just needs to be snatched out sometimes (no, I'm not talking about being violent).

Andre & Nick: Gay, Married couple who are a hoot! It's hard to separate these two because where you have one, the other is usually not far behind. I do love them both. Where one is more laid back, the other is not quite as laid back but they know how to pull the best out of each other but also know how to pluck each other's nerves in a hilarious way!

Favorite Person/People in this book?

Dotty!
She is the loopy matriarch whose reality is a tad bit totally off...but she is so cute! And she is very much a fighter!

What Happened by Hillary Rodham Clinton

About This Book:
Goodreads Summary
✥Series/Trilogy/Stand-Alone, etc: Stand Alone
✥Release Date: Sept. 12, 2017
✥Format: Hardcover
✥Page Count: 464

• ✥Genre(s): Non-Fiction, Biography/Auto-Biography, Politics

✥Date(s) Read: 5/25-6/11
✥Rating:        Book: 4.5/5       Audio:   5/5       Narrator(s): Hillary Rodham Clinton

*PSA: Your opinion of her is yours. Good or bad. No negative comments on this post. Period*

My Thoughts:

Audio:

I really enjoyed hearing her read her own book. It really put across how she really felt while writing and thinking about all she had to deal with during the election, after it and during the times she talked about her life and everything else she spoke about. 


Book:
Took some time for me to get through it because it was hard for me to focus on just one book and sometimes just needed a break from reading this one (As well as one other one).

Some times, it felt a bit longer than it should be, then, there would come a time I'm glad she talked about some things and glad she went on with the book. I over all enjoyed this book and she answered a lot of questions for me. Things that I, by instinct, just knew didn't sound right the rare time I would read or hear the news. 

Side Note: During  a time I wasn't reading, I watched a documentary on Hulu called "The Hunting Of the President: Redux ". This documentary just pushed what she said and what I always felt. Much of what was being said was a flat out lie or "twisting the truth" to fit what they wanted. This book also helped push what was said there.

Back to the book...kinda...: Am I one who believes everything I hear? No. There were at least a couple times I even defended D. J. Trump. And I am no fan of his. If what is being said is wrong, I have stood up for him. But this isn't about him.

I am glad I read this book. It gave me a respect for her that I didn't have before. I liked her before but I was confused about what was real and what wasn't and this helped to let me know how the media screws with people. How there are people out there that hate someone so much they will do what they have to do mess your life up. And yes, I knew that already, but the previous election proved that to me even more so.

Now, further thoughts on the book and Hillary..... No, she didn't "blame everyone" on why she lost the election (Electoral College of course) but she did give the reasons behind why she lost the election. Not in a "it's everyone's fault but mine" kind of way but in being truthful, this is what happened kind of way. There were things that played a part in the loss of the election for her but she also takes a lot of blame for her end and how she could have done things differently.

Regardless of how you may feel about her, if you really take a long hard look at things and not just go to sites you agree with (and who always bash her and others you don't like), but you look at a lot of different avenues/resources, you will see things were screwed up because there were people out there that just don't like her or her husband. Troubles for them were brought up because there was something there they didn't want done. The same way many went after J. Kennedy and R. Kennedy. Thankfully, without them having to lose their lives. Lies were told, on both ends, but then you have people like me that will many times, look things up to see which way things go (may not look up every single thing but much of it) and if things don't end up the way you wish and you find out people lied, even on a candidate you don't like, you are still mature enough to say: Hey, that's not true! ...as many mature people did, for both sides. But, unfortunately, so many don't do that. On either side. So many are so willing to fight and bash each other that now, things are worse than ever.

For as quick as 45's Supporters are willing to yell Fake News when something they don't like is said about him, how much more can there be in Fake News with Hillary? Don't just believe negative things because it's about someone you don't like. Something I have to learn to, so I am talking to myself as well. It's hard, yes, I know, but I do know, even during the elections, lies got told. For both parties. During the debates between Clinton and Trump, I would look up things she said about him. Much I found that he did say it, some things, I couldn't find or I didn't see them as reliable. I have tried to give him the benefit of the doubt. To be honest, I doubt I will ever like the man because there are just things I don't feel very fond of in his personality. But professionally, politically, I will at least be able to say when I agree and don't agree with him and will give him the benefit of the doubt there. And there have been at least a couple of times I have.

Carrying on.....

This book allowed me to check myself and also allowed me to see things that I just knew didn't sit right with me as I stated before. But many things, before this book and now after, helped me to realize I am glad there are some things I walked away from when it came to political parties and people that I would have possibly voted for. To take a much deeper look than I did this time into candidates. I did better with this election than any other but it also proved to me I could still do a lot better!

It also gave me a bit more respect for Bill and their daughter Chelsea. I never knew much about Chelsea, and I still don't really but I can say that what I do know now, I have more respect for her than before. I never took issue with her at all but as I stated, I just didn't know anything about her to say anything either way.

I know, I'm rambling but I am also still listening to the last bits of this book and adding to it as I go along. I can say that the pages of this book are littered up with sticky notes and the edges are very pretty where I wanted to be able to go back and look at some things if I need to. Even where she talked about some interesting books I may want to go and read! 😂

I can confidently say that Bill, Hillary & Chelsea would be some people I'd like to hang out with from time to time, especially to talk about those books and get a bunch of suggestions! lol...But of course, more than that, the wisdom they can give about politics, what to trust, what not to trust, where to look for information if things come up and I want to know more. Although I am not into politics that much, I am still a voter and want good information so I can make as good of a choice as possible. But also, just to have people who seem to have great sense of humors (you'd have to in order to deal with the nonsense they've had to) and what seem to be great parents and grandparents.

If comments are left, chances are, I will know if you read it or not and/or just picked out something to focus negatively on and those, like everyone else, will be deleted and/or blocked. Freedom of speech? Sure. But I also have the freedom not to deal with negativity, lack of respect for each other, lack of respect for views different than your own and ignorance. Even if that ignorance is towards a Trump supporter who came respectfully commenting on this post (Yes, there are some out there, they, like respectful Hillary supporters, don't comment much because of the disrespectful Trump supporters..both supporters who seem to be loud and cantankerous)