Jane Austin Ruined My Life

My love of Jane Austen, and a happy ending grabbed my attention for the Novel By Beth Pattillo, titled Jane Austin Ruined My Life.  For those of  you who don't know who Jane Austen is, she was a 19th century writer responsible for works such as Pride and Prejudice, Emma and Sense and Sensibility. Each of Austen's novels end in happily ever after, which is why her novels ruined Emma Douglas' life. Emma Douglas, after finding her husband on the kitchen table, in a compromising position with his teaching assistant, packs up her belonging and moves to England with the purpose of finding the Jane Austen letters as well as clearing her name. In the process of finding out about these letters, Emma finds herself in a manner in which she never thought possible. She realizes that love isn't a happily ever after but something that requires work and has progression and it's okay to figure out who you are before you decide to fall in love. In finding herself she finds that Jane Austen and her had a lot more in common that she thought and although she wrote about great love, love lost is something they both experienced. The specks of the book are as follows. The book is 270 pages long, and its an okay read. It may require a you to stick with it rather than give up on it in the beginning but other than that, the book is really good. Since i am a sucker for a love story this book was right up my ally, but i liked it because its not just about the love of another but the love of yourself. What girl doesn't love a book about self love. In rating this book i would give it a 4 out of 5 stars simply because it has a rocky start. But if your looking for a book that combines the past with the future and has to deal with great writers than this is the book for you.

Bared to You Introduction

Hey Everyone,

I'm sorry I have disappeared for an extended period of time. I was in the process of getting ready to head back to school and then I had to move in. In my time away, I have completed 3 books. I finished the Fifty Shades Trilogy, Jane Austin Ruined My Life, and The White Queen. All of which were great books and I will be posting reviews of soon. But after reading those books, I was on a Fifty Shades high and I wasn't quite ready to come down just yet. So I decided to look into books just like Fifty Shades, and in doing so I stumbled across Bared to You, by Sylvia Day. This is another book that I have been reading on my iPad and honestly, I'm warming up to the idea of not having a hard copy, it just bothers me when it dies and I'm no where near a charger. On to the specs of the book. The book is 357 pages long and the main characters are Eva, and Gideon Cross. Currently I'm on page 220. I immediately noticed a difference in the writing of this book. The things that i raved about in Fifty Shades were the same things that turned me off about this book. The story line is similar, but this books is something I consider raunchy. Now if your into raunchy sex books then this is the book for. I however, am a stickler for language. I love reading a book and having the ability to understand and picture whats being done without reading direct language and the language in this novel is very direct. Eva and Gideon meet for the first time when he picks up up off the floor of his office building after she helps another woman pick up her dropped change and the moment they lay eyes on one another, Eva feels an immediate sexual attraction. She expresses these feelings to her bisexual, male model roommate. Never did she imagine she would actually get the opportunity to date and have relations with this man, but it wouldn't be a story unless these two characters connect. In the long run they begin a relationship and cross many obstacles, including her admission of a dark incident that occurred in her past, and her visually seeing his. So far this book is frustrating me. I like the story line, but reading this after Fifty Shades you can tell the writing is rushed. I'm trying my hardest to finish this book while remaining as object as possible, but its very hard. I'll post my final thoughts as soon as I've finished reading.  Have a Great Day

Foundation??

As far as make-up and i are concerned, I dont claim to be any sort of expert, I know how to do somethings and others I leave to the makeup artist of the world. But what has gotten me COMPLETELY stumped is finding a foundation that works best for me. I have normal to dry skin and the one thing that I absolutely hate is the look and feel of cake face. I thought the idea of wearing foundation was to even out your complexion or give your face a finished look, not scream to the high heavens "I HAVE ON MAKEUP!!" I happen to be a lucky since my skin is pretty even, so when I wear foundation I'm not really looking to cover up anything, I'm simply wearing it to give my face a complete look. I often go looking for my holy grail of foundations, the one that feels great on my skin, looks good on my skin, complements my skin, and doesn't dry me out. It seems however, that those expectations are hard to find, especially since I'm dark skinned.

My foundation search has taken me from drug store make up to department store makeup and everything I've tried has never perfectly matched my skin. Its either too yellow or too red. I've tried liquid, powder, foundation sticks, foam, tinted moisturizer and never has it done exactly what I wanted it to do. So I've decided to settle. My settling combination is MAC's Studio Fix Fluid in NW55 and MAC's Mineralize Skinfinish Natural in Deep Dark. On Summer days, i'll conceal under my eyes and simply use the Mineralize Skinfinish, and on nights out, i'll conceal and then use both. This combination works for me for the moment, but I'm still looking for my holy grail of foundation. Have you had any foundation drama? Whats your favorite foundation? Why?

Blown Away

Hey Everyone,

First I wanted to say Happy Father's Day! I spent mine with my family and we had a good evening. I cooked dinner and it was really sweet. We bought my dad a cookie that said # 1 Dad, and he really enjoyed himself. Now, to the book. So I finished Fifty Shades of Grey and I now understand why the author wrote a trilogy because, this book definitely leaves you wanting more. I have fallen in love with this book, it was amazing. I finally reached the sex in the book lol, and honestly, it was HOT. The first time Ana and Christian consummate their relationship is a definite page turner. What attracts me to the book the most is, even though the sexual acts in the book are really graphic, the author doesn't make it raunchy. Her word choice is some what classy, so much so that she never says the words "penis" or "vagina". The reason why that's relevant to me is, the sexual relationships that Mr. Grey has had in the past, "the fifteen", have all been non-emotional relationships where he has some what objectified women, or at least used them for his total pleasure. He's even had these past women sign contracts so they are legally bound to doing all that he asks on his terms. When Ana comes into the situation, however it is very clear that she is nothing like any of the previous women he's dealt with before. In understanding that, to describe their sex acts using the scientific terms of their body parts, in my opinion would have taken away from how special Ana. When the two of them are together, Ana is more than a vagina and Christian is more than a penis. When they have sex, its very passionate, its love making, even though they aren't always having "vanilla sex", or "sex without toys or added extras."

