Book - Before We Met by Lucie Whitehouse

Love the cover!

Hannah is a British woman in her 30's who was living and working in New York City when she met Mark Reilly, also British, and a successful businessman who owns a well-known software company. The two soon fell in love and Hannah gives up her friends and career to move back to London, due to the closing of Mark's company office in New York. 

The two got married and Hannah settles in Mark's apartment. Fast forward to a few months later, she is still unemployed and he is often travelling for work, especially to New York, where he still has clients. One day, Hannah decides to surprise her husband and went to pick him up at the airport. She waits for a long time, but there isn't any sign of Mark and he isn't picking up his phone. 

Concerned, Hannah decides to contact Neesha, his personal assistant, and his colleagues, who all thought Mark was in a romantic getaway in Rome. On the next day, Mark calls Hannah apologizing extensively, justifying what happened with a bunch of excuses, and promising her he'd come back home on Tuesday.

But something still feels off to Hannah. On a whim, she manages to get inside Mark's company building and get access to his desk, only to find evidence that her money was completely wiped out of her account. Here, is where things really get tricky. Is Mark's company in trouble? If so, why didn't he tell her directly? But it makes no sense, because he is still keeping the same lifestyle as before. And on a conversation with Neesha regarding who Mark might be talking to, she told Hannah a woman named Hermione has been calling and he always closes the door while talking to her...And Mark's family, why does she know so little about them? Dead parents, a estranged brother, and that's pretty much it.

Although Hannah is feeling bad for betraying her partner's trust, she can't shake the feeling that something isn't right and starts looking for answers. Their life will never be the same.

At the beginning, the story was going back to the time the couple met in NYC, which I thought was kind of slow and bland, but as the narrative progressed I started to find it very intriguing. It wasn't predictable, at times I thought the story would end a certain way but after all the ending was completely different. I definitely recommend this novel for fans of domestic and psychological thrillers. This is my first book by Lucie Whitehouse and I'll definitely check out more of her! 

Rate: 4/5

Book - No Exit by Taylor Adams

Darby Throne is a sophomore college student in Colorado who was planning to spend Christmas alone in her dorm room, away from her estranged mother. However, after learning from her sister that her mother is dying of cancer, Darby drops everything and heads to her hometown in Utah.

But the weather conditions are not favorable and she finds herself in a severe snowstorm. In the early evening, she finds a rest stop to wait for the weather conditions to improve. There, the girl meets 3 other people: Ashley (a guy), a talkative accountant, and Ed and Sandi, two cousins on their way to visit family. They are soon joined by Lars, a quiet guy who doesn't say much about himself. There is zero cell reception there, so they have to entertain themselves talking to each other and playing games.

Eventually Darby goes to the parking lot and spots a small hand in the back of a van. At first she thought she was dreaming, but she looks again and sees a little girl inside of a dog cage with duct tape over her mouth. This is where the story really begins: Who is the owner of the van? Do these people know each other? Is there anyone Darby can trust? What I can say here is that Darby is not just going to ignore what she saw. She is going to react. 

This book is really intense! I found it so addictive, I read it in less than a day. I do not agree with all of Darby's decisions but I can understand where she was coming from. It all made sense considering what she reveals about her past and what she has become. 

The story is not told in the first person, so the narrator is not an unreliable one, as sometimes happens in this kind of stories. But it stays on Darby's side, portraying her like a hero and the others as villains in a very comical way (e.g nicknaming and mocking them) and, at the same time, scary and absolutely convincing. 

I absolutely recommend this book if you love thrillers full of action, unpredictable twists and well developed characters. Reading this was a very cinematic experience, it would work perfectly in a movie or a miniseries! 

Rate:5/5

Movie - Love, Simon from Greg Berlanti

This movie was adapted from Simon vs. Homo Sapiens Agenda by Becky Albertalli

Although I feel that I'm getting too old for teen movies, I always enjoy watching them. That's why I decided to stream the well praised Love, Simon this afternoon. First things first, Simon, is a senior in high school with loving parents and a stable group of friends. This guy has a completely ordinary life...Except that he is hiding a secret: He is gay. 

There's a blog where people from his school write (anonymously or not) gossip posts and confessions. One of them caught Simon's eye, as it was a message which addressed the same issue as Simon's: being closeted. He immediately emailed the guy, who only signed as Blue, and they soon start a conversation, which keeps going even though they remain unknown to each other. 

While using the school library's computer to answer one of Blue's emails, Simon is interrupted by the vice-principal and, trying to end their interaction, he goes away without logging off. Martin, a drama club classmate with poor social skills and weird nerdy behavior, comes to use the computer after Simon and ends up reading the whole conversation between the two. 

