Review: Flat-Out Love by Jessica Park

Goodreads:  Something is seriously off in the Watkins home.  And Julie Seagle, college freshman, small-town Ohio transplant, and the newest resident of this Boston house, is determined to get to the bottom of it.


When Julie's off-campus housing falls through, her mother's old college roommate, Erin Watkins, invites her to move in.  The parents, Erin and Roger, are welcoming, but emotionally distant and academically driven to eccentric extremes.  The middle child, Matt, is an MIT tech geek with a sweet side . . . and the social skills of a spool of USB cable.  The youngest, Celeste, is a frighteningly bright but freakishly fastidious 13-year-old who hauls around a life-sized cardboard cutout of her oldest brother almost everywhere she goes.


That's because Finn is traveling the world and surfacing only for random Facebook chats, e-mails, and status updates.  Before long, through late-night exchanges of disembodied text, he begins to stir something tender and silly and maybe even a little bit sexy in Julie's suddenly lonesome soul. 


To Julie, the emotionally scrambled members of the Watkins family add up to something that . . . well . . . doesn't quite add up.  Not until she forces a buried secret to the surface, eliciting a dramatic confrontation that threatens to tear the fragile Watkins family apart, does she get her answer?



Kritters Thoughts:  A wonderful mix of quirky and smart humor.  At the center we have a freshmen headed to school left without housing and must call on a distant family friend for temporary housing.  This housing becomes anything but temporary and I am not sure even after finishing if she affected the family more or if the family she stayed with affected her more - up for debate.  A few twists and turns, some I predicted, some came out of nowhere, but all fit great into the story.


The one issue that affects the entire family - I was able to predict from pretty early on.  But you know what, it didn't ruin the reading for me.  I actually enjoyed it because I was able to spend the book waiting for the main character to find out what I already knew and how she found out and when she would find out.


I don't often compare books to other books and things, but each time I cracked this book open it took me back to the days of watching Gilmore Girls.  Have you ever read something and known that the conversation was just bouncing back and forth, well this book's quick conversations kept me going - I loved it.


A book worth picking up on your next trip to the bookstore.



Rating:  absolutely loved it and want a sequel


Pages:  400


Disclosure of Material Connection:  I received one copy of this book free of charge from the author in conjunction with Crazy Book tours.  I was not required to write a positive review in exchange for receipt of the book; rather, the opinions expressed in this review are my own.






Tour List:
10/3/2011 - Practical Frugality - http://practicalfrugality.blogspot.com
10/4/2011 - Colloquium - http://www.jhsiess.com
10/5/2011 - Reader Girls - http://readergirls.blogspot.com           
10/6/2011 - Kritter's Ramblings - http://www.krittersramblings.com  
10/7/2011 - Reviews by Molly - http://reviewsbymolly.blogspot.com                         
10/8/2011 - Laurie Here Reading and Writing Reviews - http://www.lauriehere.blogspot.com   
10/9/2011 - WV Stitcher - http://kittycrochettwo.blogspot.com                     
10/10/2011 - A Bookish Affair - http://abookishaffair.blogspot.com/                   
10/11/2011 - the bookish mama - http://iam-bookish.blogspot.com                          
10/12/2011 - Books in the Burbs - http://www.booksintheburbs.com                        
10/13/2011 - The Many Thoughts of a Reader - http://hotpinkvixen.blogspot.com                  
10/14/2011 - Proud Book Nerd - http://www.proudbooknerd.com/              
10/15/2011 - Hippes Beauty and Books OH MY - http://www.hippiesbeautyandbooksohmy.com/
10/16/2011 - StephTheBookworm - http://stephthebookworm.blogspot.com                      
10/17/2011 - A Cozy Reader's Corner - http://acozyreaderscorner.blogspot.com                
10/18/2011 - Authors Book Corner - http://www.AuthorsBookCorner.blogspot.com               
10/19/2011 - Amusing Reviews - http://amusingreviews.blogspot.com     

Review: Just My Type by Simon Garfield

Goodreads:  Fonts surround us every day, on street signs and buildings, on movie posters and books, and on just about every product we buy.  But where do fonts come from, and why do we need so many?  Who is responsible for the staid practicality of Times New Roman, the cool anonymity of Arial, or the irritating levity of Comic Sans (and the movement to ban it)?


