Blog Tour: Be My Baby by A. L. Michael

Blog Tour: Be My Baby by A. L. Michael

Saturday, 3 December 2016

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I’ve never read anything by A. L. Michael before and I must admit when I got an email off Jenny about being part of the blog tour for this book, I was a bit sceptical. It’s not one of the books I normally choose to read but I thought I’d take a bit of a risk and read something outside of my comfort zone for once. I’m led to believe that Be My Baby is the third book in a trilogy that follows a small group of friends: Be My Baby focuses its attention on Mollie and her young daughter, Esme.

I’m going to be truthful: I got off to a bit of a rough start with this book. It seemed way too happy go lucky for my liking and there were a few phrases and choice words that made me feel a bit weird. I put it down for a few days, read something a little more psychological and then picked it back up again with an open mind and a lot more perseverance.

I am very glad I did. The book IS incredibly cutesy but in an almost charming way. It’s not a very long book and that most definitely works in its favour. Mollie is an ambitious, single mother forced to bring up her daughter after the love of her (teenage) life pulled a fast one on her whilst she was pregnant with their child. Or, so she thinks. Jamie, aforementioned love of her life, is back on the scene and blissfully unaware of the child he left behind. The relationship between Mollie and her daughter is an envious one and definitely leads the book in the right direction. With her daughter, her multiple friendships and her up and coming business venture, it raises the question of whether she has time to invest time in a man who is, needless to say, just as handsome as he was when she met him. She finds herself having to fight the feelings she has for this man who she cannot bear to forgive.

As I’ve not read any of the previous books in the series, I have a pretty unbiased perspective of the characters. I absolutely loved the friendship between Mollie, Evie and Chelsie and their respective partners. I found myself disliking Ruby and her legacy, in spite of the positive things she had clearly brought to the trio’s lives. I love the way the story ends and how everything comes together and makes sense to a new audience.

It’s fair to say that I’m really glad that I put aside my initial thoughts and got stuck into reading it. I actually ended up finishing it in one sitting which is a rare occurrence these days in my incredibly hectic, work filled life. Thanks very much to Jenny for the opportunity to be a part of this little tour! 

4/5

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Goodreads: November Wrap Up

Goodreads: November Wrap Up

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November has flown by (is it just me, or do the months go quicker as we get older?!) and I’m back again with another round up of all the things I’ve read this month. I’ve done pretty well again, all things considered and got myself through a grand total of 5 books over the course of this month.

The first book I read in November was Lies We Tell Ourselves by Robin Tulley. I’ve actually already reviewed that book here, if you want to check it out. If you haven’t already got on the hype and bought yourself a copy of this book, then please for the love of all things holy, go and do it right now. It’s absolutely fantastic and worth every single penny. It lives up to all expectations and is a really compelling tale.

The Stranger in My Home by Adele Parks is another book that I’ve been eyeing up for quite a while now, so I was chuffed to finally get to it on my ever growing pile of books to be read. This book was probably one of the best I’ve read this year and it really satisfied my craving for a good old fashioned thriller. I didn’t expect the book to end the way it did, it was definitely unexpected and incredibly enjoyable. I’ll likely post up a full review of this at some point this month so keep checking back if you want to hear more of my thoughts.

I received a copy of Witness by Caroline Mitchell for review in the month of November. I’ve read one of Caroline’s books before now and really enjoyed it so I was chuffed to get the opportunity to have early access to her most recent contribution to the word of psychological fiction. Again, this is one that I’ll be writing a full review for so I don’t want to say too much. I will say, however, that it was a bloody good read and I definitely wasn’t disappointed!

Arguably the best book I’ve read this month, and perhaps one of the best I’ve read this year, was one that came to me as a bit of a surprise. The lovely Jess Duffy at Pan Macmillan posted me out a couple of books she thought I’d enjoy, last month, and I picked up Before You Go by Clare Swatman this week. I probably chose the wrong time to start reading it, considering the theme of the book and recent events in my life, but my oh my, what an absolutely breath-taking and thoughtful tale. Contemporary fiction is a genre I tend to overlook when I’m picking books out, mostly because I’m instantaneously drawn to thrillers and YA but I think I’ll have to delve into the genre a little more if works like this are hiding on in there. Clare Swatman has an absolutely amazing way with words and the story flowed in a such a way it was pretty difficult to put it down. Again, I’ll be reviewing this one in full so check back for more information soon!

The final book on my November wrap up list is Be My Baby by A. L. Michael. The review for the blog tour for this one is going live tomorrow so I’ll leave my thoughts on it for that review, but rest assured that this was another book that I really enjoyed reading. I don’t know if it’s me, getting soft in my old age, or whether I am just genuinely enjoying everything I read at the moment but I really do hope that this positive stretch of reading continues on into 2017!

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Life: Gilmore Girls, a Year in the Life (Spoilers!)

Life: Gilmore Girls, a Year in the Life (Spoilers!)