Martin is desperate to win Abby's, one of Simon's friends, attention, so he sees this as an opportunity to blackmail Simon and threatens to expose the emails if he doesn't help him accomplish that. From there, Simon tries his best to keep his sexuality from being revealed even if it means he has to act against his wishes. He also has to deal with confusing scenarios, his friends' love problems and above all, trying to figure out who Blue is and if they'd ever meet in person. 

So, I never have great expectations towards a teen movie in terms of being realistic. I know they're generally quite flawed and this was no exception. I think it would have been better if the teachers at Simon's school were not so over the top - I'm not American, but I'm sure they don't go around randomly talking to students in the hallways and taking phones away from their hands like the one in this movie did. Also the bullying situation in the cafeteria when the drama teacher intervene with an inappropriate posture and language made me cringe. I get that it's a movie and sometimes situations are exaggerated, but this could easily be avoided. It'd make no difference to the story if these two characters behaved normally. 

I was also confused by the whole shared blog thing as I've never encountered something like that in real life. But I get it - The two had to meet somewhere anonymously.

Martin's character is way too much. I think it'd been more believable if instead of a bizarre kid the person who'd seen the emails was one of the bullies, who rarely made an appearance. Also, I don't think I'd forget to sign off my email account, specially regarding something as important as this. 

One thing that annoyed me in the beginning of the movie and that I've seen before is making family plans early in the day to do the more mundane of activities in the evening, in this case, watching TV. I mean... Do people really do this? But anyway, his parents are the cliché liberal parents who are caring and supportive but don't make a big deal if he sleeps in the same room with his female best friend and gets home drunk. I didn't dislike them (although Simon's dad jokes are terrible) but I feel that I've seen them before too many times. Yeah, that's one of the problems with teen movies. 

However, despite these flaws, Love, Simon has good intentions. I've seen other films with main gay characters but this is the first mainstream teen comedy to feature one and I think that's important and well fitted in today's society. The movie is very entertaining and although it become more obvious in the end, I liked how throughout the film they made it difficult to find out who Blue was. In general I enjoyed the characters and the acting. I recommend it for people who enjoy a cute teen movie from time to time!

Rate: 3/5

Book - It Ends With Us by Colleen Hoover

Lily Bloom is 23 years old and moved from Maine to Boston 2 years ago to work at a marketing firm. On the night her father dies, after she returned from Maine to give a speech at his funeral, she meets Ryle, a gorgeous neurosurgeon. Handsome, seductive and smart, more cliché is impossible.

She somehow managed to get in a random building near her house to think about the situation and was sitting on the ledge when she heard Ryle kicking a chair in the distance. This is the first scene of the book. I find it so ridiculous and unrealistic I couldn't help but wonder if the whole book was going to be filled with these kind of situations.

Moving on, they spot each other and begin a conversation. Ryle tells Lily he has no desire to get married and have children and is into one night stands, while she is still looking for the one. Although they enjoyed talking to each other, they decide to not meet again due to their differences.

Fast-forward months later, Lily is now pursuing her dream of opening a flower shop with her inheritance money, and, while she's remodeling the store, a bored housewive named Allysa walked in offering to help, which led to a very close friendship between the two. Once again, very out of the blue. This girl lives with her husband, Marshall, an app develop who makes millions, so the couple is super rich. And super annoying. I seriously disliked these characters. Not only the way Lily met Allysa is far-fetched but her relationship with her husband felt extremely childish. But the worse is yet to come. 

Lily hurts her ankle while working at the floral shop and Allysa called her brother and husband to come and help. That's when Lily finds out Allysa's brother is Ryle! And then the complicated love story begins. Seriously? I mean, this could have made more sense if the story was set in a small town...But it's Boston! What are the odds? If only that was the last coincidence though...

There's also a side love story with a boy named Atlas told through Lily's high school diaries. Wait, unsend letters to Ellen DeGeneres...Yep, she was a bit of a fan girl. 

I know this is an unpopular opinion but I definitely have a problem with books like this one. The point is to portray domestic abuse from two different perspectives, which per se is an interesting idea. The thing is, the writing is too bland and superficial for me to be able to feel some kind of empathy for the characters. I just didn't care about what happened to them.

However, I did enjoy reading the development of Lily's relationship with Atlas.

It was one of the parts that felt more genuine because the rest was just artificial. The end fitted well within the story but was so damn predictable I just wished the author had been more creative and thought of something else. 

This is the first book I've read by Colleen Hoover. It's a very light read, I finished it in less than a day. I started it with good expectations because it has a high (4.40/5) Goodreads review rate. However, I am very disappointed. I probably won't read another one by this author again. 

Rate: 2/5

Book - My Lovely Wife by Samantha Downing

Millicent and her husband are your typical couple: They live in Florida suburbs with their two teenage children, Rory and Jenna. He works as a tennis instructor at the local country club and she as real estate agent. They also have a good social life. 

