Top Ten Tuesday: 10 Things I’m Thankful for This Year
Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish in June of 2010 and was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl in January 2018. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together. Top Ten Tuesday has been one of my favorite memes ever since I started blogging, so huge thanks to Jana for taking over the hosting duties!
This week’s TTT topic is a Thanksgiving freebie, so I’m just going to keep it simple and share some things I’m thankful for this year. It’s not an especially bookish topic, but of course I am thankful for books so they are high on my list. 2020 is probably the most challenging year to be thankful for because of the pandemic and the continuing circus that is the Trump Administration, but I was still able to come up with a few things.
Before I share my list, I also want to wish everyone who is celebrating this week a safe and Happy Thanksgiving.
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10 Things I’m Thankful for This Year
1. My Health and My Family’s Health. In a year of uncertainty due to the pandemic, I feel very thankful that, thus far anyway, taking precautions against COVID has helped to keep me and all of my family members from getting it.
2. My Job. I know I complain about it sometimes, but I truly am thankful not only that I have been able to keep my job AND work from home since March, but also that my company has not had to furlough anyone yet. I know it’s such a relief for everyone at the company, and in particular, parents who wanted to keep their kids in virtual school for safety reasons.
3. Books! I’m always thankful for wonderful books to read, but this year, I have appreciated the distraction from reality more than ever before.
4. Hulu, Netflix, and Disney Plus. Speaking of distractions, I’ve appreciated my favorite distractions so much this year. Between COVID and politics, I just haven’t wanted to turn on my TV at all this year so these streaming services have been lifesavers.
5. Biden/Harris. Speaking of the dreaded P- word, I’m so thankful that the current administration will soon be gone and that we have two wonderful people in line to lead us forward. It’s the first time I’ve ever cried tears of joy when the winner of an election was announced, lol.
6. All of You! I’m also more thankful than ever for the bookish community. During this time where we’ve all been isolating and social distancing for so long, I have appreciated my online friendships so much. And of course all of the fabulous book recs you give me all year long. 🙂
7. Quality time with my child (and with my furry children). One of the bright spots about being home so much is that I’ve definitely spent a lot more time with my son than I would normally get to. Not all of it is pleasant of course because he’s now a hormonal teenager going through puberty, but he really is an interesting kid and I’ve enjoying getting to have actual thought-provoking discussions with him. It’s also been very nice to get to hang out with Ninja and Winston more. I swear, work is so much more chill when you have a dog at your feet and a cat snuggling in your lap. 🙂
8. Scientists and Healthcare Professionals. I’m so thankful for all of the men and women out there who are doing everything in their power to develop vaccines and treatments for COVID and for those healthcare workers on the front lines, risking their own lives to care for those who have gotten so ill from it. What a truly extraordinary group of people.
9. Coffee, Tea, Fuzzy Socks, and Cozy Blankets. This probably sounds silly, but I’m thankful for all of the small things in life that have brought me comfort and helped me to feel more relaxed this year.
10. Resilience and Innovation. I know a lot of businesses have suffered because of the pandemic, but I’m so thankful for the spirit of resiliency and innovation that has kept so many businesses open as they’ve been able to find ways to adapt to a socially distanced world. I think of the whiskey distilleries in my own state that switched over and started manufacturing hand sanitizer to help meet the overwhelming demand for it and all of the restaurants that have managed to switch over to curbside pickup, contactless deliveries, and outdoor seating. It really is impressive.
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What are you thankful for this year?
Review: ADMISSION by Julie Buxbaum
Admission by Julie Buxbaum 
Published by Delacorte Press on December 1, 2020
Genres: Young Adult Fiction, Contemporary Fiction
Pages: 304
Source: Netgalley
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FTC Disclosure: I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher via Netgalley. All opinions are my own.
Julie Buxbaum’s new novel Admission is a timely and relevant read that takes an inside look at a college admissions scandal. The novel contains clear parallels to the recent admissions scandal involving actresses Felicity Huffman and Lori Loughlin as it explores what happens when those who are rich and privileged enough to already have the deck stacked in their favor decide that still isn’t enough.
Admission opens with a bang and never looks back. The protagonist of the story, Chloe Wynn Berringer, awakens to the sound of the doorbell ringing and watches helplessly as her world unravels around her. Her mom, a famous celebrity, is led away in handcuffs, and as Chloe soon learns while watching the news, her mother has gotten caught up in a college admissions scandal while trying to bribe Chloe’s way into her college of choice. The story then progresses, very effectively using dual timelines, “now” and “then”, to follow Chloe and her family as they deal with the fallout from the scandal and to show what happened to lead to the moment where the FBI came knocking.