Tuesday, 29 November 2016

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Gilmore Girls has been an integral and important part of my life for a very long time. It’s probably my favourite TV show and one that I’ve been watching repeatedly since I was about 13 years old. I found myself intoxicated by the goings on of Stars Hollow and when I found out that there was going to be a little revival taking place, with all my favourite characters involved in the fun, I was more than overexciting. I was actually quite unbearable, mentioning the revival to friends at every possible opportunity. I even (unsuccessfully) tried to persuade people who’d never seen it before to get in on the action. My expectations were high but the excitement I felt before watching were even higher! This is going to have a few spoiler like comments throughout so don’t carry on reading if you’re yet to watch the episodes!

I’m not really sure how I feel about the revival.

In general, I loved it. It made me all warm and snuggly inside and filled the Gilmore Girls shaped hole in my heart ever so slightly. But I’m greedy. I needed more. I expected more.

Of course, there were so many things about the show that I loved and of course, it wouldn’t be right to not share them here with you guys:

Every single character that I’d grown up loving was there in some way or another. I can’t think of a character that I though, “Oh, it’d be so much better if they were in this!” so as far as I’m concerned that’s absolutely fantastic. I loved that they managed to get everybody involved in their own little way.

1. Mr Kim! Has anyone else spent the last god knows how many years wondering why we NEVER saw Lane’s dad? Because I know I did. It was absolutely fantastic to finally get a glimpse of the guy! I also loved that they brought back Miss Celine, “It’s Natalie Wood!!!” and integrated the whole Paul Anka/the Real Paul Anka bit again!
2. I’m not going to lie, I cried multiple times over the course of my (single) viewing, but never more so than during scenes dedicated to the late and great Edward Herrmann. My heart absolutely ached and I honestly don’t think they could have provided a more fitting and thoughtful dedication, beautiful but laced with all the humour that Edward himself would most likely have loved. The portrait scene was hilarious in all the right way
3. I LOVE the idea of Paris running her own surrogacy clinic. I love revival Paris WAY too much. All through the series, she was definitely one of my favourite characters. I just love her wit and her sarcasm and how she adds definition to the show. I love the idea of her and Doyle having little babies together so that was an added bonus to the plot.
4. Emily. Emily has probably been my favourite character (bar Luke, of course!) since the very beginning. I always felt so sorry for her, in spite of her difficulties she really does have Lorelai and Rory’s best interests in mind. I honestly never could have envisioned an Emily who sat at a table with her fellow DAR ladies, scoffed, spilled crumbs down her front and said the word ‘bullshit’ multiple times. I could never in my wildest dreams imagined an Emily who moved to Nantucket to work in a museum. An Emily who GOT ON WITH A MAID? Preposterous, but my absolute favourite kind of Emily.
5. The cinematography. 2 scenes in particular were fantastic in my eyes and one of them I was pretty surprised to have loved, considering. I was never a big fan of the Life and Death brigade during the show’s running: I didn’t even like Logan all that much, if I’m being completely honest with you. I’ve found myself a little more attached to the idea of them because of the revival and I thought the musical number involving them was nothing short of amazing. I also LOVED Lorelai and Luke’s wedding BEYOND WORDS. I don’t think I really need to justify that opinion in the slightest. It was everything I expected (and more.)

But of course, there were things that annoyed me to no end:

1. Jess. WHY WAS JESS ONLY IN THE SHOW FOR ABOUT FIVE MINUTES? There were so many pointless scenes (the Stars Hollow musical. What even WAS that? Just no) where we could have seen Jess and Rory’s relationship develop further. Or maybe I just wanted to see more of the BEAUTIFUL Milo. Probably the latter.
2. The same can be said for Sookie. I honestly don’t believe that she’d spend all those years building up an inn with Lorelai to then just throw it all away to go and be with nature. It doesn’t sound like the Sookie we know and love in the slightest. I would have loved to have see her and her family together in a scene as they, and her and Jackson’s relationship, were so pivotal to the show. It just seems like a waste to not have had them all together, celebrating Thanksgiving or something.
3. Rory. Cheating again. Will she ever learn? HAS she not learnt from the last time? I kind of understand that the writers don’t want to paint Rory as being this perfect, idyllic character because that’s not realistic in the slightest but if I’m being entirely honest, I don’t particularly like her all that much. When I was much younger, I thought she was an amazing character and I really idolised her and everything she represented. Watching again more recently, I’ve started to realise that actually she’s an annoying and a spiteful character and definitely not someone I aspire to be like anymore. She also needs to seriously reassess her life choices. Paul? Who even is he?
4. Those four words. I’m sorry guys but they just don’t cut it for me. I wanted a tear jerking soliloquy finalised with four words full of thought and purpose. Instead we were left with even more questions and a sense of complete and utter purposelessness. Not for me. I appreciate that the show had to go full circle and sure, that’s clever and leaves a lot of doors open BUT IT WASN’T WHAT I WANTED OKAY? 

I am slightly annoyed at myself, as well, as I rushed through it all and probably should have paced myself a bit with it and truly savoured all of the action and the magic of it all. I was just so darn excited, you know? If you’ve already watched the revival then please let me know what you thought of it, I’m dying to hear everyone’s takes on the action and what other people loved and hated about it all! Let me know in the comments!

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