However, after 15 years of marriage, the couple became bored and decided to spice up their union with an unusual hobby: murder.

We learn that they do not commit the murders together. The unnamed husband, goes to bars impersonating Tobias, a deaf man, in order to find potential victims for Millicent to kill. 

One day, Tobias sees on the news that the body of one of the women Millicent killed the year before were found. However, he was shocked to find that she was not dead for long. In fact, she was just killed, which means that Millicent was holding her captive. 

Confused, Tobias confronted his wife about this, and she told him it was a surprise because it coincided with Owen Riley's (a local serial killer who murdered several women years before) anniversary of disappearance. 

Hyped by the possibility of using Owen as a scapegoat, Tobias starts sending letters to the news reporter claiming to be Owen and threatening more killings. At the same time, the couple starts thinking about the next victim. But this convenient solution has its faults and the consequences are unimaginable. 

This book starts extremely slow and has way too many domestic life scenarios and references. That includes flashbacks from the past, e.g, about the circumstances Millicent and her husband met and when and why they moved to their neighborhood. I feel that most of these were unnecessary and a bit boring. 

The couple's kids also play a role in the book, as Rory finds his dad sneaking out to go to bars at night wearing a suit and thinks he is cheating on Millicent. Jenna develops anxiety about the supposedly serial killer Owen being out. There is also a side story regarding Millicent's past that led to them becoming engaged in murder. 

I can't say this wasn't entertaining, but I've certainly read more suspenseful thrillers. The end is what I thought it was going to be, however I wasn't expecting the final twist. And although the characters, specially Millicent, are portrayed as smart, considering how the story went I have to say they're not as bright as it seems. Much of the way they act and their decisions are non-nonsensical. On a positive note, I liked the author's writing style and the fact that she didn't name Millicent's husband gives the book a more creepy vibe. 

Note: As the book is told by the husband's perspective and he is not present in during the captivity and murders of the victims, there aren't any graphic descriptions of those moments.

Rate: 2.5/5

My Summer To-Read List

I love a good summer read! This season is definitely the best for a reading catch up! ❤ Here are my choices:

• The Bookseller by Cynthia Swanson (current read)

I'm a sucker for stories with bookstores or libraries involved and this book was a bargain, so I had to buy it at Lisbon's book fair last month! 

It was published in 2015 but it's set in 1962, in Denver, where Kitty Miller runs a bookshop with her best friend, Frieda. She dated Kevin, a doctor, for a while, but it didn't work out. Now she just does what she pleases, without having to justify herself to anyone. 

Eventually she begins to have very lucid dreams about an alternate reality.
At night, she is Katharyn, a married mother of two small children, living in a nice house surrounded by good friends. In the beginning, Kitty was convinced this was a product of her overactive imagination, but as time goes by and her dreams start to look like reality, she is overwhelmed by confusion. 
Ultimately, she has to figure out if she can choose who she wants to be and what's real and what's imagined. 

• No Fences in Alaska by Glen Sobey

A free e-book version of this Young Adult novel was provided to me by NetGalley, which I'll review when I finish reading it.  

Harper, a 16-year-old teenager from Texas, has a complicated relationship with her conservative parents. She has already engaged in sexual activities and uses drugs with her older boyfriend. 
After a confrontation with her father, her boyfriend's betrayal and the discovery that she's pregnant, Harper needs to get away from the mess her life has become.
She calls her grandfather, Cooper, who she hasn't seen in 10 years, and although he's dealing with problems of his own, he's willing to give her granddaughter the help that she needs. 

• V by Thomas Pynchon 

This is another novel I bought for a lower price at the book fair. I was going to buy Inherent Vice, by the same author, as I recognized it because of the movie with the same name, but I ended up finding this one's premise more interesting. 

V, first published in 1963, is the debut novel of Thomas Pynchon, and tells the story of Benny Profane, a discharged US. Navy Sailor and his return to New York, where he spends an idle existence with his friends.
However, Benny's life is turned upside down when he meets Stencil, an ambitious young man on a mission to discover the identity of a woman named V., who met his father during the war and disappeared without a trace. 

• The Piano Teacher by Elfriede Jelinek

Elfriede Jelinek is an Austrian author, and I've been wanting to read The Piano Teacher ever since I visited Vienna in May and did some research on Austrian books. I wonder what great stories are out there in non-English books. 

This is the most famous work of the author, for which she was awarded the 2004 Nobel Prize in Literature. 

Erika Kohut is a thirty-eight year old piano teacher at Vienna Conservatory who lives a seemingly boring life with her controlling mother. However, she has a side no one knows: she secretly visits Turkish peep shows at night to watch live sex shows and sadomasochistic films. 
At the same time, one of her teenage students becomes obsessed with her and it origins a dark and strange relationship between them. 

