'90s Nostalgia by Krista Brea | Book Review

[ad/gifted - I received an audiobook copy of this book for the purpose of this review. All thoughts and opinions are my own. This post contains affiliate links.]

90's Nostalgia: Influential Moments, Music, Movies and More from One of the Greatest Childhood Decades by Krista Brea

Star rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Publication date: 15th October 2022

Blurb:

If you grew up in the ’90s, this book is an excellent throwback. The 1990s was a decade of change and growth. This was also a time of significant technological advances, with the internet and cell phones becoming commonplace. But what truly made the 90s special was the culture.

This was the era of grunge, girl power, and hip-hop.♥

From Clueless to The Matrix, there were plenty of iconic films that defined the decade. And who could forget the music? The 90s saw the rise of Nirvana, Spice Girls, and Britney Spears. In many ways, the 90s was a golden age of pop culture. It was a time of fun and exploration, and we continue to love it today.

Review:

This book was super fun and felt like a warm hug. I was born in 1992 and always wish I'd been born a tiny bit earlier so I could experience the '90s when I was a little older. I am however very proud of being born in the '90s so I was really excited to go back in time with this book.

This book talks about how amazing the 1990's really was with developments in technology, movies and TV shows that became classics and are still watched today and even fashion trends that have made a comeback.

The TV chapter started and I heard

"Home Improvement" and "everyone had a crush on Jonathan Taylor Thomas." Absolutely YES. He was my first ever crush.

Although this book is fun, reminding us of things that were popular in the '90s, it is also educational and I felt like I learned a lot especially in the gaming consoles chapter about how exciting these were and how they paved the future for gaming.

It has also reminded me of some amazing cartoons that I need to introduce to my own children! If you want to throw it back, this book is for you. I also think it would be really interesting for teenagers of today to read too.

I'm Glad My Mom Died by Jennette McCurdy | Book Review

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I'm Glad My Mom Died by Jennette McCurdy

Star rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Publisher: Simon & Schuster 

Publication date: 15th September 2022

Blurb:

Jennette McCurdy was six years old when she had her first acting audition. Her mother’s dream was for her only daughter to become a star, and Jennette would do anything to make her mother happy. So she went along with what Mom called “calorie restriction,” eating little and weighing herself five times a day. She endured extensive at-home makeovers while Mom chided, “Your eyelashes are invisible, okay? You think Dakota Fanning doesn’t tint hers?” She was even showered by Mom until age sixteen while sharing her diaries, email, and all her income.

In I’m Glad My Mom Died, Jennette recounts all this in unflinching detail—just as she chronicles what happens when the dream finally comes true. Cast in a new Nickelodeon series called iCarly, she is thrust into fame. Though Mom is ecstatic, emailing fan club moderators and getting on a first-name basis with the paparazzi (“Hi Gale!”), Jennette is riddled with anxiety, shame, and self-loathing, which manifest into eating disorders, addiction, and a series of unhealthy relationships. These issues only get worse when, soon after taking the lead in the iCarly spinoff Sam & Cat alongside Ariana Grande, her mother dies of cancer. Finally, after discovering therapy and quitting acting, Jennette embarks on recovery and decides for the first time in her life what she really wants.

Review:

"I'm allowed to hate someone else's dream, even if it's my reality."

Oh my goodness, what a book. I love a memoir but I love them even more when I listen to them in audio format and they are read by the author. I would go as far as to say that this is one of my top reads of the year. I'm Glad My Mom Died is raw, honest, heartbreaking, candid and funny.

I consume a lot of pop culture so although I was aware of Jennette McCurdy, when iCarly and Sam & Cat were on TV, I was past the age of their target audience. I was initially drawn to this book ahead of its release due to its frankly stunning title. I was intrigued, I was curious. I didn't know what to expect. 

Jennette writes brilliantly about her relationship with her mother Debra from the age of six, up to her death when Jennette was 21 years old. She then recalls her life following her mother's death. 

Debra got Jennette into acting as a child but the story is very deep. Jennette quite clearly loved her mother and believed that their relationship was completely normal but only realised after her death that this was not the case. I was completely enthralled and my heart felt like it was breaking as Jennette told the story of attending therapy and unpacking what her childhood was really like. 

She writes honestly about her mother's abuse (something that she now realises that it was), Hollywood, her time at Nickelodeon, her relationships (both romantic and with her family) and her eating disorders. Jennette is effortlessly funny so although there are serious topics, it did make me laugh too.

One True Loves by Taylor Jenkins Reid | Book Review

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One True Loves by Taylor Jenkins Reid

Star rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Publisher: Simon and Schuster 

Publication date: 20th January 2022

Blurb:

In her twenties, Emma Blair marries her high school sweetheart, Jesse. They build a life for themselves, far away from the expectations of their parents and the people of their hometown in Massachusetts. They travel the world together, living life to the fullest and seizing every opportunity for adventure. On their first wedding anniversary, Jesse is on a helicopter over the Pacific when it goes missing. Just like that, Jesse is gone forever.

   

Emma quits her job and moves home in an effort to put her life back together. Years later, now in her thirties, Emma runs into an old friend, Sam, and finds herself falling in love again. When Emma and Sam get engaged, it feels like Emma’s second chance at happiness. That is, until Jesse is found. He’s alive, and he’s been trying all these years to come home to her. With a husband and a fiance, Emma has to now figure out who she is and what she wants while trying to protect the ones she loves. But who is her one true love? What does it mean to love truly?

