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