Tag: love

It’s In His Kiss by Julia Quinn

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I have to say, after the disappointment in the last book of the series I was completely surprised when I found that I couldn’t put this one down! I loved Hyacinth’s story and really enjoyed the chemistry that she had with Gareth.

Where in Francesca’s story I felt like I didn’t really get to know her, I feel like I know Hyacinth. She reminds me of Eloise a little bit, but definitely bolder. She’s exciting to read and I love how she speaks her mind.

I really enjoyed seeing her fall in love with Gareth. He’s her perfect match conversationally and he respects her. His little backstory with his father was interesting and I loved how Hyacinth helped him deal with that by translating his grandmother’s journal. They were a good team.

It was also fun to have a little side story with the hidden jewels and the treasure hunt that they were on. We got to see a Bridgerton doing something other than attending parties, which was nice. It was exciting and a good change up to the stories that Julia Quinn has been writing.

I’m a little sad that I only have one book left in the series, and I’m hoping that Gregory’s story is just as good as this one. I haven’t read any of the second epilogues so I guess I’ll have those to read as well. I know there’s another spin-off series that goes into Violet’s past but I don’t think I’m going to read them yet. Maybe I’ll save that for when Netflix releases their own spin-off.

When He Was Wicked by Julia Quinn

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I have to say, this one wasn’t one of my favorites. I really enjoyed Eloise’s story and was excited to see more of Francesca, but this kind of let me down.

Francesca Bridgerton has been noticeably absent from most of the books. There were very few mentions of her up until now and most of it was just to say that she was off in Scotland and widowed. We didn’t really know much about her, so I thought we would finally get to see what she was like.

Instead, it felt like more of Michael’s story. It was fine, but I still don’t feel like I know Francesca. She’s just the outsider Bridgerton that Michael is hopelessly in love with. I just felt like she could have been developed more as a person, rather than his cousin’s widow who was desperate for a baby. It also seemed out of character for a person as proper as her to become so dominant during their sexual experiences, especially when she wasn’t even sure that she was interested in Michael.

I was pretty disappointed that we also never got to see whether or not they had children. I hope the second epilogue clears that up. Definitely not my favorite, so I’m hoping Hyacinth’s story is better.

To Sir Phillip, With Love by Julia Quinn

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I can’t believe I’m already finished with the fifth book in this series. They’re so easy to read, I swear I’m just flying through them.

I love Eloise. She’s the perfect character. She’s smart, she stands up for herself, and she doesn’t let people disrespect her in any way. In the last book we did see Penelope stand up to Colin a little bit, but Eloise takes that to a whole new level. She refuses to be disrespected.

On a side note, apparently I’m a spinster since I’m 29 and unmarried. Is that a bad thing? The books kind of make me feel like it’s a bad thing.

Anyway, I really enjoyed this story. Phillip took awhile to open up and see Eloise as more than just a mother to his orphaned children, but I like them together and thought that they were a good match.

I think it’s because I saw myself in Eloise a little bit. She’s too realistic to just accept a “sweep me off my feet” type of love match. She needs someone who challenges her and who she can respect on other levels. She doesn’t necessarily need the romance, she wants someone who she can have an intelligent conversation with and someone who respects her for her intelligence. I felt that.

I really hope that the show makes it this far. I think it’s only been renewed up to four seasons, so that would be Penelope and Colin’s story I believe.

The one thing I’m really interested about with the show’s adaptation is the storyline with Marina. In the show, she’s Penelope’s cousin and she ends up with Phillip Crane after he realizes she’s pregnant with his late brother’s child. In the book she also ends up with Phillip after George dies, though the children belong to Phillip.

Marina has such a strong storyline in the show, it would be a shame for her to have the same fate as book Marina. I’m curious to see how this plays out, especially because Phillip’s children play such a huge role in his marriage to Eloise.

I’m a little sad that I’m more than half way through the books. Are the prequels good too? I might have to read those as well.

Romancing Mr. Bridgerton by Julia Quinn

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I was so excited to finally get to Penelope and Colin’s story! Its obvious in the show that the two will end up together, so I couldn’t wait to get to that in the books.

It was interesting to me that this book takes place 11 years after the first book and that Lady Whistledown was able to stay anonymous for this long. In the show it’s something everyone wants to figure out and in the books it’s the same, but I can’t image the show will wait this long for people to find out that Penelope is the woman behind the gossip column.

