Book Review: “The Selection” by Kiera Cass

Howdy!

In 2013, my parents surprised me with taking a trip up to where my sister was attending college, and even though it was a day to spent together as the four of us, I did get to go exploring the campus Barnes & Noble after lunch. Blondie had to get back for a class she was taking so my folks and I went browsing around the store and even though I still felt happy to be surrounded by thousand of books, they didn’t have anything that I was looking for and trust me, I had both of my parents attempting to look for one book and we couldn’t find anything.

The book in question was Keira Cass’s The Selection.

Fast forward seven years later and I finally find it on Amazon as part of their Prime Reading library. I was so thrilled because it had been sitting on my TBR (to be read) list since the moment I saw the cover when it came out. Back then I knew what it was about, but I have to say last month when I got it, nothing wanted to appear in my head but I mean, I didn’t need to know anything, so it was fine and dandy!

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The first book in the captivating, #1 New York Times bestselling Selection series! Discover a breathless fairy-tale romance with swoon-worthy characters, glittering gowns, fierce intrigue, and a dystopian world that will captivate readers who loved Veronica Roth’s Divergent, Ally Condie’s Matched, and Lauren Oliver’s Delirium.

For thirty-five girls, the Selection is the chance of a lifetime. The opportunity to escape a rigid caste system, live in a palace, and compete for the heart of gorgeous Prince Maxon. But for America Singer, being Selected is a nightmare. It means turning her back on her secret love with Aspen, who is a caste below her, and competing for a crown she doesn’t want.

Then America meets Prince Maxon—and realizes that the life she’s always dreamed of may not compare to a future she never imagined.

taken from Goodreads.

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Before I get too carried away, I feel the need to apologize for the many misspellings of the author’s name! One minute I thought I was typing it right and then the next I found out I did not, so I’m really sorry about that!

In the beginning, it was a bit difficult to imagine everything in my head. Are we in the future? Medieval times? I just remembered the royalty part, which is how I fell in love with it in the first place, but just shifting through what I was reading and attempting to build on all of that information was a little difficult. After like three chapters, I finally got a clear idea of how to see everything in my mind.

There was one other worry I had while I was reading; because I had just read Throne Of Glass by Sarah J. Maas a couple of months ago, I had it lodged into my brain that there could be a supernatural element coming through in the next few chapters. So, imagine my face when that thought was smashed into bits. I’m not saying I don’t like that kind of fantasy, I just didn’t feel like it fit with what was going on with the plot so I was very relieved to know that this was just a royal, young adult type of story.

There were a lot of things that I adored about our main character America. First of all, her name is just gorgeous! She is a very compassionate person to everyone, and I really loved her relationship with her maids–I feel like showcasing her sweet side and treating them as regular human beings rather than their castes was very moving. I even started wanting her to be a princess! However, I loved the fact that even though she was friends with Marlee and is clearly hoping for her to win the heart of Prince Maxon, she doesn’t use it in full force, you know what I mean?

Now let’s discuss the issue between Aspen and Maxon. Honestly, I was on Aspen’s side in the beginning but on how reacted to America in the tree house made me rethink things too. So, when the friendship with Prince Maxon came about, I literally started falling for him too. I personally wanted to shake America like what is wrong with you? This guy is amazing! Of course I can’t do that, but at that point I was frustrated with her. For anyone who has read the first book, what did you think of America basically figuring out who she liked more? I’d like to get your thoughts on this part.

Have you read the first book in the series? If you have, did you make it through all of them? Please don’t post any spoilers below because I would like to read the rest someday.

May Playlist

Hello!

Welcome back to another monthly playlist! We are nearing the summer months and even though the big festivals might not happen this year, it doesn’t mean that music won’t stop. I think it’s very important to say this out loud because for a lot of people out there, myself included, are always looking for the next big song that is sure to become their summer anthem. I think I might have found mine already but I’m not quite sure about everybody else’s tastes this year.