• My Lovely Wife by Samantha Downing

In this book, which has been described as a mix of Dexter with Gone Girl, we are introduced to Millicent, a real estate agent, and her husband, a tennis pro at the local country club. They live an apparently ordinary life in the Florida suburbs with their two teenage children. They do date nights, family dinners and have plenty of friends. 
However, this kind of life is too dull for them. They needed something new and exciting, so they found an unconventional hobby to keep their marriage alive: murder. 

I love a good psychological thriller. This is definitely going to give me the chills! 

• Valencia and Valentine by Suzy Krause

This novel caught my eye as I read it's recommended for readers of Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine, which I absolutely loved. It tells the story of Valencia, a debt collector with OCD and many fears, especially flying and turning thirty-five. 
In order to confront this, her therapist suggests that she flies somewhere before her birthday. Meanwhile, she begins a telephone romance with a man from New York that might actually not exist...

Valentine is a lonely old woman who desperately needs company. She's happy when the new cleaning lady is willing to listen to her story - a life of adventures around the world with her husband until he disappeared without a trace. 

The book's premise ends with the guarantee that the life of these women has more in common that we might think. 

Movie - Nappily Ever After from Haifaa al-Mansour

Nappily Ever After is a 2018 movie adapted from the book series Nappily by Trisha Thomas, first published in 2000. I found it interesting that Haifaa al-Mansour, the film director, is the first woman from Saudi Arabia to become one. She has directed other movies revolving women's issues, specially in her home country.

In the beginning of the movie, we are introduced to Violet Jones (Sanaa Lathan), who was convinced by her mother (Lynn Whitfield) from a young age that her natural Afro hair was not beautiful and she had to wear it straightened at all times in order to look perfect. Due to this pressure, Violet was never able to let herself go and be a spontaneous kid like the ones around her. 

Fast-forward to the present, she lives with her boyfriend, Clint (Ricky Whittle), a doctor, has a successful job as a marketing executive and good friends. However, even as an adult, she is still obsessed with her hair and limits her life by the way it looks.

Just before her birthday, Violet sees a small box inside of a closet and thinks Clint will propose on her special day. Her mother comes to the house in the early morning to help her style her hair and look her best when the big moment comes.

When Violet's family and friends are later reunited at dinner, she learns that the little box was actually a collar for her brand new Chihuahua. Her disappointment is visible, and when she confronted her boyfriend, he tells her something that really hurt her feelings: "Being with you is like being in a two-year first date". 
Clint stated that he didn't really know Violet underneath all her self-image obsession and because of that, they weren't ready for marriage. 

This is a turning point for Violet. Angry and upset, and with Clint out of the picture, she does something on a whim after a crazy night when she had too much to drink. Something she never thought she would be able to do. But was it really impulsive or had she been preparing herself for it?

For what is worth, that decision has serious consequences in many aspects of Violet's life and she begins to understand what is really important to her. 

I found this movie very relatable and it's not just about hair - It's about women complying with society's standards by focusing on looking their best, and losing their true self in the middle of the process. It portrays the struggle of Black women to accept their natural hair in a world where the idea of beauty is long straight hair.

It's about insecurities and the fear of being who we are without thinking about who's looking. Because, in reality, no one really cares and the most important thing is learn to accept ourselves in the moments we aren't all dolled up. 

The movie has its faults as I didn't enjoy some of the acting, but overall it's a feel-good watch for a summer afternoon... or for when you're frustrated over a bad haircut.

Rate:4/5

Book - The Girl He Used To Know by Tracey Garvis Graves

“I want to work at a library someday," I said. "I want to spend every waking day of my adult life surrounded by books."

The Girl He Used To Know begins in 2001, when Annika hears a familiar voice while grocery shopping in Chicago. She instantly recognizes him - It's Jonathan, her ex-boyfriend who she hasn't seen in 10 years. 

The story is told by the perspectives of both characters and goes back and forth between 1991, when they meet as students at the University of Illinois and 2001, the year they reconnect and start hanging out again. 

Back in the old days, Annika was a very shy young woman who'd feel extremely nervous in social situations. Her roommate Janice was a life savior, teaching her the ways to navigate through life. Annika's favorite hobbies were reading in her dorm room and going to chess club. One day, she is introduced to Jonathan by one of her playmates.

The two soon begin a romantic relationship. Jonathan was Annika's first boyfriend and everything she could ever ask for. He was loving and kind, and understood Annika's quirks and the challenges of dating her. The two were happier than ever and even made plans to live together in New York after they graduate. Until something tore them apart.

Ten years later, she is a librarian and he works in finance. Now that so much time has passed, they're forced to talk about what happened and confront their feelings. 