Colin really annoyed me. He has a terrible attitude and I know it’s supposed to seem cute that Penelope is the only one who sees this other side of him, but he needs serious work. At a certain point in the book I was so fed up with him and how he would talk to Penelope when he was angry with her that I didn’t want them to end up together anymore. I know it was supposed to add drama to the story and it was because he was jealous of the success that she had as Whistledown when he didn’t leave his mark on the world yet, but really? Do we need male characters that can’t handle the success of women and treat them poorly because of it?

All of the Bridgerton brothers seem to have this complex about not being good enough even though everyone loves and respects them, and to be honest, it’s pretty annoying. I’m curious if Gregory will be this way by the time it gets to him. I hope not, that would be really disappointing.

The one other issue that I had with this one is that there’s been so much discussion about how Penelope used to be overweight and Colin is always eating. I feel like whenever we see a character that has struggled with their weight, there’s always a love interest who loves to eat. Why do we do that? Can he only love her if he also has issues with food and overeating? It’s weird.

Overall, I liked the story. I like Penelope and I think she’s a strong character. Part of me does wish she would’ve ended up with someone else, or at least that there would’ve been another suitor who realized how great she was. Colin’s alright, I guess, but it took him way too long.

An Offer From a Gentleman by Julia Quinn

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This might be my least favorite of the Bridgerton series so far…

That’s not to say that I didn’t enjoy it, because I did. It just wasn’t any special kind of love story. It reminded me of Cinderella in a lot of ways and I’m sure I’m not the first one to think this. There were too many similarities. The masquerade ball so no one would recognize her, the evil stepmother, two stepsisters, being a servant to them after her father died. It was basically just a re-telling of the fairy tale with Benedict Bridgerton as the prince.

It wasn’t a bad re-imagining of the story, but it was just so unoriginal that it wasn’t exciting to read. I still read it quickly, but mostly because I know Penelope and Colin’s story is next and I wanted to get through this as quickly as possible.

I know the show has been renewed for four seasons, so I’m hoping they improve on this story. That’s really all I have to say about it. I hope the rest aren’t as lazy with the creativity and writing.

The Viscount Who Loved Me by Julia Quinn

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I blew through the second book in the Bridgerton series. They’re definitely not quality literature, but they’re easy to read and the stories are very enjoyable.

I’m sure whoever writes the show has read the books and has written the characters to match their personalities exactly. Knowing who plays Anthony in the show and imagining Kate as Simone Ashley made it fun.

It’s interesting to me how they’ve diversified the cast in the show, but how it still works. I’ve seen Simone Ashley in Sex Education and based on that I think she’s going to be perfect in this role.

Part of me didn’t expect to love Anthony and Kate’ s story as much as I loved Daphne and Simon’s. Anthony wasn’t exactly my favorite character in the show, so maybe that played a role in it, but reading his story definitely made me understand the man better.

There really isn’t much to say about the book. It was a good love story. It was interesting how they came together and the chemistry was amazing once again. I’m sure that’ll be a theme throughout the rest of them as well. Violet approves of love matches after all, so all of her children must find love, right?

I’m sure I’ll be back soon with my thoughts on the third installment. I’m already half way through it as I type this.

The Duke and I by Julia Quinn

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You knew this was coming, right? I can’t resist reading the books when I love the adaptation. To say that I love Bridgerton would be an understatement. I’ve watched it twice already and, honestly after reading this I need to watch it again.

I loved this book. I literally could not put it down. I’m not surprised at all that they made this into a TV series, it’s so good!

I won’t pretend that there’s anything intellectually stimulating about this book, but it’s fun and exciting and easy to read. It’s definitely a nice break after the last two, which were very serious and made me think and question so many things in my life.

I just love Daphne and Simon. The characters and their chemistry are so well written. They’re not perfect people and they find each other and it’s just so obvious that they’re meant to be. How could you not love their love story?

There really isn’t much to write about this. If you loved the show, you should definitely read the book. The show follows the story line closely, but it adds their thoughts and give more insight to what was going on.

I think there are 9 books in the Bridgerton series. If you hated it you’ll probably want to avoid my page for awhile. There’s no way I’m not going to read them all.

Only Love Is Real: A Story of Soulmates Reunited by Brian L. Weiss M.D.

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I’m not going to lie…I definitely only read this book because I saw Kylie Jenner post about it on Instagram. I’m not ashamed to admit that I love and absolutely keep up with the Kardashian/Jenners and all that they do. This time I’m so glad I decided to screenshot her recommendation.

I’ve been wanting to read this for awhile, but have had other books already on my list that I wanted to finish first. Now that I’ve finished it, I wish I would’ve read it sooner because it’s absolutely confirmed so many of my beliefs.