I have to admit that my feelings for her and for her family were very ambivalent. Like the general public, I was furious to learn the lengths these rich, entitled folks would go to in order to take what they wanted, even if it meant taking an admissions slot that should have gone to a more-deserving student. To Buxbaum’s credit though, she brings Chloe and her family to life in such a way that I wanted to learn more about them and understand their motivations and wanted to know if they had any understanding or remorse for how their actions impacted other families. In the same regard, Chloe’s journey fascinated me because she really is just an all-around average person – average intelligence, average grades, average school activities, etc. There is nothing stand-out about her aside from that her family has money, so there’s no way she should have had her pick of colleges. Although Chloe comes across as dense and naïve, I found it hard to believe that she was completely blindsided by what her parents had done and believed she had legitimately earned a spot at her college of choice. It soon became clear though that the novel is about more than just the actual admissions scandal; it’s also about Chloe’s exploration of whether she knowingly or unknowingly played any role in her parents’ scheme. As ambivalent as I felt about Chloe, I did really enjoy watching her grow as she tried to make sense of and learn from the experience rather than just play the victim.
My favorite characters in the novel though are actually Chloe’s best friend, Shola, and Chloe’s younger sister, Isla. I adored both of these brilliant and driven young women and that they were up close and personal examples for Chloe of how truly unfair the admissions scandal is for hard-working students who have their spots stolen by rich people. Shola is an incredibly gifted student who works hard everyday and her dream is to get into Harvard, but she needs a lot of financial aid in order for it to happen. Shola faces the real fear that she will be rejected in favor of a privileged student who doesn’t need aid. And then poor Isla. Like Shola, Isla is brilliant and a hard worker whose dream is to attend Yale and based on her grades, test scores, and overall amazing transcript, she should be able to get in pretty much anywhere on her own merits. But is her name now tainted because of what her parents did for Chloe? Where I had minimal sympathy for Chloe, these two young ladies had all of my sympathy and they were the two I found myself hardcore rooting for as I was reading.
If you’re in the mood for a compulsively readable family drama with a “ripped from the headlines” vibe, look no further than Julie Buxbaum’s new novel, Admission. You won’t be able to put it down!
About Julie Buxbaum
Julie Buxbaum is the New York Times best selling author of Tell Me Three Things, her young adult debut, What to Say Next, Hope and Other Punchlines, and Admission. She’s also the author of two critically acclaimed novels for adults: The Opposite of Love and After You. Her work has been translated into twenty-five languages. Julie’s writing has appeared in various publications, including The New York Times. She is a former lawyer and graduate of Harvard Law School and lives in Los Angeles with her husband, two children, and more books than is reasonable.
Review: CHASING LUCKY by Jenn Bennett
Chasing Lucky by Jenn Bennett Also by this author: Starry Eyes, Serious Moonlight
Published by Simon Pulse on November 10, 2020
Genres: Young Adult Fiction, Contemporary Fiction
Pages: 416
Source: Netgalley
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | The Book Depository
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FTC Disclosure: I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher via Netgalley. All opinions are my own.
Chasing Lucky has everything I’ve come to love and expect from a Jenn Bennett novel. It has an engaging story with a wonderful romance, moving family moments, and most importantly, it is filled with unforgettable and ultra-relatable characters.
There’s a lot to love about this story, and main characters Josie Saint-Martin and Lucky Karras are at the top of my list. Josie and her mom moved away from their New England hometown several years ago and have only now returned to help out in Josie’s grandmother’s book shop while she is out of the country. Josie is not excited about being home and only views this as a temporary pitstop. Josie is a budding photographer and plans to save up enough money to move across the country to L.A. where her famous photographer dad is. Josie is torn because she doesn’t want to break her mother’s heart and leave her alone, but she is also determined to follow her dreams. That is, until she crosses paths with Lucky, resident bad boy and also Josie’s former best friend from when she lived there before. After an initial awkward reacquaintance because Lucky isn’t at all like Josie remembered him to be, Josie and Lucky renew their friendship. It is this developing relationship and its many possibilities that really drew me into the story and I especially wanted to know what had happened to Lucky to change him so much in the years that Josie was away.
In addition to these two characters and their journeys, I also really loved the New England small town setting. Lucky’s family business is a shipyard of sorts and there are lots of scenes set on or near boats and the ocean and Bennett describes these scenes so vividly that I felt like I was there. I also adored the Saint-Martin family’s book shop, which is just so quaint.
Chasing Lucky hooked me from the opening scene and captivated me until the very end because I was so invested in Josie and Lucky, both individually and as a pair. I needed happy endings for them both and I also needed a happy ending for Josie’s mom, who in a very intriguing side plot, has some things from her past that come back to haunt her as soon as she returns home. If you’re a Jenn Bennett fan and/or a fan of small-town romances and bad boys who may not really be bad boys after all, be sure to check out Chasing Lucky.
About Jenn Bennett
Jenn Bennett is an award-winning author of young adult contemporary romance books, including: Alex, Approximately; The Anatomical Shape of a Heart; and Starry Eyes. She also writes romance and urban fantasy for adults (the Roaring Twenties and Arcadia Bell series). Her books have earned multiple starred reviews, won the Romance Writers of America’s prestigious RITA® Award, garnered two Reviewers’ Choice awards and a Seal of Excellence from RT Book Reviews, and been included on Publishers Weekly Best Books annual list. She lives near Atlanta with one husband and two dogs.