One of my favorite parts of the book is the emails between Christian and Ana, its funny to read their interactions via email, and how Ana, comes to terms with their agreement, it's funny and a little sweet. The emails show how spunky Ana is, even though she doesn't seem to think so.


I love this book, and if I have to rate this book based on stars with 5 being the max, i would rate this book a five. The story is amazing and it really does live up to the reputation that its received. The book is good without the sex. The sex simply enhances the story, it makes you look at Christian as a human being oddly enough. Because without his sexual preference, he would be seen as perfect and we all know that no one is perfect. His taste in sex humanizes him, because without out it, he a filthy rich guy who starts dating the girl who's virginity he takes and they both fall in love, and that would have been an unlikely story. The book is very easy to get through, it's a quick page turner, its not the type of book that you would need to force yourself to read to get into. Your grabbed within the first 10 pages.  As I've previously said the book is the first of a triology, the other two titles are Fifty Shades Darker, and Fifty Shades Freed.  I do plan on reading the next two books, because this one really blew me away. The author doesn't have any other  books at the moment, but I will be waiting patiently for anything else she releases.

Hey everyone,

I've been slacking, big time. This week has been kinda hectic for me so I haven't been reading as much as I would have liked to. However I am currently on page 50. The book is good so far. Nothing drastic has happened other than the meeting of the two Main characters, Anastasia Steele and Christian Grey, and her sleeping with him without sexual contact. I know that I said in my last post that I genuinely want the book to be good, and not good because of the sex, but I keep asking myself when is the sex gonna happen?  Don't get me wrong, sex doesn't make the book, but all of the steamy things I've been hearing about this book, I want to read the sex, lol. The book keeps you interested, you see the chemistry between the two characters and you cant help but wonder what will happen next. It seems like every time they lock eyes or every time they touch I hold my breathe. The anticipation is there completely, and I can see why this book is so good to women. The moment you realize there is an attraction between the two characters, every woman in the world either puts herself in Ana's shoes, or plays her conscience. You laugh with her, yell at her, you become embarrassed when she trips, and you get swept off your feet when Christian and Ana have a moment. An example of this is: After Ana does a photo shoot with Christian for the article that caused them to meet, he invites her to coffee. She goes, and after they leave the coffee shop, she is almost hit by an biker. Christian grabs her out of the way, and holds her close. Their lips are practically touching. When reading this I began hyperventilating like I had just been saved and was repeating in my head, "Oh shoot they're about to kiss." Unfortunately however, they don't. I like Ana was super disappointed. Writing about this is making me want to read right now, so I'm gonna go read and I think you all should find a copy and read it too. Bye

Oh Me, Oh My, Fifty Shades of Grey

Hey Everyone,
So as promised, its Monday which means I'm introducing the book of the week. This weeks book is Fifty Shades of Grey. I have been hearing about this book and Trilogy so much that I decided it may be time for me to read it. The only issue i have been having is getting my hands on a copy. Thank goodness for ebooks. So, even though I would prefer a hard copy, I'll read on my iPad. Ok, on to the specs. The book is by E.L. James and and is 356 pages long. Unfortunately because the book has been getting so much press I have assumptions on the book. I'm trying to read this book without being biased but I do have high expectations for this book. One of my expectations is that I hope the book is genuinely a good book and not just good because it's full of sex. But I guess we'll see. I'll keep you updated.

The Books

Books are the only thing in my twenty year old life that I can honestly say have been here since the start. I've always loved reading, so much so that I've read every book in my elementary school library and joined a book club in high school. But as a college student I've been finding it difficult to choose between reading books for enjoyment and grabbing Spark Notes for a safe grade. So since finding a balance has been an issue I had given up my favorite past time and directed all my attention to my to writing extremely long papers on people and things that I'm not interested in. But school is out now and I'm trying to get reacquainted with my oldest and dearest friend. So this summer, I'm going to read. I'm going to read so much, that it makes me sick. I'll be reading books from the New York Times Bestsellers list, books recommended by Oprah, online websites, as well as books recommend by friends, family, and even you guys. And the best thing to do with a book after reading is talking about it.  So I will be reviewing what I read, giving my honest  opinion of the books. My likes, my dislikes, the highs, the lows, good, bad and ugly. From this not only will I have something concrete to do this summer but, it will almost be like the greatest homework assignment ever! Or for me at least.

Here is my plan:
Every Monday I will start a new book. And I will post "the specs" of the book. i.e, title, author, number of pages, how I found out about the book etc. From there, every time I read the book or put it down, I'm going to talk about it, being sure to mention what my thought are of the book so far. Finally at the end of the week, I'll give my opinion of the book without giving away the ending, and say whether or not I'd recommend the book to anyone else and why or why not.


This all seems simple enough but i think my biggest challenge will be balancing this as well as my life, but I'm going to try at it and see what happens. I believe books can be just as much fun as, movies and television and I would love for other people to see that.  After all reading doesn't always have to be fundamental.