I really don’t want to spoil anything for anyone that hasn’t read it, but to summarize Dr. Weiss is a psychiatrist and hypnotherapist who uses past life regressions to treat his patients. In his first book (which I’ll be reading next) he was able to help a woman deal with traumas and anxieties in her current life by taking her through a past life regression. In this one, he began working with two patients who had recently experienced losses of people who were close to them when he discovered that the patients (who did not know each other in their current lives) may have been acquainted in past lives.

This book was so interesting, I literally read it so fast and really didn’t want to put it down.

I’m someone who already believes in soulmates, past lives, reincarnation, destiny etc. so maybe that’s why I felt so drawn to this story. At one point, Dr. Weiss describes his findings as being magical and honestly they really are.

I’m not necessarily someone who believes in God, but I do feel that I am spiritual and I do believe in a higher power and that your soul will continue on once you die. I believe that you have past lives and that our souls are reincarnated into new bodies. I believe that we come in contact with souls that we’ve met before on our journeys. All of this is kind of confirmed in this book.

Personally, I feel that I’ve experienced meeting one of my soul connections. When I met this person, I felt immediately that I knew them my whole life and possibly even longer. They felt familiar to me, and when we were together in person I always felt safe and comfortable. Almost like having that person feel like home. Even before reading this book, I looked into our connection with astrology and found that my Vertex is conjunct his Venus. Vertex conjunctions are said to represent karmic relationships with people from past lives.

After reading this book I feel even more so that this person was destined to be a part of my life in some way, and honestly when I look back at our time together I do recognize that he’s had a huge impact on my own personal growth. We aren’t currently in contact with each other and sometimes it feels like a part of me is missing, but after reading this book I feel like maybe this is just part of our journey. Maybe we knew each other in a past life and something difficult happened that is keeping us apart this time. Maybe we’ve fulfilled our purpose with each other in this life and we’ll meet again in the next. Maybe we needed to do more work separately before coming back together.

The one thing that I’ve really taken from the book is that the possibilities of your lifetime are limitless. There’s always another opportunity. There’s always growth that will happen. Your life and your soul are limitless. It’s kind of amazing.

I’d be lying if I said I didn’t want to find a hypnotherapist now to do my own past life regressions and see if I recognize any souls. It’s just so interesting. Maybe I will eventually, maybe we all should.

I Burn For You…

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Is there anyone who hasn’t binged Bridgerton at this point? Personally, I’ve been considering starting it over for the third time. I was so glad to hear that it had officially been renewed!

When I was in high school I loved doing portraits, but always just did them with pencil. I’ve never attempted portraits in watercolor before, so decided to give this a shot. I had some watercolor cards on hand, so thought this would be cute as a love/valentine’s/anniversary card if it turned out well.

I have to say, I’m pretty happy with it. Simon turned out so well, I sort of impressed myself. Daphne could use some work, but I’m still pretty happy with it.

I decided to put it up for sale on my Etsy account. It’s one of a kind and hand-painted, check it out here.

I definitely want to do more of these, maybe some more famous couples in television and film? We’ll see!

Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens

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I’ve been meaning to read this book for awhile and had heard really good things about it. I wasn’t exactly sure what it was about and I certainly wasn’t prepared for it.

I love a good murder mystery and I like how this one had the pieces of the mystery interspersed between the story of Kya growing up. The juxtaposition of the chapters with the investigation and the chapters that told the story of her life really helped add to the intrigue and to make the reader feel for Kya.

It’s actually kind of a sad story. The poor Marsh Girl who had to learn how to raise herself. All she wanted was for someone to prove that they loved her by staying and it seemed like everyone she ever let herself care about left.

****SPOILER ALERT****

 

I actually had to stop reading when Tate left to go to college. I thought for sure he would come back and when he didn’t, it kind of broke my heart. He made up for it with publishing her books and ultimately staying with her for good, but it was really sad.

Chase Andrews is a whole other story. You know, he seemed like he did care for Kya. I wanted to believe that he was a decent person. The way he wore her seashell necklace all the time had to mean something, right?

He had seemed kind of sweet at one point, but I guess it was always about getting the Marsh Girl.

The trial had me completely on edge. Once she was arrested, I couldn’t put the book down. I had to know what would happen to her. I know this is fiction, but every time her lawyer questioned a witness I was so happy because he seemed like he was doing such a good job.

I was very happy with the ending, and the little thing Tate finds at the very end. I’m not sure how she did it, but good for her. Chase would have never left her alone and she wouldn’t have had her happy ending if not.

Sorry for all the spoilers in this one. I just really loved this story and had to get all that off my chest haha.