February 2018

I read five books, watched four movies, and one TV show this month!
 

Books

Otherworld by Jason Segel and Kristen Miller: 3.5-4 stars

I enjoyed Otherworld but one thing that drove me crazy the entire time was how impulsive Simon was. He did not think anything through before completely diving into something. 

I enjoyed the plot but the book ended very abruptly. 

Synopsis:
This is a book about virtual reality. Otherworld is a very popular game that just got rebooted by The Company. 
There are some strange accidents happening in the real world causing people have what is called locked in syndrome. The Company is giving those who have locked in syndrome disks to go to the White City, which is like Otherworld but it is a serene place for people to exist. One of the people who gets locked in syndrome is Kat, Simons best friend. Simon does not believe that everything is as it seems and decides to go into the game to save his best friend.


The Wedding Date by Jasmine Guillory: 4.5-5 stars

This book was just what I needed. The Wedding Date is down right addicting. 

Synopsis:
Drew is a pediatric surgeon in Los Angeles and Alexa is the chief of staff for the mayors office in Berkeley. Drew and Alexa get stuck in a hotel elevator. Drew tells Alexa that he is in town for his best friends wedding and his date bailed on him. Not only is the groom his best friend, but the bride is his ex girlfriend. 
Drew asks Alexa if she would go to the wedding with him. She says yes and the craziness takes off from there. 



Things that I loved:

• I love the writing. 
• The dual point of views
• I love that this felt real. I know that sounds strange but normally going into a romance novel I expect to see either insta-love or some unrealistic, but cute, story.
• With this book I felt like the couples had to deal with real world issues such as
• How they were going to afford plane tickets to visit back and forth.
• How it was going to work with both of their demanding jobs.
• Were they really compatible?
• Was this just a friends-with-benefits or something more?
• One more thing that I liked was that this relationship was between people of two different races. Drew is white and Alexa is African American. I also liked that Drew became more aware of some of the things that Alexa has to deal with being a person of color around a bunch of ignorant white people. 

The Naturals by Jennifer Lynn Barnes: 4 stars
I listened to this book in one day. This book completely sucked me in from the first chapter. 

Synopsis:
Cassie can read people. One day a man from the FBI comes into the diner where Cassie works and pretty much offers her a place in this program for naturals. Naturals are people with abilities that people at the FBI could use to help solve cases. Cassie and Dean are profilers. Michael can read emotions. Lia can tell if people are lying. Sloane is good with numbers. 

This book keeps you on your toes. I cannot wait to read the rest of the series. I just wish my library had them as audiobooks.
The one thing that had my skin crawling were the snippets from the killer. The narrator for the audiobook did this creepy whisper voice.


The Girl in 6E by A.R. Torre No Rating

This book is not what I expected. I've never read an erotic thriller before. Not sure I want to continue the series. 

I borrowed the first book from the library because I remember Raeleen (PadfootandProngs07 on YouTube) talk about it a while back. I did not remember much of what the book was about before starting it. 

Going into this book I thought this was about a girl who didn't leave her house but witnesses a murder. I was wrong. 

**This book is very dark and graphic. Just want to warn you in case you decide that you might be interested in this series.** 

Synopsis:

Deanna Madden locks herself in her apartment because she longs to kill people. For work she is a cam girl. She is apart of these sex websites and charges people $7 a minute. 

One day this guy wants her to pretend to be this little girl named Annie. This guy keeps coming back to be with Deanna and she starts to get nervous. Deanna thinks that Annie may be a real person and enlists the help of this hacker that she met through caming. He finds out everything about this guy. He finds out that there is a real girl named Annie and she is in trouble. 

Deanna is forced to leave her apartment to save Annie. 

I liked that there were parts where you got Annie's point of view and Deanna's point of view. 

Silver Linings Playbook by Matthew Quick: 4 Stars

I broke the cardinal rule of not reading the book before watching the movie. I have seen this movie a few times. 

What sparked my interest to pick this book up was that I had my mom and some of my siblings sit down and watch the movie with me. 
My mom had never seen it and I was raving about how raw the movie is when talking about mental illness. She agreed. She told me that she felt like the movie was an actual portrayal of mental illness. 

**I can't speak on how accurate the representation for the mental illnesses present in the book. **

Synopsis:
This is a story about finding yourself and trying to be happy in the worst moments possible. Pat just got released from a mental hospital. He thought that he had only been in the hospital for a couple of months but soon finds out that it has been years.
He is shocked by this news and tries to put his life back together. He wants to show his wife Nikki that he is a changed man so that she will come back to him.
While trying to put his life back together he meets Tiffany and Pat finds out that Tiffany is going through a lot of what he is going through. Tiffany lost her husband and is trying to deal with the lingering grief. While Pat is trying to come to terms with how long it has been since he has seen his wife and what actions he should take to win her back.

Thoughts:
Just like the movie the book felt raw and real. I will say I do like the movie a little better than the book (for certain spoilerly reasons that I will not give away).
The one draw back for me was the constant talk of football. I don't follow football and since that was a big chunk of the book made it a little boring at times.

Movies

Fifty Shades Freed

I watched Fifty Shades on Feb. 10th and I really enjoyed it. 
Freed was was my favorite out of the books so I was pretty excited to see the film and I think that this is my favorite of the three movies. 

There are times in this movie that I thought that the plot was a little all over the place but I can understand why. They had to cover so much in such a short amount of time. 