Typefaces are now 560 years old, but we barley knew their names until about twenty years ago when the pull-down font menus on our first computers made us all the gods of type.  Beginning in the early days of Gutenberg and ending with the most adventurous digital fonts, Simon Garfield explores the rich history and subtle powers of type.  He goes on to investigate a range of modern mysteries, including how Helvetica took over the world, what inspires the seeming ubiquitous use of Trajan on bad movie posters, and exactly why the all-type cover of Men are From Mars, Women are From Venus was so effective.  It also examines why the "T" in the Beatles logo is longer than the other letters and how Gotham helped Barack Obama into the White House. 




Kritters Thoughts:  I may not be the girl who notices the small details or differences in ads or commercials, but I do love how the subtle differences in font can change the way something reads.  As a bona-fide reader, I can definitely feel a difference between a more manly font compared to a more feminine font.  From the history of fonts and typography to where a few fonts were specifically created, this book took a humorous and educational approach to teaching the reader what makes a font a font.  


At times there was a little too much education for me, but I think even your average reader would love to learn about how the art of typography has evolved, even from the production side.  How the computer has completely changed how accessible fonts are?  And to the job of a font designer - where is the money?  


A book that I am passing onto my sister a graphic designer, craft guru, but also one that I would pass onto my fellow reader.  Why is one drawn to a certain font?  How does Microsoft dictate what font is default?  I think this book answers many questions that the typical reader may have thought from time to time.


Rating:  definitely a good read, but can't read two in a row


Pages:  288


Disclosure of Material Connection:  I received one copy of this book free of charge from the author in conjunction with Crazy Book tours.  I was not required to write a positive review in exchange for receipt of the book; rather, the opinions expressed in this review are my own.

Review: After the Party by Lisa Jewell

Goodreads: Eleven years ago, Jem Catterick and Ralph McLeary fall in love. They thought it would be for ever, that they'd found their happy ending. Then two became four, a flat became a house. Romantic nights out became sleepless nights in. And they soon found that life wasn't quite so simple any more. Now the unimaginable has happened. Two people who were so right together are starting to drift apart - Ralph is standing on the sidelines, and Jem is losing herself. Something has to change. As they try to find a way back to each other, back to what they once had, they both become dangerously distracted - but maybe it's not too late to recapture happily ever after.

Kritters Thoughts:  What a roller coaster ride.  This sequel begins many years after Ralph's Party ends.  Ralph and Jem are now living together with children - not happily, but so so.  The book hops between Ralph's and Jem's points of view, which I adored. 

A story that was heart wrenching but honest.  Being someone that is in a relationship and has been in one for awhile and although we don't have children, we are currently partners raising a pup.  I could understand the rut that one may find themselves in and how people change and with them changing the relationship must change as well. 

The one thing I missed from the first book was the many characters that had stories that were interlocking.  I wish there was just a little more of the previous tenants on Alamanac Road.  The new characters were entertaining, but I missed continuing their stories along with Jem and Ralph's.

A great story that follows the couple that you will fall in love with from Ralph's Party.  I will never spoil the ending, but I believe that this book will keep you hooked until the end.

Rating: absolutely loved it and want a sequel

Pages: 498

July-Sept 2011 Challenge:

Check out the other stops on the blog tour:
Aug. 17 - Nicole @ Forbidden Reviews
Aug. 18 - Heather @ Proud Book Nerd
Aug. 19 - Cindy @ Oodles of Books
Aug. 20 - Andrea @ A Chick Who Reads
Aug. 22 - Lisa @ Books in the Burbs
Aug. 23 - Molly @ Reviews by Molly
Aug. 24 - Rebecca @ Beck's Book Picks


Disclosure of Material Connection:  I received one copy of this book free of charge from the author in conjunction with Crazy Book tours.  I was not required to write a positive review in exchange for receipt of the book; rather, the opinions expressed in this review are my own.