For me, May was definitely a heavy metal kind of month. At the beginning, I was listening to Sirius XM Octane and every week they help promote and play new songs from undiscovered talent all over the world. I have included two songs that I heard and immediately fell in love with on the spot. The first “Popular Monster” by Falling In Reverse and I think the main reason why I enjoy it so much is because it sounds like a Linkin Park song. I love how bands are changing up their styles with every record but I have started hearing a lot of older bands experimenting within their genre and really elevating what each is suppose to sound like, and I like how the legacy is the band is living on in that way!

The second song I recently heard is by a band called Dream State. They are a female fronted band based in the UK. Their new track called “Primrose” is so good and it came from their first album Primrose Path which came out in January. To me, it sounds like a mixture of In This Moment, Flyleaf (with Lacey Strum as vocals!) and The Pretty Reckless. If you haven’t heard the song or the full album yet, you need to do that soon! After discovering this band, I realized it was time to create another playlist on my Spotify dedicated to all and any new female fronted bands’ music and trust me when I say, it is glorious! You can click here to check out that playlist now!

Here are the rest of my Top 20 songs mentioned in the main May playlist!

Damn by LIVVIA
Why Do You Love Me by Charlotte Lawrence
Up All Night by Rachel Crow
Breathin by Perlo
Sick Individual by Halestorm
Sunday Best by Surfaces
Diamonds by Megan Thee Stallion featuring Normani
Ain’t It Fun by Paramore
Rainbow by Kacey Musgraves
Eye Of The Tiger by Tommee Profitt x FJORA
Riich by Grace Mitchell
Claws by Charli XCX
You Better Run by Unions
Be Kind by Marshmello featuring Halsey
If The World Was Ending by JP Saxe featuring Julia Michaels
You Say by Lauren Diagle
The In-Between by In This Moment
Devil Pray by Madonna
Break by Eyes Set To Kill
Come For Me by New Years Day

Something that I have been doing a lot lately is actually listening to more albums. I always feel kind of guilty that I am not posting reviews of them, but I am proud of the fact that I can finally listen to a full album in one sitting and love it! My younger self would be somewhat horrified because I never did that until I was in high school. Speaking of which, I celebrate 10 years of being a high school graduate this month and I think I might do a blog post about my Top 10 songs I loved in the year 2010 in June. Oh, by the way, I was talking about my summer anthem at the top, but I forgot to mention that I even had one back in 2010 too. Can you guess what song it was? I doubt anybody will be able to get it right, but who knows somebody might surprise me!

If you want to look into the rest of this month’s playlist, click here and you will directed back to the page. Hope everyone has enjoyed this post!

What were you listening to this May?

Music Monday | Missy Elliott

Howdy!

When I was thinking about doing the series, I know I wanted to keep it diverse, not because my love of music is all of the place, but it is very important to say that there are women music producers out there. In fact, I decided to talk about two of them that I knew were important to my life and musical journey. However, if you know and love of any other women producers out there, please tell me about them in the comments. I would love to learn more about why you adore them, and of course check out their music too!

A couple of years ago, Missy Elliott was awarded by MTV’s VMAs (Video Music Awards) with the Lifetime Achievement award. Back when MTV did play hours and hours (boy, do I miss those days!) of music videos, you probably saw one or if you were really lucky two Missy Elliott videos within 20-30 minutes of each other. I’d say from 1998 to 2004 is when she was just creating all kinds of stuff. A lot of them included dancing, but she was very known for her crazy antics and style in those days. They all looked fun every single time they appeared on your television screen. I’m sad to say I haven’t seen any of her previous videos, but remembering her others, I know she would continue going down that way for as long as she is allowed.

Missy is most known for her songs and friendship with Timbaland and Aaliyah, but I think it’s important to say that she has worked with all kinds of acts throughout the years! In 2004, when the R&B artist Ciara appeared, especially after watching her first music video for “Goodies” you probably hoped that she’d work with Missy one day. Dancing played a big part in the two artists, but it also just seemed like a great combination because Ciara has that same soft voice that Aaliyah was known for–even though nobody could ever be as good as her–you still hoped that they would work together. So, by the time “1, 2, Step” came out on the radio, it was like the music gods were really hearing our prayers and then it happened again in 2004 with Missy’s track “Lose Control” with Fatman Scoop. It was an awesome sequel to the story of these two big female singers.