This book addresses something which is easy to capture at the beginning but is only mentioned far ahead in the story. It's also a story of true love, loneliness, second changes and forgiveness. 

I think the author made such an effort for Jonathan to be likable that he ended up being too nice, always knowing what to say and do, which I found unrealistic. The story also has a crazy coincidence at the ending, which ultimately added very little to the point of the story. 

This a cute romance novel. I wasn't blown away, but I recommend if you like books with peculiar characters. 

Rate: 3.5/5

Book - Sometimes I Lie by Alice Feeney

When starting reading this book, there are 3 things we learn:

1. I’m in a coma. 

2. My husband doesn’t love me anymore. 
3. Sometimes I lie. 

Amber, a 35-year-old radio presenter, wakes up in a hospital bed. Although everybody thinks she's in a coma, she can hear the voices of the nurses, her husband, Paul, and her sister, Claire, but she can't move or speak to them. Amber doesn't remember why she is there, but she has a suspicion her husband is involved in it. 

The narrative goes back and forth between the present, in which Amber is paralyzed, the days before the incident that put her in the hospital and the pages of childhood diaries. We learn that she is at war with her boss, Madeline, and is doing everything she can to make her leave the radio show. We also find out that Paul is hiding something from her and that Claire was her parents' favorite child, making her feel neglected growing up. We also get to know someone from Amber's past, someone she hasn't seen in many years. 

We know that Amber, as a self-proclaimed liar, is an unreliable narrator and her current state of being high on drugs and partially amnesiac only adds up to the situation.

But slowly, she regains her memory and the truth, or at least the truth given by Amber's perspective, begins to unfold. Is Amber and her sister who they say they are? Who is that someone and what's their part in this story? Is there more about Madeline than just a work dispute? And above all, why is Amber lying in a hospital bed?

Sometimes I Lie is a slap in the face. I felt claustrophobic by Amber's descriptions of being awake but unable to move and wished I could shake her off and make her respond to people. 

The beginning is a bit dull due to the rambling between work situations and present-day illusions and familiar conversations. However, it's only a matter of time until the story gets very interesting and full of unpredictable twists. 

This book left me feeling so confused I ended up reading other people's interpretations. Considering how the story ended I think it can definitely continue in a sequel and would turn out perfectly in a movie as well!
Rate: 4.5/5

Book - Her One Mistake by Heidi Perks

                                                  

This book was previously called Now You See Her

Harriet is a stay at home mom living with her husband, Brian, and her 4 year old daughter Alice. Her only friend is Charlotte, a mother of three who is separated from her husband, Tom. 

The two are polar opposites, with Harriet being shy and reserved and Charlotte a social butterfly who befriended the other moms from her kids' schools and participates in many events in which Harriet didn't fit. Her other friends don't understand why Harriet and Charlotte are so close, but they do have a special bond, although Harriet never shares much about her past and home life.

Harriet has never left Alice with anyone. However, one day she asks Charlotte to look after Alice while she attends a bookkeeping class. Charlotte takes Harriet's daughter and her own children to a school fair. While the kids are playing, Charlotte is distracted scrolling through social media and loses sight of Alice. When Charlotte realizes it, she starts looking for her in the whole area but can't  find the little girl. Soon the police is involved, the case is on the news and Charlotte has to deal with harsh judgement from strangers and her own friends. 

Harriet can't face her too and Charlotte struggles to deal with the guilt. Days pass and still no sign of Alice. But what really happened that day?

This book is a fast-paced psychological thriller with surprising and unpredictable twists. It's told by an omniscient narrator and from the perspectives of both women and it goes back and forth to the day of the disappearance and the present. The book's subject is quite unsettling and the discoveries later on are even more. I couldn't help but feel bad for all that has happened to Harriet.

I absolutely hated Brian's character from the beginning, for reasons you have to find out for yourself. But overall I think this a good read and I will definitely check more books by this author.

Rate: 4.5/5

TV Show - The Good Place from NBC

Hello all! Lately I've been binge watching The Good Place from NBC on Netflix so I thought of doing a review of this show. I haven't finished it yet but I'm already on season 3, so I've watched quite a few episodes. 

Eleanor (Kristen Bell) dies and wakes up in a strange afterlife, where she is introduced to Michael (Ted Danson), an imortal being who is responsible for creating the place she's in - "The Good Place" or Heaven, as a reward for being good while she was alive. 

However, Eleanor quickly realizes she was sent there by mistake because she was not a good person on Earth. She was rude, selfish and did a lot of awful things. Michael arranged a soulmate for her, Chidi (William Jackson Harper), an ethics professor. Eleanor tells him her secret and he promises to help her to become a better person and prove she deserves to be in The Good Place.

