tkhz's reviews
40 reviews

A quirky romantic comedy about a 23 year old hopeful comedian who screws things up by choosing his career over his crush and his family. In a desperate attempt to right his wrongs, he enlists the help of magic crystals. Chaos ensues.

This book, while sappy and trope-y, is a fun read that doesn't take itself too seriously. The up-and-down relationship between the main character and his love interest kept me engaged in the story and I enjoyed the trope of the main character being forced to take a new perspective on his life through time travel. A good choice for someone who enjoys queer romance, lighthearted books, and magical realism.

A dual-perspective novel following two astrology-obsessed main characters in Southern California who are disconnected from reality in their own ways. One is a delusionally confident, prone-to-arson late 40's lesbian, the other a mid-20's starving actress turned astrology influencer out of necessity.

Both of our narrators are deeply flawed people and the book explores how they see the same people and events in wildly different ways. However, while it's okay to have imperfect characters, I found myself pretty annoyed with both of them because of their delusional tendencies. It felt like both characters spent the entire story lying, daydreaming, manipulating people, and not really doing anything while facing no consequences or really changing as people.

I also was not a fan of the accidental incest plot twist. Felt too weird and unhinged even for a book that is inherently both of those things.

A heartwarming and heartbreaking story of a woman who accidentally travels back in time on her 40th birthday to the day she turned 16. In an attempt to save her father from facing a crippling illness later in life, she desperately searches for the "right way" to re-live her 16th birthday.

I loved that this book 1. featured a non-extraordinary main character and 2. focused on the relationship between an adult daughter and her father. It was refreshing to see a narrator who isn't perfect, has a relatively average life, and still finds small things to appreciate in her everyday. It also explored a unique and wholesome relationship of a daughter and single father, and ultimately placed this relationship over any friendships or romantic relationships in the book. I could feel the emotions she was experiencing as she re-lived her life as her teenage self and was able to gain a new appreciation for all the moments she shared with her dad, especially in moments where she was initially blinded by teenage angst. Overall very well-written and emotional, and knowing that the book was based on the author's relationship with her father makes it even better.

I also really enjoyed that she chose not to stay in the "perfect" life about halfway through the book. The fact that she realized her father was still sick in her ideal reality and chose to continue to find a way to spend more time with him was a testament to the strength of their bond and their love for each other.

A page-turner recounting the rise and fall of a fictional 70's rock band, told in a documentary/interview format from the perspectives of the band's members as they cope with fame, control, addiction, and love.

Taylor Jenkins Reid knows how to write books that you can't put down. This story was intriguing from the very beginning and drew me in as I wanted to learn more about how the band eventually disbanded. I was not disappointed, as the story was full of love, drama, betrayal, hope, and more. The two main characters- Daisy and Billy- are both very complex but not unloveable. You can clearly see the way they both yearn for love and control over the chaos of their lives, as well as the ways they are so similar despite their feuds. The format of the book makes it easy to envision the story as a real documentary and I enjoyed getting to see events unfold from various different perspectives, with each character being a sort of unreliable narrator in their own right.