Since we’re on the subject of girl power, I think we should discuss the remake of Patti LaBelle’s “Lady Marmalade” of the film Moulin Rouge in early 2002. Instead of having one singer do the entire song, she produced and worked with four powerhouses of the popular genres of that time. You had the R&B artist Mya to start off and then we move on to Pink, who at the time was a mixture of pop-R&B at the time. Brooklyn’s own Queen rapper Lil’ Kim lended a nice section and gave the song an added flare, and finally Christina Aguilera graced us at the end. I still think this is where she began weaning herself out of the cookie cutter bubblegum pop music. The song itself went on to win lots of awards but I think a lot of people either don’t know and/or forget that Missy Elliott was a huge part of making this happen. I mean, think of it as like the first time The Avengers assembled. Yes, I just did that and I’m not even sorry about it either!

Are you a fan of Missy Elliott? Do you have a favorite music video from over the years? Is there any other artists that you think she should consider working or maybe not collaborating with next? Please give me your thoughts about that down in the comments.

Book Review: “Explicit” by Roxy Sloane

Howdy!

I am a little behind on publishing my book reviews. For some odd reason, I forgot all about my April Playlist going up in the final week of the month and I had already scheduled a post to go up the same day (Wednesday) so I had to switch things around sort of last minute. Who knew I’d exchange my music day for a book?! This fact still puzzles me. Everything is good now and I can get back to my regular writing routine again!

Before we get into this review, I have to mention to you (and everyone else!) that this book is meant for mature audiences. It talks a lot about grown up stuff aka sexual intercourse, so you’ve been warned now to continue at your own risk.

Let’s start this with the burb of the story. I got the information off of Goodreads.

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“I’ve told you I’ve fantasized about you. So, tell me the truth. Do you fantasize about me?”

Bestselling novelist Jackson Ford is arrogant, exacting, and relentless on the page and off. His irresistible new editor, Ellie Parker is smart, headstrong, and not intimidated by Jackson’s attitude – or the way he turns every exchange into a filthy seduction.

There isn’t a thing these two can agree on, except their intense attraction. But with Jackson’s deadline looming, can they stop fighting long enough for him to deliver the hit she needs?

The relationship between editor and author has never been so intimate or so explicit..

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Apparently it had been a while since I’ve read one of Roxy’s books because this was utterly amazing! I’ve been trying to push my love of erotica back a bit to be able to enjoy other subjects but once I saw this listed as “free” on Amazon, I was like Yes! You need this now Meghan! And that was pretty much it for me!

Of course at first, I just wanted a sexy–possibly dirty–couple doing the nasty with full on describiation. Don’t you dare come after me! Like I said, I have been doing pretty good staying away so I thought of it as my little treat to myself. Anyways, my favorite parts of it wasn’t the sex scenes but you got to see it in a place where I feel like if the author expressed his explicit feelings for his new editor, it wouldn’t really end well for either side, but that’s just me! One thing I’ve learned while reading Roxy’s books, is that she has a knack for not only putting the main characters in sticky situations that us as the readers might be a little in over our heads too.

I think there is a thing with erotica authors that people tend to forget because they’re only there to read the story because of the amount of filthy sex and I’m not one to judge because that was the main reason why I got it, but I have noticed how descriptive every chapter was, from the differences to Ellie and Jackson’s houses to the naughty emails and chats on the phone–some of you might be rethinking of doing that in the office by the time you end this book. I could picture everything that was going on and I found it a little odd that it’s just now taken me this long to figure it out.

Oh, for those of you who have read this, who was your imaginary Jackson Ford? I’m honestly a little depressed to say this but I had the guy from the Trivago commercials, because of the salt and pepper hair and he just looks like a cocky-ish type of guy off camera, you know? Am I wrong with sensing this? I never really chose anyone else for the other characters, mostly because I was afraid of who I would pick out next.

If you do get it, and enjoy it, she has added her novella story “The Seduction” at the end so you basically get two books in one. For those of you, who have read it, what were your favorite thing(s) about it? What would you have rated it too?

