Author: Colleen Hoover

Genre: Romantic Fiction

Page Count: 306

Read if you like: Nicholas Sparks novels, This Is Us on NBC, or Me Before You by Jojo Moyes

B’s Thoughts: 

When I read a heavy book I always like to follow up with a sort of quick and mindless read that pulls me in. This time, I looked to All Your Perfects by Colleen Hoover. This novel tells the story of a marriage that is breaking due to uncontrollable circumstances. The only thing that may save the couple is a secret from their past.

Colleen Hoover does a great job of pulling the reader in with short paragraphs. In addition, she always seems to alternate between past and present which allows her characters to build depth and become relatable to a variety of ages. Her novels act almost as a decompression for me. Just as you would binge watch This Is Us to relax, I turn to Colleen Hoover. All Your Perfects kept me engaged and blissfully content because of the uncomplicated structure and premise of the story. Thus, I would recommend this book to women who need to just dive into something gossipy, lovey dovey, and realistic. WARNING: Colleen Hoover is a queen at tear jerking moments so please be prepared to have some tissues out. Overall the novel was enjoyable and made me think about if love between two people really can withstand a lifetime.

Genre: Fiction

Page Count: 325

Read if you like: Elieen by Ottessa Moshfegh

What you should know: This book is soon to hit the big screen in 2019!

B’s Thoughts:

Eleanor Oliphiant Is Completely Fine blew me away. Each day, I couldn’t wait to sneak away from reality to dive into the mind of Eleanor. Although this novel is pretty short, I completely savored it like you would the last bite of your ice cream cone (yes, the sugar cone with the chocolate filled tip) which resulted in me taking my sweet time and reading it for an entire week. Anyways, Eleanor is a thirty year old woman who works a mundane, 9-5 job. Seems pretty normal right? Wrong. Eleanor is burdened by her past, yet isn’t aware of how her past weighs her down socially and mentally. All we know as the reader is that something terrible happened between her and her estranged “Mummy”. It’s only when Eleanor meets Raymond, an employee in her building, that she starts seeing the world differently. This story is beautifully written to display a character’s growth through friendships and self reflection. The way Gail Honeyman writes Eleanor’s character with brutal honesty is so relatable that you will find yourself laughing out loud at the frank statements and thoughts of Eleanor. This humor was what allowed me to fall in love with Eleanor, despite her flaws and mysterious past. This novel was a page turner as I was eager to laugh a bit more with Eleanor’s bluntness and figure out what happened between her and Mummy to make her life so estranged. My sincere thanks to Gail Honeyman for creating Eleanor Oliphant. 

“I have often noticed that people who routinely wear sportswear are the least likely sort to participate in athletic activity.”