definitely, possibly, maybe

i'm not kidding when i tell you that i've read the opening chapter of this book 50 times. i've been dying to read this book since i finished cold-hearted rake . i liked the first book in the ravenel series just fine, but the characters of rhys and helen hooked me then. so i was thrilled to get a hold of marrying winterborne today. as soon as i had it in my hands i read the first chapter for the 51st time and then kept on reading until i was done. and oh, i just loved this book. helen and rhys are made for each other. i loved the contrast between the self-assured, independent welshman and the gentle, strong lady. they are two people who you wouldn't think could have any way of understanding each other. except they both ache for exactly what the other has to give. reading this book you could just feel the pull between these two characters. it was there in cold-hearted rake , but the magnetic attraction between helen and rhys intensifies in marrying winterborne . i can...

one of my favorite shows to binge watch is the americans . i probably would have watched it regardless of the plot because i love keri russell so much. one of my all time favorite shows is felicity  [#teamben] and besides all the angsty love triangles, it was because felicity was experiencing college the same time i was. and even though there are many, many differences in our college experiences, there is something to be said for a television show that captures a seminal time period of your life. i will always associate felicity  with my college years, and that love extends to pretty much anyone who took part in that show, but especially keri. when i first heard about the americans  i was so excited for it. not only was felicity in it, but it was a show about the cold war and the leads were russian spies masquerading as american citizens. this was basically the made up game i played my entire childhood. [i am obviously a child of the 80s. i grew up during the cold war...

wicked intentions is the first book in elizabeth hoyt's maiden lane series. as of now there are 9 novels, with the 10th ( duke of sin ) publishing on tuesday, may 31st. i had read her previous series, the legend of the four soldiers , and liked the books a lot. so i'm not sure why i didn't read wicked intentions until now. i remember reading the excerpt, but i'm 85% positive i hadn't read the whole book. amazon reassures me that it has no record of me buying the book previously and i did go through a phase where i needed a break from historical romances, which probably explains why i hadn't picked up this series until now. anyway, netgalley offered this book as a "read now" option, likely to drum up interest in the latest release. and guess what, the marketing worked! now i want to read the rest of the series, including the latest novel. wicked intentions  takes place in the 18th century england, in the st. giles area of london, which during that...

i read how not to fall in one sitting it feels like, it was a quick, enjoyable read with lots and lots of sex. i'm putting that out there first, because if you don't like books with explicit and lots and lots of sex, then this is probably not the book for you. i am also going to advance warn you that this book is part 1 of a duology. so it totally ends on a cliffhanger and since i did not know that in advance i was a little bit frustrated and a little bit like "oh my god, how long do i have to wait for book 2 ?!" [the answer to that is not terribly long, just 7 months since it appears to be scheduled to publish in december 2016.] this might seem weird, but i also researched the author a little bit after i read the book. the characters are super science nerds and what i learned about the author is that she has a phd and her area of study is human sexuality. and this all made so much sense to me. her background really does inform the book. i work in an academic sett...

i so badly wanted to like amy poehler's memoir, yes please . because i love amy. i loved her on snl. i loved her on parks & recreation .  i loved her when she hosted the golden globes. i loved her bits during the emmys. i think she is funny and smart and she has a lot of smart and funny friends. and she's been a comedy writer her whole career. you'd think that she would have written a very funny book, but she didn't. and for someone who talks about how badly she feels when a joke falls flat it's so disappointing that this was her best effort. it's like someone told amy, here's some money, write a book. but she had no idea what she wanted to write about and many ideas about what she didn't want to write about. for someone who seems to be open and committed to taking a bit as far as it can go, she does not do that here. the glimpses she gives us into amy poehler the person are too slight. and the stories she tells about the people she's met and h...

one last look at things from liz's point of view. the next chapter is more of an epilogue where everything gets tied up in a neat little package--or something like that. but before things end for good, there's just a little more to resolve after the jump. if you need to catch up here are links to parts 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 , and 7 .

so it's no big secret that i'm a huge fan of shiri appleby's. i loved her on roswell . and i've watched terrible shows like life unexpected  just because she was on them. last summer she starred on this surprisingly amazing show called unreal .  surprisingly amazing because this show airs on lifetime, a channel better known for it's cheesy movies of the week instead of cutting edge black comedies. unreal  takes on the reality dating television genre and exposes the manipulative, overproduced underbellies of shows like the bachelor . it is totally awesome. shiri appelby plays a girl named rachel. rachel is a total mess. she keeps meaning to improve her life and do worthier things with it, but keeps getting sucked into the game by her frenemy and boss quinn, played by the always amazing constance zimmer. the first season was spectacular and i am so excited for season 2. because i know it will be totally amazing. there is so much juicy stuff to be had.  especia...

so in chemistry formulas are a good thing. in baking recipes are necessary. in construction following a set of instructions makes the difference between freestanding furniture and a pile of junk. sometimes we see entertainment follow a formula. like in a romantic comedy, where the two leads have their meet-cute and then shenanigans occur and in the end they end up together because that's what you're signed up for. i don't mind things that are predictable in broad strokes, especially if they are unique in the details. see for example the proposal   which is one of my favorite romantic comedies , and is unique in that the leads in some sense swap gender roles. but sometimes formulas are bad, in that even with different details they still feel tired or easy. things wrap too neatly. most writers follow some sort of formula, and it's usually okay. it's more common in genre fare, but even some literary folks fall prey to this. one recent example i've encountered i...

you guys, i don't listen to country music. i don't watch the voice . i like gwen stefani, but my fondness has more to do with how no doubt figured into my high school soundtrack more than the artist she's morphed into. when i see her interviewed i'm not exactly convinced she's human. or if she is human, there doesn't seem to be much going on in her head. this is probably not a fair assessment of gwen. she's obviously a savvy businesswoman, she's a musician with a proven track record, and she has enough personality and charisma to front her own band. before taylor swift made every one of her heartbreaks into a hit song, gwen stefani was doing it. i think we can all acknowledge that "don't speak" is an amazing f-u song. and the best part of the back story to that song is that gwen's ex was in the band. so he's been forced to play a bitter break-up song for 20 years. that is some amazing payback. she harnessed her bad break-up and...

imagine mild-mannered governess is actually a murderess several times over and there you have the hook for jane steele  by lyndsay faye. this homage to jane eyre  has been mischaracterized as a retelling, but that is absolutely not the case. certainly there is overlap. jane steele's life story maps pretty closely to jane eyre's, with several key differences. jane steele's victorian england is a darker, grittier place. but the fact that the seedy underbelly is explicitly rendered in the text feels fresh, this isn't just some jane eyre wannabe we're reading about. this is jane steele, a woman who identifies with jane eyre, but who has more depth and more agency than our original victorian-era heroine. even though our jane is a serial murderer, she is extremely sympathetic. also there is an argument to be made for the fact that all of her murders are somewhat justified. if anything she is a vigilante, not evil or wicked. her name is especially apt, as she has suc...