Book Review: I Am Malala by Malala Yousafzai & Patricia McCormick

Howdy!

I think three days after I finished writing my reveiw on “Throne Of Glass” by Sarah J. Maas, I went exploring on Amazon’s free ebooks. After about a hour later of scrolling through the many pages, I found two books: I Am Malala by Malala Yousafzai with Patricia McCormick and Explicit by Roxy Sloane. A little mix of biographical and erotica; two of my favorite subjects! Although I was more excited about this book compared to the other, but once I finished Malala’s book, I was able to shifted my direction to Roxy’s and I finally found balance again.

The book isn’t as different as I originally thought it would be. If you’re familiar with her first book, which came out almost immediately after she and her family came to the United Kingdom in 2012. At the time of this release, she had only written two books. This is the young reader’s edition and it has another author aiding her to continue spreading her story around the world. I have no idea if she has written any more books recently, so I apologize for that bit of information.

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I Am Malala is the memoir of a remarkable teenage girl who risked her life for the right to go to school. Raised in a changing Pakistan by an enlightened father from a poor background and a beautiful, illiterate mother from a political family, Malala was taught to stand up for what she believes.

I Am Malala tells her story of bravery and determination in the face of extremism, detailing the daily challenges of growing up in a world transformed by terror. Written for her peers with critically acclaimed author Patricia McCormick, this important book is about the value of speaking out against intolerance and hate. Its a message of hope from one girl who dreams of education for every girl in every country.

taken from Goodreads

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Since I finished reading “Women Of Scotland” in mid-March, I have been craving nothing but more stories of women all over the world, and I’m not only reading about them, I have been watching various documentaries about women’s lives. I want to try to imagine their hardships but their favorite things as well.

When I saw it on the feed, I was so excited, I literally shouted “YES!” after I clicked check out or whatever. I started on it rather quickly, but I only knew about 1% of Malala’s life. She was the Pakistani girl who was fighting for little girls and women like her to go to school. That’s it. I remember hearing about her on the news but that’s all I was able to hear and/or see about her and honestly, I feel pretty embarrassed that is all I knew up until I started reading this book.

I never imagined her life revolving around her family, her father especially, who is mentioned almost as much as Malala. She really holds him responsible for the drive to campaign against their own country, Pakistan, to allow their mothers, sisters, aunts, and wives go to school and educate themselves more on various subjects. They became targets of the Taliban, as they were the ones saying that women should be taking care of their families and living their lives more in an Islamic way. Wives and mothers should wear burkas, which are black clothes around their bodies from head to toe, to cover everything from the public. And little girls shouldn’t go to school, because once they hit the age of 12, they will be married to someone who could be ten times older than them and she would lose every part of her and have to care for the offspring of the match.

I have known about child marriages for a long, long time. As someone who is obsessed with learning about the 14th onward to 17th century, child marriages were common place in every sort of life. It didn’t matter if you were poor or rich, if you wanted to make ties bind or stronger, or else want money, daughters in ages of two towards eighteen were basically sold over to that person or family.

What gets me is that it is still taking place, I mean there are “arranged marriages” but nobody until the age of 13 needs to leave their family, school, etc to become someone’s wife and produce children at this point in their lives. My position on this subject isn’t just directed towards the women, you have to think if this is happening to young girls, there’s a chance that there young “men” who could be pulled into this lifestyle as well. Everyone is involved when it comes to money and possessions.

Anyways, back to the book. I find Malala to be a very lucky girl. She has survived at being shot at on a crowded bus, because she was speaking up for not only herself but her friends and the many generations of girls in the future who desperately want to attend school and learn more about the world around them and how they matter in a world at the moment. I think she is lucky that her family is as strong and courageous as she is, they want to fight with her and learn more about themselves too.

I highly recommend you buy this edition or her first book and really get yourself comfortable because it is a bumpy ride but I am so glad I found it and enjoyed expanding my knowledge about her culture a little bit more. I also love Malala for being so brave in her life so far. I hope she continues doing her thing for years to come.

Have you read “I Am Malala” or any other editions yet? What was the biggest thing you learned in her story?