I liked that the movie was set up like a thriller. This gave me the thriller aspect I wanted from Fifty Shades Darker. 

One thing that I was not expecting was for Jamie Dornan to sing! 

I love that they kept the epilogue. 

I also thought that it was cute that there was a tribute to the first two movies.  


Black Panther
This movie is amazing. I was on the edge of my seat the entire time. There were some battle scenes where I did not breathe.
I suggest buying a bag of popcorn for this movie. You are going to need something to munch on through all the intense scenes. This was the first time that I have ever made a big dent in popcorn while watching a movie. Normally, when I go to the movies I don't buy popcorn because I am so focused on the film that I don't eat.

Not only were there some intense scenes, this movie also has so many moments that had me laughing.


I loved the special effects and the way it was shot.
The dialogue was good and the plot was great. There were real world issues talked about in this movie too, which was great to see.

I think this was the first time watching a movie in theaters where everyone clapped at the end. There was a roar of applause.

Side Note:
There was a PSA at the beginning of the movie that people should stay till the end because Marvel always puts sneak peaks for the next movies and there were still people who walked out of the theatre!
There was not only one but two end scenes and I am excited to complete immerse myself in the Marvel Universe this year. Marvel is releasing so many movies this year.
I am tempted to watch all of the Marvel Movies over again in preparation for Infinity War.
I need to watch the first and second Guardians of the Galaxy. I've only seen bits and pieces of the first movie.



Go watch this movie and then come back so we can talk. I am so eager to talk to people about this movie its unreal!

The 9th Life of Louis Drax
I needed a movie to help me fall asleep so I went on the HBO website. The first movie that pops up is this one.
I saw that Jamie Dornan was in it and the title sounded intriguing so I went ahead and hit play.

This movie is very strange. The little boy creeped me out the whole movie.

**I just want to give a warning for abuse with this movie. The parents in this movie do not have a healthy relationship.**


Synopsis:

Louis Drax is accident prone. He has died and come back to life for every year he has been alive. On his ninth birthday everything gets complicated. Louis, his mother, and father all go on a picnic that ends in his death. Louis father and mother do not get along. They start arguing at this picnic and Louis runs away. The parents run after Louis. The mother puts her body in front of Louis to protect him from his father. They are very close to the edge of a cliff. The arguing continues and the next thing you know Louis is falling off the cliff.
Louis gets brought to the hospital after his body is found at the bottom of the cliff and the hospital pronounces him dead. His body gets transported to the morgue and the person that is about to do the autopsy almost has a heart attack when he sees that Louis body is moving.
Louis then gets brought back up to the hospital and is in a coma. A doctor specializing in pediatric comas (Jamie Dornan) gets called in to monitor Louis condition.
All the while the man hunt is on for Louis father who is said to be at fault for Louis falling off the cliff.


This movie had everything in it. It has romance, its a thriller, there are psychologists, and magical elements.

Gifted
This movie is heartbreaking and heartwarming.

I wanted to find a movie that would help me relax so that I could fall asleep. I saw that Gifted was added to HBO and I have been dying to see this movie. Chris Evans is one of my favorite actors. Starting this movie at 9:30 at night knowing full well I had to get up at 6 a.m. for my 8 a.m. class was the wrong decision. I stayed up watching this movie.

Synopsis:
 Frank Adler is in charge of taking care of his niece, Mary, who is a gifted child. She can solve complex math equations at 7 years old. Frank sends his niece off to school and the teacher realizes that she is gifted. This teacher tells Frank that Mary should be in a school for gifted children and Frank lets her know that he does not want Mary attending a school for gifted children.
The principal of the school soon gets involved and people question if Frank is a suitable guardian for Mary. Frank mother shows up and battles Frank for custody of Mary.

It has been a couple of weeks since I have watched this movie and all I want to do is turn the movie on again. I did not think that I would find a movie that would top Captain America but this does. Gifted is now my favorite movie of his.

TV Shows

The Arrangement

I watched The Arrangement this month because I saw that season 2 is coming out soon. (Update: Its currently out) I watched it last year when it came out and while watching it the second time I realized that I remembered nothing about this show. I felt like I was watching it for the first time. 

Synopsis:

Hollywood is filled with actors, rumors, and scandals. 

Megan Morrison is wanting to make a name for herself in movies. She is currently waitressing and auditioning, hoping for her big break. 

Megan has an opportunity to audition for a Kyle West movie. Everyone in Hollywood knows who Kyle West is, not only because he is a big actor but because he is apart of The Institute for the Higher Mind. 

Megan jumps at the opportunity to work with Kyle West and Kyle fell for Megan. He liked her acting and asks Megan if she would like to go to lunch with him and she agrees. 

Kyle liked meeting and hanging out with Megan so much that he gives her agent a proposal. He offers Megan a contract. If she will be his girlfriend, eventually his wife, he will give her ten million dollars. 

Megan was hesitant at first but eventually signs the contract. Soon after signing the contract things spin out of control.

My thoughts

I enjoyed the first season. There is a lot of drama and questionable things happening in this show. Once I got to a certain point in season one I realized why I never finished the season one a year ago. There are tough topics and favors that were asked of these characters.
All of that being taken into account this show is addicting and I cannot wait till the second season.

Let me know what books you read this month. Also let me know if you read or watched any of the same things that I did.

Thank you for reading.
I hope you have a good day!
~Mariah