Wattpad and After

So if you’ve been on the internet really at all the last couple of years, I’m sure that you’ve managed to hear of Fanfic, however if you haven’t, Fanfic or Fan Fiction is where fans write fictional stories about either characters from movies, books, or their favorite celebrities. Some of these stories are decent, some are so horrible you cringe, and then there are stories that make you realize that person should be a writer. Fanfic that deserves to be published.

That’s where websites like Wattpad come in. You can post your stories on Wattpad from your phone, computer or tablet and almost instantly get feedback from your readers. Or if you’re a lover of Fanfic, you can search out stories inspired by your favorite celebrities or characters. Or stories about magic, vampires, or anything else you can dream of.

Anna Todd is one of Wattpads success stories, her fanfic inspired by One Directions Harry Styles had so many readers that she got the attention of Gallery Books which is an off shoot of Simon & Schuster who published the novel for sale on October 21st 2014. Prior to that it had been garnered over 1 billion views on wattpad. Pretty amazing for a story written almost entirely from her phone.

I haven’t had a chance to read After yet but I’m really curious to see what it’s like. I will be posting a full review when I’ve finished it.

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Book Review: The Bridesmaids

I was sent The Bridesmaids by Eimear Lynch from Birchblogger to review. When it arrived on last Wednesday, the cover was so pretty I knew I had to put down the book I was currently reading and read it right then. So I grabbed a frappuccino, snapped some pictures and started reading.

And this book totally lives up to the cuteness of it’s cover. But it’s more than just cute, it’s hilarious. And sometimes a little sad, and more than relatable even if you’ve never been a bridesmaid.

This book tells the story of several women and a few men as they help their besties through the most important day of their lives. It covers everything from siblings relationships, new friends being made, to life long friendships destroyed. Since it’s a collection it’s hard to give a traditional review, but this book definitely holds up. I adored it and I fully recommend it.

In honor of the Bridesmaids that told their stories in this book, I decided to tell you my Bridesmaid story.

I went to high school with Amanda Cannady, but we weren’t really friends. It wasn’t that we didn’t like each other, it was just that we didn’t know each other. Years later when Facebook became popular we added each other and barely interacted.

Then in May of 2010 I mentioned that I wanted to see Letter’s To Juliet which was coming out in a few days and Amanda commented that she wanted to go too. So we made plans and had a blast. A few months later we went to see Easy A, she had dinner at my house, I got drunk at hers. We bonded over shows like Gilmore Girls and Easy A. Add that to sharing the same name and being born exactly a week a part, and we were destined to be close.

She got engaged in November of that year and she originally had two bridesmaids, girls that she had been life long friends with. But they both had full time jobs, and were super busy. So I volunteered to help out with her wedding as much as I could and to do her makeup. Since I was doing her makeup, I bought a Navy blue dress so I’d blend in when I was doing touch ups. There was a lot of discussing the wedding in Starbucks, and a lot of discussing the wedding while drunk on her couch watching movies we both loved from high school, but honestly most of the actual doing was done with her mom, so I didn’t think I’d really been that much help.

Then at her Bachlorette party where I disappointingly discovered that I too am a woo girl, near the end of the night we were at her favorite Drag bar, and absolutely smashed, when she turns to me and says “OMG, you know what you should totally be one of my bridesmaids, because you’ve helped me with everything and your dress already matches” to which I replied tearily “Of Course” and then we wooed, and everyone else wooed and it was awesome. And hilarious to us the next day when we were trying to remember the night.

The night before the wedding, the entire bridal party stayed the night at her mothers house to prepare for the wedding. I stayed up all night putting together her heart garland that was going to hang above her table for the reception, and the next morning is mostly a blur. Probably due to sleep deprivation and Benadryl to treat my allergies. I know at some point I took apart her bridal bouquet and changed it because she was unhappy with it. And I know that I did her makeup, but only because there is photographic evidence of both things.

Amanda was a beautiful bride, the Ceremony was gorgeous, and the Reception was a blast. The whole experience cemented a friendship built on How I Met Your Mother, Movies, Books and Alcohol, and I couldn’t be happier that I got to spend that day supporting her and her husband.

photo credit: Photosmith

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Book Review: Looking For Alaska

I know, I know, so many John Green books lately. I bought 3 of them in the same day, so yeah. I promise the next book I review will be written by someone else.

As with everything I’ve read by him so far, I loved Looking For Alaska. Miles “Pudge” Halter goes off to boarding school, looking for his great perhaps. There he meets Chip “The Colonel” Martin, a pranking master, Takumi the unlikely MC, and Alaska Young. Miles is a fan of biographies, and even more so of famous last words. It’s a morbid fascination, but not as bad as some interests.

Alaska is a wild, messed up girl. She drinks, she smokes, and lives life dangerously. She’s kinda the very definition of a Manic Pixie Dream Girl. She’s a master pranker as well, and the pranks that Alaska and The Colonel pull off are legendary.

But late one night, something terrible happens, leaving Miles with a Virgins Suicides type situation.

Final Verdict: I recommend this book, I adored it, for the exact comparison that I made above. The book ends feeling very much like the Virgin Suicides, and that is one of my all time favorite books.

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Book Review: An Abundance Of Katherines

I mentioned in my Fault In Your Stars Review that I wanted to read everything that John Green has written including his Grocery Lists. So I picked up all of his other books except for what he’s written with other Authors and any anthologies he’s been in.

Colin Singleton is really smart, a child prodigy, who is obsessed with Anagrams and not so great in math. However, Colin thinks that if he can complete The Theorem of Underlying Katherine Predictability, that he can win K19 back. While still heartbroken over his breakup with K19 his best friend decides that he needs a road trip. They stop in Gutshot, Tennessee to see the grave of the Austrian Archduke Franz Ferdinand and because all road trips need a destination point, decide to stay put for a while and hopefully finish his Theorem. The Theorem of Underlying Katherine Predictability is to predict the trajectory of relationships with girls named Katherine, or not named Katherine, and to give a bit more footing to the people who are constantly Dumpees.

This book is hilarious. I adored it and think that everyone should read it. While the math is completely over my head, it is correct, and explained at the end of the book. And one of my favorite parts of the book were the footnotes, which can be skipped, if you’re not a footnote reader, but shouldn’t be. They made the story more entertaining for me, and made me feel more involved and in the loop of what was going on.

Final Verdict: I completely recommend this book. I must warn you, if you’re looking for something as deep as The Fault In Our Stars, you’ll be sorely disappointed. An Abundance of Katherines definitely takes more of a light-hearted look at the side of breakups. Even when Colin is absolutely heartbroken over breaking up with K19 his best friend is there to mock him in his pain (as a real best friend would) and provide the comic relief.

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Book Binge

Generally I don’t buy books very often. I’ll buy 3 in one month and then I won’t buy any for 5 months after that. I usually just go to the Library and grab whatever catches my eye, but recently I went on a bit of a book buying binge and bought 6 books in one week.