Can’t Wait Wednesday – INSTANT KARMA by Marissa Meyer
/37 Comments/by Suzanne
“Waiting On” Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted at Breaking the Spine, which encourages fellow bloggers to spotlight upcoming releases that we’re excited about. It is a meme that I have loved participating in for over a year now, but as Jill is no longer actively posting, from now on I’ll be linking to Can’t Wait Wednesday, hosted by Tressa at Wishful Endings, which is a spinoff of the original WoW meme.
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My selection for this week is INSTANT KARMA by Marissa Meyer. I’ve been a big Marissa Meyer fan ever since I read The Lunar Chronicles and her new book just sounds like too much fun to pass up on. I love the tagline on the cover: “Is it love, hate…or fate?”
INSTANT KARMA by Marissa Meyer
Publication Date: November 3, 2020
From Goodreads:
In this young adult contemporary romance, a girl is suddenly gifted with the ability to cast instant karma on those around her—both good and bad.
Chronic overachiever Prudence Daniels is always quick to cast judgment on the lazy, rude, and arrogant residents of her coastal town. Her dreams of karmic justice are fulfilled when, after a night out with her friends, she wakes up with the sudden ability to cast instant karma on those around her. Pru giddily makes use of the power, punishing everyone from public vandals to karaoke hecklers, but there is one person on whom her powers consistently backfire: Quint Erickson, her slacker of a lab partner and all-around mortal enemy. Soon, Pru begins to uncover truths about Quint, her peers, and even herself that reveal how thin the line is between virtue and vanity, generosity and greed . . . love and hate.
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I’d love to hear what upcoming book releases you’re waiting on this Wednesday? Leave me your link in the comments below and I’ll stop by and check out your CWW selection for this week. 🙂
Top Ten Tuesday – Why I Love Reading Contemporary Fiction
/45 Comments/by Suzanne
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 Reasons Why I Love [insert your favorite book title, genre, author, etc. here]. Since I’ve been reading a lot of contemporary fiction lately, I decided to share some reasons why I’m enjoying reading it so much. Many of the reasons I’m sharing of course also can be applied to other genres, but they just specifically add to the charm of contemporary fiction for me.
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Reasons Why I Love Reading Contemporary Fiction
(in no particular order)
- I love the modern settings — places I recognize from having visited, or even places that I want to visit. As much as I might enjoy reading about the same exact city in a historical fiction, there’s just something comforting and familiar for me reading about it in a contemporary. New York immediately comes to mind as I’m typing this.
- I love the overall timely feel of a contemporary, especially in terms of its inclusion of modern technology, social media, current events, etc. Those things that make it so relevant to right now.
- Along similar lines, I love reading contemporary novels that are sprinkled with familiar pop culture references. Whether it’s Star Wars, Harry Potter, or something else iconic, it’s just fun to actually “get” the references.
- I’m a huge fan of fantasy and all of the magic that typically accompanies those kinds of stories, but another appeal of contemporary fiction for me is just seeing ordinary, everyday people (Muggles, lol) facing and overcoming difficulties without the assistance of any kind of special powers. Anne from Books of My Heart commented on one of my reviews this week and she says she calls this “Life Fiction” and I I really liked the term.
- Along the same lines, I also love contemporary fiction in that it often just gives us a snapshot of a character or characters’ everyday lives. Sometimes I just think it’s fun to get a glimpse into a day in the life of someone else.
- Another huge appeal of contemporary fiction for me is that it feeds my inner mood reader because there’s such a wide range of subject possibilities, not to mention that you can easily find either a light, fluffy read or an emotional one that will have you grabbing for the tissues. There’s a book for every mood!
- I can’t forget to talk about the diversity. Contemporary fiction is doing such a wonderful job with representation these days. I love that there’s so much representation out there for different races, cultures, religion, the LGBTQ community, mental illness, and so much more.
- I also love contemporary fiction because it is in these kinds of stories that I most often see myself in the characters. They are definitely more relatable to me than a fantasy character or even a character from historical fiction.
- Romance is also a draw for me when it come to contemporary fiction, mainly because it seems to be the place where I find my favorite tropes and that snarky, witty banter that I love so much.
- Last but not least, the covers! I know I shouldn’t judge books by their covers but I totally do and I adore the covers for contemporary fiction reads, especially if they’re those cute illustrated covers that seem to be the trend now.
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Question: Do you read contemporary fiction? What do you enjoy about it?
Review: HAPPY & YOU KNOW IT by Laura Hankin
/17 Comments/by SuzannePublished by BERKLEY on May 19, 2020
Genres: Women's Fiction, Contemporary Fiction
Pages: 384
Source: Netgalley
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | The Book Depository
Goodreads
FTC Disclosure: I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher via Netgalley. All opinions are my own.
Laura Hankins’ addictive new novel, Happy & You Know It follows a group of wealthy Manhattan moms and their Instagram-perfect infant play group and the out-of-work musician who inadvertently turns their lives upside down.
Claire, the musician, is the character I immediately felt was the most relatable of the group. She’s a talented singer who is down on her luck and wallowing in self-pity when we meet her because she got kicked out of the band she was playing in right as they hit it big. Their music is everywhere now, taunting her, while she’s desperately searching for a job so that she doesn’t have to leave New York and move back home, admitting she failed. I felt tremendous sympathy for Claire and wanted to cringe right along with her every time someone mentioned her former band and their sexy new lead singer.
It is when Claire lands a job on Park Avenue playing music for a bunch of wealthy Manhattan moms and their infants that we meet the rest of the main characters. And what a crew these women are! In some ways they are totally unrelatable because of their tremendous wealth and glamorous lifestyles, but on the other hand, their struggles as new moms is something that grounds them all and makes them a little easier to connect with as a whole.
The leader of this pack is Whitney, the social media queen who has a whole Instagram account devoted to showing how picture perfect her life as a mom is and how equally perfect her play group is. Every playgroup meeting is a photo op, and Whitney has amassed a huge following and lots of sponsors who are constantly sending her free things to promote on her account. Then there’s Gwen, who comes from old money, is super reserved and also somewhat of a condescending know-it-all. Lastly, there’s Amara, who has some financial issues and who also has a child who isn’t developing as quickly as the other babies in the playgroup. Amara is constantly feeling like she just doesn’t measure up to the rest of the moms in the group. There are also several other moms in the group but Whitney, Gwen, and Amara are the three who take center stage in this story.
I don’t want to give away any of the juicy details but what becomes apparent as the story progresses is that the more picture perfect Whitney tries to make all of their lives look on Instagram, the more clear it becomes that all of their lives are far from it. They each have their own struggles they’re dealing with, and with the story unfolding from the perspectives of Claire, Whitney, Amara, and Gwen, we are taken on a roller coaster ride that is filled with secrets, drama, and all out scandal!
If you’re looking for a book that will make you forget your own troubles for a while, I suggest diving into Laura Hankins’ addictive new novel, Happy & You Know It. It’s a quick and easy read that is sure to entertain!
About Laura Hankin
Laura Hankin is the author of HAPPY & YOU KNOW IT and has written for McSweeney’s and HuffPost, among other publications. The viral videos that she creates and stars in with her comedy duo, Feminarchy, have been featured in Now This, The New York Times, and Funny or Die. She grew up in Washington, D.C. and now lives in New York City, where she has performed off-Broadway, acted onscreen, and sung to far too many babies.