Review:

This is just beautiful.

One True Loves follows the story of Emma Blair. When she was a teenager she worked at her parent's bookstore, Blair Books, and became friends with fellow student Sam but sort of accidentally puts him in the friendzone.

Emma's sister Marie drags her along to a swim team meet to see her boyfriend and Emma lays her eyes on Jesse Learner for the first time. Eventually, Jesse and Emma get together, travel the world and get married. True high school sweethearts. The day before their first wedding anniversary, Jesse goes on a work trip and the helicopter he was travelling in goes missing and Jesse is presumed dead.

Understandably, Emma is distraught as she has lost the only man she has ever loved. After moving back to her hometown to be close to her family, she bumps into Sam. They develop a romantic relationship, even getting engaged. Years after Jesse's disappearance, he calls Emma. He is alive. Emma must now decide who her "one true love" is. Who will she be with? What does true love even mean?

This book was so emotional and Taylor Jenkins Reid really makes you feel. I am now married to the man I have been with since I was 17 so it made me think about what I would do if I was in that situation. I loved the character growth for Emma both romantically and with her sister and parents. A stunning read.

Mad, Bad and Dead by Sherryl Clark | Audiobook Review

[ad/gifted - I received an audiobook version of this book for the purpose of this review. All thoughts and opinions are my own. This post contains affiliate links.]

Mad, Bad and Dead by Sherryl Clark

Star rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Publisher: Verve

Publication date: 1st September 2022

Blurb:

A dead employee. A missing child. Anonymous phone calls in the dead of night. Judi Westerholme's troubles aren't over yet...

Already struggling to juggle co-running the local pub with her childcare responsibilities for her orphaned niece, Judi does not need life to become any more complicated.

Yet, as usual, complications arrive in spades: she starts receiving threatening, late-night phone calls before discovering one of her employees, Kate, shot dead.

Judi finds herself caught up in a murder investigation, as well as the hunt for the Kate's fourteen year-old daughter, who has been missing since the murder.

Add in the uncertainty of her relationship with Melbourne-based DS Heath and the fact that her estranged mother's nursing home keeps urging her to visit, and Judi might finally be at breaking point.

Review:

Mad, Bad and Dead is part of a series but was the first I'd read by this author. I don't feel like I missed anything but perhaps I would have liked to know a bit more backstory of our main character even though a lot of the gaps were filled.

Set in the fictional town of Candelbark in Australia, Judi runs a pub/bistro with friend Andre. She has a lot going on with the pubs finances, her ill mother and juggling her job and childcare for Mia then she starts receiving threatening telephone calls.

Her best staff member, Kate, doesn't show up for work so Judi calls to her house to find Kate dead in bed after being shot. Kate's fourteen year old daughter Emma has run away. What were they hiding and why doesn't Emma trust the police? Instead of leaving it to the police to investigate, Judi takes an active interest in trying to find out what really happened.

I love a crime thriller where you are trying to piece things together and I was fully invested in this story. I really felt for Judi with everything that was thrown at her and how resilient she was. I will definitely read more by this author. Listening on audio where the narrator had an Australian accent really helped to set the scene too.

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A massive thank you to Verve for having me on the #HotVerveSummer audio tour. You can find more information about the bloggers taking part in the tour in the graphic below.

This Thing Between Us by Gus Moreno | Book Review

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This Thing Between Us by Gus Moreno

Star rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Publisher: MCD x FSG Originals

Publication date: 12th October 2021

Blurb:

It was Vera’s idea to buy the Itza. The “world’s most advanced smart speaker!” didn’t interest Thiago, but Vera thought it would be a bit of fun for them amidst all the strange occurrences happening in the condo. It made things worse. The cold spots and scratching in the walls were weird enough, but peculiar packages started showing up at the house—who ordered industrial lye? Then there was the eerie music at odd hours, Thiago waking up to Itza projecting light shows in an empty room.

It was funny and strange right up until Vera was killed, and Thiago’s world became unbearable. Pundits and politicians all looking to turn his wife’s death into a symbol for their own agendas. A barrage of texts from her well-meaning friends about letting go and moving on. Waking to the sound of Itza talking softly to someone in the living room...

The only thing left to do was get far away from Chicago. Away from everything and everyone. A secluded cabin in Colorado seemed like the perfect place to hole up with his crushing grief. But soon Thiago realizes there is no escape—not from his guilt, not from his simmering rage, and not from the evil hunting him, feeding on his grief, determined to make its way into this world.

Review:

I have been waiting for a book like this. I am a massive psychological thriller reader but wanted to branch more into horror. I'd heard about This Thing Between Us by Gus Moreno a lot and I was initially intrigued by the synopsis. A seemingly possessed smart home speaker? I'm in. But it is so much more.

The story is written as though it is being told by Thiago to his late wife Vera. We learn that Vera was "accidentally" killed and Thiago is retelling the story of her funeral, their life before she died and what happened following her death.

To me, it feels like two different stories but works so well. I absolutely loved the description of their relationship. Vera decides to purchase a smart home device called Itza and strange things start happening. They hear scratching in the walls, odd packages arrive that haven't been ordered. Following Vera's death, Thiago moves to Colorado, of course leaving the Itza behind, but the supernatural instances keep occurring.

This book is graphic and there are a lot of gruesome scenes. I listened to this on audio and had to go back and listen to the end twice. Damn near perfect.