Eleanor's neighbors are Tahani (Jameela Jamil), a British socialite who has donated a lot of money to charity, and her soulmate Jianyu (Manny Jacinto), a Buddhist monk. They also learn about Janet (D'Arcy Carden), an artificial being who is capable of providing all the knowledge in the universe and can bring anything the four humans want in just a second.

I don't want to go into more details about the show because it's full of plot twists and surprises you won't expect. It's has many references to philosophy and explores the concept of being good. It's very imaginative, funny and entertaining but still makes you stop and think for a while. The characters are nothing alike and I love the interaction between them. They're not allowed to curse so they (specially Eleanor) end up using the word "forking" a lot. The episodes are short (around 22 minutes) so it's very easy to binge. I started watching without expectations because I'm usually not into fantasy shows but I'm glad I did! 

The first season was definitely the best. The plot twist at the ending was awesome. The second season was great too. Although I'm still enjoying season 3, I think at this point it happened too many things and it became a bit confusing and hard to follow but I'll keep watching anyway. Season 4 is confirmed and premiering this year. Here's the trailer for season 1.
Rate: 4.5/5

Movie - I Don't Feel At Home in This World Anymore from Macon Blair

While looking through Netflix movies this sassy title caught my attention. I Don't Feel At Home in This World Anymore won the US Dramatic Grand Prize at Sundance Film Festival in 2017. 

This dark comedy tells the story of Ruth, (Melanie Lynskey) a depressed assistant nurse, and the mysterious burglary that took place at her house. Confronted with the police's lack of effort to find the thieves, Ruth is determined to take justice into her own hands. Along with Tony (Elijah Wood), her lonely neighbor, and with the help of her mobile phone, they attempt to track down the criminals and find themselves in a lot of trouble.

The movie is entertaining, although it's quite short (runs for about 90 minutes). I thought of it as a satire to consumerism and lack of authenticity, which is visible in Ruth's frustration about other people and the world. I really liked her character - it's genuine and naive, but also very relatable. It was easy to empathize with her from the beginning by learning what she hates - spoilers, queues at the supermarket and having dog poop in her garden. 

The weirdness of Tony is hilarious and they complement each other really well. I would have liked to see their relationship better developed, but the movie would have to be longer in order for that to happen. I think some characters were dispensable as they added little to the story. 

Although this movie is silly and far-fetched, it's out of the ordinary and unpredictable and the ending part it's up to interpretation.  I think it would have been better if it was longer but over all it's worth watching. 

Rate: 3.5/5

Movie - Funny Games from Michael Haneke

                                                   

A few days ago I was in the mood for a 90's film, so I went to the Cannes Film Festival website to find something to watch. Funny Games was on my watchlist already, and as a thriller fan, I gave it a go. I saw the original movie, from 1997, but there's a 2007 American remake from the same director. 

Georg and Anna, an Austrian couple, go on vacation with their young son Georgie and their dog to a lakeside cottage. There, they meet their friends, Fred and Eva, who have two young adults as guests, Peter and Paul, dressed in white and wearing gloves. 

While her husband and son are outside preparing the boat and Anna is making dinner, Peter knocks on her door asking for four eggs for Eva. Anna pleasantly gives him the eggs, but Peter accidentally drops them on the floor and asks for more. Eventually Paul arrives at the house and because of their resistance to leave, Anna starts feeling nervous and tells the boys to go away. 

When Georg and their son arrive, Georg also insists that they should go and there's when the mind games began. Georg is hit with a golf club in his leg and the family is imprisoned in their own house. Peter and Paul play sadistic games with the victims, creating a true atmosphere of panic which is very well portrayed by the actors.

This is not an easy movie to watch. It's not fast-paced at all - most of the scenes are super slow and the whole interaction between the characters made me feel uncomfortable. But I guess the point of this story is a critique to modern-day violence. The long scenes are suspenseful and there's a cool unexpected twist at the end.
Rate: 4/5

TV Show - You from Netflix

I've finished watching this show on Netflix yesterday and I loved it! You premiered last year, and so far it has only one season with 10 episodes each from 40 to 50 minutes. It's the perfect binge watch thriller, my kind of shows. 
I didn't know it was adapted from Caroline Kepnes's book with the same name, otherwise I would've read it first!

In this boy meets girl story, Joe Goldberg is a bookstore manager in NYC and Guinevere Beck a cute aspiring writer. One day, she walks into Joe's shop and he's instantly obsessed with her. Beck tells him her name and with the help of social media, Joe finds everything about her - her interests, her shallow girl friends, where she lives and where she's at. The opposite from him, who's mysterious and holds secrets from his past, specially concerning his ex-girlfriend Candace and his childhood.

Although they're different, they found a common interest in literature and he's determined to do anything to secure his future with her - even if it means doing dangerous and risky things to supposedly protect and make her happier. In Joe's head, Beck needs to be saved.

Even though Joe's a complete stalker, he alternates between his sociopath persona and the typical nice guy so well it was hard to hate his character. He's runs the bookshop smoothly, gets along with his co-worker and helps his neighbor's son Paco when he's afraid of his drunken stepfather. Beck is naive, afraid of letting others down, and often oblivious of what's happening around her.

This show gives an interesting look on modern technology and the consequences of online exposure. It has some flaws - Beck didn't even have curtains on her window and Joe, from outside, could see all she was doing in her living room. It was exaggerated. And sometimes he was so close to her in the streets and still wasn't caught. The characters are stereotypical but well portrayed. The ending was not a surprise because I've accidentally read a spoiler a few days ago but I think it's quite easy to guess what will happen when reaching a certain point in the story.

The show has been renewed and season 2 is premiering this year, also based on the sequel book by the same author, Hidden Bodies.
I'm not sure if I'm going to read it or wait for the new season of the show instead. I'm really curious though, so I might give it a go. 
Rate: 4.5/5

Book - Seven Days of Us by Francesca Hornak

                                              

In the previous post, I mentioned that I was reading Seven Days of Us, which I've managed to finish this afternoon. The premise caught my attention because it's not about a couple, as I assumed from the title, but about an English family, the Birch, and is set in Christmas 2016. The family consists of Andrew, a journalist who writes about restaurants, Emma, a stay-at-home, and their two adult daughters, Olivia and Phoebe. The story is told by multiple POV.

The eldest daughter, Olivia, who is in her early 30's, is a doctor who volunteers in humanitarian missions abroad and was in Liberia treating an epidemic. She is finally home for Christmas after many years. The problem, though, is that the entire family is required to stay in their old country house for a quarantine of 7 days.

Olivia and Phoebe, who's 3 years younger, don't get along and barely talk to each other - they're way too different. Olivia wants to travel to places in need of her medical help and doesn't want to spend much time with the family, but Phoebe is very close to her parents, especially Andrew. She is engaged to George, her boyfriend of 6 years, and all she can think about is in planning her wedding.

On the other part of the world, in America, a man named Jesse discovers that Andrew is his biological father. He was conceived when Andrew was working as a war correspondent in Beirut, in 1980, and was put for adoption when he was a baby. Desperate to hear from his biological father, Jesse sends him several e-mails, but Andrew doesn't know what to do, specially because he was already in a relationship with Emma when he was in Beirut. But in this dysfunctional family Andrew is not the only one hiding secrets...

Moving on to my opinion, I couldn't connect with the characters, I found them annoying. Although they're grown women, the daughters are treated like teenagers, specially Phoebe, who acts like one during almost the entire book. Besides, her relationship with George looks like it was taken from a Young Adult novel... She is spoiled and selfish, but her parents tolerate this behavior because Olivia has always been distant. Her recent experience made her feel angry and misunderstood, but her lack of effort to interact with her family eventually gets annoying.

The story has some far-fetched coincidences, it feels just too over the top and most events are predictable. I wasn't really a fan of the teenage-y writing style either, or the translation, as I've read it in Portuguese. I won't say it's bad - It's very entertaining, and even though it's over 350 pages long, it kept me so hooked that I've read it in just a few days. Besides, it features some important aspects of our society. 

Rate: 3/5 

Book - The Woman in the Window by A.J Finn

                                               

                                               

So I've finished reading this book more than a week ago and my ideas aren't so fresh, but anyway, I'll give it a go.

This first-person psychological thriller is about Anna, a former child psychologist who had a traumatic experience in her recent past and now lives a reclusive life in a three-story house in New York City, spending her days drinking wine, watching old movies, and engaging herself in online activities such as chatting with strangers in a forum for agoraphobics, playing chess and learning French. Besides, she also spies and photographs her neighbors from her window. She developed an obsession with the Russell's, a couple with a son who moved to the house across her's.

She is alone almost all the time, except when she sees her tenant, David, who lives in her basement, and when her physiotherapist, Bina, visits every wednesday. However, Anna speaks everyday on the phone with her husband and daughter, who live elsewhere, and soon starts being visited by Ethan, the Russell's son.

One day, convinced she witnessed her neighbor's wife, who she has met before, getting stabbed in her own house, she becomes completely paranoid about it, but due to her chaotic existence and drunk behavior no one believes her, not even the police, and later then found out the woman is alive and well. 

So, is Anna mistaking reality for a scene of a movie she saw or it really did happen and the woman was someone else? 

In the beginning I found the book too slow, the description of Anna's daily life and how many bottles of wine she had been drinking was boring and nothing particularly interesting was happening, so I took longer than I usually do to finish it. Actually I was pretty close to giving up. However the story started to get really intense, and it managed to keep my interest. And when I thought it was all solved, an unexpected revelation came up and it was chilling to read the last parts. Basically, the ending part compensated the dull beginning. 
An upcoming movie based on this book is premiering this October. 

Rate: 4/5

I am reading in Portuguese for the first time in a while! Just started Seven Days of Us by Francesca Hornak. It seems promising so far :)

Movie - Crazy Rich Asians from John M. Chu

      

This movie is an adaptation of the trilogy by Kevin Kwan, which I haven't read and most certainly won't, as I've watched the movie and I don't like already knowing the whole story. 

So, the main character is Rachel Chu, a young professor of Economics from New York, raised by her mother, who came to the US when Rachel was a baby. One day, her boyfriend, Nick, invites her to go to his best friend's wedding in Singapore, where his whole family lives. She accepts it only to find out that his family is one of the richest of the island and the wedding is the event of the year. 

Rachel finds herself face to face with socialites who spend absurd amounts of money on shoes and jewelry and make her feel she's not good enough because of her status. His mother, a woman who is all about the traditional family values, also thinks she's not worthy of her son and goes great extents to show it to Nick.

In the middle of this mess, Rachel struggles to prove she's not less than them because she's a daughter of a single mother and is not rich. But sometimes it's not easy to change such convinced minds and desperate times require desperate changes.

I don't usually watch romantic comedies but this one was so advertised I thought I'd give it a shot. It was average. In my opinion it's a good movie to watch when you just wanna see something light without having to think too much. The conflict between social classes is not uncommon in Hollywood movies, but the distinction between Asians and Asian-Americans is, so I think the focus being on these communities was interesting. The wedding scene was really emotional, the scenarios and the music, I loved it. 

However, I didn't like the twist at the ending, it was predictable and extremely cliche. It was an OK watch with its funny moments, but it could have been so much more.
Rate: 3/5

Book - Then She was Gone by Lisa Jewell

  

Ellie Mack was a 15 year old girl who disappeared after she left her house to go to the library. She was the youngest of 3 children and was very close to her mother, Laurel. After she went missing, her parents' marriage fell apart, her father got a new partner, her brother moved away, and her sister Hanna grew cold and distant because she felt unappreciated. 

Laurel now lived alone with her thoughts, with a simple routine of going to work 3 times a week, visited her mother in a old people's home and cleaning Hanna's apartment. The media portrayed Ellie's disappearance as a teenage runway, which felt odd because the girl had no reasons to do it. Summer was just around the corner, she was studying for her final exams and she had a loving boyfriend. Was it an accident or a kidnapping instead? Her mother is unable to move on without finding out what really happened to her daughter. 

One day in a coffee shop, Laurel meets Floyd, a nice man with two daughters who quickly grew close to Laurel and started a romantic relationship with her. When Laurel is introduced to Floyd's younger daughter, Poppy, a clever and precocious 9 year old, she is amazed by the resemblance with Ellie and is intrigued by the unusual way Floyd protects and worships the little girl. 

A new clue appears on Ellie's case, a bag with some of her belongings. Laurel's haunting thoughts come back again, and she starts to realize that there is a connection between Ellie and Floyd's family and that there are secrets to reveal.

Mysteries and thrillers are one of my favorite kind of books and although it's easy to figure out what that connection is really early in the book, I still enjoyed it very much. Yes, most of it is predictable and unbelievable, but the writing is very captivating and you never know when it's going to be a sudden twist or revelation. 

Have you read more books like this? Tell me one in the comments!
Rate: 4/5

Movie - Welcome to Me from Shira Piven

                                             

                                                 

Welcome to Me follows Alice, a 40-something woman diagnosed with Borderline Personality Disorder. She wakes up everyday at 12h15, plays the lottery every week, and is so obsessed with Oprah Winfrey, she memorized many of the show's episodes. She is very socially awkward and the only people in her life are Gina, her best friend since middle school, Ted, her gay ex-husband and his partner, her old parents, and Dr. Daryl, her therapist. 

One day, Alice wins the lottery: 86 million dollars. Then she moves to a casino, stop taking her meds, and decides to pay 15 million for her own show at a television station struggling with audiences and profits.

Alice's show is all about her - what she eats, traumatic events from her past and conflicts with the people she knew, all presented in a nonsensical way. She is caught up in a bubble of fame and fortune and due to her mental illness she isn't aware of the harm she is doing to everyone around her. Nonetheless she is able to raise the audiences.

This movie is odd and peculiar and not like anything I've seen before. It never gets boring and I kept wondering what was going to happen next. It's not a movie for everyone, as it is a spiral of craziness and some shocking scenes. I enjoyed watching it, however I felt that Alice looked more autistic than someone with BPD. Her behavior was too over the top and some scenes made me cringe, but overall it's worth the watch.

Rate: 3.5/5